NEWS

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, we are launching this month a new blog on how community school teachers create opportunities for engaged and rigorous learning–during and beyond this COVID-19…

Community schools are on the front line of this COVID-19 crisis–working hard to ensure all members of their communities are safe and secure. This month, we feature inspiring stories of collective action and love, not to minimize the enormous equity challenges of the moment but to uplift what it means to be part of a powerful community school. This week also marks the beginning of UCLA’s Spring Quarter and with it we are pleased to release a new Research Practice Partnership Brief: Translanguaging: A Look Inside a High School Geography Classroom.

This month we celebrate the value of our democracy and the importance of preparing students to engage as active and critical participants in society. As Ira Harkavy reminds us, universities must “contribute to developing and sustaining fair, decent and just democratic societies for all.” University-assisted community schools do just that when they bring together diverse learners to collectively solve problems and celebrate the agency within communities. We are excited to share stories about artivism, political action, our future graduates, and the Rise Up for Equity movement coming to Los Angeles in May.

This month we celebrate the community schools movement. We acknowledge growing support and the progress of the movement from New York to California. We also celebrate local leaders of the movement and bid farewell to individuals who make the day-to-day work of community schooling possible. We invite you to learn more by joining us this month at a community school study tour.

As we head into 2020, we celebrate the power of community schools to impact the lives of young people and inspire collective action. This month, we highlight efforts to engage youth in climate education and action, advance bilingual education, reimagine and share migration stories, and explore potential career pathways. As one student reflecting on their internship experience reminds us: “It’s really life changing…everyone should have this opportunity to be a good person, to be a part of the community, and add on to society.”  

We are thankful this month for the opportunities our students have to engage as powerful change agents in the world. We are also thankful for their teachers and the many community partners who contribute to their schools and the larger effort to advance educational equity.