Investigating the Promise of Integrated Student Supports: An Evaluation of the Community School Model in Tennessee
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Although the community school model—under which schools form partnerships with community organizations to provide targeted extramural opportunities and support to students—continues to grow in popularity, rigorous evidence of its impacts, particularly when implemented at scale, remains limited. I conduct a statewide evaluation of the model, leveraging transitions in community school status within schools over time across Tennessee to identify subsequent average, dynamic, and heterogeneous changes in a broad set of student and teacher outcomes. I find that adoption of the model is followed by small but significant increases in English language arts test performance, declines in suspension and mobility rates, and reductions in teacher turnover relative to other schools in the same urban districts, with patterns most evident after 3 years of implementation; however, I find no change in math performance, grade progression, or dropout rate and a surprising increase in chronic absenteeism. Estimates are largest for middle schools and among schools led by external nonprofit organizations rather than those organized under internal district initiatives. In addition, their magnitudes are somewhat more modest than in prior literature, setting a more realistic expectation of the model’s impact when implemented at scale and across a wide range of contexts.
Source: Peabody Journal of Education
Author: Matthew Truwit
Institution: University of Michigan
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409310233