An Introduction

By M. Walsh, J. Galassi. Counseling Psychologist, 2002

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Leaders of education reform efforts are increasingly recognizing what classroom teachers have long known: The social and emotional issues that children bring to school significantly affect academic achievement. Contemporary education reform efforts are challenged by what have been referred to as the “new morbidities”—poor nutrition, unsafe sex, drug and alcohol abuse, familial and community violence, teenage pregnancy and parenting, lack of job skills, inadequate access to health care, and homelessness (Dryfoos, 1990; Lerner, 1995). Children who live in poverty; who fear violence in their school, home, or neighborhood; whose attachments to parents have been seriously disrupted; andwho lack the social skills required for productive interactions are severely challenged both academically and socially (Eckenrode, Laird, & Doris, 1993; Furstenberg, Cook, Eccles, Elder, & Sameroff, 1999; Schmitz, Wagner, & Menke, 1995; Warner & Weist, 1996). Improving academic achievement is a complex process, and schools cannot accomplish the goals of education reform alone (Riley, 1998). In an effort to provide coordinated, comprehensive services to children, public schools have recently begun to implement novel collaborative arrangements with community agencies and resources. Emerging school-community partnerships span in-school and out-of-school time, cross professional boundaries, focus on programmatic as well as individual interventions, and address strengths and deficits.New sources of funding for these partnerships allow professionals to collaborate in new models of service and resource delivery (e.g., an increase of $800million during the past 3 years for the Twenty-First Century Learning Centers federal program). The Surgeon

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, General Health Professions, Health

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