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The Relationship Centered Schools (RCS) campaign seeks to transform schools by creating opportunities for relationship-building, valuing student voice, and investing in staff. The experiences of two RCS sites in California shed light on factors that enable or hinder relationship-centered practices as well as implications for practice and policy.
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UCLA Community School (UCLA-CS), a public school in central Los Angeles, serves a large immigrant population, almost all of whom use a language other than English to communicate with their families. Six key practices contribute to UCLA-CS’s positive school-level outcomes, including above average graduation rates and teacher retention.
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At Oakland International High School, all students are newcomers, meaning they have been in the United States for fewer than 3 years. Most students are English learners, and many have experienced interruptions in their schooling. Oakland International leverages community school structures and partnerships to support students’ success.
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During the pandemic, many students suffered steep learning loss, disengagement, and burnout. But some students came out thriving: Experiencing little learning loss, engaged in their education, and continuously supported by wraparound services providing meals and health services. What was different about these schools and what can others learn from them?
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In the aftermath of the pandemic, as many children and youth are struggling with mental health and to reengage in learning, a growing chorus of people are calling for community schools as an approach to reinvent education to better serve students, educators, and families.
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Many students across the country don’t have access to opportunities to learn that prepare them for post-secondary life. Linda Darling-Hammond and Byron Ernest elevate examples from California and Indiana to illustrate how state boards of education can create innovative and equitable education models.
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Infrastructure at Oakland Unified School District helped to successfully implement a community schools approach by centralizing processes and systems and providing support for family engagement and professional learning and development.
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Examining how Oakland Unified School District successfully implemented a community schools approach, researchers found structures that support effective partnerships, Coordination of Services Teams, community school managers, professional learning and development, and family engagement.
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Oakland Unified School District's long-standing community schools initiative offers lessons for districts implementing a community schools strategy, illustrating an approach focused on integrating whole child educational practices and providing sustained support through centralized district infrastructure.
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Fifty public high schools that have been identified as “Schools of Opportunity” are founded on policies and practices that address achievement gaps by improving opportunities to learn. Kevin Welner and Kate Somerville discuss four lessons learned from these exemplary high schools.
