Bright road ahead for Student Success- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
Bright road ahead for Student Success- BWH Bulletin - For and about the People of Brigham and Women's Hospital
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June 2, 2000
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In This Issue:
Bright road ahead for Student Success
Bretholtz Center underway
Service Awards Recipients
BWH Town Meeting
June Calendar
Thier Honored at Yale
Over the past decade, BWH has been involved in many initiatives that benefit the community surrounding the hospital. For example, the Teen Health Center at English High School offers primary health care, education, and outreach services to students who otherwise might not receive them. The Tobin-Brigham Family Support Program and the Tobin Middle School Transition Project improve educational opportunities for elementary and middle school-age students. Now, a multi-institution collaboration led by BWH seeks to provide the support Boston Public School students need most to achieve their academic potential. BWH, Partners HealthCare, Boston Public Schools, Northeastern University, Simmons College, and the Center for Community Health, Education, Research, and Service have formed the Student Success Partnership (SSP). The SSP is focused on the 12 kindergarten through twelfth grade schools in Mission Hill and Lower Roxbury known as Cluster 4. This unique initiative is aimed at gaining the most in-depth understanding possible about factors that impact student success, examining what the private sector can do to help students succeed in school, mobilizing organizations to provide these critical supports, and assisting schools and organizations in developing partnerships to maximize benefits for students. In order to learn about student needs, the SSP went directly to the source—students themselves. The SSP conducted focus groups with over 300 students in grades two through twelve. Over 70 teachers, 80 family members, and school administrators were also interviewed. Their collective responses were clear and consistent—students need adults in their lives who believe in them. They need practical help with responsibilities such as homework, support in addressing urgent social and health issues in their lives, and specific connections to and a vision for their futures. According to SSP director Martha Kurz, “Many students face stress and responsibilities that compete with schoolwork. Some have jobs and family obligations, such as caring for younger siblings. Many lack a quiet place to study, and students in all focus groups discussed major public health issues that thwart their motivation. What many kids lack, and need most, are caring adult mentors who are consistently available, and who can guide them toward a meaningful future.” Resources are available, such as the two-year grant the SSP has just received from the Balfour Foundation, which will provide after-school jobs in the partnering institutions for 25 Cluster 4 high school students. The SSP will move forward by using inventories of participating schools’ current services and programming to help to plan the program’s next phase—identifying resources within its collaborating institutions and in the surrounding community.