Supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the New Eurasia Foundation has been implementing a series of projects designed to support the development of community schools in Russia since 2005.

The projects involved 19 resource centers supporting the development of the Russian network of community schools. The projects helped establish and support the activities of the Coordination Board for the development of community education, create a designated Internet-portal for the Russian community schools, establish two new community school resource centers in the Russian Northwest, and publish a significant number of methodological materials.

The results of the previously implemented projects clearly indicate that the projects helped:
•    Develop the community schools movement in the Russian Federation;
•    Popularize the community school idea in Russia;
•    Assess the community schools’ experiences and conceptualize the community school idea;
•    Incorporate community education approaches within the theoretical base of Russian education;
•    Ensure networking among the community school resource centers;
•    Create a common information environment;
•    Facilitate the exchange of experiences among the subjects of the Russian community schools movement;
•    Coordinate and facilitate joint networking initiatives implemented by community schools.

The third phase of the project – “Community schools in Russia: a new generation” – was launched in July 2009. The project is designed to create sustainable institutionalized mechanisms that can be used to facilitate further development of the Russian community schools movement, enhance social activity of local communities, and democratize the secondary school education system on the basis of teachers training institutions.

In particular, the project aims to:
•    Support the development, test, and include training courses and models designed to train teachers, social pedagogues, and education administrators willing to work on the basis of the community school model in the curricula of teachers training and qualifications improvement institutes, as well as support these training courses and modules with training and methodological materials;
•    Create a mechanism of ongoing supply of community schools with qualified specialists able to work on the basis of the community school model;
•    Conduct a symposium, “Community schools in Russia: a new generation”, to present the results of the project’s first year to participants of the Russian community schools movement, representatives of teachers training universities and qualifications improvement institutions;
•    Conduct a conference to present the project results to representatives of federal, regional, and municipal education administration bodies, pedagogical researchers, leaders of pedagogical periodicals, prominent representatives of the pedagogical community, and participants of the Russian community schools movement.

Project implementation term: July 2009 – July 2011.

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