Special Rebroadcast | Big Bets Part III: Community Schools Accelerating Equitable Recovery

This updated rebroadcast explores the Community Schools model and how it helps meet the multiple and complex challenges that children and families are facing.
Attendees will hear from:
José Munoz, Director, Coalition for Community Schools, Presenter
Hayin Kimner, Ph.D., Director, California Community Schools Learning Exchange, Presenter
Jay Roscup, Community Schools Director, Wayne County Community Schools, Presenter
Karen Sanchez-Griego, Ed.D., Superintendent, Cuba Independent School District, New Mexico, Presenter
Shital C. Shah, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, Presenter
John Gomperts, Executive Fellow, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Moderator

[phillipbevans]

Commitment to ensuring that children have access to caring school communities and meaningful learning has probably never been more important than at the present time. Community schools whose partners include not only teachers, students and families, but also community agencies and organizations, governments, local businesses, higher education and cultural organizations, and others can enhance individual, family, and neighborhood achievement and advancement to benefit everyone. Our well-being depends on it.

[phillipbevans]

Neighbourhoods and communities have important interests in, and means of, facilitating academic, social and emotional, and career success of children and families, and the relations of all of these to citizen satisfaction and engagement.
We think that, as COVID winds down, such communities have a unique, one-time, opportunity to leverage community spirit, resilience, and other concomitant advantages to create opportunities for the educational, social and emotional, and economic progress of those communities and their families.

[phillipbevans]

Until COVID, it seemed to be unfashionable in many quarters to discuss the needs of and for community. The experience of COVID has demonstrated the importance of communities to health and well-being. As in past pandemics, research shows that members of well-functioning communities fared better in terms of physical and emotional well-being and displayed more resilience as the pandemic continued. A whole school, whole child, whole community approach to teaching and learning can help facilitate transforming the educational experiences and lives of children and families in low-income and underserved communities to everyone's collective benefit.