Peñasco Independent School District is a rural community school district serving approximately 280 students. Peñasco's approach to community schooling focuses on culturally relevant, community-connected learning (including project-based learning and career and technical education), family and community engagement, and support for students' health…

For at least two decades, several California schools have embraced a community schools model that marries schools and community organizations to seamlessly provide a variety of supports to students and families in communities with the highest needs. But when the pandemic hit, those needs multiplied. Members of the California State Board of…

This brief emphasizes the importance of including the voices and experiences of students, families, staff, and community partners in educational decision-making processes. It provides five key considerations for schools to effectively engage with their educational partners, such as making authentic connections through listening sessions and…

This report underscores that the prevailing view of community schools is "just a beginning" for their ongoing development and contribution to improving schools. We stress that defining the initiative as a "community-based effort to coordinate and integrate ... services" raises some concerns and limits their evolution. We…

A nurturing, caring school environment is essential for school improvement and student motivation. In this book, Douglas Reeves and Robert Eaker bring the importance of a caring environment to the forefront of school transformation efforts. They identify who is responsible for shaping school communities, what qualities are vital for them to…

Washington Hunt is an urban community school attempting to balance the implementation of equity initiatives that meet the needs of minoritized students and families while preventing the adoption of deficit perspectives among school staff. The purpose of this case is to describe how "deficit-creep"--the subtle infusion of deficit-based…

This article focuses on communities' contributions to a way of learning that seems to be common in many Indigenous communities of the Americas and among people with heritage in such communities: "Learning by Observing and Pitching In" to family and community endeavours (LOPI). We briefly contrast this with community contributions in…

Since 2021, Bellwether has conducted research on flexible learning options, including interviews with 85 policymakers, state administrators, funders, navigation organizations, technology providers, and many others. The goal was to address inquiries in a nascent and fast-growing field, such as how families and students access learning within a…

Child Trends and Start Early have partnered to better understand what early childhood systems builders need to build and support more equitable systems. The briefs in this series, called Conversation Starters, define a new framework for early childhood systems that center families' experiences and raise key considerations and next steps for…

In educational spaces, it is no longer aspirational but imperative that the community--with its richness and diversity--joins educators as key instructional partners to liberate the creativity, uniqueness, and potential of all students. As educators, we can miss the value of this collaboration. This brief defines critical perspectives, why…

Public schools located within urban environments are a critical component of a larger social network in their communities, with important reciprocal interactions occurring across settings. This is especially important for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), as integration and alignment of home, community, and school…

Because researchers know so much more about the brain and development than they did when the 20th-century U.S. education system was designed, this knowledge can now be used to design a system in which all individuals are able to take advantage of high-quality opportunities for transformative learning and development. This playbook suggests a set…

Inclusion is central to work in early intervention and early childhood special education (EI/ECSE) and reflected in the core beliefs and recommended practices of the field (Division for Early Childhood [DEC], 2014). Inclusion, according to the joint statement of the DEC and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (2009), means…

National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) defines family leadership as strategies and services that improve and enhance the leadership skills of parenting adults and that are designed to support families in becoming advocates for themselves, their families, and their communities. This work is accomplished alongside the education and community…

In this article, we highlight the affordances of agency that is not merely individual, but rather emerges in and through collectivities. We take up these issues within the context of our own work in the field of sociocultural perspectives on literacy and through the methodological vantage point of community-based and participatory research. First,…