With education topping his agenda, President Obama sent a powerful message during last month's State of the Union address: No school is an island. "Education," Obama said, "begins not in our classrooms, but in our homes and communities."
"We know what's possible for our children," he continued, "when reform isn't just a top-down mandate, but the work of local teachers and principals, school boards and communities."
As someone who's fought for community-based schools for more than two decades, I couldn't agree more.
The President's words were a great start, but there is more to the message. Had he devoted more of his speech to education, here's what the President might have said:
Yes, a rigorous education coupled with family and community supports are key to educating all of our children. No one can dispute the power of great teachers and an engaging curriculum, accompanied by afterschool enrichment, wraparound health and social services, real family involvement and the chance for students to contribute to their communities. We can and we must work to educate the whole child -- and impact the whole family -- particularly those from underserved communities.
I know that our schools cannot do this alone. Families and community organizations must step up. My administration has been learning what success looks like from school and community leaders.
They are organizing community schools that serve as neighborhood hubs, open year-round with longer hours and linked with local organizations to provide a range of opportunities, from tutoring, enrichment, mentoring and health services for children to evening classes for parents and neighborhood residents. These kinds of schools are driving student achievement and neighborhood revitalization; promoting family involvement in school; and strengthening community bonds.
Given our nation's fiscal challenges, we have no choice but to organize public, private, and community resources more effectively and collaboratively. A recent report from the Coalition for Community Schools shows that for every $1 that the school system invests in a community school, the community invests an additional $3. That's real leverage. According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the return was even greater during his tenure organizing 150 community schools in Chicago.
And the research is clear: students in community schools learn better, attend school more, and are healthier.
The Lane Middle School in Portland, Ore. shows what's possible. Lane is one of 60 Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) community schools organized through a partnership of Multnomah County, the city of Portland and six school districts.
Lane works with higher education institutions, public agencies and community-based organizations to provide homework assistance, tutoring, sports and arts activities, and youth empowerment and leadership groups. The school links students and families to individualized social services and connects with them through a family engagement coordinator. A school-based health center, operated by Multnomah County, cares for students and their families. A dedicated staffer mobilizes these resources and integrates them into the school, allowing educators to focus on academics.
Principal Karl Logan reports that Lane is the first school in Oregon to move beyond federal benchmarks and has since received a state award for closing the achievement gap. Logan considers the SUN community school as a pillar of Lane's success.
We know the formula works elsewhere, in places like Chicago, Cincinnati, Evansville, Hartford, Kansas City, Montgomery County (MD), Tulsa, and rural communities as well.
To replicate and build on these successes, I want to send a clear message that we all share responsibility for our children's future, and ask Congress to offer incentives, such as grants and policy reforms that move schools and community partners toward collaborations that focus on results.
Let's modify top-down educational mandates such as No Child Left Behind to unleash the power of communities to adapt school models to neighborhood needs. State and local government, schools, and private supporters must allocate funds to schools for staffers to coordinate these critical partnerships and encourage community participation.
Washington will provide invaluable leadership. But the beauty of the community schools model, and the key to its sustainability, is that it originates from the grassroots.
Just as community schools nurture partnerships among educators, advocates, and citizens, I pledge a new level of partnership between Washington and communities nationwide to build on the promise of this approach: healthy kids, healthy families, and healthy communities. The only way we'll get there is by working together.
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One example, that was funded by private money and grants, was a free book program for low income students. They gave children's books to people with preschool and early school age children. And whaddya know, reading scores improved.
Two, take out most of the state testing.
three........I had a much longer list but this is a start.
"Typing and using computers" is not short hand for being articulate, or deft with language.
There are too many adults who are "functionally illiterate"...and are ALL over the web....
You don't get to pick and choose which students are worthy of your education. Those days are over.
OMG--GREED IS NOT GOD! GREED IS NOT EVEN GOOD!
Chris Bowen
Author of, "Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom"
However most people live (I put myself through school & have been self-supporting since I was 17, so don't start in on ME), nearly all parents care desperately about their children and want the best for them. They understand the value of education. A community school can tap this passion for making things better and turn it to good use. And it can do it in a cost-effective way. What's wrong with that?
And what in the world does it have to do with East Indians and Asians? Are you saying African American parents don't care about their kids? What the heck ARE you saying?
visit a preschool of 3 and 4 year olds. then visit a 5th grade class. see for yourself what our education model, paradigm, ideology has done to most students.
a paradigm shift is needed and americans are in no mood for a paradigm shift. they already think they know like this author with his grass roots solutions.
professors dont know, teachers dont know, politicans dont know, parents dont know, principals dont know the teacher centered results only pay for performance is alive and well in america. it is failing: a paradigm shift is needed.
travel the world and see and experience a process oriented student centered learning environment really looks and feels like.
change the system but that requires a profound paradigm shift and paradigm shifts are rare very rare and with a nation that already thinks it is best in everything it is nearly impossible.
in fact most teachers already think they are student centered as they become stressed out from being a teacher centered learning centers. they know not how could they. as I visit schools this teacher centered is so harmful to the students but even more so stressful to the teachers. our teachers are being profoundly overworked and taken advantage of daily.
As for traveling the world and seeing how things could be, that's down-right un-American. We would rather have our heads stuck firmly in the sand so we don't have to admit we aren't at the top of the heap. A lot like North Koreans, I think. Well, except that we have food to eat.
Great point about teacher-centered schools being stressful for teachers. I imagine trying to reconcile the mission with the reality must take all of your energy.
Just a thought.
It should be obvious that having a household and a community wherein education is prioritized will lead to success.
It is, IMHO, way too easy for American parents to shift the burden of raising their children on society. Too many allowances are made to let parents get away with being absentee and irresponsible. I'm not sure exactly how to "fix" our society, and how to get parents to become more involved and authoritative, but it needs to happen. And soon!
I'm sorry, but some people's expectations of educators are ridiculous. Especially of those with families of their own to take care of!
You're so smart!