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Grade Range

PK-12

Parameters

The community schools strategy transforms a school into a place where educators, local community members, families, and students work together to strengthen conditions for student learning and healthy development. They organize in- and out-of-school resources, supports, and opportunities so that young people thrive. (Learning Policy Institute, 2023)

• Establish enabling conditions: Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that reflects input from all stakeholders. Develop a shared vision and goals for student success and community well-being. Build trusting relationships by creating a welcoming school climate that fosters inclusivity and cultural responsiveness. Implement inclusive decision-making processes and create systems for actionable data to guide the work.

• Implement key practices:

• Develop supportive infrastructure: Secure sustainable funding from public and private sources. Create shared governance structures, such as hiring a full-time community school coordinator to manage partnerships and programs. Engage in continuous improvement through ongoing assessment and refinement of practices. Form strategic partnerships with local organizations to address identified needs. Offer professional learning opportunities for all staff on the community school strategy. Establish robust data systems to track progress and inform decision-making.

For more information

Blank, M., Harkavy, I., Quinn, J., Villarreal, L., & Goodman, D. (2023). The Community Schools Revolution: Building Partnerships, Transforming Lives, Advancing Democracy. Collaborative Communications Group. Available at

Institute for Educational Leadership. (2018). Community School Standards. Available at

Learning Policy Institute. (2023). Community Schools Forward. Available at

National Center for Community Schools. (2011). Building Community Schools: A Guide for Action. Available at and (2017). Leading with Purpose and Passion: A Guide for Community School Directors. Available at:

New York State Community Schools Technical Assistance Centers. Available at

RAND Project (2020) “Illustrating the Promise of Community Schools: An Assessment of the Impact of the New York City Community Schools Initiative.” Available at:

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Grade Range

6-12

Parameters

Modified from Getting Students on Track for Graduation: Impacts of the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (Faria et al.)��

• Step 1—Establish roles and responsibilities. Schools establish a team to lead and carry out the EWIMS process, determine the frequency and duration of meetings, and develop a shared vision for the team’s work. The team should include a broad representation of staff within the school.�� The team should meet monthly and examine students’ risk status and progress in interventions at the end of each grading period and at the end of the school year.
• Step 2—Use the early warning data tool. The EWIMS team, with support from data or technology specialists, imports student demographic data and initial data on absences, course failure, grade point average, and behavior indicators into the early warning data tool
• Step 3—Review the early warning data. The EWIMS team focuses its attention on student- and school-level data, based on the indicators available in the tool. Data are reviewed to identify students who are at risk for not graduating on time and to examine patterns in student engagement and academic performance within the school. This step is critical when using any type of early warning data, although the focus here is on using the “research-based” indicators and thresholds preloaded into the tool. Step 3 is revisited any time new data become available.
• Step 4—Interpret the early warning data. The EWIMS team seeks out and brings in additional data (besides the indicators) to better understand the specific needs of individual students or groups of flagged students. Unlike step 3, which is focused on the risk indicators in the tool, this step focuses on the underlying causes that might lead students to be identified as at risk on one or more indicators, using additional formal data (for example, administrative records) and informal input (for example, from teachers, family, and students).
• Step 5—Assign and provide interventions. EWIMS team members make decisions about matching individual students to specific interventions in the school, district, and community, which are locally determined.
• Step 6—Monitor students and interventions. The EWIMS team examines the student risk indicators on an ongoing basis to monitor the progress of students who have already been assigned to interventions. If these students continue to be flagged as at risk, the EWIMS team may consider assigning them to different interventions
• Step 7—Evaluate and refine the early warning process. Through active and structured reflection, EWIMS team members revise specific strategies or their general approach as needed and determine how best to allocate resources to support at-risk students. This step encourages EWIMS teams to make course corrections to any aspect of EWIMS implementation.

For more information

Getting Students on Track for Graduation: Impacts of the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System (Faria et al.)

Grade Range

All

Parameters:

Coaching programs are broadly defined as in-service PD programs where coaches or peers observe teachers’ instruction and provide feedback to help them improve. Coaching should be individualized, time-intensive, sustained over the course of a semester or year, context-specific, and focused on discrete skills. Common roles for coaches include:

• Instructional: Helps teachers implement effective instructional strategies, new ideas, often by observing a teacher and providing feedback, demonstrating a lesson, or even co-teaching.��
• Curriculum: Excels at understanding content standards, how components of a curriculum link together, in addition to how to use the content in planning instruction and assessment.�� These individuals can ensure a consistent curriculum implementation throughout a school.
• Data: Leads conversations that assists teachers in analyzing data and then applying the data to strengthen instruction

For More Information:

Matthew A. Kraft, David Blazar, Dylan Hogan. The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence. Review of Educational Research, November 2016

Grade Range

PK-12

Parameters

Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is a systemic, evidence-based, continuous school-improvement framework in which data-based problem solving, and decision-making are practiced across all levels of the educational system. MTSS-I provides the structure for districts to prioritize the needs of the whole child, including social-emotional, behavioral, and academic growth. It ensures culturally responsive-sustaining environments that are welcoming, safe, and bias aware, forming the foundation of all instruction and interventions.

• Implement a three-tiered support structure. Tier 1 Universal Interventions serve all students. Tier 2 Secondary Interventions meet the needs of students in need of additional support, and Tier 3 Tertiary Interventions are for students in need of individual support.
• Make data-driven decisions based on multiple data collection and assessment methods to ensure students receive the appropriate supports for their needs. Consider universal screenings, diagnostics, and ongoing progress monitoring.
• Create teaming structures to lead the work, including a District Leadership Team (DLT), School Leadership Teams (SLTs), and Grade-Level Teams (GLTs). These teams collaborate to coordinate supports across the tiers.
• Integrate all services, including academic, behavioral, social emotional learning, health, and mental health, to ensure consistency and alignment across service areas and support tiers.
• Apply culturally responsive-sustaining and equitable education practices to better ensure that every student can access the specific resources they need.
• Implement in phases. It can take 2-4 years to reach full implementation. It encourages use of Implementation Science Stages, including Exploration, Installation, Initial Implementation, and Full Implementation. Ongoing professional development and coaching is necessary for program fidelity.

For more information

����С����. (2023) Multi-Tiered System of Supports – Integrated (MTSS-I) Pilot Framework. Available at

American Institutes for Research (AIR). (2024). Essential Components of MTSS. Available at and Implementation. Available at:

Grade Range

All

Parameters

PLCs are learning teams organized by subject, grade level, and/or special interest in which teachers meet weekly to:

• Discuss issues around student learning
• Collect and analyze data
• Develop and try out instructional solutions
• Assess the impact of these solutions

Research indicates that well-implemented PLCs support improvements in practice along with student learning gains. The most successful PLCs have an explicit focus on student learning, increase teacher empowerment and authority in decision making, and promote continuous teacher learning through joint study of research literature.

For More Information

Linda Darling-Hammond, Maria E. Hyler, and Madelyn Gardner, with assistance from Danny Espinoza. Effective Teacher Professional Development. Learning Policy Institute. 2017, p. 17. Available at

Rhonda Barton and Jennifer Stepanek. The Impact of Professional Learning Communities. Principal’s Research Review, a publication of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Vol 7, Issue 4, July 2012.