The start of the school year is a busy and dynamic time. For City Connects Coordinators, it’s an exciting and essential period for building relationships—with students, families, and school staff—that form the foundation for success throughout the year.
“While the beginning of the year is really busy it’s also such a pivotal time to set a positive tone. Establishing the culture of your school, the mission, the values, and bringing that to life and embodying it,” said Springfield Program Manager Stephanie Sanabria. “Coordinators play a big role in that.”
What Is a Whole Class Review?
At the heart of the City Connects practice is the Whole Class Review—a process that helps Coordinators get to know every student holistically. Through this review, Coordinators leverage the collective knowledge of teachers, staff, students, and families to understand each individual student’s strengths, needs, and interests.
To conduct the review, Coordinators meet with teachers and school staff to discuss every student across multiple domains: academics, social-emotional well-being, family, and health. At the secondary level, a fifth domain—college and career readiness—is also included. Importantly, student interests are gathered and integrated into these conversations, ensuring that each student’s voice helps shape the supports and services they receive.
By completing Whole Class Reviews at the start of the year, Coordinators can create individualized support plans that connect students to the right services and opportunities from the outset. This process launches a cycle of follow-up and follow-through that continues throughout the school year—ensuring that students receive what they need to learn, grow, and thrive.
“Tailoring services is a critical component of the City Connects Coordinator’s practice,” said Cynthia Scheller, Director of Programs and Practice. “It ensures that every student receives the right support at the right time—and that their strengths continue to be built upon.”
“It ensures that every student receives the right support at the right time – and that their strengths continue to be built upon.”
Making Sure Every Student Is Seen
An added benefit of the Whole Class Review process is that it gives teachers time and space to reflect holistically on their students. By engaging in structured discussions about strengths, needs, and interests, teachers deepen their understanding of each student and gain insights that help them support success in the classroom.
“The biggest benefit of City Connects is that it helps us support the whole child—not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and even with things going on at home,” said a teacher from a City Connects school in Indiana as part of our anonymous end-of-the-year survey. “It connects students to the right services based on their individual needs, so we’re not missing anything important. It really takes some of the pressure off us as teachers because we know there’s a system in place to help students with challenges that might otherwise get in the way of learning.”
Improving the entire school
Through the Whole Class Review process, Coordinators set the foundation to ensure that students have the supports they need to be ready to learn. By engaging teachers, families, and other caring adults who support students, relationships are strengthened.
As students get connected to both in-school and community-based opportunities – whether a social skills group or an after-school baseball or theater program, students also build stronger relationships with one another. Together, these relationships and the supports each student receives, help to transform the school and its capacity to care for students.
“I believe student support has significantly improved at our school as a result of City Connects, largely due to the incredible work of our Coordinator,” a principal from Indiana said. “She has been a true asset to our school community. Her dedication, compassion, and relentless commitment to supporting students and staff alike have made a visible difference. She goes above and beyond because she genuinely cares about every child and every adult in the building.”
Another principal from Ohio summed up the effect of City Connects and the Whole Class Review process more simply.
“Each year that we have [City Connects] continues to build a culture of full student support, for the holistic approach to fulfilling every student’s needs.”
To learn more about the City Connects practice, visit www.CityConnects.org.
