In the United States, people often feel like they need to choose between pursuing a conventional four-year college degree or working, leaving millions of people with no opportunity to achieve the professional and economic advancement that comes with a bachelor's degree. What if this is a false choice? Apprenticeship Degrees offer a hybrid option…

Achieving equity in education--that is, ensuring every student has the resources and tools they need to succeed--has become a key issue for the nation's schools. Equity does not apply just to classroom learning, however; it matters in afterschool, summer, and other out-of-school-time (OST) programs, too. Yet while research on equity in the OST…

University social work programs can play a critical role in helping communities to expand local capacity in efforts to end homelessness. The Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability Insurance (SSI/SSDI) Outreach, Access and Recovery (SOAR) program is an evidence-based model that social work programs are advancing through…

The University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development (OCD) has practiced university-community engagement activities for 30 years. This has included hundreds of specific projects conducted with community partners, all funded by outside grants. Based on our experience, we describe some lessons learned regarding the operation of a…

Community schools are an evidence-based strategy to advance a "whole child" approach to education by offering integrated student supports (e.g., health care or housing assistance), expanded and enriched learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practices. This brief examines how local government and…

Educators and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention--and $2.8 billion in funding-- to community school strategies as a way to mitigate the learning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A healing-centered community school implements a whole child approach to teaching and learning to address the fundamental physiological and safety needs of…

After-school programs (ASP) are a long-standing activity historically facilitated by organizations such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, social service/community centers and, in the past decade, an increasing number of municipal park districts. Staffing usually consist of recreation professionals, social and youth workers, and volunteers. In…

Within promotion processes, research universities traditionally place highest value on grant funding and peer reviewed publications. In contrast, community-engaged research tends to value community partnerships and direct community benefit. Community-engaged early career faculty can have difficulty negotiating the demands required for promotion…

Community Partnership School (CPS) serves 90 to 95 students annually in preK-5th grade. Of these, 100 percent are African American or multiracial, and all qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Community Partnership School began as a collaboration between Germantown Academy, which had trouble recruiting low-income students to its suburban…

Outdoor learning areas are becoming more popular as a means for community-based, cross-curricular learning where children study issues of local relevance (Sobel 2004). Outdoor learning areas, any place outside of the school building where children can observe and interact with the natural world around them, include outdoor structures for seating…

As numerous studies from 1906 on have confirmed, children lose ground in learning if they lack opportunities for building skills over the summer. Nonetheless, summer learning loss comes up but rarely in the national discussion of education reform. By the end of summer, students perform on average one month behind where they left off in the spring.…

An intensive consultation undertaken by the University of Winnipeg revealed that many residents--especially new Canadians and Aboriginal peoples living in the downtown neighbourhoods--face barriers to higher education, and for many the university was an unknown and unwelcoming territory. Winnipeg is home to the largest urban population of…

The federal "Promise Neighborhoods" program underscores the importance of all children and youth having "access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career." From this perspective, this brief stresses the importance…

To address the economic crisis facing the country, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law on February 17, 2009. The ARRA offers numerous opportunities for full-service school leaders and may provide the necessary funding to prevent significant decreases in operating budgets. One of the largest investments…

The Arizona State University Downtown Phoenix campus is a grand-scale exemplar of a city-university partnership. Its demonstrated impacts are economic, social, and educational, transforming both the city and the university. The magnitude of the investment of $223 million by the citizens of a city in a state university is unparalleled in higher…