Milwaukee Public Schools announced that two additional schools — Browning Elementary and Lincoln Avenue Elementary — will join the district’s roster of community schools.
The model, which includes principles of shared leadership, high-quality and culturally relevant instruction, wraparound services, community engagement and restorative discipline, has produced positive results nationally. As part of a partnership with the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County, Auer Avenue, Hopkins Lloyd, Bradley Tech High School and James Madison Academic Campus (JMAC) have operated as community schools for about a year.
The announcement came after the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) board recently rejected a proposal to partner with County Executive Chris Abele and Abele-appointed Opportunity Schools Partnership Program (OSPP) Commissioner Demond Means to cooperatively restructure a failing school. Shortly after the decision, MPS Superintendent Darienne Driver and Board President Mark Sain met with Abele and Means to discuss alternatives.
MPS board Vice President Larry Miller said a quality early childhood education program could help prepare students to succeed in school and wouldn’t be disruptive to “the really strong reform work that we’re doing.”
Since June 2014, MPS has “worked to develop and refine a comprehensive plan to improve student outcomes,” according to its website, that focuses on closing the achievement gap, educating the whole child and engaging school communities. The district is currently undertaking multiple reform efforts, including a multi-organization collaboration at George Washington Carver Academy and a “knowledge exchange” partnership between Casimir Pulaski High School and Carmen Schools of Science and Technology, an MPS charter school network.
The state legislation creating OSPP mandates that the commissioner identify between one and three schools the first two years and up to five in 2017-18 for transfer to charter or private voucher school operators. So far, no schools have been chosen. MPS officials and others have stated that the move could harm the district by reducing funding.
Means and Abele, who have said they would like to minimize the legislation’s impact on MPS, pitched the partnership as an opportunity to create a community school. Miller said the OSPP proposal “caused some real concerns,” including the idea of a school takeover and discrepancies regarding who would employ teachers.
“I’m always concerned when people say community school because, often, they’re just talking about wraparound services,” Miller said. “That’s only one component of it; the definition of community schools goes much deeper.”
Ingrid Walker-Henry, a member of Schools & Communities United and an MPS parent, noted, “Around the country, most of the models that you see in urban areas are turnaround districts, recovery districts … and they haven’t really shown results. This (community schools) is something … that actually has shown results with children.”
In Cincinnati, since the introduction of Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in 2000, high school graduation rates have increased from 51 percent to more than 80 percent and the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed significantly. Cincinnati Public Schools policy states that all district buildings will serve as CLCs; so far, 34 of 55 schools are functioning in that capacity. The Cincinnati Public School district calls its community schools CLCs; in Milwaukee CLCs refer to the almost 50 before- and after-school programs run in MPS schools by nonprofit organizations.
Cincinnati’s success was the inspiration for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal to create 100 community schools by 2017. Oakland, California; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore and Chicago are among the cities taking steps to substantially expand community schools.
Jamaal Smith, a community campaign coordinator with Wisconsin Jobs Now, said shared governance is the most important part of the model because it gives the community a responsibility and stake in a school’s success. Teachers, parents, children and neighbors are included in decision-making through school councils, which function much like a school board.
During a recent event at the James Madison Academic Campus, Principal Gregory Ogunbowale said communities become stronger when they solve problems together. Invoking the African proverb, Ogunbowale said many of the students at JMAC “don’t have villages around them.” According to Ogunbowale, the solution is to “build a village around [them].”
JMAC has expanded its academic offerings, adding AP courses and special educational tracks in health sciences and finance, while partnering with local hospitals and banks. Students receive dinner and academic help at the after-school CLC, which is run by the Boys & Girls Clubs and City Year, an AmeriCorps program. Special courses provide intervention in reading and math for students who are behind.
District 2 Ald. Cavalier Johnson said it’s important to have those supports because hunger, stress, domestic conflicts and other conditions exacerbated by poverty make it harder for students to learn.
Lanisha Martin, who graduated from James Madison in 2006, said back then sports were the only after-school activities available to students. Martin, who took some college classes at MATC before dropping out, said if the CLC program were around when she was in school she would have been more involved in school and may have pursued a career in finance. “I really feel like I probably could be in a better position, or situation, right now,” said Martin, who became an organizer because many of her friends were killed as a result of gun violence.
“I want to be able to shift … the mindset of what we value,” said Morgana Matthews, an MPS parent whose three daughters have all attended JMAC. Her oldest child started in 2002 and the youngest is currently enrolled; the first two went on to college.
Matthews said she never had a lot of money but she bought books for her children and spent time teaching them to read. “We have to really evaluate who we are and what we want to instill in our children.”
The Milwaukee Community Schools Partnership, spearheaded by United Way, is trying to foster dialogue among stakeholders at each school through conversations about aspirations and barriers to success. The partnership’s director, Ryan Hurley, said trust is a “core component” of building a successful school.
Community school advocates say schools should be the “hub of a community,” and that providing families with information, support and access to quality educational opportunities in their neighborhood would improve outcomes while saving students travel time.
Because DPI data is not yet available for 2015-16 and the partnership has just completed its first full year, it’s still too early to say what the impact has been in Milwaukee. However, Hurley said there have been positive early results in attendance, academic gap closure and improved school climate.
Miller said he would like to see MPS fully commit to community schools, as have Cincinnati and Oakland. He is hoping more schools will be added next year, but he also said, “We’re taking it slow,” because the district wants to show possible investors that the model works.
“It’s not a magic solution, it’s not a quick fix,” said Hurley. “We know it’s a long-term strategy for investment.”
Considering the levels of poverty in Milwaukee, it’s “going to take everybody” to help improve academic outcomes, said Walker-Henry.
However, supporters have high expectations. Jessica Mirkes, who works with children at James Madison through City Year, said her goal is to change the perception of inner-city schools. Mirkes said she would “get a look” when she told people where she was placed.
“People know what that look is,” she said. “And I want that look to disappear.”
Jane Audette says
This is a great article on the community schools model and the movement in Milwaukee. Thank you!
I sincerely question, however the inclusion of the OSPP debate in this article. I believe that 1) It is misleading your readers that one had to do with the other. The connection is peripheral at best. 2) It politicizes the community schools movement in Milwaukee, when Mr. Hurley has actively and wisely avoided this. 3) It mimics the SCU dual talking points of No Takeover and Community Schools without honestly stating that this is where these ideas come from. This, IMO, spoils the excellence of this piece. You needed to leave politics out of it.
S. Baldwin says
A caveat amongst all this enthusiasm. The following is from the New York Times article “Mayoral Candidates See Cincinnati as a Model for New York Schools” by Javier C. Hernandez, Aug. 11, 2013.
“But what has gone largely unsaid is that many of Cincinnati’s community schools are still in dire academic straits, according to an analysis by The New York Times, despite millions of dollars in investment and years of reform efforts.”
“… testing data show that at eight schools that were pioneers of the model, and that have the longest track record with it, students’ scores have improved but still trail that of other Ohio children, even poor ones.
Last year, for example, 48 percent of seventh graders from low-income backgrounds at the schools, which adopted the model in 2006 and serve large numbers of disadvantaged children, passed state exams in reading, according to a Times analysis of state testing data. Across Ohio, 80 percent of students passed the exams; among poor children statewide, the average was 68 percent.”
Community schools are expensive, and for the good of the students, this is why the money needs to come with a few strings and some outside perspective.
Dr. Larry Pesch says
An important part of my doctoral dissertation focused on the community school model. If done well, and that is a big if, this model has the potential to offer an almost revolutionary alternative to the traditional common school structure and culture in place for over 100 years. The key to an effective community school is authentic participation of the broader community, defined here as not just parents, but local non-profits, businesses, churches, local residents, pretty much anyone that has been marginalized by the traditional school structure. A second key is a school leader who has the capacity to create an environment of respect and equality for authentic community involvement.
I will watch these schools with great interest.
S. Baldwin says
Three comments:
1) Saying that community schools have “the potential to offer an almost revolutionary alternative to the traditional common school structure and culture in place for over 100 years” raises a lot of expectations. Community schools have been around for a long time. Do you have any examples in which revolutionary change has occurred, especially in a modern American urban setting?
Community schools may be a step in the right direction, but we need to be realistic. The Cincinnati data seem to indicate that there is a plateau once basic needs are met and that more is needed to close the gap. Was the initial improvement due to the school model or the satisfaction of needs?
2) Saying that the key is participation by “the broader community, defined here as not just parents, but local non-profits, businesses, churches, local residents, pretty much anyone that has been marginalized by the traditional school structure” implies that these groups have been unjustly excluded. These groups have not been prohibited from working with youth for all these years. Their services have simply been restricted outside the school environment. For some, I think this is appropriate.
3) The article mentions that some consider shared governance to be “the most important part of the model because it gives the community a responsibility and stake in a school’s success. Teachers, parents, children and neighbors are included in decision-making through school councils, which function much like a school board.”
In Wisconsin, school boards are given their authority by the state legislature. I think some oversight by the state is appropriate, and I think community school supporters would be unwise to challenge this. I doubt Milwaukee alone has the resources to fund community schools the way that supporters envision, and I’m sure outside groups would be more comfortable providing funds if there is some outside control.