Collaborating with Community: Partnering So Students Learn and Thrive Martin J. Blank Director, Coalition for Community Schools June 29, 2017 www.communityschools.org

Community Schools as the Vehicle Our Focus Partnering So Students Learn and Thrive Community Schools as the Vehicle

Coalition for Community Schools Vision and Mission Shared Vision: Schools are centers of flourishing communities where everyone belongs, works together, and thrives. Mission: To unite school, community and family for young people’s success.

What is a Community School? A Community School is a public school – the hub of its neighborhood, uniting families, educators and community partners to provide all students with top-quality academics, enrichment, health and social services, and opportunities to succeed in school and in life.

The Community Schools Framework Students at the Center Picture from Wolfe Street Academy, Baltimore, one of our 2015 awardees

Framework Components Opportunities Powerful Learning Integrated Health and Social Supports Authentic Family and Community Engagement

Framework Components Collaborative Practices Shared ownership for results Strategic community partnerships Resource coordination Data-driven planning Inclusive leadership

Framework Components Capacity-Building Supports All-stakeholder leadership development Professional Development Coaching for continuous improvement

Framework Components Stakeholder Engagement and Participation

Collaborative Leadership Structure Community schools need both the structure and the culture to make sustainable change. But we’re not just talking about a new district office with one person responsible. We need to remember in the TOA that there is shared vision, and shared accountability for results. Those shared activities mean that you need to create a collaborative leadership structure for community schools. When we first drew this, it was top-down looking. Which while easy to understand, didn’t reflect the experiences on the ground, or the theory behind community schools. Most often, you have three main groups: community level, school site level, and an intermediary that connects the two. Community: vision, policy, resource alignment -who is at the table? School site: planning and implementation Intermediary: planning, coordination, and management -typically a non-profit but also a school district, higher education, United Way, etc. All of these groups have communication and alignment that make them work and a set of functions that each have some shared responsibility for. Which I describe next. www.communityschools.org

School Leadership Teams www.communityschools.org

So what does the process for scale-up look like? There are 6 stages that are further divided by milestones. You can’t assume you will start at stage 1. Everyone starts at a place that reflects their community. Even experienced initiatives find themselves on here somewhere b/c the work is never done. Each stage contains an overview, more on milestones, stories, progress, and pitfalls Example, stage 1, milestone 2. Show everything that’s there, videos, story and other icons Then how you know if you’re making progress and pitfalls These are all summarized in a tool at the end of the guide.

Money and Human Capital to Support Community Schools Federal, state, and local public funds as well as private/philanthropic funds. Existing resources from from private, public, faith-based, higher education and community based organizations (CBOs) Assets of people and voluntary organizations Resource: Coalition Financing Guide

Thank you! Martin Blank Director, Coalition for Community Schools Institute for Educational Leadership BlankM@iel.org 202-822-8405 x 140 www.communityschools.org