Impact of Community Schools in Early Childhood Education

Posted by on January 28, 2013

New Reports Show Impact of Community Schools in Early Childhood Education

Community school initiatives have an advantage when it comes to implementing a range of alignment and transition practices for children in their early years (0-8), leading to improved outcomes. These systemic approaches can be scaled up and replicated as a strategy for turning around elementary schools in districts facing multiple challenges, according to new reports recently released next week by the National Coalition for Community Schools

Community school leaders showcased how they are improving outcomes for vulnerable young children during a seminar hosted by the New America Foundation January 14 in Washington, D.C.

The Coalition and its local community school partners have spent the past three years implementing the Early Childhood-Community Schoo Linkages Project to help families with young children better prepare for elementary school.

The Coalition released a research brief which highlights findings from the Linkages Project evaluation, as well as case studies on community sites in Cincinnati, Evansville, Portland, and Tulsa Monday in conjunction with the New America Foundation Event. Leaders from Cincinnati’s Community Learning Centers community school initiative will be featured speakers during the New America Foundation seminar, titled “Turnaround 2.0: Tapping the Potential of the PreK-3rd Grades to Improve Schools.”

The Linkages Project study uncovered a number of positive preliminary outcomes at the child and family, school building and systemic level. The report shows children had a greater comfort with school and increased readiness to engage in the instructional program. The students also showed significant gains in attendance and academic achievement. Parents had increased capacity and efficacy to support their children. Schools also demonstrated better coordination between educators as children transition from preschool settings to kindergarten and primary school.

These reports and other resources on early childhood education in community schools are posted online at http://www.communityschools.org/earlychildhood/

Research Brief on the Early Childhood and Community School Linkages Project
http://www.communityschools.org/assets/1/AssetManager/ECE%20Linkages%20Research%20Brief.pdf