Two important commentaries from Education Week.
1) Hugh Price, former president of the National Urban League, writes that communities are the missing link in school reform.
2) David Kirp, Professor at the University of California - Berkley, and author of Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children's Lives and America's Future, argues that all policies and budget decisions should be made against the Golden Rule: "Every child deserves what’s good enough for a child you love." He writes,
"The Golden Rule standard isn’t about charity or acts of noblesse oblige. All children, not only those who grow up without money, deserve the kind of support that gives them their best chance to learn and grow. They would benefit from the chance to acquire the skills and resiliency necessary to meet the challenges that life invariably throws at them. What’s needed isn’t a one-size-fits-all program, but support that can meet children’s particular needs—support that’s family-centered, effective, and unwavering."
Kirp recommends community schools and others place-based strategies as one of his Big Ideas in his latest book.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Duncan Highlights Community Schools in Recommendations to Governors on how to Spend on Education in the “New Normal”
by Reuben Jacobson, Senior Associate for Research and Strategy, Coalition for Community Schools
On March 3rd Secretary Duncan sent governors a letter addressing how to effectively use education funds during these tough fiscal times, or what he refers to as “The New Normal.” With the letter, he included three documents on “some options on the effective, efficient, and responsible use of resources in tough budget times.” These include: Flexibility in Using Federal Funds to Meet Local Needs, Smart Ideas to Increase Educational Productivity and Student Achievement, and Advancing Student Achievement Through Labor-Management Collaboration.
In Smart Ideas, the Secretary highlights the community schools strategy as a way to leverage alternative sources of funding, local partnerships, and resources. The guidance recommends that SEAs and LEAs:
Leverage alternative sources of funding. States and school districts can seek funds from philanthropic sources wherever possible to support education programs and initiatives, but in addition to those funds, districts can look to other city or county funds and services to help meet the needs of the whole child. Many community schools have been successful in tapping these alternative resources to provide students with health and other supports. The integration of high-quality social services and family and community supports into schools can increase achievement and student outcomes while better leveraging the resources that are already being spent on such services.
Leverage local partnerships and resources. State and local health and human services agencies, departments of public safety and parks and recreation, community-based organizations, businesses, and other entities have a significant stake in the success of our children and youth. Many have long provided academic and enrichment opportunities in the form of before- and after-school programming, apprenticeships, nursing, or counseling support. Breaking down barriers and better aligning and utilizing community resources may also help school systems identify and access low-cost services or facilities. Pulling in external services and resources to support learning can effectively maximize opportunities for students.
He also recommends working collaboratively with stakeholders in making decisions about budgets. Shared ownership and collaborative leadership are core characteristics of the community schools strategy. He states,
…engaging in productive dialogue with teachers, principals, unions, and other stakeholders will ensure that input from all involved stakeholders informs relevant decisions and increases the likelihood of successful and sustained implementation….Thoughtful engagement is a recognized best practice and, by working collaboratively, collective interests can overcome differences.
The Secretary’s suggestions parallel the Coalition’s findings in a recent report, Financing Community Schools: Leveraging Resources to Support Student Success, which demonstrates how communities are using resources in smart and effective ways. Communities highlighted in the report and around the country represent an effective use of the community school strategy for leveraging financial, political, organizational, and other resources to improve results for children, families, and communities…a smart idea in “The New Normal.”
On March 3rd Secretary Duncan sent governors a letter addressing how to effectively use education funds during these tough fiscal times, or what he refers to as “The New Normal.” With the letter, he included three documents on “some options on the effective, efficient, and responsible use of resources in tough budget times.” These include: Flexibility in Using Federal Funds to Meet Local Needs, Smart Ideas to Increase Educational Productivity and Student Achievement, and Advancing Student Achievement Through Labor-Management Collaboration.
In Smart Ideas, the Secretary highlights the community schools strategy as a way to leverage alternative sources of funding, local partnerships, and resources. The guidance recommends that SEAs and LEAs:
Leverage alternative sources of funding. States and school districts can seek funds from philanthropic sources wherever possible to support education programs and initiatives, but in addition to those funds, districts can look to other city or county funds and services to help meet the needs of the whole child. Many community schools have been successful in tapping these alternative resources to provide students with health and other supports. The integration of high-quality social services and family and community supports into schools can increase achievement and student outcomes while better leveraging the resources that are already being spent on such services.
Leverage local partnerships and resources. State and local health and human services agencies, departments of public safety and parks and recreation, community-based organizations, businesses, and other entities have a significant stake in the success of our children and youth. Many have long provided academic and enrichment opportunities in the form of before- and after-school programming, apprenticeships, nursing, or counseling support. Breaking down barriers and better aligning and utilizing community resources may also help school systems identify and access low-cost services or facilities. Pulling in external services and resources to support learning can effectively maximize opportunities for students.
He also recommends working collaboratively with stakeholders in making decisions about budgets. Shared ownership and collaborative leadership are core characteristics of the community schools strategy. He states,
…engaging in productive dialogue with teachers, principals, unions, and other stakeholders will ensure that input from all involved stakeholders informs relevant decisions and increases the likelihood of successful and sustained implementation….Thoughtful engagement is a recognized best practice and, by working collaboratively, collective interests can overcome differences.
The Secretary’s suggestions parallel the Coalition’s findings in a recent report, Financing Community Schools: Leveraging Resources to Support Student Success, which demonstrates how communities are using resources in smart and effective ways. Communities highlighted in the report and around the country represent an effective use of the community school strategy for leveraging financial, political, organizational, and other resources to improve results for children, families, and communities…a smart idea in “The New Normal.”
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
The President's Budget and Our Work
Community schools aren’t a program they are the way we do business.
~Dr. Vince Bertram, Superintendent of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The President’s 2012 budget is on the floor and being debated in Congress. During these uncertain financial times State houses and school districts across America are looking for efficient ways to spend their dollars, while still producing positive outcomes for their students, families, and communities. Recently, three community school initiative leaders (from Evansville, IN; Multnomah County, OR; and Cincinnati, OH) visited Washington, DC to brief Congressand the U.S. Department of Education to share how they do business. They shared how they are using the community school strategy as a vehicle to address their fiscal realities and the results they were producing.
The overriding policy recommendation that was consistent across all three districts was the need federal funding streams to be more flexible. This would enable them to effectively implement the community school strategy.
Stay tuned for more on these briefings in our March 2011 Newsletter! We will share, videos, photographs, and along with a synthesis of the briefings.
Learn more about how they are braiding federal, state, and local funding to implement the community school strategy, in the Coalition’s new publication: Financing Community Schools: Leveraging Resources to Support Student Success.
~ Shital C. Shah, Manager of Policy & Partnerships, Coalition for Community Schools
~Dr. Vince Bertram, Superintendent of Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation
The President’s 2012 budget is on the floor and being debated in Congress. During these uncertain financial times State houses and school districts across America are looking for efficient ways to spend their dollars, while still producing positive outcomes for their students, families, and communities. Recently, three community school initiative leaders (from Evansville, IN; Multnomah County, OR; and Cincinnati, OH) visited Washington, DC to brief Congressand the U.S. Department of Education to share how they do business. They shared how they are using the community school strategy as a vehicle to address their fiscal realities and the results they were producing.
The overriding policy recommendation that was consistent across all three districts was the need federal funding streams to be more flexible. This would enable them to effectively implement the community school strategy.
Stay tuned for more on these briefings in our March 2011 Newsletter! We will share, videos, photographs, and along with a synthesis of the briefings.
Learn more about how they are braiding federal, state, and local funding to implement the community school strategy, in the Coalition’s new publication: Financing Community Schools: Leveraging Resources to Support Student Success.
~ Shital C. Shah, Manager of Policy & Partnerships, Coalition for Community Schools
It Takes a Community: The Secret to Fixing Our Nation's Schools
Click here to follow Martin J. Blank's Huffington Post blog
With education topping his agenda, President Obama sent a powerful message during last month's State of the Union address: No school is an island. "Education," Obama said, "begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities."
"We know what's possible for our children," he continued, "when reform isn't just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities."
As someone who's fought for community-based schools for more than two decades, I couldn't agree more.
The President's words were a great start, but there is more to the message. Had he devoted more of his speech to education, here's what the President might have said:
Yes, a rigorous education coupled with family and community supports are key to educating all of our children. No one can dispute the power of great teachers and an engaging curriculum, accompanied by afterschool enrichment, wraparound health and social services, real family involvement and the chance for students to contribute to their communities. We can and we must work to educate the whole child -- and impact the whole family -- particularly those from underserved communities.
I know that our schools cannot do this alone. Families and community organizations must step up. My administration has been learning what success looks like from school and community leaders.
They are organizing community schools that serve as neighborhood hubs, open year-round with longer hours and linked with local organizations to provide a range of opportunities, from tutoring, enrichment, mentoring and health services for children to evening classes for parents and neighborhood residents. These kinds of schools are driving student achievement and neighborhood revitalization; promoting family involvement in school; and strengthening community bonds.
Given our nation's fiscal challenges, we have no choice but to organize public, private, and community resources more effectively and collaboratively. A recent report from the Coalition for Community Schools shows that for every $1 that the school system invests in a community school, the community invests an additional $3. That's real leverage. According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the return was even greater during his tenure organizing 150 community schools in Chicago.
And the research is clear: students in community schools learn better, attend school more, and are healthier.
The Lane Middle School in Portland, Ore. shows what's possible. Lane is one of 60 Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) community schools organized through a partnership of Multnomah County, the city of Portland and six school districts.
Lane works with higher education institutions, public agencies and community-based organizations to provide homework assistance, tutoring, sports and arts activities, and youth empowerment and leadership groups. The school links students and families to individualized social services and connects with them through a family engagement coordinator. A school-based health center, operated by Multnomah County, cares for students and their families. A dedicated staffer mobilizes these resources and integrates them into the school, allowing educators to focus on academics.
Principal Karl Logan reports that Lane is the first school in Oregon to move beyond federal benchmarks and has since received a state award for closing the achievement gap. Logan considers the SUN community school as a pillar of Lane's success.
We know the formula works elsewhere, in places like Chicago, Cincinnati, Evansville, Hartford, Kansas City, Montgomery County (MD), Tulsa, and rural communities as well.
To replicate and build on these successes, I want to send a clear message that we all share responsibility for our children's future, and ask Congress to offer incentives, such as grants and policy reforms that move schools and community partners toward collaborations that focus on results.
Let's modify top-down educational mandates such as No Child Left Behind to unleash the power of communities to adapt school models to neighborhood needs. State and local government, schools, and private supporters must allocate funds to schools for staffers to coordinate these critical partnerships and encourage community participation.
Washington will provide invaluable leadership. But the beauty of the community schools model, and the key to its sustainability, is that it originates from the grassroots.
Just as community schools nurture partnerships among educators, advocates, and citizens, I pledge a new level of partnership between Washington and communities nationwide to build on the promise of this approach: healthy kids, healthy families, and healthy communities. The only way we'll get there is by working together.
With education topping his agenda, President Obama sent a powerful message during last month's State of the Union address: No school is an island. "Education," Obama said, "begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities."
"We know what's possible for our children," he continued, "when reform isn't just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities."
As someone who's fought for community-based schools for more than two decades, I couldn't agree more.
The President's words were a great start, but there is more to the message. Had he devoted more of his speech to education, here's what the President might have said:
Yes, a rigorous education coupled with family and community supports are key to educating all of our children. No one can dispute the power of great teachers and an engaging curriculum, accompanied by afterschool enrichment, wraparound health and social services, real family involvement and the chance for students to contribute to their communities. We can and we must work to educate the whole child -- and impact the whole family -- particularly those from underserved communities.
I know that our schools cannot do this alone. Families and community organizations must step up. My administration has been learning what success looks like from school and community leaders.
They are organizing community schools that serve as neighborhood hubs, open year-round with longer hours and linked with local organizations to provide a range of opportunities, from tutoring, enrichment, mentoring and health services for children to evening classes for parents and neighborhood residents. These kinds of schools are driving student achievement and neighborhood revitalization; promoting family involvement in school; and strengthening community bonds.
Given our nation's fiscal challenges, we have no choice but to organize public, private, and community resources more effectively and collaboratively. A recent report from the Coalition for Community Schools shows that for every $1 that the school system invests in a community school, the community invests an additional $3. That's real leverage. According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the return was even greater during his tenure organizing 150 community schools in Chicago.
And the research is clear: students in community schools learn better, attend school more, and are healthier.
The Lane Middle School in Portland, Ore. shows what's possible. Lane is one of 60 Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) community schools organized through a partnership of Multnomah County, the city of Portland and six school districts.
Lane works with higher education institutions, public agencies and community-based organizations to provide homework assistance, tutoring, sports and arts activities, and youth empowerment and leadership groups. The school links students and families to individualized social services and connects with them through a family engagement coordinator. A school-based health center, operated by Multnomah County, cares for students and their families. A dedicated staffer mobilizes these resources and integrates them into the school, allowing educators to focus on academics.
Principal Karl Logan reports that Lane is the first school in Oregon to move beyond federal benchmarks and has since received a state award for closing the achievement gap. Logan considers the SUN community school as a pillar of Lane's success.
We know the formula works elsewhere, in places like Chicago, Cincinnati, Evansville, Hartford, Kansas City, Montgomery County (MD), Tulsa, and rural communities as well.
To replicate and build on these successes, I want to send a clear message that we all share responsibility for our children's future, and ask Congress to offer incentives, such as grants and policy reforms that move schools and community partners toward collaborations that focus on results.
Let's modify top-down educational mandates such as No Child Left Behind to unleash the power of communities to adapt school models to neighborhood needs. State and local government, schools, and private supporters must allocate funds to schools for staffers to coordinate these critical partnerships and encourage community participation.
Washington will provide invaluable leadership. But the beauty of the community schools model, and the key to its sustainability, is that it originates from the grassroots.
Just as community schools nurture partnerships among educators, advocates, and citizens, I pledge a new level of partnership between Washington and communities nationwide to build on the promise of this approach: healthy kids, healthy families, and healthy communities. The only way we'll get there is by working together.
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