Improving School-Community Connections: Moving toward a System of Community Schools.

This paper helps community partners envision a system of community schools and understand the changes needed to make it a reality. Information in the paper is adapted from a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago and the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. The study examined efforts to decentralize school systems in six major cities nationwide. Part 1 of this paper describes the basis for recent education reforms aimed at decentralizing authority and strengthening school and community connections. It also explains the contexts that shape community-linked school systems. Part 2 presents important features shared by various models for increasing school-level autonomy and school-community linkages. It describes the early experiences of six cities that adopted decentralized school systems. Part 3 shares lessons learned about the scope, depth, and characteristics of school reforms that build school-level responsibility for education. It also presents strategies for connecting schools with parents and communities and describes conflicts that can surface during efforts to create community schools. Part 4 explores challenges and implications for moving from an understanding of community schools to action. Part 5 identifies sources of more information. Contains 11 references. (SM)