California’s investment in ‘community schools’ could transform K-12 education

California has allocated $4.1-billion to develop ‘community schools’ that have the potential to transform K-12 education.

The plan is to enrich schools in areas that struggle with poverty and other social ills to become neighborhood centers to meet the needs of students. These community schools will offer healthcare, mental health services, tutoring, and other social supports.

The aim is to break down barriers, such as hunger, anxiety and depression, racism, and housing insecurity, that detract from the ability of students to learn. Advocates say community schools could vastly improve educational outcomes. This new model is being expanded while a youth mental health crisis and intensified learning deficits are challenging educators after long, pandemic-forced school closures.

Some 268 districts across the state were awarded $649 million in grants for schools in the early stages of planning or for districts further along or seeking to expand. The L.A. Unified School District, which already had 31 community schools, received $44 million. Relatively few schools nationwide—an estimated 5,000—follow the community school model. Some studies have found that well-run community schools lead to better attendance, fewer discipline problems and chronic absences, and better communication with families.

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Exterior rendering of new K-12 school in Prince George's County in Maryland

K-12 Schools | Jun 29, 2021

A Maryland school system launches a P3 program to speed up K-12 school design, financing, and construction

Gilbane and Stantec are part of a consortium that breaks ground on six new schools this week.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.