Editor
Karen Hunter Quartz
Associate Editor
Marisa Saunders
Editorial Assistant
Lauren Kinnard
Editorial Board
Bianca del Rio, Executive Director, University-Assisted Community School Programs, Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania
Symone Gyles, Assistant Professor, School of Education, University of California, Irvine
Kevin Kane, Director, UCLA Visual and Performing Arts Education
Christa Rowland, Western Regional Deputy Director, Coalition for Community Schools at Institute for Educational Leadership
Curtiss Sarikey, Chief of Staff, Oakland Unified School District
Kyle Serrette, Senior Policy Analyst, National Education Association
Cora Watkins, Director, Community Schools Initiative, Los Angeles Unified School District
Review our editorial policy.
The global pandemic has renewed public interest in the community schools approach, a century old reform movement that centers the school in the strengths and needs of local neighborhoods. This movement is often framed as an effort to provide wrap-around services such as health and after-school programs. Community schools also represent a radical rethinking of who has knowledge, how young people learn, and how teachers teach. To support this rethinking, we are launching a new multi-media, open access journal with four features:
- School Cases
- Teacher Scholarship
- Youth Research
- Policy ABCs
These features are intended for a wide, practice-focused audience–to help the growing network of community schools develop into powerful whole-child sites of learning and social transformation. We invite you to subscribe to receive future issues and to contact us with any questions or feedback.
SCHOOL CASES
Community schools are defined by their particular histories, contexts, people, and ideas. In this feature, we capture the process of becoming a community school in different contexts, highlighting the enduring themes and ideas that shape the community schools movement, such as democracy, justice, and education. Designed to be read in less than 10 minutes, in a faculty meeting or study group, the cases are intended to promote inquiry and dialogue and include a discussion protocol and links for further reading.
TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP
Community schools are about powerful teaching and learning. In this feature, we highlight the intellectual work of teachers. Through reports, briefs, blogs, sample curricula, podcasts, video or other media, we draw attention to the critical role of teachers within community schools. With the goal of advancing practices both within and beyond their classrooms, teachers demonstrate how ongoing professional learning, inquiry and processes support the conditions under which learning occurs, what it looks like, and how to deepen it.
YOUTH RESEARCH
Community schools are grounded in the belief that the school belongs to the whole community—students, families, teachers and staff. In this feature, we highlight youth-led research that aims to improve students’ lives, learning experiences, schools, and communities. Youth research redefines who has the expertise to produce knowledge, provides critical insights into the issues faced by young people and offers important perspectives regarding how we can work collectively to solve those issues.
POLICY ABCs
Community schools are part of a growing national reform movement. In this feature, we share Actions, Briefs, and Commentaries that connect the work of schools to the broader policy effort to advocate for change, pass laws, create programs, measure success, and support the ongoing growth and development of community schools nationwide.