CCS Partnership focuses on conditions needed for community schools to flourish
Published: March 27, 2012
Following a comprehensive discussion about community schools as a strategy for improving conditions for student success, the Cities Counties Schools Partnership Board of Directors last week agreed to propose a set of principles to help community agencies work together to create systemic change.
Founded in 1997, the CCS Partnership was created as a way for the three partnering associations—CSBA, the California State Association of Counties, and the League of California Cities—to improve the conditions of children, families and communities by encouraging coordination, integration and increased efficiency of local services and joint facilities among cities, counties and schools.
Meeting at CSBA headquarters in West Sacramento, the CCS board focused its discussion on community schools, defined as both a place and a set of partnerships between schools and other community resources, including the private sector. Sometimes called “full-service schools” or “extended-service schools” to differentiate them from the community day schools operated by county offices of education, community schools are hubs where public and private agencies create purposeful and accountable partnerships with schools. The community schools strategy offers a comprehensive set of integrated services to enable all students to attend school, be engaged in learning in the classroom, and achieve academic success.
At the March 22 meeting, the CCS board agreed to convene a smaller group of representatives from the three associations to draft a set of principles for creating systemic change through community schools. That group will discuss and identify shared goals and indicators of success that will help create the conditions to allow for purposeful cross-sector collaboration. The draft principles will be brought before the CCS board in June for discussion and possible approval.
The CCS Partnership’s work is a critical piece of CSBA’s yearlong focus on providing support to school board members and school districts to create the conditions for initiating, building and sustaining purposeful partnerships that support student learning and achievement. CSBA has a strand in its Annual Education Conference in San Francisco focused on community schools, in addition to a category within the Golden Bell Awards.
CSBA, in partnership with other organizations, has launched the California Community Schools Network online forum, where board members and other education leaders, school staff, and business and community stakeholders can discuss challenges, opportunities and successes of purposeful partnerships.
For more information, contact CSBA Assistant Executive Director for Policy Analysis Angelo Williams or Student Wellness Consultant Betsy McNeil in CSBA’s Policy and Programs Department.
Easy links:
Additional CSBA information on community schools: