Community Schools Impact on Student Outcomes: Evidence from California

• In Event: Evaluating the Impact of Community Schooling: Comparing Methodologies and Findings Across States

Abstract

Objectives
This quasi-experimental study evaluates the early impacts of the $4.1B California Community Schools Partnership Program (CCSPP), the largest investment in community schools in U.S. history. Specifically, it assesses the extent to which CCSPP implementation grants effectively reached high-need schools and evaluates the impact of community school practices on student outcomes, including attendance, suspensions, and academic achievement.
Theoretical framework
This study is grounded in a theory of change that views community schools not as service delivery mechanisms, but as a fundamental shift from the traditional factory model of schooling toward a whole-child, community-engaged approach. The grant funding, related supports, and reporting requirements are intended to provide sufficient resources for high-poverty schools in California to create systemic change through coordinated, place-based interventions that treat schools as the hub for community development and student success. As community school coordinators ensure schools and partners better meet students’ needs, engage parents, and extend learning opportunities, students should attend more regularly, be subjected to less exclusionary discipline, and learn more.
Methods and Data
The study compares changes in outcomes over time between schools that received CCSPP implementation grants (treatment group) and a matched group of similar schools that did not (control group). Employing a matched difference-in-differences technique, the analysis focuses on the divergence in student outcomes between these groups after grant implementation. The primary analysis uses publicly available administrative data from the California Department of Education (CDE) on all California schools from 2018–19 to 2023–24. The current study focuses on the 458 schools of the first cohort of implementation grantees, as they are the only schools with a full year of student outcome data.
Results
CCSPP implementation grants reached a diverse set of high-need schools across the state, with an average of 90% of students in grantee schools classified as English learners, low-income, or foster youth. After one year of implementation, CCSPP schools reduced chronic absenteeism by, on average, 30% more than matched schools, or the equivalent of over 5,000 additional students attending regularly. The implementation of community school approaches corresponded with an, on average, 15% reduction in suspension rates. Overall, CCSPP implementation was associated with 0.06 standard deviations improvement in math scale scores, with larger effects among Black students, English learners, and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. While overall ELA impacts were not statistically significant at conventional levels, they were marginally significant for several subgroups and notably significant among English Learners. The strongest academic improvements occurred in community schools that also made the most progress on chronic absenteeism, underscoring the interconnected nature of engagement and achievement.
Scholarly Significance
This study provides statewide evidence on the early outcomes of a large-scale investment in community schools and the magnitude of its impact (Appendix A). The initial positive findings suggest a promising return on California's historic investment in community schools, indicating that new resources and approaches are helping get kids back to school, lessening the need for exclusionary discipline, and increasing the rate of learning, especially among students who have been historically underserved.

Authors

• Walker A. Swain, LPI

• Cassandra Rubinstein, Learning Policy Institute

• Melanie Leung-Gagné, Learning Policy Institute

• Anna Maier, Learning Policy Institute