Creating a vision for student success is not a solo endeavor

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Years ago, I took a job as district Director of Community Schools. The hardest part about that job? Trying to advance a vision of community schools (Equity! Engagement! Whole Child! School and District Transformation!), amidst an organizational culture that, like most school districts everywhere, struggled with programmatic silos and barriers to collaboration.

I knew that in order for me to be successful in my role, I needed all of my District colleagues and community partners to work differently together. We would need to understand how we individually and collectively contributed to a shared responsibility to ensure student success. We would need to support one another, hold each other accountable, and be seen as valued resources to improve our work. We would need to create a space where we felt safe to celebrate each other’s successes AND to point out things we could be doing differently. This was my “community schools” mandate – and to be honest, I didn’t realize how challenging and alienating it could be.

I sometimes wished that an outside person would make the case for the kinds of changes that community schools represent. But at the same time, I knew that having an “expert” come in would only reinforce the attitude that “community schools” can only happen *outside* of normal district work.

Today, many new CCSPP grantees are making similar community school hires with the expectation that one or two people can successfully lead a process of community schools planning and development. But here’s the rub: It is antithetical that one person can do transformative community schools work alone.

Why? Because creating a vision for student success is not a solo endeavor; it’s a collective meaning making effort.

CS Fundamentals is about coming together to learn, reflect and plan. It is an early investment in holding space - with focused support - to design a community school development process that reflects your team’s unique perspectives and priorities. It’s about taking dedicated time to decide HOW your school community will understand, imagine, and own the work.

So, I hope you’ll join us. That is, I hope you and your TEAM will join us.

Hayin

P.S. My colleagues won’t forgive me if I don’t remind you that the deadline to register for CS Fundamentals is coming up on Wednesday, September 14th. That’s in five days!

by Hayin Kimner

Hayin Kimner is a practitioner, researcher and policy advocate with a focus on whole child, community school systems and partnerships that support the healthy development of youth and their communities.

Hayin has led the development of District and citywide community school partnership strategies in San Francisco Unified and Emery Unified School Districts. While at the John W. Gardner Center at Stanford University (JGC), she co-facilitated the evaluation of multiple community and school-based project initiatives with an emphasis on collaborative, theory-based, qualitative research methods that engaged community partners in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco counties.

In addition to serving as the Managing Director for the CA Community Schools Learning Exchange, Hayin is a Senior Policy and Research Fellow for Policy Analysis for California Education. She recently was a nonresident Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution in support of the Community Schools Forward national task force. She continues to be actively connected to community schools initiatives and practitioners across the country.

Hayin received her B.A. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. from Stanford University Graduate School of Education.