Community Schools

This timely book elevates the voices of practitioners and adds a missing dimension to the growing literature on full-service community schools. -- Mavis G. Sanders, University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Claudia Galindo, University of Maryland, College Park, Co-Editors, Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), Special Issue on Full-Service Community Schools
For community schools advocates and practitioners alike, this book makes clear why community schools are so important. It is a must-read blue print for anyone who cares about helping at-risk and vulnerable children by strengthening neglected neighborhood schools and investing in public education. -- Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
In these challenging times, community schools have proven to be a powerful strategy to ensure that all children receive the full range of supports they need to be ready to learn: from health care and social services to before and after school experiences that reinforce classroom instruction to opportunities for families to become educationally engaged. This insightful book shows how a diverse set of leaders across a community can work together to improve schools. Its vivid examples inspire hope and pave a path to progress. -- Linda Darling-Hammond, President, Learning Policy Institute and Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
There is growing interest throughout the country in community schools that can respond holistically to the needs of children. This book describes how to make such schools work. The authors analyze the critical role of leadership and what they must do to coordinate the delivery of services to ensure success. For educators, policy makers and parents who seek to create schools that can serve as genuine assets to their communities, this book will be an excellent resource. -- Pedro A. Noguera Ph.D, distinguished professor of education UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Carrying out an effective community schools initiative presumes new roles for all involved-- teachers, administrators, students, families and community partners. However, we know little about what this new way of “doing school” means for these stakeholders. Until Community Schools: People and Places Transforming Education and Communities, the field has had limited understanding of the many roles vital to a successful community school strategy, how they were developed, integrated and sustained. This book’s up-close consideration of stakeholders’ efforts to rethink their responsibilities and relationships provides an important community schools implementation perspective largely missing until now—one that features the people involved. -- Milbrey McLaughlin, David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy, Stanford University