Assessment, Evaluation, Tracking, Monitoring
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Item Cocreating Culturally Responsive Resources With Communities Using Design-Based Implementation Research: The Challenges of Online Research(SAGE Research Methods, 2022-03) Garcia, Silvia; Wolfe, Devin; Fox, Sarah; Gil, Cindy; King, Gloria; Colgan, SusanaThis case study highlights the methodological and practical implications of modifying an investigation with community partners to fit an online format. Research interactions took place between November 2020 and June 2021, under the social distancing restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Twelve Latinx parents/caregivers participated in co-designing culturally relevant college and career readiness resources for Latinx families. A research partnership of two school faculty and a community partner collaborating with university faculty, staff, and students led the study using design-based implementation research (DBIR) as the primary methodological approach. The means of communication and resource sharing with parents were Zoom videoconferencing, WhatsApp text messaging, social media, and phone calls. Parents also received printed materials sent through students attending school under a hybrid modality (face-to-face and online classes). The use of online environments posed challenges in getting participants fully engaged in the co-design process. Some parents lacked technological skills or access to adequate technology, leading to communication barriers in some cases. The implementation phase, a significant component of DBIR, could not be achieved online. This case is about the strategies put forward by the research team to overcome the restrictive research conditions, the adaptations made throughout the process to facilitate community engagement, and lessons learned. It is an invitation to think about the implications of the decisions made by the research team and reflect on creative solutions to address the challenges faced.Item Creating with Confidence. Design Thinking for Public Art. Evaluation Report(2017-07-30) Garcia, SilviaWarren Central High School in collaboration with Arts for Learning explored design thinking, a creative and collaborative process that is user-centered and solution-focused to engage students in the process of designing public art. The project engaged thirty 12th grade, art-major students, in a series of workshops presented by the Herron School of Art and Design, and Arts for Learning as they learned to be mindful of the audience, navigate real situations and revise their work to get to a truly original, personal, and professional product. Students also developed practices to involve residents of their community in a public art project to enhance neighborhood identity and foster a real spirit of place. The report presents the main results of the Evaluation of Creating with Confidence: Design Thinking for Public Art project that took place in the school in the school year 2016-2017.Item A Sustainability Plan for the Indianapolis Near-Westside Community Schools Project(Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center and IUPUI Office of Community Engagement, 2020-07)From its inception, the Full-Service Community Schools project with Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center and five Indianapolis Public Schools of the Near-Westside has focused on the development of an infrastructure framework to sustain the community schools engagement for students, their families, and neighbors beyond the five years of the U.S. Department of Education funding cycle. Key anchor partners with MRNC, Christamore House, Hawthorne Community Center, and IUPUI, have served—and plan to continue to serve—as leaders in the engagement, coordination, and continuation of this collaborative, comprehensive, collective work. Specific roles and expectations for the foreseeable future by each are outlined in this document.Item George Washington Community High School: analysis of a partnership network(New Directions in Youth Development, 2009-06) Bringle, Robert; Officer, Starla; Hatcher, Julie; Grim, JimAfter five years with no public schools in their community, residents and neighborhood organizations of the Near Westside of Indianapolis advocated for the opening of George Washington Community High School (GWCHS). As a neighborhood in close proximity to the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, the Near Westside and campus worked together to address this issue and improve the educational success of youth. In fall 2000, GWCHS opened as a community school and now thrives as a national model, due in part to its network of community relationships. This account analyzes the development of the school by focusing on the relationships among the university, the high school, community organizations, and the residents of the Near Westside and highlights the unique partnership between the campus and school by defining the relational qualities and describing the network created to make sustainable changes with the high school.Item Building on a legacy – taking a community schools project to scale(Partnership Press, Children's Aid Society, New York City, 2016) Grim, Jim; Medina, MonicaSchool community partnerships provide a bedrock of stability and continuity in the midst of a tsunami of educational change on the Near Westside of Indianapolis. Central to the firmly imbedded partnerships is George Washington Community High School (GWCHS) — as well as Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center and IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis), two key collaboration facilitators for decades.Item Best Practices Framework for Out-of-School-Time Program Parent & Family Engagement(At Your School, IUPUI, 2017-07) Grim, JimThis framework outlines five steps based on best practices and strategies to enhance parent and family engagement in out-of-school time programming observed at AYS program locations in MSD Decatur Township, Spring Semester 2017, as well as evidence-based activities recommendations from the Harvard Family Research Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education, National PTA and our own Indiana Afterschool Network. The framework also reflects two decades of engagement in out-of-school time programming with parent, family and school communities by the author. It is intended to inspire innovative and creative ideas for expanding parent and family engagement in diverse AYS program settings. While no two school communities may seem the same, solutions to further engage families in programming cannot be cookie-cutter either. Evidence-based, targeted strategies help to move efforts in a productive direction.Item A Decade of Lessons: Community Engagement Perspectives from a University-Assisted School Community(Center for Service and Learning, IUPUI, 2011) Grim, Jim; Medina, Monica; Officer, StarlaIn 2000, the Indianapolis Near-Westside welcomed the reopening of George Washington High School as George Washington Community School. The school had closed in 1995. This document draws on the decade of lessons and is designed to serve as a resource for groups harnessing the power of their own school communities.Item Leading Community Schools Takes Finesse & Style(Partnership Press, Children's Aid Society, New York City, 2015-11) Grim, JimAdaptive leadership takes on particular importance when it comes to heading Community Schools. The sharing of leadership and decision-making with community partners can be a daunting undertaking – even for some seasoned principals – but is imperative among a multitude of competencies necessary to successfully lead a Community School. What the Coalition for Community Schools identified in Growing Community Schools, The Role of Cross-Boundary Leadership more than a decade ago continues to lie at the heart of authentic Community Schools: Cross-boundary leadership from multiple organizations collaborates to create a culture of support for continuous improvement in Community Schools, developing student physical, social, emotional, moral, and civic competencies in addition to academic abilities. A principal must be comfortable with shared leadership or the necessary fit most likely will not materialize and potential social return on investment may be no more than lost opportunity. Given the landscape, America’s public school communities can little afford wasted opportunities for children and their families.Item Closing the Gap between School & Community Partnerships, A Needs Assessment in Indianapolis, 2021(MCCY, 2021-01) Education Action Team, Early Intervention Planning CouncilOur children spend a significant amount of time in school – and success in school sets the foundation for successful careers and contribution to our communities. However, in recent decades, we have seen what the disinvestment to public education has done to individual schools and school systems. The past year, during the Covid-19 global pandemic, schools have faced even more challenges, navigating school closures, virtual learning, and hybrid models. Research clearly connects multiple external factors and academic success. With a global pandemic layered onto limited funding and capacity, schools continue to struggle to provide the supports students and their families need to address the challenges and struggles reflected in the classroom. In 2018, the Education Action Team of Marion County’s Early Intervention Planning Council launched an assessment to identify the issues impeding student success from the perspective of school personnel. Additionally, we sought to identify barriers to building stronger partnerships with community resources. Marion County, Indiana is resource rich but systems poor – our community lacks a cohesive network of community services for schools to tap into, thus teachers and staff navigate a fragmented system. Through an online survey, three community conversations, and key informant interviews, we were able to identify key findings that can inform strategic actions moving forward to strengthen the ability of schools to meet student needs – whether they develop within the classroom or not. Our findings show some of the top issues impacting student success are challenges that all exist outside of the school building: • Social and Emotional Health • Trauma and Violence • Mental Health • Chronic Absenteeism • Social Media and Internet School staff are often left trying to address the symptoms of these complex, adaptive challenges, yet they do not have the capacity to fully tackle the root causes nor should they be expected to do so alone. This emphasizes the need to build strong partnerships with community resources, in addition to building the capacity of school personnel to carry out effective solutions inside the classroom. Moreover, schools realize that family engagement is a proactive strategy to support students and building trust with families is paramount. Stronger school-community partnerships and networks will more effectively work towards the systems change necessary to support learning. The recommendations put forth in this report work across multiple levels to provide holistic solutions to the complex problems discussed in our findings from the assessment. Schools and community organizations can join us in taking the necessary steps to building supportive community networks around our schools and advocating for the investment needed to create safe, healthy learning environments for our children.Item Community Engagement Through Partnerships: Lessons Learned from a Decade of Full-Service Community School Implementation(Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, Special Edition Prospectus, 2020) Medina, Monica; Cosby, Gayle; Grim, JimImproving performance in an environment often tested by intermingled social problems, including poverty, racial isolation, cultural clashes between teachers and students, and school funding disparities requires authentic, committed family, school, and community partnerships. Using Bryk’s (2010) model for effective and improving schools, our study describes challenges and achievements experienced over a decade of implementing the full-service community school (FSCS) reform in two neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Indiana. We also share lessons about funding, collaborative structures and processes, and organizational responses to change. The study has broad implications for both FSCSs and urban schools with comparable demographics that are working to build effective partnerships to address social problems in lasting ways