Research

Our research has significant local and national implications. Full-service community schools are evidence-based models that address racism and poverty that often land on the doorsteps of public schools. Together, through our research experience, Duke and North Carolina Central University have the capacity to build resources, strategies and political will for the expansion and sustainability of community schools here in Durham.

Our research methodologies are rooted in the practices of community school practitioners around the country and are currently consolidated around three major questions:

• How do local universities best prepare undergraduate students to enter Durham Public School (DPS) classrooms with a critical lens for race, class, and Durham’s history?
• How do we build a robust online dashboard that prepares undergraduate students, DPS teachers, and DPS parents to understand their neighborhoods through an asset-based perspective?
• Thinking about the 4 pillars of CS (integrated student supports, expanded and enriched learning time, active family and community engagement, collaborative leadership and practices), how are universities uniquely positioned to meet the needs of community members inside and outside public school buildings?

To engage with these questions and each other most responsibly, we structure our year-long research experience into four major sections:

• Context Setting
  • The majority of the members of our team are not from Durham. Many are also not initially knowledgeable about the community schools model. The first several classes familiarize students with our project, building an understanding of Durham and how our research impacts Durham schools. The 2022-23 Bass Connections team had the privilege to go on a tour of Durham’s Hayti District and visit Club Boulevard Elementary for a community conversation with the principal, community school coordinator, and parent organizer.

• Literature Review/Site Visits
  • One of our most valuable assets is our partnerships with other university-assisted community schools programs around the country. Our partner universities— including Binghamton University, University of Central Florida, UCLA, and the University of Pennsylvania— have all successfully implemented this model into their communities. We draw inspiration from them, incorporating their strengths into our work in Durham. After doing research online, our team visits these universities to meet with experts and witness community schools firsthand.

• Research Methodology & Analysis
  • Our team is interdisciplinary, with students from a variety of fields across Duke and North Carolina Central. We educate our team, especially students with little or no prior background in research (or in social science), on research methodology and the data analysis process. In our subteams within the larger research team, we formulate research strategies and gather data. Some examples include focus groups, surveys, and school visits. We then analyze this data and create final products.

• Present Findings
  • Following the creation of our final products, we present our findings to numerous audiences. Members of our team have presented at the Bass Connections Showcase each year, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Meeting of the Minds, Stanford Research Conference, Duke Data Dialogues, University-Assisted Community Schools National Network monthly calls, and more. Our research has also been published in the University and Community Schools Journal at the University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, UCLA’s Community Schooling Journal, and the National Association of Social Workers’Children and Schools.