For more than three decades, Communities In Schools has worked in partnership with public schools, integrating the services that students need to stay in school and achieve high academic outcomes. We are active across the country with a network of nearly 200 local affiliates and 15 state offices, maintaining a solid footprint in many of the schools and states most heavily impacted by the dropout crisis. CIS reaches more than 1.2 million students annually in 3,250 elementary and secondary public schools through an integrated community-based approach that includes both prevention and intervention services, known as the CIS Model.

Performance Learning Centers®

CIS has developed innovative strategies that incorporate our model into public education systems and that help students graduate prepared for college and productive careers. One innovation is the Performance Learning Center – also known as PLCs – our growing network of small, high quality alternative high schools. Performance Learning Centers® (PLC’s) are a unique, nontraditional learning environment for high school students who are not succeeding in traditional schools for various reasons other than ability. In a small academic setting, the PLC’s create business-like learning environments where students are challenged and supported to meet their social, personal and academic goals. They complete coursework using online, computer-based curriculum and through project-based learning, with the assistance of specially trained and certified teachers who act as learning facilitators. In addition, mentors, internships and dual enrollment in local colleges and technical programs, and assistance with the college application process are also made available to PLC students.

Developed by CIS of Georgia, the PLC is the culmination of CIS’ historical work in alternative education. Indeed, PLCs are a renewal of the small high schools—known as street academies—that were the original framework for Communities In Schools. These small, self-contained high schools employ what research defines as aspects of a successful high school: low student-to-teacher ratio (15:1), small school size (150 students), high academic standards, a personalized learning program, and a flexible schedule with meaningful community involvement and support. Based on a professional training model rather than a conventional classroom approach, the model features a seat time waiver, a rigorous admissions process and the creation by each student of an individual development plan. Students work through a self-paced curriculum, providing them with credits they may have missed due to problems ranging from absenteeism and other academic issues, as well as personal struggles.

Funded through a grant to the CIS national office by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, school districts, businesses, and foundations, today there are more than 30 PLCs operating in the CIS network. By 2009, 43 PLCs are expected to be operational in Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington State.

The PLC network has demonstrated the following results:

• 91 percent of students improve academically
• 87 percent of students have improved discipline
• 75 percent of students graduate on time
• 85 percent of students improve their attendance

To learn more about Communities in Schools National and the Performance Learning Centers download their brochure.