Community Schools

Community Schools

Community schools are an evidence-based strategy to advance equity and reduce barriers to learning by providing the services needed to support student and family well-being. Through trusting relationships and well-coordinated supports, community schools ensure that students receive the health, social service, and learning opportunities they need to be successful. The Learning Policy Institute conducts and translates critical research on community schools to support education policymakers and practitioners who are implementing this strategy. Research on community schools and the science of learning and development identifies key characteristics of high-quality community schools: (1) integrated systems of support, (2) powerful student and family engagement, (3) collaborative leadership with shared power and voice, (4) expanded and enriched learning opportunities, (5) rigorous, community-connected classroom instruction, and (6) a culture of belonging, safety, and care. Evidence shows that when community schools are implemented well, they can lead to improvements in student outcomes, including attendance, academic achievement, high school graduation rates, and reduced racial and economic achievement gaps.

Featured Resources

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Rainbow colored abacus interspersed with dollar bills

Community Schools Costing Tool

Close up of empty desks in a classroom.

Reducing Chronic Absenteeism: Lessons from Community Schools

Featured Infographic

Infographic

Key Practices for Community Schools Transformation

In consultation with over 700 practitioners, nonprofit leaders, teachers, coordinators, researchers, and policymakers, among others, a national collaboration known as Community Schools Forward developed a framework with six key integrated practices for high-quality community school implementation.

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Related Projects

Three students collaborating in school library

Center for School and System Redesign

Two young children reading a book together

Community Schools Forward

A group of diverse adults talk while sitting in a circle of chairs

Shared Learning Initiative

Further Reading

Community Schools Research
- Community Schools as an Effective School Improvement Strategy: A Review of the Evidence (
  report and related materials
  )
- Illustrating the Promise of Community Schools: An Assessment of the Impact of the New York City Community Schools Initiative (
  report, RAND Corporation
  )
Resources for Community School Implementation
- Federal Funding Sources for Community Schools (
  report
  )
- State Strategies for Investing in Community Schools (
  report
  )
- Technical Assistance for Community Schools: Enabling Strong Implementation (
  brief
  )
- Community Schools Playbook (
  policy playbook, Partnership for the Future of Learning
  
  )
- Financing Community Schools (
  guide, Partnership for the Future of Learning
  )
- Community Schools Forward: Technical Assistance Needs Assessment (
  report
  )
- Professional Learning Series on Community Schools (
  webinar series
  )
Teaching and Learning in Community Schools
- Classroom Teachers in the Community Schools Movement: A Social Justice Perspective (
  article, American Educator
  )
- Community-Based Learning in the Time of COVID-19 (
  blog
  )
Community Schools in California
- UCLA Community School: Celebrating Language, Culture, and Community (
  report
  )
- Oakland International High School: A Thriving Community School for Oakland’s Newcomer Students (
  report
  )
- Funding Community Schools in California (
  brief
  )
- Creating Conditions for Kids to Learn: Oakland’s Districtwide Community Schools Initiative (
  report and related materials
  )
- Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School: A Community School That Honors Its Neighborhood’s Legacy of Educational Justice (
  brief
  )
- Social Justice Humanitas: A Community School Approach to Whole Child Education (
  report and brief
  )
- Supporting Rural Education Gains Through Community Schools (
  blog
  )
Community Schools in New Mexico
Community Schools as a Pandemic Recovery Strategy
- Investing in Community Schools: How States and Districts Can Use Federal Recovery Funds Strategically (
  fact sheet
  )
- Frequently Asked Questions: Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Support Full-Service Community Schools & Related Strategies (
  report, U.S. Department of Education
  )
- In the Fallout of the Pandemic, Community Schools Show a Way Forward for Education (
  blog
  )
- Restarting and Reinventing School Priority 8: Establish Community Schools and Wraparound Supports (
  interactive report
  )

View a complete list of LPI's publications, blogs, and events on the topic of community schools. View all