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.
Related Stories
K-12 Schools | May 17, 2019
Tall schools, tight spaces: Giving students access to the outdoors requires considerable creativity
Verticality has some plusses, according to AEC firms that have engaged such projects recently.
K-12 Schools | Apr 25, 2019
How outdoor environments provide value to K-12 learning, health, and safety
Outdoor spaces at school offer students key opportunities to learn, problem solve, and mentally refresh.
K-12 Schools | Jan 21, 2019
Safer K-12 design: School should feel – and look – like school
In an age during which stories of bullying, school shootings, and mental health concerns are all too common, designers have a critical role to play in crafting K-12 schools that simultaneously promote engaged learning and student safety.
K-12 Schools | Nov 5, 2018
Modernizing schools is paying off in creating better learning and teaching environments
A new paper reports on a recent study of nine schools in Washington DC that gauged occupants’ perceptions.
K-12 Schools | Jul 26, 2018
K-12 market trends 2018: Common areas enable hands-on learning
Modern designs emphasize social and collaboration spaces outside the classroom.
| May 30, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: From micro schools to tiny houses: What’s driving the downsizing economy?
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), micro-buildings design expert Aeron Hodges, AIA, explores the key drivers of the micro-buildings movement, and how the trend is spreading into a wide variety of building typologies.
| May 24, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Security and the built environment: Insights from an embassy designer
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), embassy designer Tom Jacobs explores ways that provide the needed protection while keeping intact the representational and inspirational qualities of a design.
K-12 Schools | Jan 25, 2018
Cost estimating for K-12 school projects: An invaluable tool for budget management
Clients want to be able to track costs at every stage of a project, and cost estimates (current and life cycle) are valuable planning and design tools, writes LS3P's Ginny Magrath, AIA.
K-12 Schools | Jan 24, 2018
Hawaii’s first net-zero public school
G70 is the architect, planner, and civil engineer of record for the project.
K-12 Schools | Jan 22, 2018
Innovative learning environments and our ‘Heschong Mahone moment’
An education market think tank proposes a radical research concept for evaluating learning environments.
