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The disruption to education presents an opportunity for policymakers and educator to seize the moment to reimagine schooling using safe, equitable, and student-centered approaches. A new, comprehensive framework by the Learning Policy Institute outlines how policymakers and education leaders can address the pressing question of how to reopen schools safely, effectively, and equitably to serve the needs of the whole child.
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Community schools are an evidence-based approach to advance whole child education by offering integrated student supports, expanded and enriched learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practices. Local government and nonprofit agencies in two California counties—Los Angeles and Alameda—have effectively provided technical assistance to support community school initiatives. Evidence shows that technical assistance from county offices and nonprofit agencies can be a powerful element of successful community schools.
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COVID-19 has disrupted learning for nearly all of the country’s 50.8 million public schools students and those hit the hardest are the nation’s most marginalized students. During the disruption, community schools have proven to be highly effective at assessing needs and mobilizing supports for students and families. As policymakers look to the future, this is an approach they can consider.
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Oakland Unified's school-based health centers, part of the district's full-service community schools initiative, are a trusted source of information and services for students and families in the district. This institutional trust is essential to providing care in "typical" times, and became even more critical when schools closed due to the COVID-19 crisis, enabling staff to identify and support both ongoing and emerging student and family needs.
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A community schools initiative, launched by the Los Angeles County Office of Education in September 2019, provides personnel, infrastructure, and funding support for 15 high schools throughout the county. The structures and relationships developed as a result of the initiative enabled schools’ rapid response to support students and families during the COVID-19 crisis.
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Community schools create opportunities for engaged and rigorous learning rooted in the assets and needs of students, families, and the larger community. As COVID-19 forced schools to close and shift to distance learning, teachers at two Los Angeles community schools adapted and created community-based learning projects that address issues currently affecting students’ lives.
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This resource, from the Partnership for the Future of Learning, provides a comprehensive policy guide for implementing and sustaining community schools. It includes detailed information on the four key pillars of comprehensive community schools and features communications and policy development resources, including model legislative language and policy examples from across the United States.
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Fifty years after the Kerner Report, our nation still struggles with persistent disparities in child welfare, educational opportunities, and economic outcomes—but there is still hope for change. In this Education and the Path to Equity blog, Christopher Edley, President of the Opportunity Institute, and Linda Darling-Hammond discuss the potential of community schools to overcome the entrenched inequities of today’s education system.
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Access to deeper learning—classes in which students are engaged to think deeply and develop the skills and abilities they’ll need for college and work—is a central equity issue for our time, says Dr. Pedro Noguera in this LPI Blog. In this interview, Noguera discusses the role of deeper learning in providing all students with an equitable and empowering education and what it will take to “scale up” deeper learning practices.
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Family and community engagement is one of the four pillars of high-quality community schools, yet school staff often struggle to build a culture that includes ongoing engagement and creates partnerships that cultivate trust and respect. In this blog, LPI Research and Policy Associate Anna Maier highlights two community school initiatives successfully bridging the gap between home and school and shares the compelling evidence of the impact of effective engagement on student and school success.
