A community school is a public school—the hub of its neighborhood, uniting educators, community partners, and families to provide all students with top-quality academics, enrichment, health and social services, and opportunities to learn and thrive.
Community schools are a proven evidence-based and an essential equity strategy. They create the conditions necessary for students to thrive by focusing attention, time, and resources on a shared vision for student and school success. They also help make society more fair by investing in communities that have been marginalized by historical disinvestment.
In this brief the Coalition examines community schools at the site level and outlines how states can support community schools through the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The Coalition’s Standards are designed to engage and support the community schools movement as a standards-driven, evidence-based strategy to promote equity and educational excellence for each and every child.
The Partnership for the Future of Learning’s guide provides tools for advancing community schools as a strategy to improve schools, provide more equitable opportunities, and prepare students for success in life
and as citizens.