Community Schools

A community school—sometimes referred to as a full-service school—is a school that strives to address the needs of the “whole child” (e.g., intellectual, psychological, physical, and emotional development) by situating itself within a network of partnerships to offer a complete range of wraparound support services. The Coalition for Community Schools, a national alliance of organizations and schools engaging in this work, defines a community school as “both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources.” Each community school partnership is a network of school faculty and staff, [Page 308]parents, and organizations within the community, working together to assess and respond to the various needs of the school’s students through social services, physical and mental health services, extended-day educational services, ...