2024 Community Matters Report
This year’s Community Matters Report highlights the transformational power of connections. It reviews the state of our public schools and shows how the connections that Communities In Schools® (CIS®) makes transform individual students’ lives, entire schools, and school systems. We hope it inspires everyone working to fulfill the promise of public education in America.
What’s Happening in Our Public Schools
Today, in America’s public schools…
- Student engagement is lower than it’s ever been.
- Enrollment is down by more than one million students.
- Chronic absenteeism is the reality in two thirds of schools.
What’s Possible in Our Public Schools
In order to thrive, schools must be able to connect students, families, and teachers to the resources and supports needed to help all students succeed in school and in life. Today, those connections are too often beyond the ability of many public schools. But, CIS makes those connections.
When schools implement the CIS model of integrated student supports (ISS), they connect to our network of close to 8,000 community organizations that provide the resources and capacity schools need to help students overcome obstacles and achieve success.
Download 2024 Community Matters Report.pdf
Related Articles
Chronic absenteeism doesn’t have just one solution — it has many
Chronic absenteeism has emerged as one of the most severe problems facing American students and educators today. In this op-ed, Rey Saldaña, President and CEO of CIS National, and Debbie Palacios, Executive Director of CIS of Southern Nevada, discuss how solving this problem starts by understanding what’s keeping students away and removing those barriers.
Opinion | Jan. 4, 2024 Read more of Chronic absenteeism doesn’t have just one solution — it has many
Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Requires Collective Action
As someone with more than 20 years of experience in youth development in DC, I have witnessed firsthand the importance of collective action in driving positive student outcomes, especially for our most vulnerable populations. As students across the District return to school, our city must come together to deal with a crisis that, if left unaddressed, will have long-term consequences for our children and our community.
Opinion | Dec. 2, 2024 Read more of Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Requires Collective Action
Collaboration Conversation: How Partnerships Create School-Wide Impact at Title-I Schools
"CIS Site Coordinator James Gibson helped us understand the CIS model so that we could use it to help Bellshire. It’s all about building relationships with parents, students, staff, and the community while also finding community resources and organizations to plug into schools. And that’s really what we needed." -Principal Donald Black
Stories | July 24, 2023 Read more of Collaboration Conversation: How Partnerships Create School-Wide Impact at Title-I Schools