For the last decade, advocates for community schools determined that it was necessary to renew a core American value—that our public schools should be centers of flourishing communities where everyone belongs and works together to help our young people thrive. This movement is still growing. In April, hundreds of community school leaders and supporters will gather in Albuquerque, N.M. for the National Community Schools Forum 2016. In the fall 2015 issue of the American Federation of Teachers’s American Educator magazine, IEL president and Coalition for Community Schools director Martin J. Blank and steering committee chair Lisa Villarreal discussed why the community schools movement has grown and the positive results they evince. READ MORE…