COMMUNITY SCHOOL GRANT

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Elkhart Community Schools is excited to have secured a 5-year Full-Service Community School grant for implementing the community school model, impacting 5 elementary schools, one middle school, and two schools in the Concord School District.

What is the Community School Model?
The Community School Model is a strategy for organizing the resources of the school and community around student success. The Community School strategy aims to develop an atmosphere of belonging and shared responsibility for our children’s learning and well-being. By joining the resources of the school with community partnerships, we provide opportunities and supports to meet the needs of our students and families.

The Community School Model is centered around four pillars:

Pillar 1

Integrated Student Support
Community schools take a “whole-child” approach to supporting students’ educational and life success. This means
that they pay explicit attention to students’ well-being development as well as their academic learning, recognizing
that they are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Research shows that integrated student supports are
associated with positive student outcomes. Students receiving school-based supports often show significant improvements in attendance, behavior, social well-being, and academic achievement.

Pillar 2

Expanded and Enriched Learning Opportunities
In community schools, community partners can provide supplemental academic instruction, enrichment, one-on-one
mentoring and tutoring, projects where students pursue their own interests, and learning activities beyond the school
campus, including community-based learning.

Pillar 3

Active Family & Community Engagement
Community schools prioritize meaningful and ongoing engagement of families and community members and
establish the systems, structures, and supports to make it happen.

Decades of research and experience underscore the importance and positive impact of ongoing and authentic engagement. Meaningful mechanisms for family and community engagement, led by welcoming teachers and school staff, can strengthen the school community, build positive relationships and school climate, and improve student outcomes on many measures, including attendance, discipline, and academic achievement.

Pillar 4

Collaborative Leadership & Shared Practices
The fourth and final pillar provides the relational “glue” that connects and reinforces the other pillars, making it
foundational and critical for the success of a community school strategy. By developing a shared vision and goals and creating participatory practices for distributing responsibilities, a community school leverages the collective expertise of all of its stakeholders.

In the community schools model, collaboration and opportunities for shared leadership extend beyond staff to include students, families, community members and leaders of community-based organizations, local government agencies, and
university partners.