Tag: City Connects in Catholic Schools

City Connects Year in Review: Ohio

With the support of the Mathile Family Foundation, City Connects has been working with two Catholic schools in Dayton, Ohio: Our Lady of the Rosary (K-8) and Chaminade Julienne (9-12). Some highlights of the past year include:

  • Across both schools, in academic year 2011-2012, City Connects partnered with 75 community agencies. Between school- and community-based services, School Site Coordinators arranged for more than 2,300 services and enrichment opportunities for students!
  • City Connects is in its third year of a collaboration with Chaminade Julienne to adapt and pilot the City Connects model of student support at the high school level. This adaptation remains true to the City Connects core components while promoting a cutting-edge approach for college readiness and success; initial results are encouraging.
  • Satisfaction survey results show that 88% of teachers (K-12) report that they are satisfied with City Connects and 92% would recommend City Connects to a colleague.
  •  2012 brought some exciting new findings at the elementary level in the area of social competency. Female students perceive a higher level of competency on reading and less victimization this year as compared to last year.  Students in upper grades indicated a trend of less bullying than in past years.

Looking forward to 2013:

  • City Connects has been invited to expand to a K-12 Catholic school campus in Springfield, Ohio, and will be starting a planning phase beginning in January 2013.
  • Another exciting pilot effort: City Connects will be collaborating with a community college in Dayton to adapt the City Connects model of optimized student support at the community college level.

For more information:

  • See our Year in Review post for Boston here.

City Connects Year in Review: Boston

This week on the blog we’ll be looking at the year in review across our 45 sites in three geographic areas: Boston (public and Catholic schools), Springfield (MA), and Ohio.

City Connects is currently implemented in 17 Boston Public Schools, our original site. Here are some BPS highlights:

  • For the 2012-12 school year, City Connects partnered with its first in-district charter school, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Charter School, and its first public high school, the Quincy Upper School.
  • Across Boston Public Schools, in the 2011-12 school year, City Connects partnered with 250 community agencies to arrange more than 30,000 services and enrichment activities for students.
  • 2012 brought some exciting new findings on the long-term benefits of City Connects for students after they have a City Connects elementary school, including significantly lower rates of chronic absenteeism in middle school and significantly lower rates of school dropout after the age of 16.
  • Results of our 2012 teacher survey in Boston were exceptionally positive, with 95% of teachers reporting satisfaction with City Connects and 95% reporting that they would recommend City Connects to a teacher in another school.
  • City Connects’ New Balance Foundation Health & Wellness curriculum continues to show positive results for children across all four units: nutrition, physical activity, social/emotional wellbeing, and healthy choices.

City Connects in Catholic Schools (CCCS) is currently active in 17 schools in the greater Boston area, as well as one freestanding Early Childcare center. Highlights from CCCS include:

  • In the 2011-12 school year, CCCS  linked students to more than 11,000 services and enrichment activities provided by 100 community agencies.
  • This year, CCCS partnered with a freestanding Early Childcare center for the first time, Catholic Charities’ Nazareth Child Care Center in Jamaica Plain. An Early Childhood adaptation of City Connects is being piloted at this center.
  • Analysis of CCCS’s work with Early Childhood populations (ages 3-7)  suggests that students in Early Childhood programs in City Connects schools show significantly more growth in school readiness over a 3-year period than students in comparison schools.

Check back tomorrow for more “Year in Review” updates!

City Connects at the National Catholic Educational Association Meeting

NCEAToday and tomorrow, City Connects will have be represented at the annual meeting of the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) in Boston. Here are a couple of presentations to check out if you are attending the meeting:

  • Is Each and Every Catholic High School Graduate College and Career-Ready?

Thursday, April 12, 1:15-2:30pm, Room 207
Presenters: Patrice DiNatale and Norm Hursh, City Connects; John Marshall, Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School (Dayton, Ohio)

Preparing high school students to be college and career-ready is a considerable challenge for today’s secondary schools, including Catholic schools. In this presentation, school leaders discuss specific steps and strategies to introduce a proven program of optimized student support at the high school level that promotes students’ academic achievement, healthy development, and college and career readiness. Problem solving steps and strategies to address personnel, operational, and management systems to promote implementation will be discussed.

  • Optimized Student Support as a Core Function of Catholic Education

Friday, April 13, 10:45am-12pm, Hynes 107
Presenters: Mary E. Walsh, City Connects, and Matthew J. Welch, City Connects in Catholic Schools

This session describes an evidence-based approach to addressing the out-of-school factors that shape academic achievement and healthy development. We will detail the implementation and delivery of this approach within K-8 Catholic schools and will illustrate student and school outcome data. With this information we will then launch into a discussion about how to optimize student support at your school.

Pat DiNatale and Norm Hursh will also be presenting about City Connects this weekend at the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) National Conference in Baltimore. This year’s theme is “Destination Equity;” Pat and Norm’s presentation is on Saturday, April 14.

For more information:

  • Follow NCEA on Twitter @NCEATalk; use #NCEA2012 for conference updates
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