Schools across the nation are struggling with many student crises. Among them are learning loss due to the pandemic, an uptick in chronic absenteeism, and ongoing issues with food insecurity and mental health, all of which have made it more challenging for educators to help students learn and thrive.
That’s why professionals across a diverse set of fields are working to find creative solutions to improve student engagement and support.
At a recent National Governors Association meeting of educational policy advisors, leaders from state governments and nonprofits gathered with experts to discuss different ways schools can support students.
“Part of what was so powerful about this convening was seeing that there is a growing understanding of the importance of supporting the whole child,” Joan Wasser Gish explains. She is the Director of Systemic Impact at Boston College’s Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children, the home of City Connects.
Governors’ growing focus on the whole child reflects what’s happening in schools. As communities and the country face more complex challenges, schools are expanding their roles to support students so that despite these challenges they are ready to learn.
“We saw that during the pandemic, when more schools were distributing food, checking in on families, and making sure that when students couldn’t be at school, they could connect to the internet and participate remotely,” noted Wasser Gish.
It’s a trend that the U.S. Department of Education found in recent survey data, which includes the finding that 60 percent of surveyed schools “said they were partnering with community organizations to provide non-educational services,” an article in the Hechinger Report notes. “That’s up from 45 percent a year earlier in 2022, the first time the department surveyed schools about their involvement in these services.”
“New community alliances were further fueled by more than $200 billion in federal pandemic recovery funds that have flowed to schools,” the article adds.
“The most common service provided was mental health (66 percent of schools) followed by food assistance (55 percent).”
Wasser Gish says, “There’s a shift in understanding what it takes to help kids become ready to learn and engage in school,” a shift that was apparent at the National Governors Association meeting.
“In this gathering of senior education advisors from different states, where each local context is different and policy priorities are different, there is one unifying question: How do we provide the resources and opportunities that will help our students succeed?,” Wasser Gish says, adding:
“To make investments in states’ prioritites – whether in student mental health, school safety, universal school meals, or academic tutoring – more effective, students need to be able to access the right combination of supports and opportunities. Integrated student support programs can help do this work.”
To boost the value of these investments in student support programs such school-based food pantries or clothing donations, it is also vital to invest in building the “systemic infrastructure” it takes to coordinate a diverse range of resources so that they can synergistically meet students’ needs.
To help policymakers and practitioners advance their focus on the whole child and on effective investments in students through integrated student support, the Center for Thriving Children shares the Integrated Student Support State Policy Toolkit and the National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support to offer a roadmap showing how to move from concept to action.
“Being able to provide multifaceted supports to address students’ complex circumstances is what makes systems of integrated student support both necessary and effective,” explains Wasser Gish,
“More than half of states are now at some stage of policymaking to advance integrated student support. We expect it will be an area of continued growth, and it is our hope that one day, as a regular part of going to school, every child will receive supports and opportunities so that they can reach their full potential.”
