Barbara and Edward Netter Center for Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania

University-Assisted Community Schools

A major component of the Netter Center's work is mobilizing the vast resources of the University to help transform traditional neighborhood schools into innovative university-assisted community schools (UACS). University-assisted community schools educate, engage, empower, and serve all members of the community in which the school is located. At the same time, working with community members to create and sustain university-assisted community schools provides a powerful means for universities to advance teaching, research, learning and service, as well as the civic development of their students.

University-Assisted Community Schools engage students (K-16+) in real world, community problem solving that is integrated into the school curriculum as well as through extended day programs.

Many of the Netter Center's school-based programs--from the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative to College Access and Career Readiness to Moelis Access Science to Community Nights--work together to form the key components of the UACS model. Together, UACS programs in West Philadelphia serve nearly 5,000 children, youth, and families from a set of schools within three high school catchment areas.

Community School Partners Include:

Sayre High School
West Philadelphia High School
University City High School

Lea School (K-8)
Drew School (K-8)
Huey School (K-8)
Wilson School (K-6)
Comegys School (K-6)
Shaw Middle School (7-8)

Each school site has at minimum one coordinator from the Netter Center who works closely with the school and community to determine activities that best serve the specific needs of that area.

Sayre High School represents the Netter Center's most comprehensive model of a university-assisted community school. To read more, please visit:

National Conference on University-Assisted Community Schools as an Effective Strategy for Education Reform, K-16+

Highlights from the Penn-Sayre Partnership.

Be sure to hold the date, April 7-9, 2010, to join us in Philadelphia for
the National Forum of the Coalition for Community Schools. See:
http://www.communityschools.org/

The UACS strategy is based on the following principles:

The strategy assumes that community schools, like universities, can function as focal points to help create healthy urban environments and that both universities and colleges function best in such environments.
Somewhat more specifically, the strategy assumes that, like higher eds, public schools can function as environment-changing institutions and can become the strategic centers of broadly based partnerships that genuinely engage a wide variety of community organizations and institutions.
Therefore, more than any other institution, public schools are particularly well suited to function as neighborhood "hubs" or "centers," around which local partnerships can be generated and developed.
When they play that innovative role, schools function as community institutions par excellence. They then provide a decentralized, democratic, community-based response to rapidly changing community problems. In the process, they help young people learn better, at increasingly higher levels, through action-oriented, collaborative, real-world problem solving.
Working to solve complex, real-world problems is the best way to advance knowledge and learning, as well as the general capacity of individuals and institutions to advance knowledge and learning.
Moreover, if the neighborhood school is to function as a genuine community center, it needs additional human resources and support.
We emphasize university-assisted because community schools because we have become convinced that universities constitute the strategic sources of broadly based, comprehensive, sustained support for community schools.

The university-assisted community school model is a value-added approached to education reform, providing collaborative, academic partnerships and significant in-kind resources that can be brought to many different domains.

For more information on lessons learned, programs, and honors for the University-Assisted Community School model, please view the printable Summary of UACS Programs (.pdf)

Community School Student Partnerships

Penn students are welcomed and encouraged to participate in University-Assisted Community School programs through ABCS courses, internships, work-study, and volunteer opportunities. For more information on work-study and volunteer opportunities, please visit: Community School Student Partnerships.

National Adaptation

The university community school model has also been replicated nationally. From 1994-2004, twenty-three colleges and universities participated in the Netter Center's national replication project, through which local sites adapt the university-assisted community school approach, while an additional 75 teams of higher education, community, and school partners have been trained on the model. Many others visit the Netter Center from across the U.S. and around the world to study university-assisted community schools. For more information, please visit: University-Assisted Community Schools National Replication Project.

Evaluation

Since the Netter Center began its work in West Philadelphia, university-assisted community school partnerships have demonstrated tangible, positive outputs and outcomes for schools and neighborhoods along several indicators. To read about some of these promising findings, please click here.