Research Review Gives Thumbs Up to Community Schools Approach
Resource type: News
Education Week | [ View Original Source (opens in new window) ]
By Holly Yettick
In the wake of newly elected New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s pledge to open 100 community schools, a report released Tuesday finds promise in this type of educational intervention. The study, supported in part with a grant from an organization founded by de Blasio’s predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, concludes that research and theory support the concept of community schools that seek to boost academic performance by offering mentoring, counseling, healthcare, and other wraparound services that extend well beyond the classroom.
“..[S]chool success (or failure) is the product of multiple and varied factors at the individual, family, and school levels,” write the authors of a white paper based on the report. “This suggests that providing an array of academic and nonacademic supports in a coordinated fashion….is a more effective strategy than focusing on one, or a small set of, supports.”
The report contains both a review of past research and an original analysis suggesting that myriad school, home, and student-related factors influence academic achievement. It was produced by Child Trends, a Bethesda, Md.-based nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization.
> Continue reading this article at Education Week
> Read the Child Trends report
To Learn More about Community Schools and Elev8:
> Visit our Elev8 page for videos and updates
> Visit www.elev8kids.org or the websites of the local initiatives:
Elev8 Baltimore
Elev8 Chicago
Elev8 New Mexico
Elev8 Oakland
Elev8 and Child Trends are grantees of Atlantic’s Children & Youth programme in the United States, which funds efforts to support and expand community schools.