Looking to the Past, Looking to the Future: The History and Promise of the Community Schools Movement

• In Event: 30.023 - Examining Power Dynamics in Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the former and more recent community schools movement. The community schools movement has recently been revived through formal provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Blending a historical and contemporary case study, the authors contend that the community schools model has been and currently is underspecified. Consequently, there is no consensus on what community schools are or how community schools should function. This lack of clarity and consensus makes it difficult to build a replicable model across multiple districts. The authors advocate for collective dialogue and sensemaking activities at the national, state, and local levels to help build on successful components of the original model updated to meet today’s needs.

Authors

• John L. Lane, Michigan State University

• Brian Joseph Boggs, Michigan State University