It S Just Common Sense - It S Making the Difference

Community Schools – Student Overall Classroom Performance Improves

Issue Background: A clear intent of the community school model is that students will be more fully engaged in school because their needs are being addressed and met through out of school enriched time. As their participation increases, students will take greater ownership of their educational experience and its components. How students interact with their teachers greatly impacts how well the students will perform in the classroom. Student performance is reflected in a range of behaviors and measures including classroom respect, completion of classroom work and overall grades. Moreover, if their performance and behavior improve, then the school experience and climate improves for all students, leading to a more stable, cooperative, and positive learning experience.

A key to this success is the structured and program-enriched out-of-school time. Student participation in these extra hours of schooling provide important opportunities to focus on classroom work, enrich student curriculum, provide access to extra programming and, at times, give parents access to critical resources and services.

Impact of Community Schools on Classroom Performance: Students attending community schools and participating in out-of-school time programs realize important academic benefits using three measures: teacher ratings of academic engagement and positive behaviors associated with academic success, school grades in reading, and school grades in math.

Research Findings: ■ Homework: Of the 60% of students identified as needing to improve their completion of homework, 70% improved their completion of homework;

■ Participation: Of the 53% of students identified as needing to improve their participation in class, 72% improved their participation in class;

■ Behavior: Of the 45% of students identified as needing to improve their classroom behavior, 66% improved classroom behavior; and

■ Academic performance: Of the 67% of students identified as needing to improve their overall academic performance, 73% improved overall academic performance.

Policy Implications: As schools strive to engage students as learners and citizens, the community school stands out as a primary strategy to accomplish both. Illinois should encourage and provide resources so each school can become a full-service community school.

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