Building Innovative Partnerships for Student Success: The Key to America's Future is this year’s theme. This year we celebrate partnerships because they are at the heart of the community schools approach—bringing schools, families, community residents, higher education and an array of other community partners together around a common result—student success.
Innovation is the word of the day in education reform, as the U.S. Department of Education rolls out its new education reform strategy. Community schools are an innovation that is turning around student performance as it builds on a very American principle, that schools are inextricably connected to their communities and best educate students when they function as centers of community. Student success is the result that everyone is seeking for young people...enabling them to graduate from high school ready for careers, college, and citizenship. Attaining this goal is vital to the future for our nation.
What’s Different This Year? As in the past, workshops will provide engaging opportunities to learn about the “hot topics” or “how to do the nuts & bolts” of the community schools approach. The Forum will also feature field-building dialogue/affinity group sessions designed to provide time for networking and deeper dialogue on particular topics and/or for particular audiences.
Workshop strands will focus on; 1) Community Schools in Action, 2) Scaling Up & Sustaining Community School Initiatives, 3) Leadership, 4) Opportunities & Supports in Community Schools, 5) Supportive Policy, 6) Results and Research, 7) Communications and Advocacy, and 8) University-Assisted Community Schools.
We’re planning an exciting line up of plenary sessions, affinity groups, and workshop session. Please plan to join us in beautiful Philadelphia this spring.
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