{"id":1781,"date":"2023-08-10T18:36:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T18:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/?p=1781"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:08:09","slug":"evidence-matters-making-the-grade-strengthening-schools-through-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-strengthening-schools-through-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Evidence Matters | Making the Grade: Strengthening Schools Through Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>August 10, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Our <em>Making the Grade<\/em> series has discussed how evaluating a school\u2019s effectiveness and quality comes with a wide array of challenges, particularly when assessing schools that serve larger populations of disadvantaged students. As we highlighted in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-the-quest-for-quality-measures\/\">last post<\/a>, to evaluate school quality, we have to account for disparities from the outset and find measures that factor these in. But in addition to accounting for disparities in our assessment, we also have a societal obligation to <em>address<\/em> them. Many barriers students face don&#8217;t originate in schools and can\u2019t effectively be addressed through services offered by a traditional model. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Chris-Klaveren\/publication\/294425286_Community_Schools_What_We_Know_and_What_We_Need_to_Know\/links\/575e9c4f08ae9a9c955f57a6\/Community-Schools-What-We-Know-and-What-We-Need-to-Know.pdf\">Research<\/a> suggests that we may need to rethink the school model and broaden it to that of a \u201ccommunity school,\u201d which offers a wider set of services and opportunities that benefit students and families.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nea.org\/student-success\/great-public-schools\/community-schools?utm_medium=paid-search&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_campaign=community-schools&amp;utm_content=&amp;ms=ads-community-schools-se&amp;gad=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwiIOmBhDjARIsAP6YhSXC1KogPtPCvCyxhJfWiR5xgEful6jgYh0ZNGpnnbxMakC26VK0bzEaAnSXEALw_wcB&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds\">The National Education Association<\/a> defines community schools as \u201cpublic schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood\u2019s needs.\u201d These schools bring educators, families, and community members together to leverage supports and resources to help all students thrive. This model is structured around four pillars:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Integrated student supports<\/li>\n<li>Expanded learning time and opportunities<\/li>\n<li>Family and community engagement<\/li>\n<li>Collaborative leadership and practice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By addressing specific barriers to learning and achievement\u2014such as health-related factors and reduced learning opportunities\u2014research has shown that community schools improve educational outcomes of students in high poverty schools. <a href=\"https:\/\/learningpolicyinstitute.org\/sites\/default\/files\/product-files\/Community_Schools_Effective_REPORT.pdf\">The Learning Policy Institute<\/a> reviewed 143 research studies on each of the four pillars and found that the evidence base on community schools justifies the use of community schools as both a means to closing the opportunity gap for low-income families and also as means for school improvement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/pubs\/research_reports\/RR3245.html\">A 2020 RAND study<\/a> found multiple positive effects for students who attended community schools in New York City. Researchers found that New York City community schools had a positive impact on student attendance during all three years of the study; results also showed a positive impact on on-time grade progression and on high school graduation rates, teacher reports of shared responsibility for student success, and a reduction in disciplinary incidents. In 2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.communityschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/ROI_Coordinator.pdf\">a case study<\/a> conducted in Albuquerque, New Mexico demonstrated a $7 return on investment for every $1 invested in a full-time community schools coordinator salary.<\/p>\n<p>These results, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csstorymap.org\/\">results<\/a> from other community schools, suggest that many of the services offered by this model may help reduce barriers to learning that are typically experienced by economically disadvantaged students. As barriers to learning are removed, schools experience an increase in effectiveness\u2014or, in the case of school report cards, the \u201cquality\u201d improves.<\/p>\n<p>Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve success, both in school and in life. When we invest in our schools and their surrounding communities, we invest in the future of our society. Supporting\u2014not punishing\u2014all schools, especially those serving students with the least access to external opportunities, inches us closer to the ideal of the American dream, where all children, no matter their zip code, have the chance to flourish. While it\u2019s important that everyone gives their best effort when running the race, it\u2019s also important that we all begin at the same starting line.<\/p>\n<p>Other posts in this series:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-a-series-on-the-complexities-of-school-report-cards\/\">Making the Grade: A Series on the Complexities of School Report Cards<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-the-socioeconomic-achievement-gap\/\">Making the Grade: The Socioeconomic Achievement Gap<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-can-an-early-start-lead-to-a-better-finish\/\">Making the Grade: Can an Early Start Lead to a Better Finish?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/evidence-matters-making-the-grade-the-quest-for-quality-measures\/\">Making the Grade: The Quest for Quality Measures<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kelly Gregory is the Riley Institute\u2019s Director for Public Education Partnerships and Projects and previously taught for 11 years in South Carolina public schools. She holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in Psychology and a master\u2019s degree in Special Education. She also holds a National Board certification as an Exceptional Needs Specialist. She can be reached at kelly.gregory0@furman.edu.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 10, 2023 Our Making the Grade series has discussed how evaluating a school\u2019s effectiveness and quality comes with a wide array of challenges, particularly when assessing schools that serve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":1783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[50,48],"class_list":["post-1781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-education","tag-applied-public-policy","tag-furman-innovation-lab"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1781"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2295,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1781\/revisions\/2295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/riley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}