As COVID-19 shuttered schools, it created widespread student and family needs and exacerbated challenges stemming from long-standing racial and economic inequities. Here, we examine how an evidenced-based, integrated student support intervention responded to systematically identify and address the academic and nonacademic needs of students and families in 94 high-poverty, urban schools. We conduct thematic analysis of open-ended survey responses about intervention personnel’s work in spring 2020 and triangulate findings with descriptive analyses of service provision records and mid-spring estimates of crucial needs. We find that intervention schools developed specific processes to respond to immediate needs, which included resource, academic, and socioemotional support. To accomplish this, the intervention leveraged existing processes and relationships to maintain intervention-specific practices, facilitate referrals and connections to resources, and expand direct intervention for education stakeholders. Findings elucidate practices for meeting academic and nonacademic needs that affect student learning and that may arise in future schooling disruptions.
Abstract:Child poverty leads to many challenges at both societal and individual levels, and the two levels are interrelated. It is critical to recognize the complex implications of poverty, including short-term and long-term effects for children and families. After reviewing both the societal (e.g., economic costs, segregation, and unequal opportunity) and individual (e.g., effects on children's health, development, learning, and academic achievement) implications of poverty, this paper will describe a framework for action that incorporates multiple existing approaches, and offer an example of one intervention that aims to address the challenges associated with economic inequality for children in the United States in a comprehensive, multifaceted manner.
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