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

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

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

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

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

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

11. Framework Components
Stakeholder Engagement and Participation

12. 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.

13. School Leadership Teams

14. 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.

15. 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

16. Thank you! Martin Blank Director, Coalition for Community Schools
Institute for Educational Leadership
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