ERIC EJ1056977: The Power of Community Schools

2015·0.23 MB·English

by  ERIC

The Power of Community Schools
Natasha Capers and Shital C. Shah
The community schools movement has led to powerful collaborations in New York City and
nationally between educators, unions, families, communities, and other partners to provide
services and transform learning.
The “community schools” the American Federation of Teachers,
approach builds networks of and Natasha Capers, a coordinator
local organizations and institu- for the New York City Coalition for
tions committed to bettering outcomes Educational Justice (CEJ), a parent-led
for youth. Using schools as hubs, collaborative of unions and community
these partners offer a range of supports organizations, discuss the community
and opportunities to children, youth, schools movement and how it has
families, and communities. In this become a lever for equity and deep
article, Shital Shah, who supports parent engagement in New York City
community schools as assistant and nationally. They also explore how
director for educational issues at this approach provides an opportunity
Natasha Capers is a coordinator for the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice. Shital C.
Shah is assistant director for educational issues at the American Federation of Teachers.
VUE 2015, no. 40 27
for powerful partnership that joins and community organizations can
educators and school staff and their bring another kind of power, and each
unions with family and community sector brings opportunities to work
members to improve learning toward a common vision of how we
opportunities.1 want to support children and families
for life success. For example, in New
Q How did you get involved with York City, advocates did a remarkable
community schools work? job of moving the work forward in a
short period of time as they developed
A
Shital Shah: Prior to working
a education platform to present to
at the AFT, I did policy and
candidates during the 2014 mayoral
partnership work for the National
campaign, with support from unions
Coalition for Community Schools,
(see sidebar on PS 2013 for more on
managing networks of practitioners
this campaign).
from across the country in places
like Portland, Oregon,2 and New
York.3 Three years ago I moved to the
THE PS 2013 CAMPAIGN
AFT to a position dedicated to the
expansion of community schools – In 2012, with the 2013 mayoral
not just in practice, but also in policy campaign coming up in New York City,
and advocacy.4 I do policy work and community organizers decided they were
training around community schools – going to develop their own platform for
I work with labor, management, and what they really wanted in education and
communities. In some places they are present it to all the candidates instead of
already working together for solutions. depending on the candidates to come up
with platforms that might not reflect
In others, you might have unions and
parents’ concerns. This developed into a
management working together, but
citywide, cross-sector campaign known as
the community is not so engaged. In
PS 2013, which produced an “Education
others, unions and the community are
Roadmap” for the next mayor. Investing
pushing really hard on management.
in community schools was one of the
The potential for bringing together
recommendations. Mayor de Blasio
multiple kinds of power is one of embraced the community’s vision and
the biggest trends I’ve learned in my promised to build 100 community schools
work with AFT. Organized labor in his first term.
brings one kind of political leverage,
The PS 2013 campaign is described in
VUE no. 39, The Education Election:
Community Organizing to Envision and
1 See the Coalition for Community Schools
Advance a Progressive Education Agenda,
at the Institute for Educational Leadership
(communityschools.org), which serves available at vue.annenberginstitute.org/
as the research, policy, and advocacy issues/39. The education roadmap,
organization for networks of community Whole Child, Whole School, Whole City:
school initiatives and for more than 150
An Education Roadmap for the Next
national, state, and local partners that
Mayor, is available at aplusnyc.org/
support community schools. See also
Henry Perez and Perla Madera’s article in education-roadmap/ps-2013-education-
this issue of VUE for the story of two new roadmap.
community schools in Los Angeles. For
more on CEJ, see nyccej.org.
2 See https://multco.us/sun/sun-community-
schools.
3 See childrensaidsociety.org/community-
schools/community-schools-new-york-city.
4 For the AFT’s position on community
schools, see aft.org/position/community-
schools.
28 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Natasha Capers: I’m now the opportunities that every family
coordinator for CEJ. Three years ago, and student has the right to access.
my children’s school was on the list
Community schools address this goal
to be closed. Fiorella Guevara of the
through their approach to school-com-
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
munity partnerships. Traditional
was working with CEJ parents at my
schools tend to have a variety of ad
school, and after that work, I stayed
hoc community partners working with
involved in CEJ and became a parent
their students, families, and teachers,
leader with the coalition.
with little coordination. In contrast,
At CEJ, I learned about the community the infrastructure of community
school model and went to Cincinnati schools allow these partnerships to
to see it in action.5 Now we’re trying to be intentional, aligned, and focused
engage the community around commu- on results, thus maximizing their
nity schools in New York City. For the effectiveness.
last year, we’ve been working with
This design includes a site resource
community organizations and parents
coordinator and strong internal
to raise awareness around community
processes that engage parents, commu-
schools, define what transformative
nity partners, school staff, and school
parent engagement can look like in
administration. A school-level leader-
community schools, and explore how
ship team includes teachers, school
to develop the capacity of parents to
staff, community partners (sometimes
be equal decision makers in schools.
the lead agency), a parent representa-
Q How are community schools tive, and other key partners. This team
is responsible for creating a shared
different from traditional
vision for the school, as well as
public schools?
identifying desired results and helping
A Shital Shah: We know that align and integrate the work of
too many of our children and partners with the school (Coalition for
families are not getting equal access Community Schools 2014). Some
to the opportunities and supports that community school site resource
are essential for their success. School coordinators hold monthly meetings
is a public democratic institution, with all of the community service and
supported by tax dollars, so it should support providers to discuss what is
be the place in our neighborhoods happening during the school day, what
that affords all children and families the needs (academic and non-academ-
equitable education and life chances. ic) are, and how those partners can
All schools should be ones that help address those needs. These sorts
everyone wants to send their children of regular conversations enable the
to. Families should not be at the community to understand how to
mercy of “lottery schools” that boast contribute to the school and students.
offerings for student success – if the Their work becomes intentional
student is lucky enough to be chosen and aligned, helping the school achieve
– or the schools in one particular well- its goals.
off neighborhood that have essential
Another key to success is that this
supports and services for their students,
strategy must be deeply rooted in
plus a rich offering of extracurricular
neighborhoods. Community schools
activities and a multifaceted curriculum
serve as a hub for the entire commu-
that offers music, art, and dance as
nity, rather than simply a place where
well as math and English. These are the
classes and extracurricular activities
are held. They develop and coordinate
5 See cps-k12.org/community/clc. partnerships with community organiza-
Natasha Capers and Shital C. Shah VUE 2015, no. 40 29
tions, public and private agencies, as the city has been keeping data on
and other key stakeholders to provide student achievement. Little to nothing
opportunities and supports for aca- was done by the New York City
demics, health and social services, Department of Education (DOE)
youth and community development, during the Bloomberg administration
and community engagement. to turn the district around. The same
can be said of other districts, especially
Q
What did organized parents and in communities of color, including the
community members contribute one I live in. District 23 in Brownsville,
to the community schools model in Brooklyn, has struggled with bare-
New York City? bones budgets and very few quality
resources. Without proper support
A Natasha Capers: When the
from the DOE these schools have
parents of CEJ closed their
been left to languish.
eyes to envision an ideal school in
the early years of the coalition,6 they When the community schools model
had no idea that all they wanted and came to the attention of CEJ, the
more was already out there waiting. coalition developed a “College-Ready
They knew it was important to have Community Schools” platform.7 The
wraparound social services to address Bloomberg DOE implemented small
the obstacles that made it harder for parts of it, but not enough to make a
our children to succeed in school. difference. But CEJ parents had a
What they didn’t know at the time was chance to move the community schools
that a model existed that could educate platform forward in a big way through
their children, support them, and help the PS 2013 campaign, in which
rebuild their communities. It is called community organizers in New York
community schools. City developed an education agenda to
CEJ ended up creating a platform and present to mayoral candidates in 2013
vision that would transform not only (see sidebar), with community schools
New York City schools but also the as one of the recommendations. PS
community school model itself. Where 2013 had a real impact on the candi-
most saw the community schools dates and their education agendas,
model as a way to deliver critically and Mayor Bill de Blasio is strongly
needed services families wanted and committed to building community
needed, CEJ saw it as a way not only schools. CEJ has now developed a
to engage parents and families, but also policy brief with recommendations for
to transform teaching and learning. the mayor on implementing his plan.8
It is important to understand that CEJ Strong academics are another impor-
parents live in communities with the tant theme. Parents didn’t just want to
lowest-performing schools in the city. be given access to social and health
For example, District 9 in the Bronx services like a health clinic or dental
has ranked last in the city for as long services. It’s not enough for Johnny to
have straight teeth if he still cannot do
6 CEJ originally formed in 2006 as a citywide division. It would never be enough for
coalition of neighborhood-based organizing Bianca to have a new pair of glasses if
collaboratives in Queens, Brooklyn, and she were still unable to read. In order
the Bronx. For the story of how CEJ came
for the services to be used to their
together and its early work, see Shaakir-Ansari
and Williams (2009). utmost potential, we must provide
7 See nyccej.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ services while dissecting and improving
CEJ-College-Ready-Community-Schools- what happens in the classroom. That
Platform.pdf.
includes how students are treated when
8 See nyccej.org/1292/community-schools-
mayor-deblasio. they are disruptive. Suspension does
30 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
“
not resolve conflict, solve any prob-
lems, or add positively to a student’s
educational experience. In fact, it does
the opposite and puts students on a
“
path to dropping out of school.
Parents and community leaders will often
Restorative Justice and restorative
practices, on the other hand, heal
be connected to a school longer than their
relationships, resolve conflict, and
create a positive school climate, all principal, so it is important that they are
while the student remains in school.
brought into the decision-making processes.
Parent and family engagement is the
other critical difference built into CEJ’s
College Ready Community Schools
platform and vision. Parents in New
York City, especially in communities of
color, were pushed out to the margins engaged from beginning to end. Parents
of their educational experience. At the also bring critical information and
same time, many traditional “experts” resources to the table that are often
and the media were crafting and overlooked because administrators
pushing out messages that families have a lack of knowledge about the
didn’t care about their children’s school neighborhood. CEJ’s plan for transfor-
or education and did not want to be mative parent engagement offers a way
involved. for parents and communities to become
strong and valuable partners in their
One part of that was true. Parents
neighborhood schools.
throughout NYC did not want to be
merely involved; they wanted to be Q What role can labor unions
engaged. Engagement is more work,
play in driving the community
because it means you have to create a
school agenda?
partnership, and that requires respect.
A
Parents should be seen and utilized as Shital Shah: Leadership is one
partners, change agents, and, most important role. Researcher
importantly, as experts. Anthony Bryk and his colleagues
(2010), from the University of
What does it look like to utilize parents
Chicago, identified school leadership
and communities in this way to build
as one of five essential supports for
community schools?
successful school transformation.
Its looks revolutionary. To create Across the country, in places that have
partnership, there must be an acknowl- expanded and sustained community
edgement of a relationship of equal schools, school- and systems-level
power. Partners may not bring the leadership have played a major
same things to the table, but they both role – for example, in Multnomah
bring something that is critical and County, Oregon; Evansville, Indiana;
needed. and Cincinnati, Ohio. I would argue
that union leadership also matters,
Parent and community leadership is
including representatives of both
key in making community schools
teachers and school staff. When unions
successful. Parents and community
partner with community organizations,
leaders will often be connected to a
they are able to more effectively push
school longer than their principal, so it
forth a common vision for public
is important that they are brought into
education. By their very nature, they
the decision-making processes and are
have the organizational infrastructure
Natasha Capers and Shital C. Shah VUE 2015, no. 40 31
to organize and mobilize. The question decision-making power at the school-
then becomes: What can our role be, leadership and systems-level tables.
as implementation of this strategy may This piece often gets overlooked. We
not be our purview? must also consider the implementa-
Some examples of leadership roles tion that will come after the
that labor and community organizing organizing stage and how our roles
groups can play are: will evolve. Baltimore Teachers
Union is a great example of where
• Help create state and local coalitions this is taking place. In partnership
that can push for policy change to with their Education Roundtable,
support and fund community they are holding trainings at schools,
schools. This is taking place in inviting community members
Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and parents to learn more about
and New York City. For example, community schools.
the Connecticut Federation of
Teachers was the driver in pulling • Use this strategy as common ground
together a coalition of the state for labor-management relationships.
affiliates of the NAACP, Connecticut Conversations with the school
Education Association, and Univer- districts around this need to take
sity of Connecticut, and others that place, even in the instances where
pushed through supportive policy. strong relationships don’t exist.
There is also a statewide effort Ultimately, having labor, community,
through the CommPACT Commu- and management working together
nity Schools Collaborative on this strategy will be a key factor
(commpact.uconn.edu). in its sustainability. A great example
of this comes from Cincinnati, where
• Get community schools on political work has been taking place for over
platforms. The United Federation of ten years. The superintendent is
Teachers collaborated with commu- working with the Community
nity organizations (e.g., Natasha’s Learning Center Institute9 and the
organization, NYCCEJ) across New Cincinnati Federation of Teachers.10
York City, including community
school practitioners such as the Teachers unions also have a major role
Children’s Aid Society, to make sure to play in strengthening academics.
that all 2013 mayoral candidates Data show that community schools
included expansion of the commu- better support a strong, academic
nity school strategy in their curriculum. That’s another piece that
platforms (see sidebar on PS 2013 AFT contributes in the community
on page 28). As a result, after he was schools work. We want teachers in
elected, Mayor Bill de Blasio made classrooms who can improve the
a commitment to invest $52 million academic trajectory of our children.
to create more community schools. Instruction is the key piece in how
educators (including school staff,
• Build awareness around strategy in
not just teachers) engage community
their communities. Education on
partners to augment instruction.
what the community schools strategy
is, how various stakeholders can be
The immediate notion of community
involved, and what the eventual
partners is that they provide social
outcomes can be is critical to ensure
services to students and families. That
that union members, community
is true, but community schools are
members, parents, students, and
others are part of the conversation
9 See clcinstitute.org.
and visioning and have a voice and
10 See cft-aft.org.
32 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
more than just wraparound services. stakeholders, including school staff and
They also focus on strengthening community partners.
academic instruction, through project-
One challenge many community
based learning, service learning,
schools face is lack of teacher and
etc. Across the country teachers are
school staff engagement in the actual
working with community partners
visioning and implementation of the
to provide engaging instruction that
community school strategy. Inside
connects to the real world and isn’t
the school building, they are the ones
only relegated to the afterschool realm.
who know their students best, so their
For example, in Cincinnati, Ms. input on the local site decision-making
Crawford at Roberts Academy has team (local governing team, etc.) is
been partnering with the local fire invaluable.
department to provide mentors to her
While it is obvious that labor and
science and math class. Students spend
community organizations need to work
the entire school year with a mentor,
together around the community school
working on math and science tasks, as
agenda, in places where community
well as going on field trips. She works
schools already exist they must also
with her contact at the fire department
bring in the community school practi-
to make sure that they are integrated
tioners, who are responsible for
into her instruction when they visit
working at the school with administra-
the classroom every month. Another
tors, teachers, staff, students, parents,
example comes from Boston, where
and community partners. Their
a second-grade science teacher has
practice must inform local, state,
a partnership with a local garden
and federal advocacy efforts. If we do
nonprofit. The partner comes into
not include them, there is a likelihood
the classroom to share the lessons with
that our visions will diverge, rather
the teachers, working with the students
than converge.
on projects in the school’s greenhouse.
One of the United Federation of The more allies we have in this push,
Teachers’ Community Learning the stronger the movement and the
Schools, PS 30, partners with more likely we are to secure the
BookPALS’s performing artists to sustainable resources that our schools
do theatrical readings of teacher- need. The Coalition for Community
recommended books that coincide Schools did a scan of the community
with units of study. school field and identified the key
players that need to be at a systems-
Q How do labor and community level table, in their Collaborative
and parents work together and Leadership Framework.11 This collab-
create successes?
orative leadership is what will
eventually facilitate the sustainability
A Shital Shah: Public education is
of the strategy.
not a business or a transaction.
To rebuild, strengthen, and/or create
Natasha Capers: Collaboration is hard
relationships, there must be trust. The
work. It means learning to work with
people in our schools and communities
and not for. It means respecting other
come with different assets and needs
points of view and always searching
– the only way to provide access to
for common ground. But it also means
opportunity for all is to collectively
respecting the knowledge that everyone
come up with solutions that go
brings to the table.
beyond our own organizational self-
interests. Effective community schools
make decisions by consulting with all
11 See bit.ly/1uFbmKc.
Natasha Capers and Shital C. Shah VUE 2015, no. 40 33
Parents don’t always come to the table into the community school strategy as
with the same set of skills as teachers, a solution to supporting our children
administrators or CBO partners. But and families, but that message needs
parents do bring a powerful set of to be shared with teachers. Teachers,
expertise: their children attend the school staff, and nurses are our boots
schools, and they live in the communi- on the ground. Once they are educated
ties. They understand education about community schools, they are our
problems because they see them daily, ambassadors. They can share stories
not just in a study or book. It is about how this is supporting their
imperative that the decision-makers work and improving the teaching and
stop looking down at or doubting what learning environment and help push
we have to offer as parents. Often trust for more quality community schools.
is broken when parents’ unique For example, the Baltimore Teachers
expertise is ignored. Union has held several trainings with
the schools’ union representatives so
Q How do you sustain labor and that they can share with teachers
community/parent engagement what their role can be.
in community schools?
Finally, funding is a barrier to sustain-
A Shital Shah: Community schools ability in many places, especially when
aren’t a one-time program; there is not ownership around the
they’re a paradigm shift in how we common vision. The burden of funding
think about schools. Schools need to does not lie solely on school districts
grow and develop in ways that mitigate and other public entities – the nonprofit
a variety of out-of-school factors by community, the higher education
partnering with the appropriate local community, and others must also come
resources. to the table. While we do want public
You might be wondering, so how does funding (local, state, and federal) to be
this happen? A big piece of this is trust dedicated to helping implement the
and relationships – not just between community school strategy, we must
community partners and teachers see it as a strategy of public and private
unions, but also between unions and partnerships. Where this work is being
school and district administrators. sustained – for example, in Multnomah
Often, despite differences on tradition- County, Oregon – county, district, and
al labor-management issues, labor and private funding are all pooling together
management have come together to support community schools. Of the
around the community school strategy SUN Community Schools’ 2014-2015
– for example, St. Louis, Kansas City cash operating budget of $8 million,
(Missouri), Baltimore, and Evansville around $4.9 million came from
(Indiana). Unions and administrators Multnomah County, $1.6 million from
both see how supporting the whole the City of Portland, $250,000 from
child can lead to better academic the Portland Children’s Levy, $210,000
achievement and, eventually, stronger from federal 21st Century Community
communities. It’s a win-win. Coming Learning Centers grants, and $1.1
together around this strategy can lead million from seven school districts. In
to a stronger relationship and trust addition to this core funding, match/
when it comes to the other issues. partners services cash and in-kind
contributions are expected to reach at
Another key sustainability piece, from
least their 2012 levels of $10 million
the union perspective, is member
and $7 million, respectively, and the
education. Often we have local union
SUN Service System is likely to
leadership understanding and buying
contribute at least $30 million cash
34 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
in additional aligned services (anti- REFERENCES
poverty, early childhood, health, etc.).12
Bryk, A., P. Sebring, E. Allensworth, S.
Natasha Capers: Building the capacity
Luppescu, and J. Easton. 2010. Organizing
of parents is important. We have what
Schools for Improvement: Lessons from
we call Parent Power School (PPS).13
Chicago. Chicago, IL: University of
It is designed to educate parents on an
Chicago Press.
educational topic like community
schools and teach a skill like how to Coalition for Community Schools. 2014.
lobby elected officials. We have held “Building a Leadership Team,” Coalition
five of them this year with sixty to for Community Schools website. Washing-
eighty parents from across the city. ton, DC: Coalition for Community Schools,
One element we explored in our Institute for Educational Leadership,
Community Schools PPS is, what are communityschools.org/resources/
some of the differences between building_a_leadership_team.aspx.
traditional schools and community
Shaakir-Ansari, Z., and O. Williams. 2009.
schools? We also have deeply explored
“Parent Power in New York City,” Voices
the difference between traditional
in Urban Education 23 (Spring):36–45,
parent engagement and transformative
vue.annenberginstitute.org/issues/23.
parent engagement. We have also held
a “train the trainer event” because so
many parents wanted a more in-depth
training on how to communicate the
vision of community schools with
multiple stakeholders.
Another important thing is to recog-
nize that this is a long-term
commitment. Something stuck with me
that one of the planners for a confer-
ence on community engagement in
Chicago said in a recent conference
call: It can’t be a year-to-year plan –
you have to make a ten-year plan.
How do you get people to commit
to that?
12 Source: SUN Service System & Community
Schools.
13 For information, photos, and more on Parent
Power Schools, see nyccej.org/category/
resources.
Natasha Capers and Shital C. Shah VUE 2015, no. 40 35