A clear theme emerged at a recent gathering of state legislators from across the nation: learn more about shared concerns and find common ground.
This bipartisan spirit filled the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston as thousands of state legislators gathered for the 50th annual National Conference of State Legislators earlier this month. Some found the common ground they were looking for at a presentation on supporting the strengths and needs of students. The presentation—including Joan Wasser Gish, Director of Systemic Impact at Boston College’s Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children—highlighted the power of integrated student support.
“There was a sense of real bipartisanship, a feeling that regardless of which side of the aisle members sit on, everyone really connects to wanting to help the children and families in their districts and are looking for evidence-based ways to do that,” said Wasser Gish. “I was really heartened by how many conversations pointed to the potential for bipartisan support and collaboration to make continued progress.”
Wasser Gish was a panelist in a breakout session on Life Success: The Impact of Early Learning, Afterschool and Community Schools, which also featured remarks from Indiana State Representative Robert Behning, California State Assemblymember Darshana Patel, and University of California-Irvine Professor Sandra Simpkins.
Integrated Student Support is an evidence-based approach that any school can use to systematically and intentionally identify every student’s strengths and needs and connect them with school and community resources to support both. Wasser Gish gave legislators an overview of how this approach works in rural, urban, and suburban communities and how it significantly improves long-term outcomes for students.
“I spoke to legislators from Vermont, from North Dakota, from Maryland, from Massachusetts, with such different experiences. Folks really resonated in different ways with the importance of helping children to find opportunities that spark their interest, to ensuring that kids are not trying to learn while hungry. There were just a whole host of ways that people from very different corners of the country found resonance in the importance of the research and evidence we are generating here at the Center,” said Wasser Gish.
The Center for Thriving Children has decades of data from its City Connects program, an evidence-based model of integrated student support being used in schools across the United States and Ireland. Evidence links City Connects with increased attendance and reduced dropout rates, improved academic achievement, and increased teacher retention and satisfaction. Data also shows that this model improves cost effectiveness by using school and community resources more efficiently and effectively. City Connects produces $3 in benefits for every $1 invested. That means existing investments in children and families could produce triple the benefits if effective integrated student support were widely implemented.
“Policy makers can make small investments for big gains, particularly in a time when resources are tightening and students’ academic and mental health needs remain acute,” said Wasser Gish. “There are states using different types of strategies to scale more effective approaches to student support.”
At least 26 states are at some stage of policymaking to advance integrated student support. Some states are doing so by promoting frameworks and best practices. Washington, for example, will be requiring schools to implement an integrated student support protocol. Other states are promoting specific evidence-based models. Indiana, for example, used state and federal funds to create a City Connects technical assistance center at Marian University. Other states are scaling the implementation of interventions like BARR Center and Communities In Schools. A couple of states are taking a hybrid approach, promoting best practices and evidence-based approaches. In Massachusetts, the education department sponsors a school and district learning academy tied to the National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support, and state funding is available for comprehensive approaches to student support like City Connects.
Wasser Gish hopes the legislators she spoke with on both sides of the aisle left the conference with a greater understanding of the influence they can have when it comes to supporting the youngest members of their districts.
“State legislators have an important role to play in providing smart and sustainable investments in children and families,” added Wasser Gish. “In addition to ensuring core services are available, they can make a huge difference by better leveraging existing resources and supporting coordination of those resources through an approach like integrated student support that we know can vastly improve outcomes and children’s futures.”
