The Pomona, CA School Board passed a Community Schools pilot program June 8th, 2016 for implementation in two high schools.

The resolution creates a school family council, funds full-service Community Schools coordinators at each community school, and ensures that the school district will complete comprehensive needs assessments to improve essential functions of the strategy.

This Guide is helpful for anyone engaged in a place-based strategy including community schools, Promise Neighborhoods, Choice Neighborhoods, and other cradle-to-career efforts.

All students need to go through transitions: from grade to grade, school to school, and from school to life in their communities. Families and schools need to work together to prepare students for these transitions. Youth with disabilities face more challenges than others when they try to go through these transitions. Supports are provided to youth with disabilities in the transition period to help them to develop self-advocacy, independent living, and career skills.

What is the ROI of a community school coordinator? The community school strategy has proven effective in improving academic outcomes for students, and it is well accepted among community school practitioners that a crucial piece of this strategy is the Coordinator. The Coordinator is the person who oversees the implementation of the strategy and shares responsibility for the outcomes. A recent study found that each $1 invested in the coordinator returns about $7 net benefits.

What’s “Deeper Learning?” The Hewlett Foundation defines it as “an umbrella term for the skills and knowledge that students must possess to succeed in 21st-century jobs and civic life. At its heart is a set of competencies students must master in order to develop a keen understanding of academic content and apply their knowledge to problems in the classroom and on the job.”