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OUR MODEL

WE DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

Struggling students and their families have a hard time accessing and navigating the maze of public and private services. There may be ample resources in a community, but rarely is there someone on the ground who is able to connect these resources with the schools and students that need them most. We leverage evidence, relationships and local resources to drive results. Through our school-based site coordinators, we bring community resources into schools. We empower success by removing barriers for vulnerable students who are at-risk of dropping out to keep them in school and on the path to graduation.

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HOW IT WORKS

Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each school's unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Many children face challenges both inside and outside the classroom. Through our school-based site coordinators, Communities In Schools strategically aligns and delivers needed resources so that students can focus on learning.

1 NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Analyze multiple sources of data to identify of the school and individual students. Read more.

2 PLANNING

Site coordinators lead their school support team to develop a plan to prioritize supports that address academic and non-academic needs. Read more.

3 INTEGRATED STUDENT SUPPORTS

Site coordinator and partners deliver tiers of support to the school, students and their families. Read more.

4 MONITORING AND ADJUSTING

Site coordinator continuously monitors student and school progress and adjusts supports to optimize results. Read more.

5 EVALUATION

Continuous assessment of partners and student supports by CIS affiliate to demonstrate results and improve practice. Read more.

6 PROVEN RESULTS

We increase graduation, reduce dropout and improve attendance for schools in need.

Read more.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Communities In Schools uses a holistic approach to addressing both the academic and nonacademic needs of students. Working with school leadership and staff, CIS site coordinators — who are based inside schools — prioritize the needs of the school, determine which supports need to be increased or improved and identify supports that the schools need but don’t currently have. In addition to the school needs assessment, site coordinators also identify students at risk of dropping out, assess what they need and then find the right supports to ensure they stay on track to graduate.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Our Model
PLANNING
PLANNING

Once the needs assessment is complete, the site coordinator meets with their school support team to put together a plan to address these needs–through school-wide, targeted group and individualized supports. They then collaborate with local providers to put these plans into action. The site coordinator attaches measurable goals to the plans and track progress against defined metrics to ensure they provide the best possible supports, producing positive results for schools and students.

DELIVERY OF SUPPORT
IS

The CIS site coordinator works with volunteers, partners and the local community to provide students with the supports they need to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. We provide these supports in three different tiers. By differentiating our supports, we are able to serve most students in a school and also focus attention on targeted students that have significant needs.

  • Tier 1: School-wide services

  • Tier 2: Targeted small-group programs

  • Tier 3: Individualized support

Here are some examples of the supports we provide to Santa Fe students:

ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE
BASIC NEEDS
BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS
SERVICE LEARNING
FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
MENTAL HEALTH
COLLEGE/CAREER PREP
ENRICHMENT
LIFE SKILLS
PHYSICAL HEALTH
MONITORING AND ADJUSTING
M&A
EVALUATION

Once the site coordinator and their school support team have identified needs and put a plan in place to address those needs, they continue to meet with students, families, teachers and providers to make sure the supports are working. By setting goals with individual students and the school as a whole, they are able to monitor progress and adjust support accordingly. If they find out the plan isn’t working as well as it could, they bring the right people back to the drawing board to adjust and create a plan that does.

EVAL

Just as we monitor and adjust the supports we are providing on the ground, CIS also conducts evaluations of the entire CIS model – both at the school-wide and individual student level. Additionally, the CIS National Office engages in 3rd party evaluations of the network to ensure fidelity to the CIS model and positive impacts for schools and students. These evaluations, some of the most rigorous conducted in the field of Integrated Student Supports, show that Communities In Schools is proven to increase graduation rates, decrease dropout rates and improve student attendance, leading to brighter futures for students in America.

PROVEN RESULTS
RESULTS
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