Engaged Families & Whole Student Supports

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Whole student supports are the collection of programs, services, interventions and practices provided both inside and outside the classroom that help students grow and thrive – not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and physically as well. Sometimes referred to as “comprehensive supports,” “integrated student supports” or “wraparound services,” whole student supports include things like school-based physical and mental health services, trauma responsive practices and supports, and an explicit focus on embedding structures and practices into school culture that support student social-emotional learning.

 
 

Family & Community Engagement involves the inclusion and empowerment of families, caregivers, and school communities in the educational journey of students. It encourages schools, districts, and the state to design and implement educational policies in continuous collaboration with families and school communities, treating them not as service recipients but as valuable partners.

Family & Community Engagement is Critical for Academic Success

 

Academic success is dependent on, and inseparable from, students’ mental health and social and emotional wellbeing and growth. When students are healthy, safe, challenged, and supported, they are able to learn and succeed in school and life in spite of systemic inequities. Research also demonstrates that a significant portion of students have experienced trauma in some form, which affects students’ cognitive and social development and can negatively impact their health outcomes well into adulthood. School-based supports designed specifically to address these needs are a fundamental component of a school system that prepares all students to thrive. Finally, schools are just one component of the network of institutions that support students. Regular, deep family and community engagement is critical to ensure that other key parts of that network are working together.

Working Toward Academic Success

We are working to ensure that both research and data and stakeholder and practitioner expertise shape discussions and state policy design to develop and scale an education system where whole student supports are universally accessible, and trauma-responsive practices are commonplace. To that end, at Advance Illinois, we:

  • Supported the Illinois Black Caucus in developing and passing a law that creates the Whole Child Task Force, which will make recommendations to the legislature concerning how the state can broaden and deepen whole student supports across the educational continuum, including trauma-responsive practices, culturally responsive pedagogy, and restorative justice practices.

  • Assembled the Illinois P-20 Council’s Data, Assessment & Accountability Committee working group to make recommendations for how schools, districts and the state can use data more effectively to understand and support social-emotional learning and trauma-responsive practices.