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Stages-of-Development

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About this Web site	How to Use This Site	Stages of Development	BASICS Toolkit

Summary Chart of the Community School Stages of Development
Matrix of Stages of Community School Development with the Seven Domains
Narrative Version of Community School Stages of Development

Summary Chart of the Community School Stages of Development

Summary of key features of stages

Stage1 : Exploring

Stage 2: Emerging

Stage 3: Maturing

Stage 4: Excelling

This period is marked by discontent with the current ways the school operates and desire for improvement or change. This stage is marked by very grandiose thinking, tremendous optimism and magical thinking that “if only” X was in place, things would be significantly different. All this should be encouraged because out of these dreams and desires will emerge a shared vision.

This period is marked by a commitment to jump in and get started. A decision has been made to commence the transformation by introducing an initial level of services, securing some funding and beginning to develop partnerships. Programs are designed from a strengths-based perspective, using data from a formal or informal needs assessment. This period is marked by highs and lows, progress and frustration. To succeed in this stage, there needs to be a commitment to the shared vision, clear goals, good communication processes, clarity of roles and responsibilities, responsiveness to the needs, regular celebration. This period lasts about two years.

This period is marked by steady, intentional progress and the realization that CS development requires a tremendous amount of collaborative effort. As the vision of the CS becomes clearer to all partners, there is broader support for the strategy. Service utilization increases as interventions become more timely, relevant and of higher quality. Relationships between the CBO & school are deepened, administrative and programmatic integration becomes more natural, CBO & school jointly fund select programs. To succeed in this stage, one needs to keep the vision and programs fresh, tend the relationships, increase partnerships, continue to demonstrate added value, attend to sustainability.

At this level. The partners are implementing quality programs that are fully integrated into the fabric of the school. The CS strategy has influenced the school culture with a focus on addressing the needs of the whole child, increased parent involvement, empowered parents and school staff to be advocates of quality education. The partners have established strong, relationships within the school, community and school district, and are valued as committed leaders. To succeed in this stage, one needs to take intentional steps to provide innovative programming; develop youth leadership; use staff, parents and students to teach others to do this work.

Matrix of Stages of Community School Development with the Seven Domains

To assist with this assessment and planning process, schools using this toolkit are encouraged to explore the more detailed matrices on each of these stages crossed with the seven domains of a community school. Click here to open up this document: 0606_stagesofdevmatrix.doc

Narrative Version of Community School Stages of Development

This toolkit is designed to assist community schools in varying stages of development. Accordingly, certain sessions may be more or less useful. In order to let you know what content from this toolkit will be useful to your site, we have provided the following overview of the stages of development that schools often travel through on the path to becoming community schools. We recommend that the spectrum of stakeholders involved in launching a community school effort first explore and come to agreement on which stage of community school development most appropriately describes their effort.

As you will read, the stages are categorized as exploring, emerging, maturing, and excelling. Schools in each stage are all considered community schools for the purposes of this toolkit. We believe that all stages are critical parts of the process—a process that encompasses seven domains: Management & Governance, Staffing, Programs & Services, Parental Involvement, Community Involvement, Evaluation, and Sustainability. If a school is able to identify its current stage of development in each of these domains, readiness for the next stage and the long-term success of the community school effort are more likely. Also, it’s important to note that development may be uneven—that is, a community school may find itself excelling in one domain and emerging in another. Finally, this development is not always linear. For example, leadership changes may result in backward movement on one or more domains; this is a normal part of the growth process.

Exploring

This stage is marked by the deep desire of many to see schools produce happy, capable, socially competent children, and concurrently an awareness of the many barriers to student success. The realization that schools alone cannot adequately address these barriers becomes the catalyst for change. Partners in this stage become aware of untapped and underutilized resources that can be engaged to improve outcomes for students. These untapped resources include school buildings during non-school hours, parents, local faith, civic and business organizations, human services, health and mental health providers, local universities, community artisans, and the community at large. The responsibility and opportunity for the community to contribute to the educational development of students begin to infuse the private and public discourse on improving student outcomes and strengthening communities.

No organization or group is ever totally clear on all the steps needed to operationalize their community school vision. Research on best practices, assessment of the community’s needs and assets, and study of existing models of community schools all launch the group into its next stage – emerging. The exploring stage varies for each group or organization and actually ends when the group begins working directly to adopt the community school strategy.

Emerging

This stage is marked by purposeful and intentional activities to successfully implement the community school strategy. The community school model is embraced as the most viable means of supporting student success because of its comprehensive, integrated response to the needs of children in the context of their schools, families, and communities. This stage involves ongoing research on best practices, including direct consultations and visits with organizations that provide community schools with technical assistance or sites that are currently implementing a community school model.

The emerging stage is characterized by activities assessing the readiness and capacity of the school and lead agency to successfully partner. These efforts include: (1) the selection of a lead agency through various processes including the use of an RFQ (request for qualifications) or an RFP (request for proposals or partnerships); (2) clarification of the roles and responsibilities of partner organizations; (3) formalizing the partnership with the local school board/department and other institutional partners; (4) vision development with key stakeholders; (5) needs and resource assessment with students, families, and school staff; (6) development of a public education campaign to inform stakeholders, including the broader community, about the community school vision; and (7) the development of a service menu and the delivery of services. In addition, other critical activities include establishment of infrastructures for communication and governance, developing an evaluation design, and funding and sustainability activities.

The emerging stage typically lasts up to two years, and is marked by a period of 6-12 months dedicated to planning and relationship building. During this period the lead agency benefits from having technical assistance to provide guidance and concrete tools, address questions, and help others in the school and community find a place for their gifts and passions. After the planning period, the initiative begins to deliver services. Few partnerships have the capacity to deliver a comprehensive service menu at this stage. In fact, many wisely opt for the staggered delivery of services, building on what already exists (e.g., family resource center, after-school program, school-based health center). An evaluation design is developed and baseline data are collected on the early years of implementation.

Maturing

The maturing stage paradoxically provides a brief breathing space for the partnership but also requires a greater level of effort to increase and maintain current gains. The experience of implementation in the emerging stage resulted in increased levels of confidence in programming and partnerships. This progress includes gaining proficiency in day-to-day program operation; efficiency in identifying and addressing potential challenges; increased ability to forecast programming and staffing needs; and a greater awareness of the key administrative and operational issues that need ongoing attention. In the maturing stage, the partnership faces new and increased demands in program expansion, program quality management and improvement, ensuring that the dosage of service is adequate to achieve the desired outcomes, and addressing the challenges of evaluation and sustainability.

In the maturing stage, the partners continue to invest time and effort in maintaining strong, comprehensive communication processes and structures. The leadership team should pay attention to the following in the administrative aspects of the initiative: (1) ensuring that there is an integrated governance structure, (2) occasionally revisiting and refreshing the community school vision, (3) managing evaluation and sustainability issues, (4) addressing staffing needs in terms of capacity, longevity, and morale, and (5) strengthening the partnership in general. Programmatically, the partnership focuses on delivering services that are responsive to the needs of students and families–services that are comprehensive and integrated, with special attention given to aligning out-of-school time programs with the school’s core instructional program. Finally, there is a strong public relations and education component, assessment of customer satisfaction and need, and management of issues related to space.

Excelling

There is a tremendous sense of accomplishment in this stage. Here one operates a high quality, integrated, responsive program. Although challenges are a given, the partnership confronts them with confidence, skill, and adroitness. The partnership is strong and prepared to address succession internally and externally (e.g., board of education, principal, or leadership from a community-based organization) as well as sustainability needs at multiple levels. It enjoys a high level of credibility within the community and among the partners and is frequently referenced or used as a demonstration site for high quality, integrated, community-driven initiative. The partnership is institutionalized, and the partners regularly reviews their MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the local school board or central board of education. One hallmark of the excelling stage is the commitment to tending and cultivating relationships among organizations and community groups that can influence the direction of the work. This work is done through an intentional public engagement process–keeping these organizations informed of the successes, challenges, and opportunities that the partnership faces, hosting and reciprocating site visits, making room for and use of whatever involvement and support these organizations provide, and finding ways to express appreciation for their involvement and support. Because the community school at the excelling stage has attained a high level of proficiency in implementation and administration, it is in a position to experiment and take informed risks in finding more creative and efficient operational practices and processes.