Communities develop partnerships between schools and health and social services providers to level the playing field so that children from all backgrounds, racial and ethnic groups, income levels, and neighborhoods have the supports they need to succeed in school. Although single school-linked and school based services exist in some schools, the gold standard is community schools that provide an integrated focus on organizing an array of coordinated community services and supports for children and families with the school as the hub.
In 1985 the University of Pennsylvania developed the university assisted community school (UACS) model, in which universities help to mobilize communities in support of community schools.
Since then, many partnerships among universities, public schools, and local communities have been developed to address implications of poverty, racism, and other forms of discrimination by building capacity for communities and schools to increase equity and access to quality education for all.
This special issue will address the range of areas relevant to building, implementing, and evaluating UACSs, including best practices, policies, funding mechanisms, issues in various grade levels, challenges and successes in urban versus rural schools, preparation and roles of school social workers and other school-based professionals, and evaluations of these efforts. To prepare a special issue that touches on a range of relevant topics, we will be reviewing abstracts and then extending invitations for full contributions. The deadline for abstract submission is October 31. Invitations to submit an article will be issued no later than December 1. The deadline for full manuscript submission is January 31. The journal encourages submission of manuscripts for full-length articles (20 pages), Practice Highlights (six pages), and As Readers See It (two pages).
To prepare your manuscript in proper format for submission, see Writing for the NASW Press: Information for Authors at www.naswpress.org/authors/guidelines/00-contents.html.
Please submit abstracts through the online submission portal at http://cs.msubmit.net (initial, onetime registration is required) and indicate that your submission is intended for the University-Assisted Community Schools special issue.