Our Work

The Center serves as a hub for integrated student support science and innovation. We connect the sciences of development, learning, implementation, and economics to discover pragmatic and effective ways to transform students’ lives for the better. Our core strategies include research, implementation, and innovation.

City Connects

City Connects is a systematic, high-impact, cost-effective approach to helping every child in a high-poverty school become ready to learn and engage in the classroom.

City Connects provides each student in a school with a tailored set of supports and enrichments designed to optimize healthy development and learning. City Connects provides a clear, organized, and evidence-based strategy for schools to more effectively and efficiently leverage existing resources and produce outcomes. City Connects uses data both to continuously improve service delivery, and to test out scientifically-based approaches to student support so that practitioners using various approaches can learn about what works, for whom, and why.

MyConnects

Myconnects logo

MyConnects is an online student support information system designed to support the City Connects practice. It offers Coordinators a way to manage individualized plans to provide every student with the right services at the right time. MyConnects enables City Connects Coordinators to collect and access information about community resources and also generate reports to share with school teachers, administrators and staff.

Systemic Student Support (S3) Academy

The Systemic Student Support (S3) Academy is a district learning network created by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, and the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children. The S3 Academy is comprised of district and school teams from across Massachusetts that are working to transform their approaches to student support on behalf of the more than 85,000 students they serve.

National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support

The first national guidelines to help K-12 schools create successful approaches to deliver integrated student supports that address both in- and out-of-school barriers to learning — from hunger, to mental health, to basic needs — were developed by a national working group.

It is a first effort to encapsulate evidence-based best practices and define what high quality implementation looks like in the day-to-day functioning of schools. Over time, as learnings from both research and practice continue to accumulate, we hope to refine and build on the guidelines.

Practice Briefs

Drawing on practical knowledge from the field, the Center has produced a series of practice briefs aimed at supporting the needs of practitioners as they implement systems of integrated student support in their schools.

Introducing Systems of Integrated Student Support

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Financing Systems of Integrated Student Support

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Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Integrated Student Support

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Defining a School Coordinator

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Reviewing Every Student

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Analyzing the Resource Landscape

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Using Data to Inform Practice

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Working With Community Partners

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Selecting Technology for Integrated Student Support

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Understanding Principles of Effective Practice

View Policy Brief

The Whole Child: Building Systems of Integrated Student Support During & After Covid-19

View Action Guide

Research Briefs

Long-term effects of integrated student support on postsecondary enrollment and completion

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The Impact of City Connects on Teachers and Schools

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The Impact of Integrated Student Support on Outcomes

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The Impact of City Connects on Select Student Sub-Groups

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The Long-Term Impact of Systemic Student Support in Elementary School: Reducing High School Dropout

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The Return on Investment of City Connects

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For Researchers

Scientific investigation of integrated student support is rapidly evolving and cross-disciplinary, emerging from research in the fields of neuroscience, developmental psychology, social work, education, economics, and others. The Center's research agenda aims to improve the nation’s understanding of effective approaches to student support by leveraging these advances in the sciences and using cutting edge methodologies capable of analyzing the impact of complex, comprehensive interventions.

Our Peer Reviewed Articles


Integrated Student Support Intervention Mitigates the Adverse Impact of School Mobility on Middle School Students' Achievement and Behavior


Long-term effects of integrated student support: An evaluation of an elementary school intervention on postsecondary enrollment and completion


Leveraging integrated student support to identify and address COVID-19-related needs for students, families, and teachers



Why Integrated Student Support


The ecology of developmental processes. In W. Damon & R.M. Lerner (Eds.). Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol 1: Theoretical Models of Human Development (pp. 993-1028)


The essential role of school-community partnerships in school counseling. In H. L. K. Coleman & C. Yeh (Eds.), Handbook of school counseling (pp. 765-783)

Can Community and School‐Based Supports Improve the Achievement of First‐Generation Immigrant Children Attending High‐Poverty Schools?


Center Research Reports & Briefs

TheEffects of COVID-19 on Students, Families, and School Staff in 2020

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Long-term effects of integrated student support on postsecondary enrollment and completion

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2024 City Connects Progress Report

View Report


The Impact of Integrated Student Support on Outcomes

View Research Brief

The Impact of City Connects on Select Student Sub-Groups

View Research Brief

The Impact of City Connects on Teachers and Schools

View Research Brief

Blog Posts on Research
October 26, 2023
Alyssa Haywoode
December 02, 2021
Alyssa Haywoode
November 19, 2020
Alyssa Haywoode

For Policymakers

Leaders across the country are advancing integrated student support policy and practice.

State Policy Map

National Guidelines for Integrated Student Support

The first national guidelines to help K-12 schools create successful approaches to deliver integrated student supports that address both in- and out-of-school barriers to learning — from hunger, to mental health, to basic needs — were developed by a national working group.

It is a first effort to encapsulate evidence-based best practices and define what high quality implementation looks like in the day-to-day functioning of schools. Over time, as learnings from both research and practice continue to accumulate, we hope to refine and build on the guidelines.



Policy briefs, toolkits, and research summaries


Strengthening Whole Family Comprehensive Supports in Early Childhood: Implications for Head Start and Early Head Start

Learn More Here

Building a Statewide System to Support Early Childhood Program Integration With Comprehensive Services

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Principles of Effective Practice for Integrated Student Support

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Integrated Student Support State Policy Toolkit, Second Edition

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Integrated Student Support State Policy Toolkit Overview

ViewOverview

State Approaches To Integrated Student Support

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Comprehensive Services for Children in Poverty: Setting the Agenda for Integrated Student Support

View Conference Report

Tipping the Scales: How Integrating School and Community Resources Can Improve Student Outcomes and the Commonwealth's Future

View White Paper

Building Systems of Integrated Student Support: A Policy Brief for Federal Leaders

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Building Systems of Integrated Student Support: A Policy Brief for Local and State Leaders

View Policy Brief

Research Briefs

Long-term effects of integrated student support on postsecondary enrollment and completion

View Research Brief

The Impact of City Connects on Teachers and Schools

View Research Brief

The Impact of Integrated Student Support on Outcomes

View Research Brief


The Impact of City Connects on Select Student Sub-Groups

View Research Brief

The Long-Term Impact of Systemic Student Support in Elementary School: Reducing High School Dropout

View Research Brief

The Return on Investment of City Connects

View Research Brief

Practice Briefs

Introducing Systems of Integrated Student Support

View Practice Brief

Financing Systems of Integrated Student Support

View Practice Brief

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Integrated Student Support

View Practice Brief

Defining a School Coordinator

View Practice Brief

Reviewing Every Student

View Practice Brief

Analyzing the Resource Landscape

View Practice Brief

Using Data to Inform Practice

View Practice Brief

Working With Community Partners

View Practice Brief

Selecting Technology for Integrated Student Support

View Practice Brief

Understanding Principles of Effective Practice

View Policy Brief

The Whole Child: Building Systems of Integrated Student Support During & After Covid-19

View Action Guide