Outcomes from the Canyons Community School Initiative: Implications for Social Work Research, Practice, and Policy

Background: As more youth come to school with multiple barriers to learning, schools across are adopting community schools frameworks to support academic achievement, healthy development, and overall school success. In 2012, Canyons School District, a mid-size district in Salt Lake County Utah, adopted a community schools framework in four Title 1 elementary schools. Using the Community Collaboration Model (Anderson-Butcher et al., 2008) as a guide, Canyons is maximizing school and community resources to support academic learning, youth development, parent/family engagement and support, health and social services, and community partnerships. While some positive outcomes have been noted as a result of community schools and expanded school improvement implementation (Anderson-Butcher et al., 2010; Castrechi & London, 2013), little research to date has explored student, teacher, and school-level outcomes and systems-changes that occur over multiple implementation years. As such, the purpose of this study was to 1) examine academic, social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes resulting from Canyons’ community schools implementation efforts; 2) explore enhancements in school climate; and 3) document the system-level innovations and challenges experienced throughout the implementation process.  

Methods:  A mixed-method study design was used. Analyses examined quantitative data from students and teachers at baseline (n=2538 students; n=212 teachers) and 2 years post-community schools implementation (n=2125 students; n=279 teachers). Additionally, academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes among students were examined among specific community school interventions, such as for school-based mental health and afterschool programming.  Last, qualitative data collection strategies, including interviews and site observations, tracked key system-level innovations across the 4 pilots. A grounded theory process was then used to allow for conceptual themes and sub-themes to emerge (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Results:

Quantitative analyses revealed that students’ perceptions improved in key areas such as school climate (F(3, 3834)=7.224, p£.001) and externalizing behaviors (F(3, 3834)=7.852, p£.001). Teacher perceptions of the learning support system (F(3, 484)=14.67, p£.001) and access to community supports (F(3, 1073)=22.91, p£.001) improved as well across all schools. Data examining specific program outcomes in afterschool and school-based mental health also demonstrate student growth in academic and social-emotional outcomes. In addition, qualitative analysis revealed several innovations that occurred, such as the expanded use of multiple data sources, changes in staffing structures and responsibilities, the generation of new funding streams, and the adoption of new student support policies and procedures.

Implications: Findings demonstrate positive outcomes associated with the adoption and implementation of the community schools framework at the student and school level. Outcomes resulting from specific interventions offered also are documented. Additionally, results showcase key system-level innovations resulting from implementation, which ultimately strengthen school-family-community partnerships in support of learning and development. Implications are drawn for the design of social work services in schools.