How Community based schools work

How Community based schools work

Community schools are partnerships between public and private organizations. The school becomes a hub for the community. These schools not only teach students but also provide access to services families needs. “It’s integration of academics and services leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities” (Blank, Heifets, Shah, & Nissani, 2004, p. 155). Community based schools use partnerships to build community consensus and carryout programs that would normally not be available to the community. For example, community schools provide a clothing closet, emergency food, counseling, and limited health care for families (Blank et al., 2004).

In contrast, public schools work towards educating students, provide services such as school lunch programs, access to a school nurse and special education programs.

To illustrate the differences between Community Based Schools and Public Schools, I will use St Paul, Minnesota and Harford County, Maryland as an example. Saint Paul, Minnesota currently has three community base schools.

In 2001, the total student enrollment in St. Paul, Minnesota was 45,011 (The Minneapolis Foundation, 2005). The demographic break down is as follows. St. Paul, Minnesota is as follows: 901 American Indian/Alaskan Native, 13,953 Asian/Pacific Islander, 10,802 African American, 14,854 Caucasian, and 4,501 Hispanic. Note: the Minneapolis Foundation cited demographics as a percentage. These percentages were converted to whole numbers for comparison purpose.

There were 40,200 pupils enrollment in Harford County public schools for 2004 (Maryland Report Card, Harford County 2004). The demographic breakdown in Harford County public schools is as follows: 215 American Indian/Alaskan Native, 925 Asian/Pacific Islander, 6,571 African American, 31,402 Caucasian and 1,087 Hispanic (Maryland Report Card, Harford County 2004). Note: since schools rarely give individual demographic numbers, county public school demographics were used. While the fiscal years are different, the student population is comparable in size. “The demographic population of community schools are much the same as public schools since community schools are enhanced public schools and do not turn any students away based on ability” (Official, Coalition for Community schools, personal communication, April 26, 2005).

Community schools are funded in several ways. Many community schools receive grants from philanthropic organization such as Carnegie Corp., Charles Stewart Mott foundation, and Knowledge Works to name a few. Additional funding is provided by the Department of Education. On average, the department gives schools $250,000 in funds to support the No Child Left behind (NCLB) act.