The Mission of Communities in Schools

The mission of Communities In Schools is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

 Our Site Coordinators work to bring existing resources into the schools so that children and their families have access to what they need, so that kids can focus on learning and teachers can focus on teaching. And Communities In Schools of Northeast Texas is uniquely positioned, in partnership with Northeast Texas Community College, to help ensure that students not only stay in school, but graduate from high school ready to enter into higher education.

The philosophy behind Communities In Schools is that every child needs and deserves five basics in order to be successful in school and in life:
 

  1. A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult;
  2. A safe place to learn and grow;
  3. A healthy start and a healthy future;
  4. A marketable skill to use upon graduation; and
  5. A chance to give back to peers and community.

Our staff works to help ensure that the children have these five basics, by providing services and activities across six components:

    Supportive Guidance and Counseling - Services within this component include one-on-one and group guidance, encouragement, anti-bullying activities, character education activities, abstinence education activities, and much more.

    Health and Human Services - Often students struggle in school because their needs at home are not met. Families often are unaware of services that exist to help them ensure that basic needs are met. These services include medical and dental care, programs that ensure that families have food, assistance with clothing and shoes, provision of school supplies, assistance with utilities or rent, etc.

    Parental and Family Engagement - In order to be successful in school, parents/guardians need to serve as partners in their child's education. Opportunities are provided to get parents/guardians and family members engaged in the academic process for their children. Just getting a parent to come in to the school to talk to a teacher can be challenging if that parent did not have a positive academic experience themselves. Often our parents are intimidated by the school... the educators because of some issue from their past. Communities In Schools provides opportunities that remove the intimidation factor, and get the parents to walk through the school doors.

    Career/Higher Education Awareness - Students need to begin thinking about their future before they reach their senior year of high school. Communities In Schools provides activities that help students begin to think about their post-secondary life, whether college or career, by bringing in speakers to talk about careers, scheduling field trips to colleges and workplaces, and by providing mentors to help students through the maze of higher education questions they may have.

    Enrichment Activities - Students need opportunities to experience enriching activities in order to ensure that their education is well rounded, and that they have real-world application for what they are learning in the classroom. Field trips to cultural activities including art exhibits, plays and musical performances, service learning / community service projects, recreational activities, and clubs help students learn more experientially while helping them relate better to their peers.

    Educational Enhancement - Students sometimes need extra support with academics, through tutoring and homework checking. But they also need guidance in organization, note-taking and test-taking strategies, and so much more. Communities In Schools works with students to help meet a myriad of academic needs, in a variety of ways.

 

For more information on Communities In Schools of Northeast Texas, please give us a call (903.434.8212). Or drop us an e-mail at cis@cis-netx.org