Classroom Teachers in the Community Schools Movement: A Social Justice Perspective

This article shares the experience of three teachers, who teach and learn at thriving community schools in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. Their experiences challenge traditional ideas about what it means to learn and be a teacher. In their schools, teaching is a community effort where all the adults--teachers, social workers, parents, afterschool coordinators, mentors, and others--in students' lives contribute to their learning and development. As teachers they embrace their role as one of many--united in disrupting long-standing educational inequalities. Sharing their experience helps the authors answer three questions facing the growing community schools movement: (1) What does it mean to be a community school teacher?; (2) How do teachers in community schools promote deeper learning for students?; and (3) How does collaborative leadership create sustainable and humane community school workplaces? The purpose of this article is to elevate the often overlooked role of classroom teachers in the community schools movement.