Community Recommendations
Empowering Communities: Strategic Recommendations for Strengthening Public Schools
The challenges faced by "Forgotten Schools"—particularly under-resourced neighborhood schools often serving low-income and minority communities—are complex and deeply rooted. These schools grapple with inadequate funding, high teacher turnover, and systemic inequities that hinder their ability to provide quality education. While comprehensive systemic change is necessary to address these issues fully, immediate actions at the community and classroom levels are equally crucial.
Small victories and incremental changes can significantly impact, fostering momentum toward broader transformation. The following recommendations present a dual approach: a big-picture strategy requiring policy support, systemic reform that creates more community schools, and community-level actions that educators and stakeholders can implement faster. By combining long-term initiatives with immediate efforts, we can work collaboratively to create an equitable and empowering education system where every student has the opportunity to thrive.
Introduction
Transform Public Neighborhood Schools into Community Schools
Transforming public neighborhood schools into community schools involves adopting a holistic educational approach that supports various aspects of children's development, including academics, physical health, mental well-being, social skills, and emotional intelligence.
This long-term strategy hinges on policy support and systemic change. Community schools are designed to integrate a range of supports and opportunities for students, families, and the community by connecting local organizations and family members to schools (Klevan et al., 2023). This involves developing policies that foster partnerships with local organizations to provide resources such as on-site health clinics, counseling services, and after-school programs.
Source: Learning Policy Institute & Turnaround for Children. (2021). Design principles for schools: Putting the science of learning and development into action. LinkFor example, Oakland Unified's community schools have established long-term collaborations that empower schools to expand the variety of resources accessible to students and families. Currently, 60 Oakland schools are connected to school-based health centers offering medical and behavioral health, dental, and vision services (Klevan et al., 2023).
Implementing the community school model on a broader scale requires advocacy for increased funding and resources. Policymakers must prioritize education budgets that support these initiatives, recognizing the long-term benefits for communities. According to the City of Philadelphia, 20 city-designated community schools currently serve around 13,000 students (City of Philadelphia, n.d.). By mainstreaming this system, we can support more children holistically, fostering a sense of pride and responsibility that strengthens the social fabric.
Adopting the community school model can lead to improved student outcomes, stronger family engagement, and enhanced community support, ultimately contributing to the revitalization of under-resourced neighborhoods.
#1
Implement Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
Teachers and school staff can take immediate action by integrating social-emotional learning and culturally relevant pedagogy into their classrooms. These approaches can create inclusive and supportive educational environments that benefit all students.
For SEL, educators can incorporate activities that help students develop emotional regulation, empathy, and responsible decision-making skills. In terms of academics, according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (n.d.) SEL instructions "build social and emotional skills that increase student engagement and lead to improved academic performance." Simple practices like starting the day with mindfulness exercises, facilitating class discussions about emotions, or using cooperative learning strategies can significantly impact. CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) offers signature practices found here and is available for educators to implement systematic SEL practices in their classrooms. If you want to dive deeper into their framework, you can find it here.
In terms of culturally relevant pedagogy, teachers can ensure that their curriculum reflects and respects their students' diverse cultural backgrounds. This can involve including literature and resources from various cultures, inviting students to share their own experiences, and connecting lessons to real-world issues relevant to their lives.
By adapting lesson plans and creating assignments that allow for student choice and cultural expression, education becomes more engaging and meaningful. Learning for Justice is a community education program that provides free resources for educators to support culturally responsive teaching, anti-bias education, and social justice. They provide lessons, student texts, student tasks, teaching strategies, and film kits that are great additions to any classroom. They also provide amazing free webinars from experienced teachers and learning specialists. These approaches enhance student engagement, improve academic performance, and foster a more inclusive school environment where all students feel represented and valued.
#2
Promote Critical Thinking and Classroom Discourse
Teachers can foster critical thinking and meaningful classroom discourse by incorporating strategies encouraging student engagement and deeper understanding. This can be achieved without policy changes and can start immediately in individual classrooms.
Educators can ask open-ended questions that require students to explain their reasoning and explore different perspectives. Facilitating discussions where students engage in dialogue about complex ideas helps them consider multiple viewpoints and develop empathy—techniques like think-pair-share and problem-based learning present opportunities for collaborative exploration of real-world issues.
Creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment is essential. Establishing norms that promote respect and open-mindedness encourages all students to participate. By integrating these strategies into daily teaching, educators nurture critical thinking and prepare students to become thoughtful, engaged members of society.
#3
Academic Productive Talk has amazing resources for educators to improve classroom discourse and critical thinking. Through videos of other teachers in action and their teacher tip deck, educators have the resources to begin a learning journey to let students develop their reasoning ability and deepen their understanding of academic content. The video featured here follows a 2nd Grade Lesson on Subtraction on the Number Line available through APT.
Foster Family and Community Engagement
Community members, parents, and local organizations can contribute to school transformation by actively engaging with educational initiatives. Building partnerships between schools and communities enhances student support and creates a network of resources.
Family engagement is "a shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities for student learning and achievement; it is continuous from birth to young adulthood; and it occurs across multiple settings where children learn" (Brooks et al., 2021, p.7), Involvement from the family holds great importance, as children of parents who are highly involved typically achieve better grades and scores compared to those with low or moderate levels of Involvement. This finding is relevant to families from diverse income levels and backgrounds (Henderson & Mapp, 2002).
Amidst the focus on academics and assessments, the Involvement of families and communities often takes a backseat. However, this is a critical aspect that should not be overlooked. Community engagement activities in schools should not be random, but rather part of a comprehensive set of actions based on evidence and tailored to current circumstances and data on genuine needs (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Effectively involving families and reinforcing the connections between families and schools is an educational process that requires the cooperation of principals, teachers, and other school personnel, as well as families, and supportive adults.
Schools can facilitate this engagement by hosting community events, open houses, and forums for collaboration. Teachers can do this by starting or continuing to use family communication apps that do more than just messages. In elementary school, apps like Class Dojo allow for more interaction than just one-way messaging. They send weekly newsletters home, have all documents that go home translated into the parents' language, most curriculums offer translated versions of their documents, and have regular one-on-ones with updates on students' overall well-being and academics
#4
Conclusion
Addressing the multifaceted challenges of "Forgotten Schools" requires a collective effort that bridges policy reform and grassroots initiatives. Transforming public neighborhood schools into community schools represents a significant stride toward systemic change, providing holistic support that extends beyond academics. Simultaneously, implementing social-emotional learning, promoting critical thinking, and fostering family and community engagement are actionable steps that can be taken immediately to enhance the educational experience for students.
References
Academically Productive Talk. (n.d.). Library. https://www.academically-productive-talk.org/library
Academically Productive Talk. (n.d.). Tip deck for academically productive talk. https://tipdeck.academically-productive-talk.org/#home
Academically Productive Talk. (n.d.). What is academically productive talk? https://www.academically-productive-talk.org/what-is-academically-productive-talk
Brooks, M. P., Rollins, S. K., Collins, J., & Mayanja, N. (2021). Taking it to the next level: Strengthening and sustaining family engagement through integrated, systemic practice. Institute for Educational Leadership. https://iel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Taking-It-To-the-Next-Level.pdf
City of Philadelphia. (n.d.). Community schools. https://www.phila.gov/programs/community-schools/
ClassDojo. (n.d.). ClassDojo for teachers. https://www.classdojo.com/teachers/
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2020). CASEL's SEL framework: What are the core competence areas and where are they promoted? https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020/?view=true
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (n.d.-a). SEL 3 Signature Practices Playbook. https://signaturepractices.casel.org
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (n.d.-b). What does the research say?https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-does-the-research-say/
Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Klevan, S., & Fehrer, K. (2023). District Support for Community Schools: The Case of Oakland Unified School District. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/4054/download?inline&file=OUSD_Infrastructure_BRIEF.pdf
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-a). Classroom resources: Film kits. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/film-kits
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-b). Classroom resources: Lessons. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/lessons
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-c). Classroom resources: Student tasks. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/student-tasks
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-d). Classroom resources: Teaching strategies. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/teaching-strategies
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-e). Classroom resources: Texts. https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/texts
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-f). Professional development: Webinars. https://www.learningforjustice.org/professional-development/webinars
Learning for Justice. (n.d.-g). The Learning Center. https://www.learningforjustice.org/the-learning-center
Oakland Unified School District. (n.d.). Community Schools & Student Services. https://www.ousd.org/community-schools-student-services