Communities In Schools of Washington State

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

Communities In Schools of Washington (CISWA) is part of the nation’s largest dropout prevention program providing school-based Integrated Student Supports to children and youth most at risk of school failure. CISWA began serving students and delivering progressively effective Integrated Students Supports through our site coordination model in 1991.  Our statewide network currently serves 14 communities across Washington in 28 school districts – including the four largest and two other districts in the top ten. 

Communities In Schools (CIS) is the nation’s #1 model for delivering Integrated Student Supports. The key to our mission is to implement our model of site coordination delivering Integrated Student Supports aimed at removing barriers, both social and academic, for students who are at high risk of dropping out. Our unique model places trained site coordinators inside schools to identify at-risk students. Working with school leaders and community partners, the site coordinator provides services and supports through two levels. One level focuses on school-wide needs and the second level provides individual case management supports to address the needs of high-risk students. Our site coordinators help link existing services to students for their identified needs. CIS recruits and trains hundreds of community volunteers each year to work as mentors, speakers and tutors who provide consistent adult guidance, life skills modeling, academic assistance and set the expectation for success in school and in life. Across Washington, more than 73,000 students were served by Communities In Schools Affiliates last year.