The document outlines the Rural Community Schools Approach being implemented by Promise for Education Fund (PFE) to accelerate rural student success from birth through career. It discusses the need to address challenges of persistent poverty through a holistic, community schools model. PFE has implemented this approach in 50 rural schools across 10 districts in Kentucky. The approach includes four pillars of effective community schools tailored with a rural lens: collaborative leadership, integrated student supports, expanded learning, and family/community engagement. It also emphasizes district-wide adoption, neighborhood programs, culturally relevant practices, and resident leadership to sustain outcomes for rural students from cradle to career.

1. Rural Community Schools Approach
April 2022

2. We are catalyzing a national movement to
accelerate rural student success, cradle to
career.
We see community schools as a key strategy for
catalyzing this movement.
2

3. This presentation outlines:
● The Need
● The Community Schools Solution
● Our Place-based, Rural Approach
● How We Will Grow Our Impact
3

4. We must fundamentally reimagine schools to
address the challenges of persistent poverty
Persistent poverty exerts powerful constraints on access to
opportunity and upward mobility.
Children in poverty are more likely to experience food and housing
insecurity and are more likely to suffer from poor nutrition and
inadequate healthcare -- all factors that impact learning.
As a result, poverty is strongly linked to academic failure, school
dropout, and reduced rates of college attendance and graduation.
4
Source: Showalter, D., Klein, R., Johnson, J., & Hartman, S. L. (2017). Why rural matters 2015-2016: Understanding the changing landscape.
https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/themencode-pdf-viewer/?file=https://www.instituteforchildsuccess.org/wp-
content/uploads/2017/06/WhyRuralMatters-2017.pdf; The impact of poverty on educational outcomes for children.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/.
The challenge
of persistent
poverty
A need to
reimagine
schools
Working in isolation, schools cannot overcome the effects of
concentrated poverty. There must be a holistic approach to
addressing student needs, inside and outside the classroom.

5. This need is especially urgent in Rural America
5
Due to federal and state funding formulas, smaller schools,
declining populations, and less philanthropic support, rural
schools have less funding than urban districts to support
student success.
Rural families
experience high
rates of poverty
Of the poorest 250 counties in the United States, 244 are rural.
64% of rural counties have high rates of child poverty.
One in five poor children in this country live in a rural area.
Rural schools
receive less funding
than urban schools
Rural families often
have limited access
to affordable out-
of-school services
and supports
Rural areas are typically home to fewer community
organizations than urban and suburban areas. As a result, rural
families have fewer opportunities to access the holistic services
that support student success.

6. Community schools provide students and families
holistic supports and services to accelerate success
What is a community school?
• An integrated approach to academics, health and social services, youth and
community development, and community engagement that leads to improved
student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities.
• A place where every family and community member is a partner in the effort to
build on students’ strengths, engage them as learners, and enable them to reach their full
potential.
• A set of partnerships between the school and other community resources that
ensures children and families get the integrated services they need, thus ensuring
that funding for health, mental health, expanded learning time, and social services is well
spent and effective.
• An approach that is tailored to the local context, building on community assets and
addressing community needs.
6
Source: Brookings, “Addressing education inequality with a next generation of community schools: A blueprint for mayors, states, and the federal government”
A model that research shows helps meet the educational needs of students in high
poverty schools and leads to improvement in student and school outcomes.

7. PFE has leveraged public investment to implement
community schools in 50 schools across 10 rural districts
7
2011: Jackson (5), Clay (9), and Owsley (2)
2016: Knox (10), Corbin (4), and Barbourville (1)
2017: Perry (8) and Hazard (3)
2014: Knox (10)
2018: Berea (3)
2020: Leslie (5)
Promise Neighborhood Community School
Full Service Community School

8. Across our sites we have seen positive impacts across
a range of outcome measures
8
● Kindergarten readiness
● Reading and math proficiency
● School attendance
● Chronic absenteeism
● High school graduation
● Postsecondary readiness
● Student engagement with school
● Teacher interactions with
families
● Student and parent perception of
school support and
connectedness

9. Our community schools approach brings a rural lens
to evidence-backed and field tested national models
PFE Rural Community Schools Approach*
Place-Based,
Rural Lens
Cradle-to-Career
Approach
Cross-Sector,
Results Focus
Effective
Community
Schools
*Our approach is influenced by research, our work in the field, and leading national practice including the approaches of Harlem
Children Zone, StriveTogether, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

10. Four Pillars of Effective Community Schools +
Foundation of challenging academic content and supports
We partner with school teams to implement the
foundational pillars of effective community schools
Collaborative
leadership and
practice
to assess needs,
plan and
coordinate
services, and
continually
monitor data.
Holistic and
integrated
student
supports
including mental,
physical, and
social emotional
health care;
nutrition support;
and housing
assistance.
Expanded and
enriched
learning time
including after-
school and
summer programs
that provide
relevant, real
world learning
opportunities.
Active family
and community
engagement
grounded in
meaningful
partnership with
students, families,
and community
members.
Foundation of challenging academic content and supports
to ensure that students graduate ready for success in college and career.
Adapted from Maier, A., Daniel, J., Oakes, J., & Lam, L. (2017). Community schools as an effective school
improvement strategy: A review of the evidence. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.
Effective
Community
Schools

11. A PFE supported site-based coordinator brings the
capacity needed to implement evidence-based practices
Adapted from Learning Policy Institute; Robert Balfanz. February 2013. Overcoming the Poverty Challenge to Enable College and Career
Readiness for All The Crucial Role of Student Supports.
A full-time Community Schools site-based coordinator brings
dedicated capacity to partner closely with the principal and
school staff to adopt, adapt, and implement evidence-based
practices aligned to the pillars and academic focus:
● Use data to identify and monitor student and school needs
● Implement early warning systems
● Employ a case management approach and multi-tiered
system of support
● Align instruction across grades
● Implement high-quality, content-rich curriculum
● Strategically identify, align, and activate high quality
community partners
● Engage and empower families to support student success
Four Pillars of Effective Community Schools +
Foundation of challenging academic content and supports
Effective
Community
Schools
+
Site-based
Coordinator
Principal
Staff
PFE support, tools, resources,
and training to build capacity
and accelerate success
School-based team

12. We take a place-based approach that is tailored to
to the uniqueness of rural place
District-wide
adoption
to support and
sustain systemic,
community-wide
change over time
and to support
seamless student
transitions across
grades.
Neighborhood-
wide programs
and services
that provide the
multigeneration
opportunities for
children and their
families to thrive
in school, work,
and life.
Culturally
relevant
approach
that recognizes the
power of place,
helps build an
asset-based mindset
and approach, and
engages the
community as
partners in the
work.
Resident-led
change
including hiring
local residents to
fill key positions
and providing
ongoing leadership
capacity building
tools and supports.
Practitioner
capacity
building
that connects local
leaders and staff
with leading
practices, tools
and resources, and
networks of
support, to
strengthen their
ability to lead
enduring change.
Systems, structures, and practices tailored to rural place, identified
through decades of experience working as rural practitioners.
Place-based
Rural Lens

13. We identify
partners to
support holistic
child
development
birth through 5.
We emphasize challenging
academics and supports and work
across all grades K-12 to ensure
students have the supports they
need to graduate ready for
college.
We support
FAFSA
completion, and
college planning
and transitions,
to ensure
students are set
up for success.
We expand
opportunities
for career
exploration
(e.g. summer
internships,
other work
opportunities).
We create a tiered system of integrated supports with a focus on wellness & safety (e.g.
integration of substance abuse prevention into curricula; building social emotional
competencies) and linkages for students and families to family counseling, and physical and
mental health care.
13
Our approach begins at birth and extends beyond grade
12 to ensure a seamless transition to postsecondary
Enter K-
Ready
Achieve
Academic
Proficiency
Graduate
High School
College-
Ready
Earn Post-
secondary
Degree
Gain
Meaningful
Employment
Safe, Healthy, Supported
Pipeline of high-quality cradle-to-career services that address the factors
inside and outside of school that impact student success.
Cradle-to-
Career
Approach

14. We put results at the center of our work and create the leadership
structures needed to facilitate and sustain success.
We incorporate proven leadership approaches and
structures to center results and sustain success
We use StriveTogether’s cross sector
leadership table structure to ensure
there is the cross sector engagement
needed to activate, align, and sustain
resources.
Each place-based Community Schools effort
is initiated by a consortium of local partners
that sets the vision and overall strategy,
commits resources to ensure the work gets
done, and breaks down political or
organizational barriers that inhibit the
system from working effectively.
We use the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s
Results Counts framework to center
population-level results and focus on data-
driven decision-making.
For 25 years, Casey has used Results
Count® to help leaders in the social and
public sectors achieve better outcomes for
children and families, supporting initiatives
that help children get ready for school,
reduce reliance on juvenile detention and
incarceration and help more young people
grow up in families.
Enduring cross sector
leadership structures
Results-based leadership
Cross-sector,
Results
Focus

15. The PFE Rural Community Schools Approach
15
Enter
Kindergarten
Ready
Achieve
Academic
Proficiency
Graduate High
School College-
Ready
Earn
Postsecondary
Degree
Gain Meaningful
Employment
Safe, Healthy, Supported
District-wide
adoption
Neighborhood-
wide programs
and services
Resident-led
change
Culturally
relevant
approach
Practitioner
capacity
building
Results-based leadership approach
Enduring cross sector leadership structures
Site-based leadership
Collaborative
leadership and
practice
Holistic and
integrated student
supports
Expanded and
enriched learning
time
Active family and
community
engagement
Challenging academic content and supports
Cradle-
to-Career
Approach
Place-
based,
Rural
Lens
School-
site
Model
Cross-
sector,
Results
Focus

16. We’ve identified the most important indicators for
launching and sustaining rural community schools
• District and school leaders believe that families and the community bring assets
and must be at the table. They see schools as the heart of the community, and
embrace the need to be open to the community
• Senior district leadership prioritizes the work and understands the need to
champion the effort and build systems to ensure sustained support
• Principals have an openness to shared leadership, and a desire to lead school-level
change by adopting and sustaining new practices
• Community partner leaders are open and willing to collaborate, and formalize that
commitment in an MOA that includes providing access to student-level data to the
Project Director and Site Coordinators
• High degree of trust across the principal, site coordinator, community partners, and
the PFE Community Schools support team
• Dedicated school level site coordinator, from the place, with the responsibility and
“arms and legs” to drive the work forward
• School site collaboration structures that bring together partners to learn about each
other’s work, identify opportunities to align their programs to school goals
• Commitment to, and systems and practices to support, data-driven decision-
making and continuous improvement
• Actively engaged cross sector Partnership Council that can activate and align
resources and supports
16
Readiness
criteria
Success
factors

17. Let’s Grow the Impact of Rural
Community Schools
17

18. 18
We are excited by the potential of increased
investment in Full-Service Community Schools
(from $30M up to $443M)
It is imperative that rural places apply for and
secure these funds.
It is critical that the entities that secure these
funds be supported in moving the dial on
results.

19. We will focus on two strategies to achieve this goal
We will continue to manage
our current schools and will
launch new schools in Central
Appalachia
19
Direct growth:
Grow the number of directly
led PFE rural community
schools
Partner-led growth:
Support community-based
partners to launch rural
community schools
We will provide pre- and post-
launch support to a network of
community-based partners
across the United States to use
the PFE approach to design and
launch new rural community
schools
Mutually
reinforcing
feedback loop:
Our direct work
informs our rural
lens and how we
support schools.
Through our work
supporting schools,
we identify
promising practices
to inform our
approach.

20. 20
Partner-led growth: Support community-based partners to launch rural community schools
We will support a network of partners through a
number of different strategies
Site coordinator and
principal training
Coaching
Program design
support
Pre-Launch Launch Post-Launch
Access to PFE rural
community schools
playbook
Site visits
Community of Practice
participation
Partnership council
design and support
Access to learning
resources
Initial intensive Project
Director and Site
Coordinator training

21. Effective community schools move outcomes for
students, especially students in high poverty schools
A comprehensive review of more than 140 studies
demonstrates that well implemented community
schools help meet the educational needs of low-
performing students in high poverty schools and
leads to improvement in student and school
outcomes.
21
Source: Maier, A., Daniel, J., Oakes, J., & Lam, L. (2017). Community schools as an effective school
improvement strategy: A review of the evidence. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.