Impacts on Teachers and Schools
Overview
Integrated student support is an evidence-based approach for schools to provide student support by intentionally and systematically leveraging and coordinating the resources and relationships available in the school and in the surrounding community to address the comprehensive strengths and needs of each and every student in a school to help promote healthy child development and learning.
Evidence demonstrates that the City Connects model of integrated student support is associated with positive impacts on teachers and overall school climate.
Positive Impacts on Teachers
Expanded understanding of students: In an annual survey of teachers who worked in City Connects schools, teachers reported that the City Connects model expanded their understanding of their student’s lives outside of school. More than 94% of teachers reported that they were more patient with their students because they better understood the non-academic issues that contributed to their students’ struggles in the classroom, and thought about the factors influencing student behavior before reacting to the behavior.
More likely to stay in their jobs: Preliminary research reveals that teachers are significantly more likely to choose to stay in a school with a system of integrated student support in place, such as City Connects.
Stronger relationships with students and families: Implementation of integrated student support and its increase in teachers’ understanding of the “whole child” enables teachers to build stronger relationships with students and their families.
"With the support of [Coordinator], I was able to connect with a family who was previously unreachable. [Coordinator] was able to offer assistance with obtaining glasses for a student who needed it and connected them with resources to do so. This helped the student to perform better academically. She also built a positive relationship with the student and checked in frequently with the student to offer positive reinforcement and encouragement."
- Quote from Teacher in 2022 End of Year Survey
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The Impacts
Benefits to Schools
Overall more positive school climate: 93% of principals rated City Connects as somewhat or very helpful at impacting school climate.
Narrowed academic gaps: City Connects helped low-performing schools in high-poverty urban communities close student educational achievement gaps in math and English.
Helped schools exit “Turnaround” status more quickly: After just one year of implementing City Connects in one large city, gaps in student performance between Turnaround schools (consistently low-performing) and comparison schools were narrowed to insignificant levels for Grade 3 English and Grade 3, 4, and 5 math. Similarly, in another large city, after three years of City Connects, gaps in student performance between Transformation schools (a reform model for consistenly low-performing schools) and comparison schools narrowed to insignificant levels for statewide assessment scores in both English and math at Grades 3, 4, and 5.
Sustains positive effects of early education: Preliminary research shows that City Connects sustains the positive effects of preschool on elementary school math performance. These findings suggest that preschool and City Connects programs complement each other to support student performance in elementary school.
The Underlying Research
Heberle, A. E., Sheanáin, Ú. N., Walsh, M. E., Hamilton, A. N., Chung, A. H., & Eells Lutas, V. L. (2021). Experiences of practitioners implementing comprehensive student support in high-poverty schools. Improving Schools, 24(1), 76–93. https://doi. org/10.1177/1365480220943761.
Sibley, E., Theodorakakis, M., Walsh, M. E., Foley, C., Petrie, J., & Raczek, A. (2017). The impact of comprehensive student support on teachers: Knowledge of the whole child, classroom practice, and teacher support. Teaching and Teacher Education, 65, 145–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.02.012
City Connects (2020). City Connects Intervention and impact. Progress report 2020. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Thriving Children, Lynch School of Education, Boston College.
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