Changing schools, especially during the middle school years, can lower students’ academic performance and have a damaging impact on their behavior.
One factor that protects against these outcomes, a new research study finds, is City Connects.
The study — Integrated Student Support Intervention Mitigates the Adverse Impact of School Mobility on Middle School Students’ Achievement and Behavior — was written by Haibin Jiang, a Researcher at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children, Noman Khanani, a former Senior Research Associate at the Center, Yan R. Leigh, the Center’s Director of Research and Evaluation, and Mary E. Walsh, the Center’s Founding Director.
For students, the study says, “school changes during middle school can be more challenging because the children are entering a new academic environment and during a unique stage of child development.”
It’s the dawn of adolescence in an unfamiliar place with peers and teachers who are strangers, which can create challenges both inside and outside of school.
The study is based on data from 2001 to 2015 from a large urban school district in the United States that implements City Connects and serves “a high proportion of minority students and students from low-income families.”
Of all the students in the district, 41 percent changed schools during their middle school years.
Among the research study’s findings:
– students who switched schools and “received City Connects intervention achieved higher math scores than students who did not receive City Connects intervention”
– attendance was stronger among students in City Connects schools; they had “2.616 fewer days of absence” than peers in schools without City Connects, and
– the difference “in the likelihood of experiencing chronic absenteeism is 9.6 percentage points lower”
More research is required to pinpoint exactly how City Connects produces this positive result. But one hypothesis is that City Connects Coordinators play a key role.
As the study explains, “Coordinators are required to identify the mobile students and provide support accordingly. When students enter a new middle school, City Connects coordinators are usually the designated school personnel to help the students navigate the new school environment.”
Coordinators work with teachers to evaluate the strengths and needs of new students through whole class reviews. If students experience emotional or behavioral challenges or face out-of-school challenges, coordinators respond by connecting students to tailored services and community resources.
“These supports and information are especially valuable if the students happen to move into the neighborhood and lack information about local resources and support. In addition, by participating in the whole class review and individual student review, teachers and other adults in the school have a better understanding and sympathy for the challenges faced by the mobile students.”
In short, coordinators and teachers get to know kids and help them thrive.
The lesson is clear, as the study concludes: “Educators, school administrators, and policymakers all need to recognize the challenges faced by these students and provide appropriate support… Integrated student support interventions like City Connects can provide the support that is not available in many schools.”
