California’s investment in ‘community schools’ could transform K-12 education

California has allocated $4.1-billion to develop ‘community schools’ that have the potential to transform K-12 education.

The plan is to enrich schools in areas that struggle with poverty and other social ills to become neighborhood centers to meet the needs of students. These community schools will offer healthcare, mental health services, tutoring, and other social supports.

The aim is to break down barriers, such as hunger, anxiety and depression, racism, and housing insecurity, that detract from the ability of students to learn. Advocates say community schools could vastly improve educational outcomes. This new model is being expanded while a youth mental health crisis and intensified learning deficits are challenging educators after long, pandemic-forced school closures.

Some 268 districts across the state were awarded $649 million in grants for schools in the early stages of planning or for districts further along or seeking to expand. The L.A. Unified School District, which already had 31 community schools, received $44 million. Relatively few schools nationwide—an estimated 5,000—follow the community school model. Some studies have found that well-run community schools lead to better attendance, fewer discipline problems and chronic absences, and better communication with families.

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Exterior rendering of new K-12 school in Prince George's County in Maryland

K-12 Schools | Jun 29, 2021

A Maryland school system launches a P3 program to speed up K-12 school design, financing, and construction

Gilbane and Stantec are part of a consortium that breaks ground on six new schools this week.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

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A rendering of a new school campus with flexible indoor-outdoor teaching spaces

K-12 Schools | Jun 20, 2021

Los Angeles County issues design guidelines for extending PreK-12 learning to the outdoors

The report covers everything from funding and site prep recommendations to whether large rocks can be used as seating.

Exterior rendering of mass-timber TimberQuest school building

Wood | Jun 10, 2021

Three AEC firms launch a mass timber product for quicker school construction

TimberQuest brand seeks to avoid overinvestment in production that has plagued other CLT providers.

A digital twin of Marishal Square in Scotland

Digital Twin | May 24, 2021

Digital twin’s value propositions for the built environment, explained

Ernst & Young’s white paper makes its cases for the technology’s myriad benefits.

Daylighting | Mar 7, 2021

Texas intermediate school lets the sun really shine in

Solatube tubular daylighting devices bring sunlight into the two-story commons/media space for 600 students in grades 3-5 at Sunnyvale Intermediate School.