Document Type
Report
Publication Date
6-2025
Abstract
Executive Summary
The primary goal of this evaluation is to gain a better understanding of the Act 67 Community Schools implementation process and the effectiveness of this approach in supporting overall student and family success and development, as seen through the experience of Act 67 Community Schools in the State of Vermont. Community Schools serve as resource hubs that provide a broad range of easily accessed well-coordinated supports and services that help students and families with increasingly complex needs. Vermont Act 67 – The Community Schools Act – was passed to support Vermont schools and community partners in the development, expansion, and sustainability of the Community School (CS) approach to public education. This approach is demonstrated through five target areas, called pillars, all aimed at enhancing student success and development. These pillars are 1) integrated student support, 2) expanded and enriched learning time and opportunities, 3) active family and community engagement, 4) collaborative leadership and practices, and 5) safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments.
This multi-level mixed methods participatory evaluation research design is centered on understanding: 1) the experiences of Act 67 funded community school sites in implementing key organizational structures of the community school approach, 2) how funding made available through Act 67 of 2021, including specific grant program design features, impacted awardees’ capacity to create and implement their three-year community school goals, address community school pillars, and realize their community school vision, and 3) the preliminary outcomes of Community School implementation in Vermont as a result of Act 67, including recommendations to inform sustaining Community School efforts in Vermont. We engaged in multiple primary data collection methods, including annual empathy interviews with Community Schools leaders and annual community school site visits, as well as analysis and synthesis of Community Schools documentation and existing data to answer our research questions. This participatory evaluation used a unique structure to examine the implementation of Act 67 through a research-practice-partnership between the Vermont Agency of Education, the University of Vermont, and community school partners grounded in implementation science.
Our report illustrates the diverse and meaningful socially significant outcomes that have emerged from Vermont's Act 67 Community Schools implementation across a) multiple levels (school, district and state agency), b) multiple stakeholders (students, educators/staff, families and community) and c) across multiple domains (behavioral, academic and social). The positive impact on students is particularly notable in areas such as behavioral improvements, increased leadership opportunities, and academic growth. Similarly, the data highlights strengthened relationships between school staff and families, fostering a more inclusive and supportive educational environment for all stakeholders. Our findings also highlight key enabling contexts that supported the socially significant outcomes just mentioned, which included a) articulation of Community Schools through legislation, b) increased resourcing made available through funding, and c) the role of the State Agency of Education in providing relevant and localized technical assistance and grant management through a supportive accountability framework. Finally, our collaborative research also highlights key implementation methods and effective innovations of the Community Schools approach across the five awardees that were supported by the enabling contexts to produce socially significant outcomes including a) importance of values-based implementation through the cultivation of a Community Schools mindset, b) role of the Community Schools coordinator in supporting and coordinating the Community Schools approach, c) essential partnerships between Community Schools coordinators, principals, superintendents and school boards to sustain and communicate Community Schools to the broader community, d) integrating and aligning Community Schools as an umbrella strategy for existing school initiatives and efforts, and e) leveraging place, local assets and community partners through mutually beneficial relationships.
After three years of implementation within the context of one-time funding supported through Act 67, remarkable progress was made across the grant recipients in organizing, initiating, maturing, and sustaining the Community Schools approach. We have evidence from our Act 67 pilot schools to indicate that three years of Community Schools funding translated into successful incorporation of all of the elements of the five pillar Community Schools approach and institutionalization of the Community School Model into the local budget and school board priorities As a approach, Community Schools align to Vermont’s student-centered approach to learning and supports key educational policies to support inclusive and equitable school learning environments. Community Schools embody the values and ideologies of Vermont’s unique history and educational landscape. Community Schools are the future of public education in Vermont and leverage the local assets and strengths of rural communities, community partners, and schools to coordinate and streamline services, supports, and programming to enrich the lives and well-being of the entire community.
Recommended Citation
Knox, Peter N. and Garnett, Bernice, "VERMONT COMMUNITY SCHOOLS - RAISING COMMUNITIES: An Implementation Evaluation Report on Vermont Act 67 - The Community Schools Act (2021-2024)" (2025). College of Education and Social Services Faculty Publications. 46.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/cessfac/46
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Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Other Education Commons
