2023 CCSPP Executive Summary - Legislative Report

2023 Formative Evaluation of the California Community Schools Partnership Program

The evaluations are to include outcome data; an analysis of the nature and kind of services provided and changes made within schools; areas of progress and challenges to be addressed; and evidence of best practices and successful strategies of integrating multiple sources funding sources to meet school improvement goals.

The CCSPP is the nation’s largest investment in community schools. This “whole child” educational approach is based on collaboration between school staff, families, and community partners to support robust, culturally relevant learning. The CCSPP emphasizes the Four Pillars of Community Schools: integrated support services, family and community engagement, collaborative leadership, and extended learning opportunities.

In response to longstanding inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, California supported CCSPP investments in 2020, 2021, and 2022. In 2020, the California Legislature allocated $45 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) to support existing community schools throughout the state. Then, between 2021 and 2022, the Legislature allocated a historic $4.1 billion in state dollars to support new and existing community schools, particularly those serving high concentrations of high-need students.

The following report is the inaugural CCSPP formative evaluation. It opens with survey findings from the 2020 ESSER community schools cohort, for which the California Department of Education (CDE) worked with WestEd to provide technical assistance and conduct survey evaluations. The data reveal significant improvements in services and practices in each of the Four Pillar of Community Schools areas and suggest substantial progress in the implementation of the CCSPP despite the challenges that were posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. WestEd’s complete findings are provided in Appendix 1.

This report also details the CCSPP statewide implementation and the technical assistance systems for over 1,400 CCSPP school site grantees from the 2021 and 2022 cohorts across the state. While the implementation timeline did not allow for data analysis from the CCSPP cohorts, the report describes the breadth and depth of statewide implementation at the school and district levels. It also describes the comprehensive system of technical assistance, which provides guidance for planning and implementation grantees at the county, region, and state levels.

Overall, this report underscores the significance of community schools as an effective school transformation strategy. The enthusiasm with which these community schools’ strategies have been embraced highlights the need for continuous support to sustain and expand community school programs.

Report to the Governor and Legislature (DOCX)