A shared rationale for new school designs with place-based differences

Abstract

To fully appreciate the new policy and practice directions offered by community schools, community learning centers, extended-service schools, and multi-service schools, it is best to view them as complex interventions; or more simply, as multi-faceted solutions for complicated needs and problems, which are rooted in particular places or locales. These complicated needs and problems, together with the search for local assets and opportunities, introduce a shared rationale for this new school-related design. This chapter introduces this rationale. Chief among these complicated needs and problems are concentrated poverty and overall disadvantage; high levels of family diversity and instability; the formidable challenges of social inclusion and social integration amid widespread perceptions of, and practices associated with, social exclusion; and the difficulty in attracting and retaining adequately prepared educators because they tend to be blamed when results are sub-optimal. These needs and problems often co-occur and nest in each other such that addressing one entails addressing one or more of the others. A full appreciation of the uniqueness and import of community schools, community learning centers, extended-service schools, and multi-service schools starts with this shared rationale, setting the stage for succeeding chapters.