This document reports on a study of a model full-service community school and explains the kind of services provided, staffing considerations, ways of involving community partners, governance arrangements, and parent involvement. It considers the barriers to creating this kind of school and explores ways to fund programs. The narrative offers a snapshot, in fall 2001, of Molly Stark Elementary School in Vermont, but it is also an apt description of similar schools. It focuses on experience, documented and anecdotal, to present the concept. The first part of each chapter focuses on what is going on in other educational settings over the country. The second section uses examples from Molly Stark school where quality instruction is combined with extended-day and extended-year services, health and social services, and parent education and support. The document also examines the prognosis for community schools and considers how they should be sustained. Appendices provide a community-school assessment checklist, a community needs assessment or appearance survey, child-care programs handbook, request for consultation, sample after-school program forms, sample communications with parents about after-school programs, and sample job descriptions for families of employees. (Contains 74 references.) (RKJ)

Originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, this expanded text provides new insights into the successful, sustained implementation of Full-Service Community Schools (FSCSs) in the United States. Reviewing the Success of Full-Service Community Schools in the US documents the experiences of students, teachers, and communities involved in the establishment and growth of FSCSs. By considering how successful this reform strategy has been in meeting the needs of underserved communities, the text illustrates the potential these schools have to transform students’ learning and outcomes. In particular, the studies illustrate the value these schools have in supporting low-income students and students of color. At the same time, by interrogating the defining pillars of FSCSs – expanded learning opportunities, integrated services, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership – chapters identify challenges that if left unattended, could limit the transformative potential of this reform strategy. This groundbreaking text will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academics, professionals, and policy makers in the fields of Educational Change and School Reform, Multicultural Education, Sociology of Education, Education Policy, and School Management and Administration.

Ferrara and Jacobson go inside community schools across the country to explore the different roles that make this collaborative education reform work. This book provides practitioners, policymakers, family members, youth, and local leaders a greater understanding of the different roles that make up a community school and tools for action. Built on years of practice, research, and continuous improvement, community schools are an innovative, effective, and grassroots strategy for bringing schools and communities together in order to improve outcomes for students, families, and communities. This education reform is growing as school site, local, and state leaders seek collaborative solutions to our schools’ most persistent challenges. The contributors, experts in the field, represent a diverse group of people with longstanding commitments to the community school strategy. From principals to family members, from community partners to teachers, this book illustrates how together, we all have a part to play in the development of successful community schools.

A step-by-step educator's guide to integrating health, community services, and academic achievement in schools. Inside Full-Service Community Schools combines the on-site knowledge of school principal Sue Maguire, who has created a model full-service community school, with the deep experience and understanding of research-advocate Joy Dryfoos, who has tracked the development of these school transformation models across the country. The result is a highly practical, real-world guide with a unique local-national perspective. Topics include: Getting started Providing a range of services Staffing: what works and what doesn't Collaborating with the government and private sector Involving parents Overcoming barriers Funding Sustaining the school In this groundbreaking work, experts Dryfoos and Maguire share both personal and comparative models, examining the full spectrum of community schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings. The book is ideal for reformers, administrators, and anyone interested in the future of education in America.

A comprehensive collection of essays from leading experts on family and community engagement The Wiley Handbook of Family, School, and Community Relationships in Educationbrings together in one comprehensive volume a collection of writings from leading scholars on family and community engagement to provide an authoritative overview of the field. The expert contributors identify the contemporary and future issues related to the intersection of students’ families, schools, and their communities. The Handbook’s chapters are organized to cover the topic from a wide-range of perspectives and vantage points including families, practitioners, policymakers, advocates, as well as researchers. In addition, the Handbook contains writings from several international researchers acknowledging that school, family, and community partnerships is a vital topic for researchers and policymakers worldwide. The contributors explore the essential issues related to the policies and sociopolitical concerns, curriculum and practice, leadership, and the role of families and advocates. This vital resource: Contains a diverse range of topics related to the field Includes information on current research as well as the historical origins Projects the breadth and depth of the field into the future Fills a void in the current literature Offers contributions from leading scholars on family and community engagement Written for faculty and graduate students in education, psychology, and sociology, The Wiley Handbook of Family, School, and Community Relationships in Educationis a comprehensive and authoritative guide to family and community engagement with schools.

Full-Service Schools describes the movement to create an array of integrated support services in schools. It examines the declining welfare of many American families and prescribes solutions for the problems of increased sex, drugs, violence, and stress among youth.

The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland's Full-Service Community School District offers an in-depth profile of the nation's most ambitious community school initiative. The book focuses on a nearly ten-year effort to transform all eighty-six district schools in Oakland, California into community schools in order to better meet the academic and personal needs of all students. Based on six years of research, the authors detail the implementation of the effort at both the district and school levels. Their work covers the detailed, community-wide planning process, the policy "levers" for system change, and the organizational shifts and other tools that were employed. Under extraordinarily difficult conditions, Oakland's Community Schools, Thriving Students initiative spurred system change at both central office and school levels. Though still a work-in-progress, the initiative's "whole-child approach" has resulted in positive outcomes for students and for the district. In addition, several elements of Oakland's full-service community schools (FSCS) work have been recognized nationally including the African American Male Achievement program, its district partnership model, and its restorative justice and social-emotional learning practices. The Way We Do School illustrates how the implementation of Oakland's full-service community school initiative and its remarkable stability over time provide many lessons for the community school field and most especially for policy makers and practitioners interested in launching a district-led FSCS system.