Community School Principal Portal
Supporting you to lead with equity and excellence.
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Create a Foundation for You & Your Leadership Team
Principals are visionaries and advocates in community schools, emphasizing the importance of building trust, fostering collaboration, and driving systemic change to support students and families.
Whether you are a principal beginning your community school journey or a seasoned community school leader, this website is designed to support you and your leadership team in designing community schools that drive student success.
Start Your Community School Self-Assessment
- Takes just 5-10 minutes
- Benchmark your school with research-backed metrics
- Receive a custom report with actionable recommendations
Learning Resources & Tools
New principals should begin by reviewing “What is a Community School” and “The Role of the Principal”, whereas more experienced principals and administrators may be interested in a deep dive into the “Strategic Planning” and “Evaluation and Continuous Improvement” sections.
What is a Community School?
Understand the community school strategy
The Role of the Principal
Explore how principals drive success
Strategic Planning
Develop effective strategies for your school
Evaluation & Continuous Improvement
Continuously assess and improve outcomes
Impact of Community Schools
Using the community schools strategy, public schools partner with families and community organizations to provide well-rounded educational opportunities and in- and out-of-school resources. Research shows links to improved:
Student Attendance
In California, initial evaluation results show that community school sites have effectively reduced their chronic absence rates. (LPI, 2025)
Academic Achievement
In New York City, early gains were made in attendance and climate, followed by long-term improvement in Math and ELA scores. (Covelli, et. al, 2022)
School Climate
Florida community schools have increased attendance, improved academic performance, and reduced disciplinary incidents. (Naftzger, 2020)
The Essentials for Community School Transformation Framework
The Essentials for Community School Transformation Framework (Community Schools Forward, 2023) outlines the core components for transforming schools into community hubs where students, families, and educators work together to support the whole child. The middle of the framework centers on the students around whom the other aspects are built. It also outlines who drives the work, enabling conditions, and key practices.
Strengthen Your Leadership. Deepen Your Impact.
The National Center for Community Schools helps principals turn the community schools strategy into action with clear guidance, practical tools, and trusted expertise. Ready to move your work forward? Let’s connect.
