Study finds community schools boost low-income students

12-10-2010

By Andrea Eger/Education Week

Community partnerships are helping some elementary schools level the playing field for students affected by poverty, according to a new study. Curt Adams, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Oklahoma, found that students in six fully developed community schools in the Tulsa, Okla., and Union school districts "significantly outperformed" students from low socio-economic households who attend schools with more affluent student enrollments overall. "This shows that community schools are indeed having an effect on the achievement gap attributable to poverty," Adams said. "That's profound because the school choice policy would seem to suggest if parents have a choice to send their children to schools in more affluent areas, then they can obtain a higher quality education. The performance of students in these schools actually is higher than the free and reduced-rate lunch students in the other schools." (more…)

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