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The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.

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Program Description

Overview The Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) Initiative was founded by the city of Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon, as a partnership between the city, county, state, and schools. SUN partners with local schools to extend the school day and develop schools as community “hubs,” linking them with other community institutions, such as libraries, parks, community centers, neighborhood health clinics, churches, and businesses. SUN's goals are to: (1) improve student achievement, attendance, behavior, and other skills for academic success and healthy development through increased school capacity for safe, supervised, and positive environments for expanded experiences; (2) increase family involvement in schools and school-based programs; (3) increase community and business involvement in schools and school-based programs; (4) improve the system of collaboration among school districts, government, community-based agencies, families, citizens, and business/corporate leaders; and (5) improve use of public facilities and services by locating services in the community-based neighborhood schools.
Start Date spring 1999
Scope local
Type after school, before school, comprehensive services
Location urban
Setting public schools
Participants preschool through high school students (also serves adults)
Number of Sites/Grantees eight schools in 1999–2000; 31 schools across six school districts in 2003; and 46 in 2004
Number Served 4,871 children in extended-day activities in the 2001–2002 school year
Components SUN's primary components are before and after school academic enrichment programs linked with the school day; family involvement and strengthening programs; health and social services for youth, families, and community; community events; and adult education. SUN Community Schools select a nonprofit lead agency to act as managing partner for the SUN effort. Together, the partners hire SUN Site Managers to help build and bring networks of services, classes, and volunteers together, and to coordinate these services to ensure linkages to the regular school day. An Advisory Committee works to tailor SUN events, classes, services, and activities to the interests and needs of the local community, building on existing community assets, linking those assets with school activities, and bringing together schools, community leaders, and agency professionals to plan the best ways to support youth in education, family involvement, and the community. For example, social and health services are often offered in partnership with another service agency or a business partner, giving the SUN schools access to on-site immunization screenings, support groups, referrals to mental health counselors, etc. Initially, only elementary and middle schools were selected as SUN sites. Recently, the initiative broadened to include high school sites.
Funding Level $1,105,975 in fiscal year 1999–2000
Funding Sources City of Portland, Oregon; Multnomah County, Oregon; Oregon Department of Human Services; Oregon Commission on Children & Families; 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program—U.S. Department of Education; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation; Youth Services Consortium; Jubitz Corporation; Tonkin Corporation
Other In spring 2003, all community services for school-age youth and their families—including SUN Community Schools—were folded into a single full-service package as part of a School-Age Policy Framework (SAPF) for Multnomah County. SAPF uses a school-based model (services housed and primarily delivered at a school site) and school-linked delivery model (services housed at sites other than schools) to bring a core set of services to a targeted group of high-need schools. Under the SAPF model, services are delivered through a combination of Regional Service Centers, countywide contracts with culturally-specific service providers, and city and/or county staffed efforts. As a result of this process, SUN expanded to 46 locations in January 2004.


Evaluation

Overview The SUN Evaluation Workgroup, a collaborative composed of stakeholders from all aspects of the initiative, created an evaluation plan based on the five initiative goals. The workgroup and contractors evaluated and produced a report for each goal for the baseline year (1999–2000). A full baseline report summarizes these individual reports and establishes baseline measures of key evaluation components that will be used to assess the progress and success of the initiative over its course.
Evaluators The Sun Evaluation Workgroup
Evaluations Profiled Schools Uniting Neighborhoods Initiative: Baseline Report
Evaluations Planned A year two evaluation report was estimated to be completed in December 2001 to give an update on the 2000–2001 school year, and the evaluation process is scheduled to culminate in a final five-year summative report. The status of this evaluation is unknown.
Report Availability The Sun Evaluation Workgroup. (2001). Schools Uniting Neighborhoods Initiative: Baseline report. Portland, OR: Author. Available at www.sunschools.org.


Contacts

Evaluation Diana Hall
Technical Assistance and Program Development Coordinator
SUN Initiative
421 SW 6th Ave, 7th Fl
Portland, OR 97204
Tel: 503-988-4222
Fax: 503-988-3710
Email: diana.c.hall@co.multnomah.or.us
Program Diana Hall
Technical Assistance and Program Development Coordinator
SUN Initiative
421 SW 6th Ave, 7th Fl
Portland, OR 97204
Tel: 503-988-4222
Fax: 503-988-3710
Email: diana.c.hall@co.multnomah.or.us
Profile Updated April 23, 2004

Evaluation: Schools Uniting Neighborhoods Initiative: Baseline Report


Evaluation Description

Evaluation Purpose To discover what worked and why during SUN's first year. Areas examined included: student academic and social success, family involvement, neighborhood involvement, systems of collaboration, and school resource use.
Evaluation Design Non-Experimental: Data were collected at all eight SUN schools during the first year of operation (four elementary and four middle schools). The majority of SUN schools were in economically poor communities—free or reduced lunch ranged from one-fifth to nearly three-quarters of the student populations. Three SUN schools had 50% or more minority student enrollment, while the rest had 15%–25%.
Data Collection Methods Document Review: Various reports from SUN principals were used to examine family involvement issues. In addition, the Fiscal Year 1999–2000 School/Community Building Policy Budget Presentation documented the collaborative financial arrangement created between community agencies to support the implementation of the SUN initiative.

Interviews/Focus Groups: Forty-two stakeholder interviews were conducted to examine program implementation and to document stakeholder collaboration. Interviewed stakeholders included principals, business leaders, program staff, etc. The interviews investigated SUN's collaborative efforts along a continuum from lower-order efforts, such as joint planning, to higher-order efforts that would include full integration of services and data systems.

Secondary Source/Data Review: School attendance and discipline data were drawn from the Portland Public School District, the Gresham-Barlow District, and the Oregon Department of Education. These data were collected on grade level cohorts of students in kindergarten through eighth grade on whom data were available. Baseline measures were established by analyzing data for three years (1997–1999). Analyses were limited by differences in file structures of the two districts' data. Gresham-Barlow discipline data were not included in the 1997–1998 school year calculations, since only the number of incidents rather than the numbers of students involved were reported.

A review of 135 out-of-school activities, events, and services attended by 1,741 adults and 3,481 children that the SUN initiative brought into the school buildings was conducted in May 2000 to determine the level of stakeholder collaboration and resource use.

Surveys/Questionnaires: Data from the Gresham-Barlow and Portland Public Schools Satisfaction Survey were used to examine SUN parents' levels of program satisfaction, program participation, and volunteering in the schools.

The SUN Neighborhood Involvement Survey, a multilingual survey measuring social capital, was administered door-to-door in the eight SUN neighborhoods to 732 residents with and without school-aged children. Indicators of social capital included: psychological sense of community, overall neighborhood support, neighborhood involvement, membership and activities, and local service knowledge and use.

Tests/Assessments: Student achievement in math and reading was examined using students' Rasch Unit (RIT) test scores (an equal interval curriculum scale developed by the Northwest Evaluation Association) drawn from the Portland Public School District, the Gresham-Barlow District, and the Oregon Department of Education. These data were collected on grade level cohorts of students in kindergarten through eighth grade on whom data were available. Baseline measures were established by analyzing data for three school years (1997–1999). Analyses were limited by incompatible testing-year results of the two participating school districts. In spring 2000, math scores were available for 1,304 elementary school students and 1,153 middle school students; reading scores were available for 1,256 elementary school students and 1,162 middle school students.
Data Collection Timeframe Data were collected during the 1999–2000 school year, unless otherwise indicated.


Findings:
Formative/Process Findings

Activity Implementation In May 2000, 55% of out-of-school activities, events, and services were new as a result of SUN implementation.

The majority of SUN activities reviewed in May 2000 were found to target one or more SUN goal: 60% targeted helping children succeed socially; 53% targeted helping children succeed academically; 38% targeted supporting and strengthening parents/caregivers, families, and community residents; 33% targeted increasing parents/caregivers school involvement; 26% targeted helping children develop a service ethic; 18% targeted leveraging public asset sharing through expanded school use; and 18% targeted leveraging resources to achieve a better, more comprehensive, and coordinated service delivery system.
Costs/Revenues For fiscal year 2000–2001, 72% of expenses were for site funding and technical assistance; 22% were for personnel and office costs; and 6% were for evaluation.

For fiscal year 2000–2001, 70% of revenue came from county general funds and School Improvement (SIP) funds; 22% from the city of Portland; and 8% from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and other donations.
Parent/Community Involvement According to district records, 84% of surveyed SUN parents attended parent-teacher conferences.

Only 20% of community members surveyed were aware of the SUN initiative.

The majority of community members who knew about their local SUN school agreed or strongly agreed that SUN could: get information to neighborhood residents about where to go for needed services (94%); increase family involvement in the schools (93%); improve the number of and access to neighborhood social services (90%); encourage people in the neighborhood to know each other better (90%); and increase community and business involvement in the schools (89%).

Of the community members who were aware of the neighborhood SUN school, 28% had served on a school committee, 25% had taken part in a SUN sponsored activity, and 12% had attended a SUN meeting.

In responses to survey items about neighborhood school involvement, the majority of community members (95% for each item) agreed that it was important that: people contribute to school-sponsored activities; neighbors volunteer for programs at local schools; and neighbors have input in what happens at local schools.

The majority of community members indicated that neighborhood involvement was important. Specifically, most agreed that it was important that: residents work to improve neighborhood conditions (98%); schools be actively involved in improving the neighborhood (95%); they themselves be involved in improving the neighborhood (94%); and people in the neighborhood talk to kids about their lives (93%).

Seventy-one percent of stakeholders felt that their SUN school had good or very good representation from key community constituencies, although they identified the following as underrepresented groups: businesses, parents, community residents, and students.

Twenty-seven percent of SUN stakeholders felt a need for more parent representation as a constituency, while 26% of surveyed staff reported that parents were underrepresented among school volunteers.

Of the families who were aware of the neighborhood SUN school, 88.5% agreed or strongly agreed that SUN could improve students' chances for success and 81% agreed or strongly agreed that SUN could improve students' test scores.

In responses to items about neighbor relations in SUN neighborhoods, the majority of community members agreed or strongly agreed that: adults knew the local children (75%); parents generally knew each other (71%); and parents knew their children's friends (60%).

SUN neighborhoods averaged a 3.6 on a 5-point scale of overall sense of community. Specifically, the majority of community members surveyed agreed that the following were important: if away, neighbors would watch others' homes (85%); people were willing to help neighbors (82%); adults were available whom children could look up to (79%); adults watched out for children (68%); if sick, neighbors would get groceries for each other (58%); and in an emergency, the survey respondent felt she/he could borrow $30 from a neighbor (56%). This psychological sense of community was significantly linked (p = .01) to overall sense of neighborhood support, knowledge of the local SUN school, local involvement indicators, neighborhood participation, and activism.
Program/School Linkages School suspensions ranged from 0.07 to 2% of the SUN elementary student population and 1.2 to 9.9% for SUN middle school students.

Two percent of enrolled students at SUN elementary schools and 20% of enrolled students at SUN middle schools had discipline referrals.
Satisfaction According to districts' satisfaction survey data, nearly 80% of the parents with children in SUN schools were satisfied with the services provided by schools (including but not excluded to SUN offerings).

Of stakeholders surveyed, 97% strongly agreed or agreed that SUN was an effective partnership and worth their time; 61% strongly agreed or agreed that the SUN school went “above and beyond” previously existing forms of service coordination; and 46% strongly agreed or agreed that they were satisfied with the level of service coordination.
Staffing/Training A variety of volunteers helped bring about SUN activities. One quarter of activities had parent/caregiver or community volunteers, 16% used school personnel, and 4% used student volunteers.

Co-managers were involved in 60% of SUN activities. They often facilitated communication (52%) and played a planning role (30%), and occasionally planned (14%) or implemented (10%) activities independently.
Systemic Infrastructure Sixty-five percent of the activities, events, and services reviewed shared funding, volunteers, or other resources with one another. The most frequent type of collaboration was in joint hosting of a project.

During the first year, stakeholders perceived a moderately high level of change in collaboration, especially for efforts that involved designing, hosting, and implementing programs. Specifically, the majority of stakeholders perceived “somewhat” or “a lot” of change in the following: jointly planning a program (88%); engaging in joint outreach efforts (88%); coordinating programming to avoid duplication (76%); informally agreeing to share information (79%); and engaging in joint service planning for clients (57%). A smaller number perceived “somewhat” or “a lot” of change in the following: sharing data or information about clients (31%) and signing a formal interagency agreement (20%).

When asked about changes in coordination as a result of SUN, 68% of stakeholders saw a moderate increase in joint projects undertaken, 64% saw a moderate increase in the level of coordination of services in the community, and 40% saw a moderate increase in cultural sensitivity levels. However, 50% saw no change in the willingness to share client information across agencies, and 49% saw no change in the actual amount of client information shared.

Fifty-seven percent of stakeholders could name at least three SUN goals, but only 10% could list all five. Parental involvement (86%) and academic achievement (71%) were most often cited.


Summative/Outcome Findings

Academic There was no clear pattern of increasing or decreasing academic test scores within middle or elementary schools. Achievement patterns across subjects, grades, and schools showed consistent annual progression from grade to grade.

In 1997–1999, school attendance ranged from 91% to 94% of the clear and intact student population (i.e., those that did not move to another school mid-grade) at the elementary school level and 89% to 96% at the middle school level. Attendance trends varied across the grade cohorts. For the grade three cohort, there was no consistent trend, with a slight decrease in absences from 1997–1998 to 1998–1999 and increase in absences for 1999–2000 (absences were higher in 1999–2000 than in either of the previous two years). For the remainder of the grade cohorts (4–8) there was a noticeable increase in absences for ascending grades.

There was no clear pattern of increasing or decreasing disciplinary rates.

 

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Published by Harvard Family Research Project