Transformative Education Lab

Claire Foley, Yan Leigh, Eric Dearing

For all children, and especially for those experiencing disadvantage, out-of-school factors impact learning and thriving in school. Hunger, housing needs, unmet medical needs, and a lack of access to sports and arts enrichments are a few examples of experiences that can affect engagement in school.

A Lynch School of Education and Human Development professor and a Boston Public School principal jointly recognized these challenges and began collaborating to develop a systematic way for schools to address these factors. In the late 1990s, Professor Mary Walsh and her colleague Pat DiNatale launched a two-year planning period that brought together researchers at Boston College, Boston Public School principals, teachers, families, and Boston-area community partners. The result was City Connects.

The City Connects approach reflects the most fundamental features of formative education. By design, City Connects ensures that schools consider and respond to the whole person: every year, a Coordinator (a Master’s-trained school counselor or social worker) meets with every classroom
teacher to discuss each child’s strengths and needs in four domains: academic, social, emotional, behavioral, health, and family. Children’s voice is captured through surveys of their interests (e.g., cooking, basketball, music, or Lego club). Through these processes, schools gain an understanding of the whole child.

Next, the City Connects Coordinator reaches out to families to propose an individualized plan of supports and enrichments for each child. The plan may include prevention services and enrichments (such as arts-based services, health screenings, and sports), early intervention supports (such as mentoring, social skills groups, and literacy or behavioral supports), and intensive interventions (such as counseling, crisis intervention, or medical services). In the words of one teacher, “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. It connects students to the right services based on their individual needs.”

Some supports for students are offered in schools, and others are offered in the community. As part of their practice, Coordinators build relationships with community providers. Examples in the Boston area include the YMCA, Girls on the Run, the Franklin Park Zoo, DentaCare, the Museum of Science
Boston, Harlem Lacrosse-Boston, Arbour Counseling, Mass Eye and Ear, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. Through these partnerships, City Connects aligns with the commitment to community reflected in formative education.

City Connects is now implemented in six U.S. states and in Dublin, Ireland. In the most recent school year, City Connects connected nearly 41,000 students to over 400,000 enrichments and supports through plans that matched their individual strengths, needs, and interests.

A large body of research now demonstrates that City Connects makes a difference for students. In elementary school, students in City Connects schools demonstrate better attendance and higher performance on statewide tests than comparison peers. As they move into middle and high school,
students who experience City Connects in elementary school outperform peers on statewide test scores and experience significantly lower high school dropout. After high school, they have higher rates of post-secondary enrollment and completion.

Together, the City Connects practice and evidence base demonstrate the power of formative education. By paying attention to the whole child, and by tapping the strength of the wider
community, it is possible to transform education for every student.