Community schools a turning point president Biden’s request of the United States department of education includes. An investment of $443 million to expand the full-service community school program. This is more than 10 times the amount invested in the financial year 2021, and for good reason.

In his presentation presenting the budget proposed by the department, education minister Cardona explained: This program recognizes the role of schools as centers of our communities. And neighbourhoods and funds efforts to identify and integrate the wide range of community resources needed.

• To support students and their families, expand learning opportunities for students and parents.
• Support leadership and collaborative practices, and promote family and community involvement that can help ensure student success.
• As secretary Cardona and president Biden know, community schools are also an important tool. In the ongoing effort to achieve equitable education.
• Providing both the resources students need to support their learning, and the academic rigour it offers.
• They have access to high-level opportunities. Quality education.

Community Schools a Turning Point for Public Education:

While they may seem new to some, community schools have been part of the American education system for more than 100 years. Almost from the start, they have been a central strategy for creating an equitable education. As we move closer to the resumption of our public education system after covid, community schools must be one of the models we are expanding.

They serve not only as a hub for high-quality education. But also as places that support communities. They meet the needs of the local community and help ensure that the entire child goes to school by providing so-called Meditation services such as health care, after-school care, school meals and more.

According to Anna Maier, a research analyst and policy consultant at the learning policy institute. The school of community. The movement has deep roots that go back to then the early 20th century to make urban schools social centres equipped to meet the growing social forces of industrialization, urbanization and migration.

The Community School Movement Also Has Its Roots in the Rural South:

The community school movement also has its roots in the rural south, where Jeanes teachers – recruited and trained through the negro rural south education fund (also known as the Jeanes Fund, created by Anna. These Jeanes teachers met with communities to determine their needs and set up night schools (known as Moonlit schools) where adults learned literacy skills. They have also set up parent associations, land cooperatives, penny-saving associations, mothers associations, and reading clubs.

(I should note here that the Jeanes fund was one of the four foundations that merged in 1937 to form the southern education foundation.) Many Jeanes teachers taught at the Rosenwald schools, built by sears roebuck founder Julius Rosenwald, to educate African American students in the early 1900s. These Rosenwald schools, numbering more than 5,000 in the south, were also built to serve communities. Where the students lived.

Puerto Rican Leaders in the 1970s as Vehicles to Improve the Quality of Education:

In the 1960s and 1970s, community schools emerged in some cases around detoxification efforts as a way to bring communities and schools together to better serve the neighbourhood population. They were also promoted by African American and Puerto Rican leaders in the 1970s as vehicles to improve the quality of education, build positive school-community relationships, and establish local control over schools.

Community schools operating today are based on four evidence-based Pillars:

1. Integrated student support for academic needs, mental and physical health, nutrition and social services often facilitated by a full-time coordinator.

2. Expanded and enriched learning times and opportunities, including after-school and summer learning programs, internships and project-based learning.

3. Active family and community engagement through meaningful partnerships, as well as courses, services and events. And

4. Leadership and collaborative practices, including common decision-making structures, such as Leadership-based sites and professional learning communities for teachers.

Community Schools Are a Key Strategy in School Improvement Efforts:

Community schools are a key strategy in school improvement efforts and the ongoing effort to achieve equality in education. The union public schools in Oklahoma provide an important example of what community schools can look like and reach. Dr Kirt Hartzler, superintendent of union public schools, and Sandi Calvin, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for union public schools. Shared with me some important insights into why their school district decided to invest. In the school model of the community and how this model closes the equity gaps in Tulsa. And broken arrow, where the school premises are located.

• The union public schools include 13 primary school sites, each with a connecting parent and each provides programs. Activities and support to meet the needs of the community.
• Parent relationships coordinate support for each specific site, including after-school activities. Community engagement activities, access to social workers, and more.
• Many of the sites also have access to health clinics.
• Such a place could be the jewel in the crown of the union’s public schools.
• The union Ochoa elementary school, completed in March last year, is a state-of-the-art $ 42 million elementary school and health unit and then the first site that the area brought from idea to creation.
• Located in east Tulsa, a low-income area that Dr. Hartzler also calls the Medical desert.

The Ochoa elementary school was created through a partnership with community health connection, an organization that provides free community health care. Today, the 32-acre community school serves 1,200 students from kindergarten to fifth grade, their parents, and other community members, and provides medical, Ophthalmological, dental, and mental health services, as well as other aids.

Community Participation in School Programs:

Many people may not understand why a school should also function as a health center. The answer is not complicated: a student is able to receive a high-quality education and the opportunities that come with it if he is ready and able to learn. This means that we have enough food, a safe place to live, and a healthy body and mind. In eastern Tulsa, lack of health care was recognized as a major obstacle to student education and needed to be addressed.

According to Maier, community schools are a turning point community participation in school programs and services is vital for community schools. She recommends needs and then the resource assessments with students and families to guide decisions about the programs. And services the school site should provide. Clearly, this is a resource-intensive approach. But studies show that community schools are a good investment and effective school improvement strategy. The results in Oklahoma prove this.

• This year alone, a good number of our valentines and saviors have come from our community schools. They started with us in kindergarten and first grade.
• Not all educational activities and opportunities will benefit them, but given the choice, we know they can thrive. Our goal is 100% graduation and our career is ready.