Table Of Content“Emily Woods has written a timely and important book on the d evelopment
of community schools policy in Baltimore and Boston. Providing a rich
ethnographic and historical study, Woods places equity and community
participation as central considerations if community schools are to go
beyond service provision and make a genuine difference in the lives of
children and families. The Path to Successful Community School Policy
Adoption should be read by community school practitioners, school
district leaders, policymakers, and academics interested in understanding
and developing community schools.”
—Ira Harkavy, Founding Director of the Netter Center for
Community Partnerships, University of Pennsylvania
“Community schools mobilize the power of community partners to help
eliminate barriers to learning. Central to their mission is addressing the out
of school factors that are precursors to academic attainment. This book
provides a conceptual framework to assess school-district readiness to adopt
policies that can lead to comprehensive school reform. The book is a must
read for leaders seeking a community focused approach to what schools
can do to meet all stakeholders’ needs—holistically and comprehensively.”
—JoAnne Ferrara, Associate Dean, Manhattanville College
“Emily Woods offers a vivid and insightful analysis into the complicated
dynamics of bringing community schools to life in two cities.”
—Martin Blank, Founding Director Coalition for Community
Schools. Institute for Educational Leadership
“Community schools is an emerging strategy that has the potential to
reduce the multi-faceted inequities that are prevalent in many schools. This
book examines the policy process of implementing the community school
strategy in two different school districts. This is a must-read book for
stakeholders who are committed to the expansion of community schools.”
—Claudia Galindo, Associate Professor of Education Policy,
University of Maryland, College Park
The Path to Successful Community
School Policy Adoption
Drawing on rich case studies of Baltimore City and Boston, this
volume identifies policy factors and processes critical to the successful
district-wide adoption of community schools.
By applying the Multiple Streams Model (Kingdon) to c omparative
analysis of policy determination and the narratives of local s takeholders
across a 16-year period, chapters illustrate the role of federal l egislation,
funding, and buy-in from coalitions, community leaders, and local
advocates in ensuring policy adoption in Baltimore City. In c ontrast,
Boston’s more limited reforms are explained in light of local c hallenges and
hindering dynamics. Ultimately, the volume offers key recommendations
for stakeholders to drive successful policy uptake in urban school districts.
Offering a new analysis of policy for community schools, this volume
will be of interest to students, scholars, and researchers with an interest
in school reform, as well as urban education.
Emily Lubin Woods is Director of Education at the Richard K. Lubin
Family Foundation. She previously taught as Adjunct Lecturer in
Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA.
Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics
The Routledge Research in Education Policy and Politics series aims to
enhance our understanding of key challenges and facilitate on-going
academic debate within the influential and growing field of Education
Policy and Politics.
Books in the series include:
Nancy Fraser and Participatory Parity
Reframing Social Justice in South African Higher Education
Edited by Vivienne Bozalek, Dorothee Hölscher and
Michalinos Zembylas
Educating the Neoliberal Whole Child
A Genealogical Approach
Bronwen Jones
Education Policy and the Political Right
The Burning Fuse beneath Schooling in the US, UK and Australia
Grant Rodwell
Critical Perspectives on PISA as a Means of Global Governance
Risks, Limitations, and Humanistic Alternatives
Edited by António Teodoro
The Path to Successful Community School Policy Adoption
A Comparative Analysis of District-Level Policy Reform Processes
Emily Lubin Woods
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Research-in-Education-Policy-and-Politics/book-series/
RREPP
The Path to Successful
Community School Policy
Adoption
A Comparative Analysis of District-
Level Policy Reform Processes
Emily Lubin Woods
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an
informa business
© 2023 Emily Lubin Woods
The right of Emily Lubin Woods to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Woods, Emily (Emily Lubin), author.
Title: The path to successful community school policy adoption :
a comparative analysis of district-level policy reform processes /
Emily Woods.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Includes
bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022004336 (print) | LCCN 2022004337
(ebook) | ISBN 9781032186641 (hardback) | ISBN
9781032186658 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003255611 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Community schools—United States—Case
studies. | School management and organization—United
States—Case studies.
Classification: LCC LB2820 .W66 2022 (print) | LCC LB2820
(ebook) | DDC 371.030973—dc23/eng/20220503
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004336
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022004337
ISBN: 978-1-032-18664-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-18665-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-25561-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003255611
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgments x
Foreword by Jane Quinn xii
About the Author xiv
Introduction 1
The Case for Community Schools 5
Why Boston and Baltimore City 7
Boston: Context and Community School History 8
Baltimore City: Context and Community School History 10
How to Navigate This Book 12
1 Understanding Community Schools: History and Context 19
History 19
Understanding Community Schools 21
Considering the Impact of District-Wide
Versus Single-Site Initiatives 23
Conclusion: Community Schools as an Equity
Strategy 25
2 Theoretical Framework and Methodology for Analyzing
Policy Determination Processes 31
Situating Policy Analysis 31
Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model 32
Derivation of Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model 32
Multiple Streams Approach: General Overview 33
Applications of the Multiple Streams Model 40
The Multiple Streams Model: Comparing
Policy Processes in Boston and Baltimore
City 41
viii Contents
Literature Gap 42
Conceptual Model for My Study 43
Process Tracing Methodology 44
Comparative Process Tracing 45
Data Collection 46
Participants 48
Data Analysis 48
Site Selection 51
Conclusion 52
3 A Case Study of Boston’s Unrealized Efforts to Establish
Community Schools 59
Problem Stream 61
Policy Stream 64
Politics Stream 74
Policy Windows 78
The Policy Entrepreneur 80
What Can We Learn From the Boston Case? 83
4 A Case Study of Baltimore City’s Enabling Yet Nuanced
Dynamics 87
Overview of the Baltimore City Story 87
Problem Stream 89
Policy Stream 94
Politics Stream 107
Policy Windows 114
The Policy Entrepreneur 117
What Can We Learn From the Baltimore City
Case? 119
5 A Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for
Stakeholders/Advocates 124
Problem Stream 124
Policy Stream 126
Politics Stream 129
Policy Windows 132
The Policy Entrepreneur 133
Conclusion: Implications for Policy and Research 134
Contents ix
6 Community Schools Happen With—Not To—A Community 141
Key Findings 141
Community Schools Today in Baltimore City 142
Community Schools Today in Boston 143
Policy and Equity 144
Appendices 147
Index 154
