Education

Discussing the impact of COVID-19 on the Gateways Cities podcast

Alyssa HaywoodeLeave a comment

 

COVID-19 has hit students, families, and schools hard. But City Connects is working hard to keep students connected to education and supportive services.

To share this story, Joan Wasser Gish, Ellen Wingard, and Stephanie Sanabria — joined Ben Forman on an episode of the Gateways podcast, presented by local nonprofit think tank, MassINC.

“It feels like in this moment when the disruption caused by COVID is making inequities so palpable, and is lifting the lid on how critical family circumstances really are to children’s readiness to engage in learning, and thrive and have choices in life, this kind of work is something that’s going to become more and more important.” Wasser Gish says. She’s the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Center for Optimized Student Support, which is the home of City Connects and part of the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College.

“In Salem, if you interviewed principals right now, they would tell you they wouldn’t have known what to do in their first few weeks of closures if they didn’t have their City Connects Coordinators at their virtual side to help them pivot and use the student support system that we had within the buildings [and shift them] to a virtual world,” Ellen Wingard, the City Connects Program Manager in Salem, Mass., says.

“[Because of] having the City Connects model, where we have this tiering system — we review every child in the fall — so we have insight as to who our children are, who our families are,” Stephanie Sanabria, a City Connects Coordinator in Springfield, Mass. says.

To hear the rest of the conversation, please listen to the podcast.

The Weekly Connect 6/29/20

City ConnectsLeave a comment

Here’s the new edition of The Weekly Connect. Check it out and sign up to have it delivered to your inbox!

Here are some of the things we’ve been reading about this week:

COVID-19 is harming many students’ academics and mental health.

More than 2,000 Massachusetts educators have received layoff or nonrenewal notices.

COVID-19 threatens the existence of millions of child care slots, which could make it hard for children to have high-quality early learning experiences and tough for parents to go to work.

To read more, click on the following links.

Continue reading →

The Weekly Connect 6/22/20

City ConnectsLeave a comment

Here’s the new edition of The Weekly Connect. Check it out and sign up to have it delivered to your inbox!

Here are some of the things we’ve been reading about this week:

Racial inequities harm American schoolchildren.

Bullying fades now that schools are online.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s DACA decision protects undocumented students.

To read more, click on the following links.

Continue reading →

Managing trauma so students can succeed

Alyssa HaywoodeLeave a comment


City Connects has expanded. We’ve launched in the Success Academy, a trauma-informed school that’s part of the public school system in Jamestown, N.Y. 

“Success Academy serves students in grades five through ten who have experienced some school avoidant behavior due to either trauma or mental health needs that have manifested as difficulties doing well in school,” Maureen Diehl, the City Connects Program Manager, explains. 

“These students are invited – not required – to attend our unique program, which has smaller class sizes and staff who are there to focus on students’ social emotional and behavioral health.” 

“The goal is to get students on the right track and help them move back to their home schools.” 

The school, which opened last fall and serves 50 students, is part of School Superintendent Brett Apthorpe’s effort to “combat the losses district students were experiencing due to the 72 percent poverty rate and every day poor living standards,” the Jamestown Gazette reports, adding, “The District has an unacceptable absentee rate as well.”  Continue reading →

The Weekly Connect 6/15/20

City ConnectsLeave a comment

Here’s the new edition of The Weekly Connect. Check it out and sign up to have it delivered to your inbox!

Here are some of the things we’ve been reading about this week:

Because the pandemic has closed schools, students are falling behind in their academics.

A study estimates that it could cost nearly $117 billion to reopen schools.

Schools reopening in other countries provide a road map for reopening schools in the United States.

To read more, click on the following links.

Continue reading →

Ireland launches City Connects

Alyssa HaywoodeLeave a comment

Often City Connects grows because of, well, connections. That’s what happened when Una Shannon came from Ireland to Boston College to be a postdoctoral fellow. Shannon learned about City Connects and shared our work with Eugene Wall, the president of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Ireland, as well as sharing it with ministers from the Irish National Government.

The result: Irish educators are planning to launch a City Connects pilot program this fall in 10 Dublin schools. 

“It strikes me that any ‘school person’ who hears about City Connects tends to have an ‘aha’ moment,” Shannon says. She’s a former teacher who earned her bachelor’s degree from Mary Immaculate College. “It just makes sense to support the whole child, to have a strengths-based perspective, and to have a systemic, systematic, and sustained approach to student support that’s in rhythm with school life.”  Continue reading →

The Weekly Connect 6/8/20

City ConnectsLeave a comment

Here’s the new edition of The Weekly Connect. Check it out and sign up to have it delivered to your inbox!

Here are some of the things we’ve been reading about this week:

Public debate about the achievement gap could increase racial bias against Black students.

In the fall, public schools will likely face higher costs and less funding.

COVID-19 has triggered a health crisis and an economic crisis, and research on past disasters suggests it could trigger a mental health crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of students can’t access online learning because they lack the necessary technology.

To read more, click on the following links.

Continue reading →

COVID-19 exposes education’s flaws – and opportunities

Alyssa HaywoodeLeave a comment

As schools struggle through the fallout of COVID-19, there is a lot to worry about — but there’s also a chance to innovate by implementing many of the strategies we use at City Connects. 

The immediate concern — as A. Brooks Bowden and Rebecca Davis write in “With fewer funds and greater needs, schools should pursue cost-effectiveness strategies,” an article published by Brookings – is that schools are in academic and financial jeopardy. 

“Projected economic impacts of COVID-19 on student outcomes is huge,” the article says. “Recent projections indicate that student learning loss may be one-third to two-thirds larger than what students normally lose during summer slump. In addition to learning loss, students are disconnected from the stability of school, peer networks, and access to school-based supports, such as mental health services, school nurses, and school food.” 

“Budget cuts make matters even worse, driving up the need to consider cost effectiveness in finding solutions.”  Continue reading →