Giving Compass' Take:
- Lauren A. Smith and Ursula Wright argue that schools should take the summer break a chance to build partnerships with other organizations to give students more than academic supports.
- How can philanthropists help schools identify the needs of their students? Who in your community would best know those needs?
- Find out how something as simple as a washing machine can make a difference for students.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Academic achievement is influenced by a range of societal and structural factors that exist beyond the walls of a traditional school. Most public schools would benefit from a planning agenda that coordinates the inner happenings of the school with the out-of-school conditions for student success.
In addition to academics, schools should view summer-readying activities as a time to take on cross-sector planning and resourcing that aims to reduce some of the structural barriers many students encounter.
Coordinating conversations can take place with local nonprofits that are positioned to offer expanded learning opportunities that reinforce a school’s curriculum and align with education standards. School officials can also work with pediatric healthcare and social service providers in their communities to integrate health supports into school services.
Examples include developing partnerships with early care and education providers to support a seamless transition from preschool to the K-12 system, coordinating increased access to behavioral health counseling that addresses both mental health and substance use disorders, and working with community health homes to determine how efforts between the health and education systems can complement one another along the school readiness dimensions of social and emotional wellbeing, cognitive development, physical health, and motor skills development.
Read the full article about going beyond academic support for students by Lauren A. Smith and Ursula Wright at FSG.