Community Schools Work! 2002 National Forum, June 23-25, 2002 www.communityschools.org/conference
In This Issue
February 20, 2002 Vol. II, No. 2

New Study Offers the Opportunity to Identify High-Performing Schools

The new report Dispelling the Myth Revisited identifies high-poverty, high-minority schools that are performing at high levels. The interactive online database allows people to search for high-performing schools in their own area. This tool can help demonstrate how community schools are helping students achieve at high levels.

State-wide After School Task Force Passes Unanimously in Illinois

Two major state agencies are working collaboratively to develop and implement a shared statewide plan for afterschool programs in Illinois.

Welcome to Community Schools Online where we provide updates on developments in the community schools field and the work of the Coalition. Please forward this e-mail to interested partners in your network and to related listservs. If you wish to subscribe to Community Schools Online, register at http://www.communityschools.org/about.html#email. To unsubscribe, send an email to ccs-l-off@lists.iel.org.

New Study Offers the Opportunity to Identify High-Performing Schools

The Education Trust report Dispelling the Myth Revisited provides a first of its kind state-by-state and national analysis of high-poverty and high-minority schools that score in the top 1/3 of all schools in their states. The analysis identified a total of 4,577 schools nationwide that met the following criteria:

  • Students' reading and/or math performance was in the top third among all schools in the state at the same grade level;
  • The percentage of low-income students in that school was at least 50% and ranked in the top third of schools at that grade level; and/or
  • The percentage of African American and Latino students in the school was at the least 50% and ranked in the top third of schools at that grade level.
As a group, these high-performing schools educate over 2 million public school students, including:

  • about 1.2 million low-income students;
  • about 564,000 African American students; and
  • about 660,000 Latino students.

Help Us Learn What These Schools are Doing to Succeed
What the Education Trust does not do in this particular study is to identify the key features of these schools that contribute to student achievement. They will be doing this in the future. However, if community school advocates can identify the scopes of services and opportunities available at these schools, we may be in a position to make a stronger case for community schools. In California, for example, 27% of the Education Trust's "high-performing, high-poverty schools" are sites for the Healthy Start program that offers a range of health and social services, family support, after school programs and other opportunities through a collaborative community driven approach.

This is what we would like you to do. The Education Trust has an interactive Web site, Dispelling the Myth Online, which is a searchable database that allows you to search for high-performing schools in your state. We would like to know what programs, supports and opportunities are available in these high-performing schools. We are asking you to provide us with the following information:

  • Is a school you are working with on this list?
  • If so, what supports and services are available in the school that are consistent with the principles of a community school?
The searchable database is easy and convenient to use. To identify schools in your area, go to Dispelling the Myth Online at http://64.224.125.0/dtm/ and click on the state in which you are working. Then simply complete the form provided to find out if the schools you are working with have been identified.

Please send us information on the programs and supports that are available at these school sites. E-mail your information to Will Blackwell at blackwellw@iel.org. You can greatly help us identify how community schools are better able to improve school performance.

For the full report and more information on using the online database, go to http://www.edtrust.org/main/index.asp.

State-wide After School Task Force Passes Unanimously in Illinois

Building on the growing interest in after school programs and the growth of 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Voices for Illinois Children helped push forward legislative action that created the After School Initiative Task Force. The statewide task force is co-chaired by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Department of Human Services. This task force provides a first time opportunity for leadership of these two major state agencies to work jointly to develop and implement a shared statewide plan.

Gaylord Gieseke, Vice President of Voices for Illinois Children, sees this state legislation as "supporting the growth of community schools efforts by developing a strategic plan for the state and identifying funding to support and sustain future efforts. There is now momentum for Illinois to move ahead in a true collaboration that involves many stakeholders from all over the state."

For more information on Voices for Illinois Children or to order a copy of their state policy strategy report, visit www.voices4kids.org. To read a summary of this report, see www.communityschools.org/newsletter20.html.

Additional Information
Check out http://www.communityschools.org/ for more information on the Coalition's work and progress. Contact Will Blackwell at blackwellw@iel.org to share important information involving community schools in your area and to learn more about their success across the nation. There is new information posted about the Community Schools Work! 2002 National Forum to be held in Washington, DC, June 23-25, 2002. http://www.communityschools.org/conference.html