This report discusses the necessity of expanding school improvement policy and practice in order to meet the growing challenges related to reducing the achievement and opportunity gaps. Specifically, it highlights that student/learning supports are marginalized in current policy and that addressing the matter requires moving from a two to a three…

The Community School Standards are designed to engage and support the community schools movement as a standards-driven, evidence-based strategy to promote equity and educational excellence for each and every child, and an approach that strengthens families and community. The standards have three objectives: (1) to help new community schools more…

Schools are the ideal setting for combining state health and education goals for all children. Children and adolescents spend more time in schools than in any other environment outside of their homes. They also form foundational health habits during their school years. By emphasizing school health and wellness, state leadership can support both…

Education policymakers working to address the impacts of growing economic and racial inequality on students often look to community schools as an effective approach for supporting students and their families in communities facing concentrated poverty. Through partnering with community agencies and offering important resources, community schools…

The report on which this brief is based synthesizes the research evidence about the impact of community schools on student and school outcomes. Its aim is to support and inform school, community, district, and state leaders as they consider, propose, or implement community schools as a strategy for providing equitable, high-quality education to…

Communities in Schools is one of the nation's oldest and largest providers of integrated student supports, also known as "wraparound services." Started in New York City in the 1970s, the agency now works with more than 2,300 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The model is straightforward: Communities in Schools recruits,…