Improving Educational and Well-being Outcomes for Ohio’s Children
Student achievement is at an all-time high in Ohio. An emerging consensus is that standards-based education is the foundation for this improvement, as it provides the operational detail for Ohio’s educational vision - higher achievement for all students. There are practical limits, however, on how much standards-based reforms can impact student academic success.
For many of Ohio’s students, the conditions for learning also must be right. For instance, if students are hungry, bullied, or using alcohol or drugs, they are less likely to be engaged in the classroom and make the most of their academic learning time. These “conditions” and/or non-academic barriers to learning present real impediments to optimal student success, academically, socially, and developmentally.
The College of Social Work (CSW) at the Ohio State University and the Center for Students, Families, and Communities at the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) have partnered since 2001 in the development of expanded school improvement models, state policies, and professional development opportunities designed to assist Ohio schools in addressing barriers to learning through school-family-community partnerships. There are several facets to this outreach and engagement partnership.
Leaders at the CSW developed and piloted the Ohio Community Collaboration Model for School Improvement (OCCMSI) in 12 Ohio school districts. Lessons learned from this project have informed school mental health practices in Ohio’s schools. Using the OCCMSI framework, many have facilitated partnerships with families, community/neighborhood organizations, businesses, and higher education institutions to enhance learning, healthy development, and overall success in school. Freedom Elementary School in Lima actually moved out of academic emergency into continuous improvement during the project’s implementation period.
CSW also has informed Ohio’s Access to Better Care School-Family-Community Partnership agenda, especially as outreach and support were provided to Lima City Schools and Fostoria Community Schools in relation to enhancing school mental health supports. These two districts worked closely with their county ADAMH Boards, as well as with other various partners (Family and Children First, Family Resource Centers, etc.) to leverage additional school-linked and -based resources for students and families.
Finally, the CSW team has provided professional development annually to over 140 21st Century Community Learning Center grantees across Ohio. Most recently, CSW developed the Ohio Quality Assessment Rubric (O-QAR), a self-assessment tool that explores stakeholder perceptions of quality related to out-of-school-time youth development, academic learning, and parent/family engagement activities. O-QAR results are being used to guide local site improvements and to inform state-wide professional development opportunities.
This outreach work has informed several state-wide education policy priorities that aim to help schools “get the conditions right for learning,” and include the state school-board adopted prevention policy, school climate guidelines, and parent/family engagement policy. More recently, the partnership has contributed to the development of the Comprehensive System of Learning Supports Guidelines, which requires schools to systematically target interventions and supports to students facing academic and non-academic barriers to learning. The ongoing partnership between CSW and ODE will continue with the pilot implementation of the Learning Support Guidelines, further enhancing educational and well-being outcomes for Ohio’s children.
