While there were political, economic, attitudinal and other factors at play, different from place to place, the major underlying problem was a lack of a full and deep appreciation of the importance of support for student development in the service of academic learning and the lack of knowledge and skills needed to support development at building and district levels.Also, state and national policies often made it difficult even when practitioners wanted to do so. Since 1968 when the model was Development and learning are inextricably linked, but traditionally development is not intentionally addressed. Over … Schools also invest in staff development and undergo regular assessments to gauge progress. Child psychiatrist James P. Comer, MD, MPH and a team of Yale Child Study Center colleagues worked with the two schools that eventually rivaled the city's highest income schools, had the best attendance record, and no serious behavior problems. Key Personnel There are three teams that are central to Comer’s School Development Program. Three teams—the School Planning and Management Team (SPMT), the Student and Staff Support Team (SSST), and the Parent Team—work together to create a Comprehensive School Plan (CSP); to design and conduct staff development aligned with the goals of the Comprehensive School Plan; and to assess and modify the plan as necessary using a wide range of student and school-level data to ensure that the school is continuously improving. Dr. Comer believes that for various reasons, many inner city children enter school underdeveloped, lacking the personal, social and moral traits necessary for academic and life success. According to research on the Comer Process in high poverty and high minority urban settings, this strategy has been very effective at improving student achievement when implemented conscientiously and consistently over a period of five years or more. The School Development Program (SDP), also known as the Comer Process or the Comer Model, is intended to improve the educational experience of poor minority youth. The Comer Process, commonly referred to as the School Development Program, takes a uniquely supportive view of education with a focus on developing the whole child. Unlike models with a formulaic approach to curriculum or teaching methods, this holistic strategy links childrens academic growth with their emotional wellness and social and moral development in a collaborative school culture congenial to learning. James Comer's School Development Program, also known as the Comer Process, is intended to improve the educational experience of poor minority youth. Jordan Community School principal, Dr. Maurice Harvey, Improvement is attained by building supportive bonds among children, parents, and school staff to promote a positive school culture. Under the Comer strategy, a successful school should look and feel like a community center, where parent volunteers are engaged in helping teachers and administrators to make key decisions about running the school and providing support for the school community. The Comer Process puts the responsibility on schools their principals, administrators, teachers and parents to come together to agree on an action plan for the school, with both social and academic components. Also, we focused on promoting supportive education policy at the national, state, and local levelsThe Comer Process is not a project or add-on, but rather an operating system—a way of managing, organizing, coordinating, and integrating programs and activities. This team is integral to developing a school improvement plan, gaining support from the entire school … Teachers, principals and parents make decisions collaboratively, in the best interests of the students. This, in part, led to our SDP focus on the creation of a model that would help pre-service educators appreciate the link between development, academic learning and the preparation of students for adult life; and policy work that would facilitate support for the application of child and adolescent development principles to all aspects of education practice.Because there is not a deep pool of administrators with a child and adolescent development background and perspective, it was difficult to sustain or take the program to scale with personnel and policy changes that resulted from leadership turnover.In response we began to focus more on creating partnerships with schools of education that would provide pre-service educators with an early and deep appreciation of the critical link between development and learning and the skills to apply it in real classrooms.
The School Development Program enables educators, parents and families, and community partners to support development, integrate learning, and as a result, improve academic and behavioral outcomes. Improvement is attained by building supportive bonds among children, parents, and school staff to promote a positive school climate .