Community Collaboration Model

The Ohio Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement (OCCMSI) is a school improvement planning process that helps schools identify and address the non-academic barriers that impede many students’ path to academic success. The OCCMSI helps school districts look at community-based resources and supports already in place, measure successes and outcomes associated with these strategies, ascertain gaps in necessary programs and services, and develop strategies to address these gaps through efficient, practical, and focused collaboration with community partners. These measures are especially needed at schools serving students with high levels of unmet need, such as those who live at or below the poverty line, live in violent communities, lack social/life skills, and face other various challenges.

OCCMSI was developed by the CAYCI team and its partners in 2008 and has since been the foundation for a number of school-related projects and research studies conducted out of CAYCI. Based on these experiences, CAYCI has developed a number of resources for schools interested in using OCCMSI to inform their own school improvement, including a resource guide (listed by individual chapters here) and a blank OCCMSI model which schools can use to map their own existing strategies.

For examples showcasing how OCCMSI has been used successfully to improve school climate and make a difference in the lives of students, check out CAYCI’s work in Canyons School District, Utah and as part of the Mental Health-Education Integration Grant.

View the public report here: The Ohio Community Collaboration Model For School Improvement Lessons Learned from School and District Pilots – June 2008.