January 2000

Kids and Families Benefit from School Support Programs

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"Children do not exist in isolation, but develop as part of a web of relationships among the family, school, and community."

In today's classrooms, teachers often face challenges that extend beyond their students' academic progress. Some kids arrive at school undernourished and without adequate clothing or supplies. Others suffer from social and behavioral problems. Children being treated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are increasingly common.

Recognizing that educating children involves more than just the "three Rs," a growing number of schools are creating support programs to address the social and emotional needs of children and to build strong linkages between the home, school, and community.

These programs and the school communities that developed them are the focus of a new book from the Laboratory's Child and Family Program. Family Involvement and Beyond: School-Based Child and Family Support Programs, by Dr. Rebecca Novick, explores how schools and families can move beyond the "finger-pointing stage" and forge partnerships to promote the optimal development of all children.

"Teachers often spend a great deal of time attending to the needs of children who appear to lack persistence and motivation, and who are unable to focus attention, to get along with other children, and to control their emotions and behavior," writes Novick. "There is growing recognition that disruptive and antisocial behaviors are best addressed in the early years, before patterns of behavior become established and resistant to change."

Education and human service workers have long recognized that children do not exist in isolation, but develop as part of a web of relationships among the family, school, and community. Creating a school climate that fosters success for all children requires careful attention to the relationship among all of these contexts for development. Social and academic competence, the author makes clear, go hand in hand.

Sifting through research on resiliency, attachment theory, brain development, and the impacts of poverty and child maltreatment, Novick describes how a baby's first relationships affect future school success.

According to attachment theory, children develop expectations of self and others based on their early experiences with primary caregivers. The capacity to care about another person, to imagine and understand how others think and feel, begins in these first relationships.

Research shows that the kinds of attachments children have formed with their primary caregivers at one year of age predict teacher ratings, behavior problems, and the quality of relationships with peers in preschool. Children with insecure attachment histories explore more poorly, perform worse on tasks involving mastery and cognitive performance, and do more poorly on interactive tasks requiring the child to use an adult as a resource than do children with secure attachments.

What does this mean for elementary school teachers? The author reports that teachers of young children can have a profound effect on their emotional development and help them overcome the adverse effects of high-risk environments. Acting as more than instructors for academic skills, teachers can be confidants and positive models for personal identification.

"In psychologically safe environments that offer stimulating activities and opportunities to form relationships that are personally meaningful, children form a positive self-image as learners, problem solvers, friends, and family members," notes Novick.

"Teachers of young children can have a profound
effect on their emotional development and help them overcome
the adverse effects of high-risk environments."

Drawing from schools experiencing success, she describes how schools can create a caring community of learners, one that acts as a "protective shield" for children. The book suggests ways to foster resiliency and emotional intelligence, shares culturally responsive teaching methods, outlines effective strategies for building partnerships with families, and explains how teachers can guide children in expressing thoughts and feelings in appropriate ways.

Creating such learning communities, Novick stresses, requires changes in the "core of educational practice"—the fundamental relationships among student, teacher, and knowledge.

"Good teachers have always built on children's understandings, seeking to understand learning from the child's point of view," she explains. "Learning new ways of teaching requires time for observation, reading, reflection, dialogue with colleagues, action research, and ample opportunities to address questions and concerns regarding educational practices."

Extensive site profiles of four Northwest schools provide plenty of real-life examples and ideas from successful school-based child and family support programs. These programs help fill in the gaps in students' lives, fostering supportive relationships and offering them opportunities to learn conflict-resolution, anger-management, communication, problem-solving, and friendship skills.

Family involvement activities provide a wide variety of opportunities for all families to participate in their children's education. Intensive, personalized services are offered to families who need help with parenting education and accessing health, educational, and social services.

The book concludes with 15 reproducible handouts that can be used in teacher-training workshops. With topics ranging from the impact of poverty on brain development to guidelines for creating family-friendly schools, these handouts provide synopses of different concepts, summaries of research, and suggestions for designing learning experiences for young children and their families.

To order a copy of Family Involvement and Beyond: School-Based Child and Family Support Programs,please turn to the Document Order Form in this newsletter.