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Here are some of the things we’ve been reading about this week:
Pandemic disturbances drive a 9% decline in public school enrollment.
More at-risk children and families need the services provided by home visits.
Report raises concerns about low expectations for students with disabilities.
To read more, click on the following links.
Continue reading “The Weekly Connect 9/26/22”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:
The gap between higher- and lower-performing students that expanded during the early days of the pandemic isn’t narrowing.
Expanded safety net drives sharp drop in child poverty.
Access to free, full-day kindergarten grows.
To read more, click on the following links.
Continue reading “The Weekly Connect 9/19/22”
In June we released our City Connects 2022 Progress Report, and now, we’re adding two supplements to document more of our work.
The two new reports are “City Connects in the Community College: The Sinclair Community College Pilot” and “Responding to Covid-19: The Impact of City Connects During the Covid-19 Pandemic.”
This week, we will focus on the Sinclair Community College Pilot program.
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Thanks to funding from the Mathile Family Foundation, Sinclair-City Connects was launched in 2016. The program, as our progress report explains, is “a comprehensive and coordinated system that fosters the development of relationships among students, advisors, faculty, and staff.”
The goal is to build “a supportive learning environment that is attentive to student strengths and needs and tailors processes to help students meet academic goals and postsecondary success.”
Students receive support from advisors who begin with a core component of City Connects: building relationships.
As one advisor explains, telling community college students about City Connects includes explaining the “holistic piece… that if you have concerns or other issues, even if they’re not related to academics, I’m here for you as an advisor. And I think that’s where they start to feel a connection to you because you’re sharing with them that you realize that they are more than just a student…we’re here for you for more than just helping you determine what classes you need and how to register.”
Continue reading “Adding to our 2022 Progress Report: City Connects in a community college”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:
NAEP scores show how devastating the pandemic has been for the education of the nation’s 9-year-olds.
School district leaders ask for more time to spend federal Covid relief funds.
As the water crisis in Jackson, Miss., shows, schools have to be ready to cope with emergencies that could become more common as climate change continues.
To read more, click on the following links.
Continue reading “The Weekly Connect 9.12.22”
While the blog is on summer vacation, we’re sharing past posts about the many ways City Connects helps students thrive.
This week’s roundup looks at how City Connects has been growing in the Midwest.
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City Connects takes root in Indianapolis
City Connects Blog, April 4, 2019
As City Connects expands in Indianapolis, Ind., we’re learning more about the power of local innovations.
Last September, City Connects launched in three Indianapolis schools, and we added two new features: a unique funding source and partnership with Marian University.
“I learned about City Connects years ago when I implemented this program in Springfield, Ohio, at a pre-K to 12 Catholic school system,” Dr. Ken Britt says. He is the Senior Vice President and Dean of Klipsch Educators College at Marian University. “I wanted to bring the program to Indiana because I believe that, coupled with our focus on teacher and leadership development, comprehensive student support can be a game-changer for young people. And there is no better program than City Connects.”
Frequently, school districts pay for City Connects using their own funds. Other districts have philanthropic partners who pay for some or all the costs. Indianapolis is unique because it’s the first district to use state funds.
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Continue reading “From the archives: City Connects expands in the Midwest”
While the blog is on summer vacation, we’re sharing past posts about the many ways City Connects helps students thrive.
This week’s roundup looks at staff members who are or have been part of City Connects, which is based at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children in Boston College’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development.
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Practice and research: a conversation with Maria Theodorakakis
City Connects Blog, November 11, 2021
Even as an undergraduate at Boston College, Maria Theodorakakis was looking for a way to combine her academic interests with hands-on work.
“I was looking for a major that really kind of combined my interest in psychology and sociology with my interest in helping kids and working in schools,” Theodorakakis recalls.
A conversation with the late John Cawthorne, a former Associate Dean in BC’s Lynch School of Education and Human Development, led her to transfer from the College of Arts and Sciences to the Lynch School – and that’s where she found City Connects.
Back in those days, in 2007, when City Connects was only in five Boston schools, Theodorakakis applied for and received a summer research fellowship, joining the City Connects team.
Continue reading “From the archives: Checking in with City Connects staff”
While the blog is on summer vacation, we’re sharing past posts about the many ways City Connects helps students thrive.
This week’s roundup looks at how City Connects has expanded into Ireland.
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Ireland launches City Connects
City Connects Blog, June 11 2020
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 “From the archives: City Connects in Ireland”
While the blog is on summer vacation, we’re sharing past posts about the many ways City Connects helps students thrive.
This week’s roundup looks at how City Connects Coordinators bring fun activities into their schools.
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Community Partners: Girls on the Run Twin Cities
City Connects Blog, January 25 2018
Sometimes a community partner provides fun, exercise, inspiration, confidence, and a chance to cheer for grown-ups. That’s the story of Girls on the Run Twin Cities, a nonprofit organization that teaches girls how to fulfill their potential, serve their communities, and run a 5K race.
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Summer: services, opportunities, and fun
City Connects Blog, May 30, 2019
As the school year draws to a close, City Connects Coordinators across the country are helping students prepare for summer, connecting them to services and opportunities that will help them succeed when school isn’t in session.
For Asha Quattrocchi, a City Connects Coordinator at the Cold Spring School in Indianapolis, Ind., this means sharing information and making connections.
Continue reading “From the archives: the power of fun”
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