6 Benefits of a Connected School

Community

BY KAY NAGESWARAN

Building a Connected School Community

A connected school community is a group of students, teachers, leaders, parents

and the wider school who learn from each other, together in a collaborative

environment, inside and outside the classroom.

This environment connects people, schools and technologies to meet common

learning goals. These goals can be specific to particular class work or can guide a

whole school or learning community.

But, what are the benefits of a connected school community? And why does your

school need it?

Importance of a Connected School Community

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Building a connected school community enhances learning outcomes and

support, collaboration and wellbeing for the entire school. 

Learning environments that are deeply united have an array of benefits for

students, teachers, parents and the wider school. Read on for six benefits of a

connected school community.

1. Connect people within the school community

When students, parents and teachers, as well as your broader school members

feel connected, there is a greater sense of belonging, school pride and

motivation to teach and learn.

2. Promote shared learning goals and collaboration

Sharing learning goals and providing opportunities to collaborate enhances

accountability across the whole school community.

3. Increase learning opportunities for students 

By enhancing the collaborative digital learning environment at your school,

students will be able to gain more opportunities to access and interact with

learning materials, collaborate and receive feedback.

4. Support personalised student learning journeys

No student learns the same way or at the same pace. With a connected learning

network, it will become possible to increase engagement and

create personalised learning journeys for each and every student.

5. Create an inclusive learning community

A learning environment where all members are connected means the diverse

knowledge and skills of all community members will be valued and even those

who may not be readily present will also be included in a collaborative setting.

6. Encourage shared responsibility

All school community members have a role to play in learning, solving problems

and contributing to the learning goals of pupils. By being connected, there is

shared responsibility and an overall increase in the learning opportunities for K–

12 students.

RE L AT E D

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Examples: Connected School Community

Once you know the benefits of a connected school community, the next

question becomes… how does one create such a setting? 

Online learning platforms and education software can be instrumental in

creating an effective school community that is united and shares the same

vision. This is because these platforms provide a space that allows the

engagement of the wider school in the delivery of education and thereby

enhances the learning experience for everyone connected within the school.

Here are some examples of how you can create a connected community with

online learning platforms and education software. 

Personalised learning spaces

When a student’s unique learning needs and style are catered for, their chances

of academic success increases. Creating personalised learning spaces using

online tools is a powerful way to engage and connect with learners. For instance,

with a Learning Management System, you can customise activities that challenge

more able students and support those who need extra guidance, including those

with learning difficulties and language barriers.

Network of support in one platform

To build a connected environment, timely and targeted communication to

families and the wider school about a student’s learning goals is crucial. With an

online learning platform, relevant members of the school can access a student’s

profile and see information about curriculum, learning materials, progress and
assessment due dates. Interest groups can also be created to support accessible

and simple communication between members.

Nurture collaboration and reflective practice 

For a school community to flourish and continually renew itself, teachers and

leaders must also be given opportunities to reflect on their practices, systems

and school procedures. With the school intranet, everyone can share

information and resources and collaborate on documents and tasks in real time.

For example, social streams, wikis, blogs, forums and groups enable staff to

create online conversations and work collaboratively in a virtual space.

Community knowledge

Schools play an important role in supporting their members by providing a

common meeting place and being a source of community knowledge. Sharing

learning and school expectations with parents, teachers, students and the wider

school provides a sense of togetherness and enables them to contribute to the

values and goals of the school. With education software, you can tailor content

visibility via a school portal for users and groups so they only see what’s relevant

to them.

Continuous feedback and reporting

Track student progress and learning to provide feedback in real time, in writing

or via online audio files and live chat with continuous feedback and
reporting tools. This empowers students to take learning into their own hands,

while enhancing engagement with parents, families and the wider school. 

New Africa/Shutterstock

School communities are a powerful way to build a sense of connectedness and

belonging and improve educational and teaching outcomes within a school.

When you have a strong school community that is united, you will be able to

prepare your students for the knowledge economy and provide learning

opportunities that are social, collaborative, personalised and participatory.

Looking for more resources? 

 School-Community Learning
Partnerships: Essential to Expanded
Learning Success
Download as PDF
Priscilla Little
Research and Strategy Consultant
 Read moreabout Priscilla Little

For the past decade the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative
has asked schools to work in partnership with community- and faith-based
organizations to support children’s learning during the hours after school and
during the summertime. Consequently, there has been tremendous growth
across the nation in intentional efforts to forge meaningful partnerships
between schools and afterschool and summer programs.

Increasingly, the field is recognizing that these partnerships are essential to

efforts to expand when, where, how, and what students learn (Little, 2011).
This article begins with an overview of the benefits of school-community
partnerships to students, schools, and community organizations. It then
examines the role of partnerships in the 21st Century Community Learning
Centers initiative, reviewing national data on the numbers and kinds of
partners that 21st Century Community Learning Centers nationwide are
engaging with to support student success. The article concludes with a
discussion of four features of effective learning partnerships.

The Benefits of School-Community Partnerships

When schools and community organizations work together to support
learning, everyone benefits. Partnerships can serve to strengthen, support, and
even transform individual partners, resulting in improved program quality,
more efficient use of resources, and better alignment of goals and curricula
(Harvard Family Research Project, 2010).
 First and foremost, learning partnerships can support student outcomes (see,
for example, Little, Wimer, & Weiss, 2008). For example, the Massachusetts
Afterschool Research Study found that afterschool programs with stronger
relationships with school teachers and principals were more successful at
improving students’ homework completion, homework effort, positive
behavior, and initiative. This may be because positive relationships with
schools can foster high quality, engaging, and challenging activities, along with
promoting staff engagement (Miller, 2005).

In addition to supporting student learning directly, partnerships can have

additional benefits to students and their families. They can

 provide continuity of services across the day and year, easing school
transitions and promoting improved attendance in after school programs;
 facilitate access to a range of learning opportunities and developmental
supports, providing opportunities for students and teachers alike to
experiment with new approaches to teaching and learning;
 facilitate information sharing about specific students to best support
individual learning; and
 provide family members with alternative entry points into the school day to
support their student’s learning.

Learning partnerships can also greatly benefit schools. They can

 complement the academic curriculum with a wider range of services and

activities, particularly enrichment and arts activities that may not available
during the school day;
 support transitions across the school years, particularly the critical middle
to high school transition, which research indicates is a key predictor of high
school graduation (Neild, Balfanz, & Herzog, 2007);
 reinforce concepts taught in school without replicating the school day, often
exposing classroom teachers working in the after school program to new
pedagogies;
 improve school culture and community image through exhibitions and
performances that help “shine the light” on students whose talents may not
be apparent in the classroom; and
 gain access to mentors, afterschool staff, and other resources to support in‐
school learning and improve the teaching and learning in the classroom
itself.

Finally, learning partnerships with schools can strengthen and support

community partners. They can

 help gain access to and recruit groups of students most in need of support
services;
 improve program quality and staff engagement, particularly when there is
crossover between school and community organization staff;
 foster better alignment of programming to support a shared vision for
learning, one which aligns curriculum to support state and local standards;
and
 maximize resource use such as facilities, staff, data, and curriculum.

Using Partners to Complement Program Offerings

Being a Lifelong Achiever Starts Today (BLAST) is a 21st Century Community Learning Centers
initiative program in Atlanta, Georgia. It has an effective collaboration with Atlanta Memorial
Hospital and New Attitudes Health and Fitness Center. Students are taught and mentored to help
improve their lifestyle by making dietary changes and exercising properly and regularly. Students
have access to a full array of health professionals and services at the center and can participate
in a 10-week wellness program. At the end of the 10-week course, known as “The Body Shop,”
the student who has made the greatest transformation receives a New Attitudes membership.
This membership provides access to the entire wellness and fitness center for one year. Many
students also learn how to swim and overcome their fear of the water. Since there is no
community pool or community gym available, this partnership has made resources available to
students that would otherwise not be available to them (Manhattan Strategy Group, 2011).

The Role of Partnerships in 21st Century

Community Learning Centers
Partnerships are a critical component of 21st Century Community Learning
Centers, and each year since 2006 the number of partners has continued to
 grow. By 2010, the 3,450 funded grantees engaged over 30,000 partners, with
an average of almost 9 partners per grantee. Community-based organizations
were the most common partners in 2010, almost three times higher than any
other type of partner. For-profit corporations and school districts were the
second and third most utilized partners, with colleges and universities also
playing a main partnership role.

Partners perform a number of important roles: They offer programming,

provide in-kind services, and provide paid and volunteer staffing (see Table 1).
Further, Table 1 illustrates that more partners have steadily made more
contributions to 21st Century Community Learning Centers over the past 5
years.

Table 1. Number of grants with a partner

providing a given contribution type across
5 years of annual performance reporting.

Partner Contribution 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Programming 2,464 2,582 2,695 2,881 3,139

Paid Staffing 1,782 1,814 1,906 1,965 2,046

Volunteer Staffing 1,833 1,924 1,933 2,042 2,185

In-Kind Goods 2,113 2,246 2,351 2,477 2,698

Funding 813 872 968 915 929

Evaluation Services 1,043 1,076 1,049 1,078 1,160

Over the past 5 years partners have contributed over $1 billion to
support 21st Century Community Learning Centers programming.

Analysis of the financial support that partners contribute by providing the

services listed above reveals that in 2010 alone, partners contributed over
$230 million to the 3,450 initiative grantees. Over the past 5 years partners
have contributed over $1 billion to support 21st Century Community Learning
Centers programming.

Together, these data suggest that partners are an essential component of the
21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative and they have been
growing significantly in all dimensions over the past 5 years. Partners provide
vital in-kind services and supports, as well as real dollars, which add
significant value to the work of 21st Century Community Learning Centers. As
centers consider bringing on more partners it is important that project and
site directors understand how to develop and cultivate effective partnerships.
The next part of this article discusses the features of effective partnerships.

Community Partners Can Support School Partners

Roger Williams, a Title I School in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of three anchor schools for a
wide range of afterschool programs in the South Side/West End AfterZone supported and
coordinated by the Providence After School Alliance (PASA). While Roger Williams struggles to
make AYP, its partnership with PASA, city agencies, and community-based organizations to
expand afterschool services has contributed to improved school performance. The partnership
with PASA has played a critical role in improving the scale and quality of afterschool services at
Roger Williams, currently reaching more than 360 youth in 45 different programs. Funding and
staffing support from PASA has provided resources to expand academic and enrichment
program options and double the number of participants. PASA also improves program quality by
supporting partnerships with high quality providers that include community- based organizations,
individual instructors, the school district, and the local police department (Providence After
School Alliance, internal communication, 2011).
 Features of Effective School-Community
Partnerships
There is emerging consensus on an inter-related set of features that help
promote and sustain healthy school-community partnerships (Harvard Family
Research Project, 2010):

 A shared vision for learning and developmental outcomes for

students. This vision acknowledges the critical, complementary roles of
schools, community partners, and families. A shared vision also helps
partners avoid working against each other and instead pursue a common
vision of student success. When school leaders embrace a vision for student
success that considers students’ physical, emotional, and social well-being in
addition to academic outcomes, the partnership is more likely to be
successful than when competing agendas operate during the expanded
learning day.
 A diverse set of partners with effective communications
mechanisms and relationships among multiple staff at multiple
levels. Strong and sustainable partnerships need relationships that are built
at multiple levels (for example, at the district, school, and classroom levels)
and among multiple school staff, including district and nonteaching staff.
Working with partners at different levels helps the afterschool and summer
programs become integral to the daily life and culture of the school at all
levels, from the principal to the custodian. In addition, relationships at
various levels can help mitigate the effects of staff turnover at other levels;
for example, strong relationships with teachers can help sustain the
partnership in the event of a change in principals.
 Intentionally blended staffing with role clarity to promote
understanding of how the work is relevant to all. For afterschool and
summer programs, this means hiring staff who have legitimacy in the school
building and who are skilled at building relationships with school staff. Some
programs do this by hiring licensed teachers, people who “speak the same
language” as school-day teachers, can substitute and consult in classrooms,
and can participate in professional development activities. Hiring licensed
teachers who also teach at a host school facilitates information sharing and
 forges connections with other teachers who might not otherwise make time
for “outside” programs or services. Blended staffing may also mean a liaison
who serves an important bridging function between the school and the
afterschool or summer program.
 Clear data-sharing processes and agreements. One feature of a strong
collaboration is the ability of partners to access information and data from
each other, including, if possible, student-level academic data (e.g., test
scores and grades). Afterschool and summer programs can use these data
both to track and strengthen student performance and to demonstrate the
impact of their services. In addition to getting data from schools, some
programs provide their own data to schools to promote reciprocal data
sharing.

As efforts to expand learning opportunities and time continue to grow under a

variety of approaches and models—whether afterschool, summer learning,
expanded or extended learning day or year, or out-of-school time—it is
important that all these efforts build on the strong base of effective
partnerships already present among schools and afterschool and summer
programs, capitalizing in particular on the rich history of partnerships
advanced by 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
 Positive Family and Community
Relationships
What Are They?Why Are They Important?All Related Practices

Why Are They Important?

It takes a village to raise a child, and science is proving this. Here are a few findings:

Students do better in school when their families are involved in their education.

 Students whose families participate in their education have higher levels of

attendance, homework completion, academic outcomes, and graduation
rates.
 Students’ attitudes towards school, self-esteem, and behavior all improve
when their families participate in their education.
 When schools suggest practical ways that families can support their
children’s learning at home, students do better.
 Families from all cultural backgrounds, education, and income levels can
positively influence student success.

Family-school partnerships improve students’ well-being.

 A meta-analysis of 117 studies found that when families are invited to

participate and partner with schools in their children’s education, students’
mental health and social-emotional outcomes improve.

Family-community-school partnerships that focus on building relationships, especially

with diverse families, create the conditions that support student achievement.

 School factors that cultivate these strong relationships include a welcoming

attitude that encourages involvement and a focus on the specific needs of
families and the community.
  Effective partnerships are strengths-based and power is shared among all
stakeholders.

“We must take care of our families wherever we find them.”

–Elizabeth Gilbert

Why Are They Important?

It takes a village to raise a child, and science is proving this. Here are a few
findings:

Students do better in school when their families are involved in their education.

 Students whose families participate in their education have

higher levels of attendance, homework completion, academic
outcomes, and graduation rates.
 Students’ attitudes towards school, self-esteem, and
behavior all improve when their families participate in their
education.
 When schools suggest practical ways that families
can support their children’s learning at home, students do
better.
 Families from all cultural backgrounds, education,
and income levels can positively influence student success.

 
 Family-school partnerships improve students’ well-being.

 A meta-analysis of 117 studies found that when families are

invited to participate and partner with schools in their
children’s education, students’ mental health and social-
emotional outcomes improve.

Family-community-school partnerships that focus on building relationships,

especially with diverse families, create the conditions that support student
achievement.

 School factors that cultivate these strong relationships

include a welcoming attitude that
encourages involvement and a focus on the specific needs of
families and the community.
 Effective partnerships are strengths-based and power is
shared among all stakeholders.

“We must take care of our families wherever we find them.”

–Elizabeth Gilbert

What Are School-Community Partnerships?

 They are respectful and collaborative partnerships between schools and outside
organizations.

 Partners can provide academic enrichment activities, tutoring and behavior support,
health and social services, and family and community engagement.

School-Community Partnerships Have Proven to Be Effective

 Studies show these partnerships can lead to:

o Stronger social and emotional skills development

o Enhanced student engagement (higher attendance rates and lower chronic

absenteeism)

o Improved academic outcomes (higher test scores and better grades, higher rates of
on-time grade promotion, and higher graduation rates)

Partnerships at Three Levels

 At the program level partnerships can:

o Provide additional learning experiences inside and outside the normal school day

o Offer individual support for students and their families

o Supply additional opportunities for meaningful relationships with adults

o Create deeper connections with families and communities

 Districts can strengthen partnerships at the staff level by:

o Including partner organizations in staff training related to social and emotional well-
being, restorative behavioral practices, and equity

o Creating district- and school-level positions to manage relationships and foster

school and partner communication

o Providing school principals and other administrators with the guidance and training
needed to make partnership successful

 Districts can advance partnerships at the structure and policy level by:

o Developing formal ways for partner organizations to contribute to a school’s strategic

plan

o Enabling data sharing between schools and partner organizations

o Developing district-level funding streams to help bring stability to partnerships

 How Schools Can Benefit from Community
Partnerships
 By Taylor Kremer

 on Jun 14, 2017

 in Funding Search

Schools experience many benefits by working with community organizations

to accomplish projects and programs that support students. Here are ways
community partnerships benefit both schools and communities.
 
Increase Impact
By partnering with a community organization you can combine your
resources to have a greater impact at a lower cost. Partnerships can broaden
your reach beyond your students to other children in the community. Pooling
resources, such as staff, volunteers, time, supplies, and space, can help
reduce the costs of your programs.
 
Eliminate Competition
Schools and community organizations with similar goals and programs may
be competing with each other for the same grants and funding. By reaching
out to community organizations that share your goals, you can partner to
write grants. Not only does this increase your odds of funding by eliminating
a potential competitor, it also strengthens your grant proposals. Funders
favor proposals where collaboration extends the reach and impact of the
grant. If a school does not have tax-exempt status, using a community
organization as a fiscal agent can widen the school’s eligibility for grants.
 
Share Strengths and Expertise
Partnerships allow each organization to take the lead on aspects of the
project where they have expertise. For example, a school could partner with
a community organization to start an after-school program for students. The
school may provide a space to hold the program and identify students who
would benefit from attending the program, while the community organization
reaches out to community members and coordinates volunteers.
Schools that partner with community organizations can also reach out for
other needs their school faces. For example, community organizations are
useful resources for teachers who want to invite professionals from a
particular field to their classrooms to engage students in experiential
learning.
 
Involve Your Community
Outside of school, students are interacting with their community on a daily
basis. Making connections in the community gives community members a
sense of responsibility and ownership over students’ learning, which leads
individuals in taking a more active role in supporting their local schools. It
also encourages the entire community to become teachers by contributing
their knowledge and expertise to students.
 
Community partnerships ultimately bring benefits to both the school and the
community. Partnering with a community organization increases a program’s
impact, strengthens grant proposals, and involves the community in
students’ education.