States Leading the Way on Innovative Community Schools
August 1, 2019
With community schools gaining attention (and ground) in the education space, Brookings’ Reuben Jacobson takes a look at how states are leading the way in innovating for such schools, which “engage families and community organizations to provide well-rounded support to students.” In recent years, he notes, “community schools advocates have secured victories at the national level, including sustained and increased funding for the Full-Service Community Schools Grant program and the inclusion of this program in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).” And now, “many community school leaders are focusing on state-level policy” as “responsibility for education has once again moved to the states with ESSA,” and therefore there are “new opportunities for these local initiatives to advocate for state support to solidify the community schools approach as a large-scale, long-term education reform strategy.”