Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti, MI, USA 48197
Website
designed & maintained by Prasad
Papudesi
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104 John W. Porter
Ypsilanti MI 48197
Phone: 734 487 1060
Fax: 734 487 3312
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What
is the Detroit Comer School and Families Initiative?
The Comer Schools
and Families Initiative is a collaborative effort that seeks
to raise student achievement and promote healthy growth
and development. This is achieved through the implementation
of all components of the Yale
Child Study Center's School Development Program in the
Detroit Public Schools.
The purpose of the initiative is to improve academic learning
and to enhance the social, psychological and emotional development
of students. Resources are focused on student needs in a
comprehensive, collaborative school-based improvement process.
The program requires the active involvement and support
of all major school/community education stakeholders with
emphasis on active parent involvement.
The
collaborators in this initiative include the Detroit
Public Schools, Detroit Federation of Teachers, Organization
of School Administrators and Supervisors, City-Wide
School Community Organization, Eastern Michigan University,
The Skillman Foundation
and Yale Child Study Center School Development Program.
What
is Eastern Michigan University's role?
Project
staffs from Eastern Michigan University, Yale
University Child Study Center, and Detroit Public
Schools run the regional Comer SDP collaboratively.
Each school is treated as a unique entity with
specific needs. To create meaningful change
each school specifies target improvement areas,
such as improving attendance, immunization compliance,
and safety concerns. School development in the
early stages of implementation focuses on staff
development and linking schools with community
agencies to provide needed resources. Ongoing
programs for parental involvement and parent
development prepare parents to become active
in the process. By mid-implementation, the school
improvement team is generally ready to examine
curriculum issues and the implications of research
and "best practices" to improve learning
for all students. The RTC provides regional
access to developmental academies to increase
instructional staffs’ skills and ability
to influence child-centered practices. Teaching
staffs are provided with skill development sessions
in the use of child-development and relationship
theories and principles that promote academic
achievement and psycho-social functioning for
all children.
EMU faculty, student teachers, pre-student teachers,
and social work and nursing student interns
participate in many components of the Comer
Project. Students and faculty represent every
department in the College of Education, the
Departments of Mathematics and Communication
and Theater Arts in the College of Arts and
Sciences, and the Departments of Nursing and
Social Work in the College of Health and Human
Services. EMU faculty are involved in a variety
of ways-coordinating parent facilitators, supervising
student teachers, directing internships and
practicum projects, mentoring and providing
staff development workshops and consultation
to teachers and administrators. Participating
faculty include the Comer philosophy and framework
in undergraduate and graduate course work, and
students gain valuable field experience through
pre-student teaching or internships in Detroit
Comer schools. The involvement of a diverse
group of EMU faculty signifies a strong EMU
commitment to the Detroit Comer Project. The
University's involvement will continue as the
Comer process becomes an integral part of its
academic programs and practices.
What
is the Yale Child Study Center School Development
Program?
The
Yale Child Study Center School Development Program
(SDP) is a comprehensive school improvement
model that is an organizational and management
system designed to promote school change. SDP
utilizes mechanisms that allow parents and staff
to engage in processes in which they gain and
apply knowledge of systems, child development,
and of individual behavior to every aspect of
a school program in a way and at a rate that
is understandable and not threatening. The program
is often referred to as the Comer School Development
Program (SDP), or Comer Project, named after
its founder, Dr.
James P. Comer. Dr. Comer is the Maurice
Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale
University Child Study Center, Associate Dean
of the Yale University School of Medicine, and
the first holder of the John W. Porter Endowed
Chair for Urban Education at Eastern Michigan
University. Dr. Comer established the school
development model in 1968 in two elementary
schools as collaboration between Yale University
Child Study Center and New Haven Public Schools.
The
School Development Program (SDP) is both a comprehensive
school improvement model and the organizational
entity at Yale Child Study Center charged with
implementing the Comer Process in school communities.
SDP differs from other school improvement programs
in at least three significant ways. First, most
give special attention to one major group within
the school setting-either the students, or the
teachers or the parents. SDP uses a comprehensive
approach to school management in which all constituent
groups work in a collaborative manner, coordinating
resources and programs to establish and achieve
school objectives and goals that lead to improved
educational outcomes for all students.
Second,
other school improvement programs are not rooted
in child development, human development and relationship
concepts. All aspects of the work of SDP are driven
by relationship and child development theories
focusing most on institutional practices that
hinder adequate functioning of all members of
the school community.
Third, many programs focus exclusively
on cognitive development of the student
or the academic program of the school.
SDP attempts to create a school climate
that permits parents and staff to support
the overall development of all students
in a way that makes academic achievement
and desirable social behavior possible
and expected. The Comer process is not
a "quick fix" nor is it an "add
on." It is not just another new activity
to be carried out along with other experiments
and activities already underway in the
school.
The
Comer process uses its nine-element process
as a different way of conceptualizing and
working in schools that completely replaces
traditional school organization and management.
All the activities in a Comer school are
managed through the School Development process.
Most importantly, SDP produces desirable
results only after a cooperative and collaborative
spirit exists throughout the school. The
Comer School Development Program is a model
that consists of the following components:
-
3
mechanisms – the governance and management
team, a mental health or student support team
and a parent program
-
3
operations - a comprehensive school plan,
staff development, assessment and modification
-
3
guiding principles - collaboration, consensus
decision-making and no-fault problem-solving
The Governance and Management Team where adult
caretakers, i.e., teachers, parents, administrators
and support staff, come together to pool their
wisdom to plan the academic, social and staff
development programs of the school designed to
improve teaching and learning.
A
Mental Health or Student Support Team coordinates
and integrates the work of the mental health personnel
within the school. It serves to prevent potential
problems from developing into crises and to intervene
in specific cases referred by teachers, other
staff or parents.
The Parent Program provides an opportunity for
parents to get involved in three major ways:
on the governance and management team and subcommittees;
as a parent group or team working with the staff
to plan and support academic and social programs
of the school; and as participants in various
school events. The primary objective of the
parent program is to create a climate of relationships
among parents, staff and students, and to achieve
a greater parent presence in the school that
will lead to improved academic performance of
all students.
The Comprehensive School Plan document is a
written plan of action that outlines specific
goals and objectives for the academic, staff
and parent development, social and public relations
programs of the school.
Staff development activities are based on the
training and information needs of staff and
parents which grow out of the building level
goals and activities in support of academic
excellence and social development of students.
Periodic
assessment allows staff to modify the programs
and activities of the school to meet identified
needs and opportunities.
The principal and team members agree to collaborate.
Members on the governance and management team
agree to operate in a manner that does not paralyze
the principal and the principal agrees that the
group will not be used to "rubber stamp."
Decisions are made by consensus to avoid winner
/ loser behaviors and to allow and encourage maximum
participation of all members of the teams.
A
no fault, problem-solving approach is used by
all working groups within the school. The groups
agree to avoid blaming, faultfinding behavior
and to concentrate on finding solutions to problems
faced by students and the school.
Which
schools are involved?
DETROIT
COMER SCHOOLS
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Cycle
1 Schools-1994 (The Skillman Foundation)
John F. Bennett Elementary School
Beulah Cain Brewer Elementary School
Samuel Gompers Elementary School
Greenfield Park Elementary School
James Vernor Elementary School
Augusta B. Woodward Elementary School
Cycle 2 Schools-1995 (The Skillman
Foundation)
Bethune Duffield Elementary School
Peter G. Monnier Elementary School
Louis Pasteur Elementary School
Zina Pitcher Elementary School
Fannie Richards Elementary School
Cycle 3 Schools-1996 (The Skillman
Foundation)
Ella Fitzgerald Elementary School
Arthur Logan Holmes Elementary School
Anthony Wayne Elementary School
Cycle 4 Schools-1997 (The Skillman
Foundation)
Ernest J. Dossin Elementary School
Frederick H. Higgins Elementary School
A. Douglas Jamieson Elementary School
Ferdinand Foch Elementary School
Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration
(CSRD)
Angelique Beaubien Middle School
T. Dale Cooke Elementary School
Jane Cooper Elementary School
Grayling Elementary School
Albert McMichael Middle School
Schools of the 21st Century
Academy of the Americas
Frank Beard Elementary School
John A. Logan Elementary School
Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration
(CSRD)
Carstens Elementary School
Western International High School
Detroit Public Schools Title One
William Beckham Academy
Catherine Blackwell Elementary School
Cooley High School
Burbank Middle School
Farwell Middle School
Jordan Elementary School
Marion Law Academy
Lessenger Middle School
Macomb Elementary School
Nolan Middle School
Rosa Parks Middle School
Clara Rutherford Elementary School
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Will
there be opportunities for other schools
to participate?
The Comer School Development Program was
implemented in 26 Detroit schools as part
of the Comer Schools and Families Initiative
funded by The Skillman Foundation. These
schools entered the initiative in five cycles
between 1994 and 1999. In 1999, Detroit
Public Schools system focused their efforts
toward district-wide transformation of all
of its schools into learner centered, caring
organizations. Funding for this district-wide
reform came from a variety of sources. Between
1999 and 2001 another 20 Detroit schools
selected the Comer SDP as their school reform
model and joined the Comer SDP initiative.
In partnership with Detroit Public Schools
and Eastern Michigan University, Yale Child
Study Center established a Regional Training
Center (RTC) to support faithful replication
of SDP model within Detroit Public Schools
and beyond Detroit’s metropolitan area.
Currently (May-2002), the regionally managed
training center supports implementation
of the Comer SDP model in school communities
in Pontiac and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Denver,
Colorado; Springfield and Youngstown, Ohio.
Several more school districts in Michigan
are actively seeking to become Comer schools.
Samuel
Gompers Elementary School in Detroit, MI serves
98% poverty population. In 1999, 80% of the
students passed the fourth-grade Michigan
Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test
in reading and science, and 100% passed in
mathematics. In 2000, they achieved the highest
WAP test scores among elementary schools in
their size category in the state.
For
Additional Information Contact:
Dr.
Nora Martin, University Coordinator
Eastern Michigan University
Comer Schools and Families Initiative
104 Porter Building
Ypsilanti, MI 48197
Phone: (734) 487-6837
Fax: (734) 487-3312
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