Enriching Every Child: City Connects Brings Integrated Student Support System to University City

How can schools effectively meet the needs of all students, especially when those needs don’t end when the school bell rings at 3pm each day?

“Schools cannot be everything to every child, and [public] schools are also the largest service agency in our nation,” Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley said. “And yet we are not seeing the results and outcomes that we need to see for our children.”

That’s why the superintendent jumped at the chance to bring City Connects, an integrated student support system, to the School District of University City. The innovative system is designed to consider each child’s strengths, needs, and interests and link them to the right services at the right time to ensure they thrive.

For one student, that might mean being fitted for reading glasses to improve academic performance. For another, it could be math tutoring and an enrichment opportunity through a theatre program. The individualized approach ensures that students who are struggling receive the interventions they need, while those who are already thriving get connected to additional enrichment opportunities that enhance their academic experience.

“Often we think about the students who have the most significant needs, because that’s what schools do. And we have so many students that we might miss because their needs are not so pronounced,” Hardin-Bartley said. “City Connects is helping us look at every single child in every single building across five campuses to ensure that we have a plan.”

City Connects launched in six Boston Public Schools in 2001 after nearly a decade of research and collaboration. Since its initial success in Boston, the integrated student support system has been implemented in more than 300 schools across the country, as well as in Dublin, Ireland. Evaluation of City Connects consistently indicates that students who take part in the system experience better academic outcomes than their peers. Now it’s expanding to Missouri with a pilot at four elementary schools and one early childhood center in University City.

Because City Connects is designed to embed within existing structures and bolster them to ensure that no students fall through the cracks, Hardin-Bartley sees the support system as a complement to what the school district is already doing. She was attracted to City Connects because it offers a way to systematize the district’s work while improving overall efficiency and effectiveness.

“We already provide those direct supports, we already have a tremendous amount of partners,” Hardin-Bartley said. “City Connects is enabling us to align those partners better, to better utilize them, and more importantly, to better look at impact so that we can maybe expand those efforts that are going extraordinarily well and honestly strategically abandon those that aren’t.”

The City Connects system follows a three-step process that starts with a student interest survey where children can indicate their preferences for topics like art, animals, or different kinds of sports. Following the survey, schools conduct a whole class review, during which teachers discuss each student’s academic, social-emotional, health, and family needs with a well-being specialist, and, often, a social worker or counselor. If appropriate, students with intensive needs would also receive an individual review to ensure that they’re receiving the appropriate services. Data from each part of the process help schools develop individualized student plans focusing on the strengths, needs, and interests of each child.

Kourtney Gilbert, the City Connects Program Manager for the School District of University City, shared that teachers and parents have been supportive of the new initiative: “They love the concept — the idea of working with every child. So far, the feedback I’ve received is, ‘This is amazing. … It makes so much sense. Every school should be doing this.’ And the social workers have shared that they’ve enjoyed the process because they’re learning about every student in the school and get to talk to every teacher in the school, so it’s building community in that regard as well.”

As the City Connects process unfolds in University City, school staff are excited about the possibility of expanding opportunities for the students they serve.

“I hope that we can say that we know what every child needs and that we are intentional and deliberate about addressing that need. And I will not say that we will be everything to every child, because that is a Pollyanna, utopia kind of vision,” Hardin-Bartley said. “However, I do believe that we can better support and have a system of support to target resources where the need is the greatest. And I hope that our staff, our families, and our students feel the impact of our work with City Connects.”

Photographs courtesy of the School District of University City.