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Community schools framework: four pillars for a whole-child, whole-school, whole-community approach

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Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The Oakes et al. community schools framework organizes school redesign around integrated supports, expanded learning, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership to improve outcomes for students in underserved communities.

Components

  • Community schools framework: four pillars for a whole-child, whole-school, whole-community approach: The report describes community schools as an approach in which schools partner with local communities to provide high-quality teaching plus additional resources and supports that mitigate barriers poverty erects. It is explicitly "an approach to schooling based on evidence-based principles, rather than a 'program'" and is built on "four pillars—integrated health and social supports, expanded learning time and opportunities, strong family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practice" that meet community needs and use community assets. Together the pillars provide more than wraparound services, using a whole child, whole school, whole community redesign of schools. (Oakes et al. (2020))
  • Community schools built on four evidence-based pillars coordinate supports for children and families: The report describes community schools as a vehicle for coordinating services for children and families, grounded in 'four evidence-based pillars: integrated student supports, expanded and enriched learning time, active family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership practices.' Local policies, regional technical assistance agencies, blended funding streams, and Children's Cabinets are recommended to launch and sustain such initiatives at scale. The report states community schools 'have demonstrated their capacity to meet students’ needs during the pandemic.' (Darling-Hammond et al. (2020))
  • Community schools framework: four pillars creating conditions where all children learn: The brief describes community schools as a place-based strategy in which "schools partner with community agencies and local government to provide an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement." Four pillars appear in most community schools: integrated student supports, expanded learning time and opportunities, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practices. The pillars emerged from a comprehensive review of community schools research, are often organized by a full-time community schools coordinator, and align with evidence-based features of good schools. (Oakes et al. (2017))
  • The four-pillar framework of community schools: integrated student supports, expanded learning time, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership: The report organizes community schools implementation around four evidence-based pillars, or features: "(1) integrated student supports, (2) expanded learning time, (3) family and community engagement, and (4) collaborative leadership." State grant programs use these pillars to structure allowable uses of funds—New Mexico implementation grants, Vermont grants, and Georgia's certification process all fund activities mapped to the pillars. The framework functions as the report's organizing account of what a community school is and does, alongside practices grounded in the science of learning and development such as trauma-informed supports. (Maier et al. (2023))

Claims

Key Sources

  • Oakes, J., & Espinoza, D. (2020). Community schools the New Mexico way. Learning Policy Institute. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/improving-education-new-mexico-way
  • Darling-Hammond, L., Schachner, A., & Edgerton, A. K. (with Badrinarayan, A., Cardichon, J., Cookson, P. W., Jr., Griffith, M., Klevan, S., Maier, A., Martinez, M., Melnick, H., Truong, N., Wojcikiewicz, S.). (2020). Restarting and reinventing school: Learning in the time of COVID and beyond. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. http://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/restarting-reinventing-school-covid
  • Oakes, J., Maier, A., & Daniel, J. (2017). Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/equitable-community-schools
  • Maier, A., & Rivera-Rodriguez, A. (2023). State strategies for investing in community schools. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/612.402
Page metadata
Field Value
type product
id community-schools-framework-four-pillars-for-a-whole-child-whole-school-whole-community-ap
title Community schools framework: four pillars for a whole-child, whole-school, whole-community approach
description The Oakes et al.
status review
product_kind framework
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-10
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