From the earliest days of the pandemic, we’ve seen how powerful it is for schools to provide integrated student support.
To share knowledge about this powerful approach, the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children – home to City Connects — has just released the first “National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support,” a joint project of experts in research and evaluation as well as in the practice of integrating comprehensive school- and community-resources for students.
The guidelines are a “first effort to encapsulate evidence-based best practices and define what high quality implementation looks like in the day-to-day functioning of schools.”
“Our hope is that, in your hands, this knowledge will raise the standards of care and opportunity provided to our nation’s children and youth,” the guidelines’ website says.
The need is glaring.
“Students’ learning and wellbeing are increasingly impacted by the complex challenges of our time,” the report notes, adding:
“More than a third of high school students in the United States experienced poor mental health at least most of the time during the pandemic.”
Continue reading “National Guidelines on Integrated Student Support”