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About two weeks ago, we posted a conversation with two leaders from Boston's City Connects (CCNX) program, which is working with 11 schools to link each child to a "tailored set of intervention, prevention and enrichment services in the community." The approach has helped raise grades and test scores for the mostly low income children in these schools.

We recently spoke with people in two CCNX schools. Traci Walker Griffith is principal at the Eliot K-8 School, and Kathleen Carlisle is the CCNX site coordinator at the Mission Hill School. Each has an insider's view of this remarkable program at work.

Public School Insights: How has City Connects worked in your school? What changes have been made since it began?

Traci Walker Griffith: A number of changes have occurred at the Eliot School. I came in as principal in March of 2007. In May of 2007 the school was identified as one that would take on City Connects.

We were fortunate because the mission and vision of the Eliot School aligned with City Connects in that we are serving the whole child--academically, socially, emotionally. So we have worked amazingly well together in identifying students’ academic and social/emotional needs. And as we began the program I found that the structures and systems that it offers—whole class review, individual student review, and providing a school site coordinator to maintain and sustain partnerships—really aligned with what we wanted to start at the Eliot School at the time.

Kathleen Carlisle: I would echo many of the things that Traci just said. The whole child philosophy especially stands out in my mind—that is a City Connects and also a Mission Hill philosophy. And I think that the presence of City Connects in Mission Hill has especially impacted the identification of student needs and ways to meet those needs, be they social/emotional, academic, health or family. I think there has been greater connection between supports and needs, and also consistent follow-up.

Public School Insights: Do you have a sense of the results of the City Connects work in your respective schools?

Traci Walker Griffith: When I came on at the Eliot, a school identified as underperforming and in correction, all of the pieces we needed to put in place to increase student achievement were aligned with what City Connects was working on: identifying services and enrichment opportunities for students both inside and outside the school; working with community agencies that in the past had difficulty working with the school; having a full-time school site coordinator to really dig deeply into the services and resources our children need and to make sure that we meet their needs and support their strengths; and helping us figure out what our families need from us as a school. As a result, what we and our partners have been able to do has really increased.

This is our third year with City Connects, and today some of the partnerships we created in September of 2007 are deeply rooted in who we are as a school. One in particular is the North End Community Health Center, part of Massachusetts General Hospital, which is right here in our community. They provide counseling off-site during the day for our students. We are a very small school in terms of the size of our building, and we did not have any space for students to receive that counseling. So we walk them to the health center, which is one block over. That and many other partnerships were not established before City Connects came to the Eliot.

Also, we have seen a huge growth in MCAS scores. And our primary students take the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS), and we have seen a huge jump from our kinder-one to kinder-two and from kinder-two to grade one since we started really thinking about how we meet social and emotional needs so that students can perform at their highest academic levels.

Kathleen Carlisle: There was a similar experience at the Mission Hill School. Different partnerships maybe, but a similar impact. And while I have certainly seen formal data that suggest a positive impact, from my personal perspective and position, I have also seen a lot of it in an informal way. I know in my mind, my notes and my office the countless students and families who would not have had support if I were not there.

Public School Insights: Could you describe some of the needs those students have had and how you've been able to address them through City Connects?

Kathleen Carlisle: I think one of the great things about City Connects is the network and the support that I have among my colleagues. When I identify a student need and/or strength and start to form a plan to implement supports and achieve goals, I can easily collaborate with my colleagues about the different supports and community agencies that exist.

If I were to form a list of needs I have dealt with, we would be here for a long time. Some that come to my mind immediately are family supports, afterschool programming, counseling, academic tutoring, health, arts programs, sports…Honestly, the list could go on and on. I have a lot of students who need supports and a lot of families that need an extra hand in figuring out how to get those services and resources. And now that I have done it over and over again, I know what to do, and I'm happy to call up a parent and say, “Hey, I've done this 50 times before. This is exactly what you need to do.”

Public School Insights: So you get to learn the context of the school and all of the different services that are available around the school.

Kathleen Carlisle: Yes. And I have also been able to gain a sense of how what may work for one family might not necessarily work for another. So it is partially getting to know the agencies and services, but it is also getting know the families and the students. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for anything.

Public School Insights: Traci, have you had a similar experience working with your school site coordinator?

Traci Walker Griffith: I have had a wonderful experience working with our school site coordinator. There is one instance in particular that comes to mind. Last year in a whole class review—a process that involves me sitting down with a teacher and the school site coordinator and looking at what services each student has and how each is doing academically, behaviorally, emotionally—we found that a student was really having difficulty. He was not focused. He was struggling academically. So we brought the student to individual student review. That is a larger group that includes the nurse and the special ed. coordinator. We used the collective brain to figure out, what are some of the strategies we could use with this child? The nurse said that the child appeared hungry. The school site coordinator reached out to the mom, and the mom said that he was not eating at home. Then we noticed he was not eating at school. Because the school site coordinator had developed some really strong relationships with families, these conversations could happen. And we got the child to a nutritionist. He was anemic. His blood sugar levels were down. So they got him on a nutrition plan, and he reached our academic benchmarks by the end of first grade.

Had we not had these programs, who is to say what would have happened? While we have student support at other schools in our district, there is this extra layer that City Connects, by providing this very structured protocol, uses to ensure no students are falling behind. There is a safety net. It is the idea that we are going to work together to figure out how to address the needs and strengths of the child. In that particular anecdote, the child is now thriving in second grade.

Public School Insights: Sometimes arguments are made in the policy world that this kind of work—linking kids out-of-school services— can actually distract from schools’ mission to educate children, to teach. It sounds to me that neither of you would agree that has been the case.

Traci Walker Griffith: No, I would not agree at all.

Kathleen Carlisle: I would not agree either. City Connects identifies four areas, which I think we named but just to reiterate are academic, health, social/emotional and family. I think all four contribute significantly to a child's ability to function, grow and develop, and to his or her academic achievement in general. And for children to reach their maximum capabilities there must be harmony in all four of those areas.

Public School Insights: Do you have a sense that school staff—teachers and other resource staff—are pleased to have the City Connects site coordinators there?

Traci Walker Griffith: In my school it is an amazing partnership. Our teachers look forward to the whole class review. And since we are a smaller school, we actually do two a year. At the beginning of the year we use it to get to know a class and every student in it to help us build strong relationships, since we know that a strong relationship between a child and a teacher makes a huge difference. The second review is more around academics. And the whole time the teachers feel the school site coordinator is a resource and see the value in strategizing together.

In the past I have been at schools where teachers work in isolation, and when you have a student who is really struggling, it is on you as a teacher to fix it. This program has created a group of people who work together and see themselves as problem solvers using all available resources. It is not isolation, it is collaborative. And the school site coordinator is able, now in year three, to identify strategies that have worked. So we have a cookbook of strategies that teachers have tried out. It is amazing.

I am one of the biggest cheerleaders for this program. It aligns with what we believe about growing our kids in all ways. And teachers need to feel that they are supported. Teachers have such a hard job, and we keep asking them to do more. If we do not support them, it is going to be harder going forwards. So I'm just really pleased with all of the results of the partnership.

Public School Insights: What kind of training is required for a site coordinator to make the connections between the community, school and all these other resources?

Kathleen Carlisle: I can speak of my personal training. I have my Masters’ degree in school counseling psychology. Most of my colleagues have a similar degree in either school counseling or school social work. But while the degree is part of it, experience in schools is another huge component. We all know that what is in the textbook does not always transpire in the same way in the real world. And another part is continuing that education. I have continued my graduate studies in ways that I think have enhanced my understanding of the teacher and counseling positions. Participation in ongoing City Connects professional development seminars and activities has been critical and helpful.

Public School Insights: You mentioned earlier, Kathleen, that you have been able to tailor the services that kids receive to their needs and their families’ needs. How do you get into a position where you really get to know families and interact with them? Do you find that a critical piece of the work you do?

Kathleen Carlisle: I think that is an absolutely essential piece, but it is a piece that takes a lot of time and hard work. When I walked into the office, I did not know anyone. I didn't have a rapport with them. I did not have trust. It took years to build relationships with parents and students. And it took years of effort and results before I built those relationships to the point where they feel comfortable calling me, e-mailing me, coming to my office. So it takes time. And it takes a willingness to reach out and get to know people and understand them.

Public School Insights: You both mentioned that you look at academics. How does City Connects’ work actually connect to the academics of the school?

Traci Walker Griffith: The connection I see is that, for example, when we are looking at a student who is struggling behaviorally and we do not know how to address it, our school site coordinator may come observe the student during a lesson and debrief with the teacher on what that student was doing in the middle of the lesson. For the teacher, getting that data in a way that is not evaluative but that is helpful and supportive is huge. And it is important for that student because if social and emotional needs are not met, he or she is likely going to fall behind academically. While as an administrator, I can provide some supports, having a school site coordinator whose job it is to think strategically about how we support the social and emotional growth of students so they can reach our academic goals is so great.

Public School Insights: From what you both have said, it sounds like collaboration, and time for the staff to work together, is an enormous part of this work.

Kathleen Carlisle: Absolutely. To recognize the whole child, it is important to have everyone contributing their experiences with the child, their own expertise and their own observations, so that we see the child from more than one perspective.