A Coordinated Effort: Well-Conducted Partnerships Meet Students' Academic, Health, and Social Service Needs

Without question, schools must be accountable for students' performance. But schools can not meet students' needs alone. Young people need more connections, more support, more opportunities, and more learning time to be successful. When supports and services are not available, often it is the teachers who step in to fill the void. They do this because they have formed relationships with their students and know that unmet needs impede learning. However, teachers have a number of additional demands on their time. They may counsel students, work with parents to develop better discipline strategies, make home visits, search for social services, and in some cases, administer medications. Many students need this help, but they also need their teachers to devote their time and energy to teaching. In this article, the authors suggest teachers to invest in the development of community schools. Community schools partner with youth development, health, and social services organizations to meet students' needs. In community schools, teachers get the supports they need to be able to teach, and students are better served by partners such as family support centers and medical and dental clinics that are literally just down the hall. Community schools have spread to localities across the country in part because they align the assets of students, families, educators, and the community around a common goal--improving the success of young people. The author discusses the benefits of a community school and its impact on attendance/dropout rates and children and youth behavior. Suggestions for teachers who would like to turn their school into a community school are presented.