Community Schools as a Locally Driven Strategy for Student Success

Community schools are an evidence-based strategy that unites students, families, educators, and community organizations to improve student learning and well-being. These schools leverage community resources to strengthen family-school partnerships and address local needs. During this webinar, attendees learned how community schools can lead to improvements in student achievement, chronic absence, and school climate, and heard from leaders in California and Kentucky who are applying community school approaches to improve student outcomes.

This webinar was part of a three-part series meant to offer timely, nonpartisan research and real-world policy solutions, drawing from a broad range of state experiences. LPI and partners developed the 2026 Legislative Prep Series: Education Challenges and Solutions to give policymakers and others a leg up on the 2026 legislative session with the most up-to-date research, tools, and examples of effective, evidence-based state policy approaches.

Speakers

• Opening | Elena Silva, President and CEO, Learning Policy Institute
• Research Presentation | Anna Maier, Senior Policy Advisor and Researcher, Learning Policy Institute
• Moderator | Tiffany Miller, Senior Director of Federal and State Policy, Learning Policy Institute
• California | Ingrid Roberson, Chief Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department of Education
• Kentucky
  • Brigitte Blom, President & CEO, Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence
  • Amanda Mays Bledsoe, State Senator, Kentucky General Assembly