Goals and Objectives of the Thruway Coalition
NYS My Brother’s Keeper, Community Schools Forward, and the Four Pillars of Community Schools are the primary sources for our goals and objectives.
We also reviewed the Whole Child, Whole School, Whole Community Model used by the CDC and recognized Trauma Informed work like the FLX Community Schools Collaboration ARCH.
An NYSUT Fact Sheet on Community Schools gives examples of models that can be used to reach these goals.
The Community Schools Strategy
The community schools strategy transforms a school into a place where all stakeholders work together to strengthen conditions for student learning and healthy development. It is a transformational strategy that is evidenced-based and ESSA approved for school improvement. More importantly, a 2017 meta-analysis of 143 community schools evaluations conducted by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Education Policy Center determined community schools lead to improvement in student and school outcomes and contribute to meeting the educational needs of low achieving students in high poverty schools.
Goal 1
Enabling conditions for Community Schools will be activated through Collaboration
Objective 1.1 - Coalitions will respond to structural and institutional racism
Objective 1.2 - Coalitions will make actionable data accessible for decision-making at the state, county, district, and building levels
Objective 1.3 - Coalitions foster a culture of inclusive decision making is normalized from early childhood through career exploration and entry
Objective 1.4 - Coalitions offer strategies and space for trusting relationships to develop
Objective 1.5 - Coalitions promote “shared visions” for smooth interface across service sectors and scale (building, district, county, and state)
Objective 1.6 - Coalitions train leaders at all implementation levels in collective impact methods, strategies for activating youth and family voice, and strategies to promote equity
Goal 2
Youth and Family Voice is activated for school transformation, academic outcomes and community well-being
Objective 2.1 - Coalitions will create a culture for Engaging families and communities in a trusted and respectful way.
Objective 2.2 - Coalitions will establish methodologies for steadily increasing a sense of belonging and safety
Objective 2.3 - Coalitions use assets-based approaches that engage youth and families as co-creators from early childhood through career entry
Objective 2.4 - Coalitions integrate Youth and Family Voice and embed that input across service sectors and levels of implementation
Objective 2.5 - Coalitions connect family engagement to learning and development from early childhood through career entry
Goal 3
Integrated Student Supports enable a Whole Child Approach
Objective 3.1 - Community Schools Coalitions make comprehensive and coordinated support services widely available
Objective 3.2 - Coalitions expand prevention, early warning, and intervention services
Objective 3.3 - Coalitions utilize Multi-Tiered Systems of Support to guide an integrated systems approach
Objective 3.4 - Coalitions establish menus of evidence-based and restorative practices to keep youth safe in school and in their neighborhoods
Objective 3.5 - Coalitions unify Juvenile Justice and School Safety approaches to keep youth safe from violent crime and offer second chances
Objective 3.6 - Coalitions advocate and organize for equity and access to meet the physical health needs of youth and families
Goal 4
Expand and Enrich Learning using the lens of the NYS Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Framework (CRSF)
Objective 4.1 - Coalitions ensure equitable access to high-quality schools and programs
Objective 4.2 - Coalitions create “interlocking strategies to promote educational equity,” including Out of School Time and Early Childhood Education
Objective 4.3 - Coalitions support “inclusive curriculum and assessment” as outlined by the CRSF
Objective 4.4 - Coalitions draw together learning communities for “Ongoing Professional Learning and Support”
Objective 4.5 - Coalitions organize to support broad efforts to create a culture of belonging, safety, and care in the classroom through trauma-informed practices
Objective 4.6 - Coalitions insist on rigorous community-connected classroom instruction
