Emily Brittain Elementary School deserves credit for an ongoing effort to transform itself into a “community partnership and demonstration school.”

That effort utilizes community resources to provide assistance to families in need at the school for such challenges as addiction, poverty, hunger and lack of access to adequate health care.

It also has a goal of providing a model for other county schools to follow. So far, the school is doing just that.

One of the best tools a school — or community — can have at its disposal to bring about positive change is participation.

In that area, according to Principal Cassandra Pencek, the school has seen great success. In recent years, Emily Brittain’s parent-teacher organization had less than 30 members, but has recently increased its ranks to about 90 members.

As a result, the organization has blown past its fundraising goals. About $300 was expected to be raised by the fall festival, but the group ended up bringing in about $2,300, while a hoagie fundraiser raised another $2,495.

The money raised will go toward an important initiative: covering the cost of sending every student at Emily Brittain on field trips and preventing parents from having to chip in.

This is a great plan. Over the past decade, schools across the nation have cited everything from budgeting to an increased emphasis on standardized testing as the reason why field trips have become rarer for students.

As a result, museums and other cultural institutions have reported steep drops in the number of school tours.

This is a shame, as studies have long found that field trips are great educational opportunities that add depth to a student’s education and encourage critical thinking and excitement for learning.

A study from the National Education Association found that students who take field trips have better grades (59 percent) and higher graduation rates from high school (95 percent) and college (63 percent). And 89 percent of students who took educational trips said the trips made them more engaged and curious.

But this initiative is only one of several great ones that Emily Brittain is undertaking as part of its “community partnership and demonstration school” transformation.

It’s also increasing the number of Slippery Rock University education students brought in for job training, planning a free community meal for families in need and looking into ways to assist parents of students with their employment and transportation needs.

We look forward to hearing more about the elementary school’s success, and agree that Emily Brittain would be a great model for other Butler County schools.