Local School Topics

The idea of community schooling is not new, but it has presented significant challenges to Philadelphia Public Schools. Community schools have cropped up in various locations around the country and have proved their worth to students and the surrounding neighborhoods. As Philadelphia takes yet another look at the feasibility of community schools in this large district, it is an opportune time to examine the many potential benefits this school model provides.

This video reports on community schools in Philadelphia.

What is a Community School?

According to the Coalition for Community Schools website, this school model features a partnership between the school and other community resources. The model recognizes that the learning process does not occur in a vacuum and that students bring other factors to the table when they come to class every day. The community school strives to address as many of those factors as possible, to ensure students of all backgrounds and income levels have the best possible shot at academic success.

A true community school goes well beyond the academic realm, however. These full-service institutions offer health care, social services, and support systems in addition to a wide range of academic options. Community schools also extend their hours and access to ensure all members of the community that require these services may find what they need right at the school.

In addition to offering a wide range of services, a

At a time when many schools are pushing churches out in the interest of separation of church and state, one large Florida school district is actually welcoming churches in. Duval County, as well as other Florida school districts, appears to be learning the delicate dance between accepting help from community churches without bringing religion into the school setting. As the two coordinate efforts, it seems the biggest winners in this new partnership are the students the schools – and churches – aim to serve.

An Unlikely Partnership

The Florida Times-Union reports that First Coast churches are coming to the aid of many schools in the area, with surprisingly positive results. The first step toward this unlikely partnership was the school system, which approached a Christian non-profit, Campus Crusade for Christ, five years ago. One of the employees of the organization, Ken Vensel, was surprised when school officials asked the organization for help with a faith-based initiative for the schools. However, Vensel took the request to heart and organized a group of faith leaders in the area to come together in providing the services schools were looking for.

The result has been a number of partnerships between schools and faith leaders throughout the state, including Duval County where the needs are often great. In one Duval elementary school, Windy Hill, nearly 70 percent of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches. Churches can help these schools in a variety of ways, offering

College and professional sports teams have a medical staff to screen players and keep them healthy on and off-season. However, high school athletes rarely have the same services available to them. Many cannot afford medical care on their own, and family physicians may not have the time or knowledge to help these young athletes achieve their top performance level in the safest way possible. In San Francisco, one organization hopes to change that by providing high school students with the medical care they need to stay at the top of their game.

About PlaySafe

According to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital website, PlaySafe is a program provided by the Sports Medicine Center at the University of California, San Francisco. The program is designed as an outreach serving student-athletes throughout the Bay area. The program was created in response to the death of a San Francisco Unified School District football player in 2002. PlaySafe strives to avoid similar tragedies in the future through comprehensive screenings and medical care both on and off the field.

Services provided by PlaySafe include:

• Education – Training for coaches, parents, and officials, periodic conferences and community outreach programs, and internships for students interested in careers in sports medicine
• Sports Medicine Care – Both on-site care and coverage of sports events, as well as training room development
• Medical Screenings – Physical examinations, cardiac screenings, and wrestling weight management programs
• Referrals – Access to the UCSF sports medicine referral network, priority admittance to the sports

In the need to inspire more students to STEM fields today, some schools are hiring more science teachers. However, without the proper equipment, these teachers may be fairly limited in what they can teach their students. Fortunately, high school and middle school students in Hawaii will not be at a loss for the proper science equipment any longer, thanks to a budding partnership between the large school district and the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Repurposing Creates New Opportunities

The Pacific Business News reports that the partnership between the public schools in the state and the University medical school began three years ago. At that time professional development program at the medical school teamed up faculty from the Center for Cardiovascular Research and local high school teachers to enhance the quality of learning for high school science students in the state.

The original purpose of the partnership was to provide professional training to high school science teachers, allowing them to see firsthand the latest techniques in the school’s advanced medical procedures. Teachers were able to take the knowledge they gained back into their classrooms. However, the assistant professor at the center who was leading the training, Rachel Boulay, discovered that most of the schools in the state did not have the equipment necessary to bring teaching to a real-world level.

Boulay’s discovery led to an expanded partnership between the college and the public school district. Today, donations of thousands of dollars

The annual ranking of the top-performing high schools in the country was recently published by U.S. News and World Report. Two criteria were used to create this list; standardized test scores in math and reading and performance on Advanced Placement exams. However, Gallup is taking the process a step further to look at other factors that might contribute to top performance across the nation. The polling company focused on one of the largest school districts in the country, Montgomery County Schools, for their analysis.

The Gallup Student Poll

Gallup brings decades of experience in data collection and analysis to the table in establishing their new Student Poll. According to the website, this poll is designed to utilize student factors in measuring academic performance and success in schools. The poll is focused on three key indicators of student success:

• Engagement – This indicator gauges a student’s enthusiasm and participation in his school. Gallup has found that students that are more engaged in their school environment tend to perform better academically as well.
• Hope – A student’s hope for his future motivates him to show up for class, earn credits toward graduation and maintain a solid grade point average. The scores for this indicator actually provide more insight to a student’s success than grade point average or scores on college examinations.
• Wellbeing – A student’s well-being is a window into what that student thinks of himself and the world around him. Student well-being provides information on how