Research Says

Student achievement is significantly and positively impacted in schools with at least one counselor for every 250 students.

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What Does It Look Like When It’s Working?

If you've signed the petition, graded your school and community, accessed our resources, and advocated for policy change but still wonder what a school and community working together to ensure children are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged actually looks like, this series is for you! Over the coming months, we will feature communities that have taken on the five tenets of the Whole Child Initiative. No one school or community will be the model for all or will have all of the answers, but communities across the country are making progress.

Today, we feature South Kitsap School District in Washington State. Superintendent Dave LaRose recently wrote us saying, "ASCD's Call to Action for the Whole Child has been heard and is at the core of our district improvement efforts. From our vision, our use of resources, our partnerships, our staffing decisions, and our district goals, meeting the needs of the whole child drives decisions." Here are just a few examples of what they’ve done:

• Research tells us that students have better grades and attendance when their health needs are met. South Kitsap's Backpacks for Kids program supplies nearly 100 backpacks full of food every weekend, and the summer lunch program served over 4,000 free lunches last year. In addition, South Kitsap is currently working to identify partners to provide students and their families with urgent medical care at the school-based clinic.
• Research tells us that students are more likely to succeed, less likely to be absent or drop out, and less likely to be disruptive if they are connected to their school and community. South Kitsap’s PAL's mentoring program ensures that each student is connected to at least one caring and consistently present adult. In addition, South Kitsap's after-school and pre-K programs work with children and adults to develop essential skills.
• Research tells us that students are willing to work harder to meet high expectations. South Kitsap recognizes that all adults, not just teachers, working with students at school must believe that each student is capable of success—no exceptions. They have created a professional development team within the district that continues to train each staff member on how to continuously challenge students.

» Tell us how your school and community are implementing the Whole Child Initiative! Share your story or e-mail us today!

Who Is Working for Your Kids?

This week is National School Counseling Week, focusing on the unique contribution of professional school counselors within U.S. school systems. If you recognize the contribution of school counselors, then take action by contacting your members of the U.S. House and Senate in support of the Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act.

Have you signed the Whole Child Petition? Tell your state board of education that they must do more to educate the whole child. Because when we can do more, then we should do more. When your state has reached its goal of 1,000 signatures, we will deliver the petition to your state board of education. Help your state reach the goal by forwarding the petition on to stakeholders you know.

We're on the record. How about you?

» Expect More. Get More.

“Investing in education has to be part of a turn-around strategy.”

—New York University professor Pedro Noguera

This month on the Whole Child Podcast, we'll talk to urban education experts and activists New York University professor Pedro Noguera, National Urban Alliance Executive Director Yvette Jackson, and Monarch Academy principal Tatiana Epanchin. We'll hear firsthand about the challenges facing urban schools and how urban educators and students are working to defy the odds against them. Download the Whole Child Podcast today to hear more!

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