The partnering of community groups and business groups with the local school is a topic that I had spent a small amount of time in my School Administration master’s discussing; however without the opportunity to build these partnerships in my current positions, I have not yet been able to experience the positive impact that these partnerships can create. As I researched the different types of community school connection programs, I learned that there are a variety of different types of connections between community groups and schools that support schools and students in different ways.

Communities In Schools  

Communities in Schools is a partnership program that allows community members to support their local schools in a variety of ways and in direct support of the needs of those local schools. This program aims to meet the needs of the whole student in order for them to be able to focus, engage, and grow in their education.

“Communities In Schools (CIS) is the nation’s largest and most effective dropout prevention organization. Our mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Founded in 1977 by Bill Milliken, CIS uses a unique model to unify the existing resources of communities around children, families, and schools" (Communities in Schools).

According to the programs website, data is shared to showcase the success rates of the program partnering community members with schools.

“We measure our success by the results we are able to achieve for the young people we serve. We carefully evaluate all aspects of our programs, and use that information to constantly improve. Explore our national end of year results and data collected from our approved sources” (Communities in Schools).

Communities in Schools Data Report

The Communities in Schools page also shares individual stories of students who found success and growth in the progress in their education and future due to the partnership program. Of these stories shared, one is from a young man who has a goal of becoming a motivational speaker. He started his young life in a very heartbreaking way, by losing his mother and being intensely injured himself. As he was rehabilitated and was entering school, he continuously faced challenges resulting from his trauma, he was able to rely on the supports of the CIS partnership between his educators, community members, and family that was working with him. They connected him with the love of music through introducing him to the violin. The support of the CIS program was extremely impactful in this young man’s life. Linked below you can find stories for other students who found success through the partnership of the CIS program in their schools.

https://www.communitiesinschools.org/articles/article/defying-expectations/ 

Complementary Learning

The Harvard Research Project’s Complementary Learning is a learning strategy that combines the efforts of educators and community groups to meet the needs of the whole child. The Complementary Learning strategy looks at the specific needs of the community and creates a simple to complex system of support depending on the needs of the students. The connections for parents to community support can include access to after school care, health clinic services, and academic support or intervention services, as well as college informational support. Below is the informational brochure for the Complementary Learning strategy. 

Complementary Learning - Harvard Research Project

A commonality that was found when looking at some of the larger school community partnership programs. The end goal is consistently looking at college preparation or preparing the student for post-secondary training. The dropout rates for the schools or districts partnering in these programs seems to be one of the consistent measures of progress. The Harvard Research Project also has additional programs, other than the Complementary Learning strategy, such as Family Place Libraries, Helping Support Families in Teaching Mathematics, and many more. Additionally, educators, and others, can find many research projects conducted by the Harvard Research Project to better support students in a variety of ways.

Community Based Heritage Immersion Programs

The Heritage Briefs from the Center for Applied Linguistics is a program that incorporates community support, but in a more streamlined way, focusing on language immersion. The purpose of these programs is to create proficient bilingual children in order for them to be able to effectively communicate in both their native or family language and community language and improve the multilingual resources for the nation.

“In doing so, they develop bilingual individuals and enrich the multilingual resources of the United States by providing opportunities for children to develop proficiency in their native or heritage language” (Lopez 1).

This program is, of course, voluntary and allows students the opportunity to learn about their family culture as well as connecting to their local community, relatives, and even learning about ancestors. Additional language immersion, such as two-way language immersion programs, focus more on the proficiency of the language and not as much on the ancestry and cultural aspects. The community based immersion programs are not often associated with the public school system and are usually held outside of the schools. In some cases, districts are trying to grant credits for the hours spent in the community based language immersion programs.

The above examples are a few of the programs that connect community groups and schools to create an environment that will best support the students of the particular community. These programs are designed in a way that they can be flexible and address student needs specific to the community. Additionally, I would be interested in learning more about the programs that are utilized specifically in the area I am currently supporting students as well as look at how to potentially bring some of these already established programs into our district.

References:

Home - Communities In Schools. (2021, July 15). Communities in Schools. https://www.communitiesinschools.org/

Lopez , J. (2010). Heritage Briefs - Center for Applied Linguistics . Heritage Briefs . https://www.cal.org/heritage/pdfs/briefs/how-do-community-based-heritage-language-programs-and-two-way-immersion-programs-compare.pdf.

Learning Systems Video Channel. (2021, August 2). Community Languages Program K-6 [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/460848457

Project, H. F. R. (2016). Publications & Resources / Complementary Learning / HFRP - Harvard Family Research Project. (C) Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College. https://archive.globalfrp.org/complementary-learning/publications-resources/(offset)/25?type=0