Questions and Answers

What is Community for Learning (CFL)? 

Community for Learning is a comprehensive school reform program that draws on over two decades of research on what makes schools work and what helps each student learn, even for those children who are faced with some of the most challenging circumstances. CFL builds on the strengths of diverse communities by redeploying existing resources and professional expertise to achieve the most positive impact on children's development and educational success. A centerpiece of the CFL program is an integrated design framework for a collaborative process of finding ways to sustain a high standard of academic achievement for each student. This is achieved by linking schools with the resources, expertise, and energies of other learning environments, including homes, churches, libraries, the workplace, higher education institutions, community organizations, and social service agencies-in short, a community for learning. 

Why would a school or school district want to use this program? 

Many students have difficulty achieving success in school and need more help. If all students are to complete a basic education through equal access to a common curriculum, school responses to increasingly diverse student needs must undergo a major shift. With CFL this type of shift does not require a school to purchase fancy equipment, adopt an entirely new curriculum, or hire new teachers. Instead, CFL provides professional development and technical assistance to all individuals involved in the child's learning environment, building their capacity to sustain positive change.

What distinguishes a reform program like CFL is what it doesn't do:

• It doesn't thrust a different curriculum upon a school or school district
• It doesn't require the hiring of many new staff members
• It doesn't throw out everything old in favor of something new

Has this program been tried or is it just a theory? 

Elements of CFL have been used successfully in schools in more than 20 states over the past 25 years. The classroom instruction component of CFL is the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (ALEM), which has been shown in study after study to increase student learning and achievement. 

Who developed this approach to school reform? 

Margaret C. Wang, a professor of educational psychology and the founding director of the Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE) at Temple University, in collaboration with more than a dozen researchers and teachers from a variety of disciplines, spearheaded the creation of the CFL program. These researchers and practitioners, spurred by the need to increase the nation's capacity to effectively respond to an increasingly diverse student 
population, especially in urban schools, were committed to developing a program that was based on extensive research and practical wisdom. 

How do I know that CFL really works? 

Schools across the country that have used CFL have experienced reduced drop-out rates, raised achievement scores, and boosted morale. Students have developed positive attitudes about learning and have taken more responsibility for their own learning. Teachers have adopted effective practices that are based on research and have raised their expectations for all students. 

What kinds of districts or schools should use CFL? 

CFL has been implemented in a variety of schools and districts that believe schools can make a difference in promoting the learning success and educational resilience of each student. Much is known from research and practical experience that works in improving the teaching and learning process to better meet the needs of diverse students. By incorporating this knowledge base in a capacity-building approach to school reform, schools in inner cities, suburban areas, and rural towns have found CFL to be flexible and effective in meeting their site-specific improvement needs. CFL is known to work with individual schools at the preschool through high school levels. However, because of CFL's emphasis on family and community connections, it works best in districts and schools with a district-wide plan or districts with a cluster of schools using CFL as a whole-school reform program. 

Who takes responsibility for initiating CFL? 

Whether you are a parent, policymaker, government official, school administrator, teacher, education specialist, or community leader, you can help ensure that the process of getting CFL into your school or district takes place. 

Does the adoption of CFL mean that special education classes can be eliminated at a school? 

No. Instead, regular and special education teachers work as a team to provide for the diverse needs of students, especially those with special needs, in regular classrooms. 

How long does it take to achieve a high degree of CFL implementation? 

CFL aims to build the capacity of school staff to implement effective instructional and planning strategies over a three-year period. During the first year, CFL staff provide intensive training, consultation, and evaluation support to school staff and administrators. For two more years, it provides technical assistance as needed and monitors progress. This approach strengthens the capacity of participating sites to deliver support and professional development to staff. Depending on site-specific needs and resources, some schools achieve full implementation in less than three years. 

What are the costs of using the program? 

Because the CFL program draws upon existing resources, the costs are minimal. While costs vary from site to site, most schools pay for pre-implementation training and implementation support of teachers. The average fee for the first year of CFL implementation is about $30,000 per school. No purchase of specially designed curriculum materials is required, and professional development activities can be funded (wholly or in part) with existing resources. 

Where can a school district get money for the program? 

In addition to resources that might exist in a district budget, some start-up funding is available from the federal government through the 1997 Porter-Obey legislation, which has allocated $150 million for the adoption of various school-wide reform programs like CFL. Funding might also be available through other federal programs such as IDEA, Title I, or Goals 2000. Districts should also find out about supplementary funding provided by their individual state for improvement programs. 

Where can I get more information about CFL? 

Contact: Cynthia Smith 
Center for Research in Human 
Development and Education 
Temple University 
1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue 
Philadelphia, PA 19122-6091 
Telephone: 1-800-892-5550 
Fax: 215-204-5130 
E-mail: csmith6@vm.temple.edu 
Web: www.temple.edu/LSS