The Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children generates knowledge at the intersection of research and practice. The Center aims to advance science, implementation, and innovation to promote healthy child and youth development, learning, and thriving. This means researching big questions like whether, how, and why integrated student support works in schools and communities..
Here are some recent examples of this research involving integrated student support and City Connects, the Center’s flagship research-practice-partnership program. City Connects is an evidence-based approach to addressing the out-of-school factors that can impact student success.
Impact on student achievement. This recent study simulates a randomized control trial using the random component of a large urban school district’s school assignment system. This allowed researchers to compare students assigned to elementary schools with and without City Connects. It found that students who attended elementary schools with integrated student support demonstrated higher academic achievement. Effect sizes indicated that student achievement improved by as much as 20 percent, which is equivalent to about 90 percent of the average estimated Black-White achievement gap and about 50 percent of the estimated gap between students from high- and low-income families.
Interventions during school turnaround. Another recent study showed how City Connects affects schools in “turnaround.” By employing difference-in-differences and event studies research designs, this study’s findings reveal that schools implementing City Connects during their turnaround efforts demonstrate significant improvement in students’ math and English language arts scores compared to schools not implementing the intervention. Schools that adopted City Connects showed gains in learning typically associated with at least one-third of a full year of in-school instruction. These results provide valuable insights for policymakers, emphasizing the essential role of integrated student support in enhancing the effectiveness of school turnaround.
Workforce development. This new brief discusses how systems of integrated student support help prepare students for the workforce. When students develop the habits, skills, motivation, and knowledge they need to thrive in the job market, they have acquired the essentials of workforce development. Integrated student support – evidence-based approaches to coordinating the resources in a school and a community to more effectively and cost-efficiently support students – plays an important role in students gaining the necessary habits, skills, motivation, and knowledge for lifelong success.
Return on investment. This brief summarizes research conducted by the Center for Benefit Cost Studies in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers found that City Connects benefits taxpayers as well as students. When including the costs of implementing City Connects and the costs of the comprehensive services to which children and families get connected – such as food, clothing, after school programs, medical care, mental health counseling, and family services – researchers found that it produces $3 in bene!ts for every $1 invested across all sectors. If City Connects were widespread, it could triple the beneficial impacts of resources we already spend. Researchers also found that on average, City Connects Coordinators in elementary schools accrue an additional $5,400 per student in services from community partners, which support student well-being and drive outcomes.
The Center continues to work with partners to advance integrated student support. This includes highlighting its research findings through briefs and events to share learnings with policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels.
Recently, the Center worked with Communities In Schools to brief legislators in Washington, D.C. on April 1. At the event, “America’s Education Breakthrough: How Integrated Student Support Drives Economic Success,” Indiana state representative Robert Behning spoke about City Connects in Indiana schools, while Center Executive Director Eric Dearing discussed recent research findings.
“We are learning that the intentional and systematic coordination of school- and community-resources to provide personalized student support that responds to each student’s strengths, needs, and interests and that strengthens the school environment can produce a range of positive outcomes: improved attendance, better effort, better grades, better teacher-student relationships, and even return on investment to taxpayers,” Center for Thriving Children Executive Director Eric Dearing said.
As part of a panel discussion, Behning discussed how there are evidence-based ways for communities to support their schools and students.
“Students who receive integrated student support demonstrate higher academic achievement, including effort and grades, and show improved workforce preparedness,” Behning said.
“Schools in Indiana have implemented one such system in City Connects. The preliminary results are very positive. For example, while Indiana schools experienced a 3.3 percent decrease in chronic absenteeism, City Connects schools saw a reduction of 13.3 percent.”
Identifying effective ways to improve student attendance and learning is a vital goal of policymakers, communities, and schools.
“With all of the changes underway in education, it is more urgent than ever to more effectively support students with the resources and opportunities that are available locally,” said Center Systemic Impact Director Joan Wasser Gish. “The research on City Connects shows us that high-quality approaches to integrated student support can transform the resources of schools and communities into powerful engines of opportunity. When students get the right support, they are more likely to attend school, learn, gain skills, and go on to build successful lives – which benefits us all.”
