Abstract
In Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and Communities Help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty, Weiss and Reville share effective strategies for supporting students facing difficulties associated with limited access to resources. The authors examine 12 diverse communities in a variety of settings across America. These communities are making progress through their implementation of Integrated Student Supports (ISS). The ISS programs are intended to address the unique needs of all students, to provide everyone with attainable opportunities for success.
The Broader, Bolder communities consist of schools and programs in Austin (TX), Boston (MA), New York City (NY), Durham (NC), Minneapolis (MN), Orlando (FL), Joplin (MO), Kalamazoo (MI), Montgomery County (MD), Pea Ridge (AR), Vancouver (WA), and Eastern Appalachia (KY). These schools and communities were able to achieve success with local partnerships, as a plethora of community members and/or agencies worked with schools to provide supports for students and families.
The communities described in the book were researched over 9 years by the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education. This is a national campaign that has been devoted to improving conditions for students, to increase their readiness to learn and overall success. Elaine Weiss has served as the national coordinator for the Broader, Bolder Approach to Education, and Paul Reville has served in the co-chair role. This situates them to speak from experience about the communities thriving under this approach.
The ISS plans put into practice by the Broader, Bolder communities include “initiatives, advocates, organizations, and networks working toward the common goal of providing a pipeline of supports from cradle to career,” (p. 5). This research is presented with the intention and hope that others will expand upon it, to more fully support students living in poverty.
Throughout this book, “ISS” became a catch-all term for any support, service, system, or approach that helped students and families succeed. This came to include everything from health clinics and financial support to student data systems and volunteer tutoring services. The supports go beyond what schools typically provide, and their immense range is surprising. However, the breadth of the range appears necessary when Weiss and Reville present data that correlates this support with academic success.
The authors reference ubiquitous studies that are often used to explain the achievement gap between middle class students and students at a lower socio-economic status, while positing that students spend only 20% of their time at school. This leads them to promote social wraparound services as a school reform that can work to combat these glaring gaps. They point out that in the book’s case studies, schools are often acting as a hub of resources for families and providing social support services in conjunction with community collaboration. The authors promote the idea that schools need to broaden the types of services they provide.
The first part of this book emphasizes the necessity for ISS by providing insight to differences in access and opportunity throughout the United States. Weiss and Reville discuss a range of challenges that exist for the growing number of families living in poverty. The communities highlighted in this book were chosen for their diversity across a range of population, demographic, and geographical factors. They became exemplars because they have made progress “boosting achievement, tackling chronic absenteeism, meaningfully engaging students, and narrowing race- and income-based opportunity and achievement gaps,” (p. 5).
Throughout the book, the 12 “Broader, Bolder Approach” communities and ISS initiatives they successfully employed are described. Some examples include approaches used in Orlando’s Tangelo Park, where Parent Leadership Training programs help families understand the school system, and improve their decision-making and communication skills, which then allows families to better support the academic needs of their children. Other places, like Kentucky, connected high school and college students in a Skype mentoring program. This book describes several other strategies, which include integrating support from faith communities, involving local political leaders, and using scholarships to motivate students past high school. Each chapter includes examples from several communities that have successfully implemented particular supports.
Oftentimes, schools in low socioeconomic status (SES) communities acquire negative reputations for not doing enough to meet the needs of their students. Weiss and Reville include a quote from Malcom Gladwell that puts educational services in perspective: “Virtually all of the advantage that wealthy students have over poor students is the result of differences in the way privileged students learn when they are not in school . . . America doesn’t have a school problem. It has a summer vacation problem,” (p. 15). The reforms described in this book work to meet these deficiencies, by providing supports that would help to close gaps created by lifestyles beyond the school day. This book lacks a strategy for improving the reputation of the educational system as a whole. Perhaps if suggestions were framed as social or community reforms that work to support school systems, it would help to remove blame from our educational system. This could also draw attention to needs for specific funding and services. More support in certain communities could help students access resources that prepare them for school readiness and success.
When making suggestions for the future, the authors focus on the community school model. The majority of the ISS strategies described in the book include community involvement in providing academic, social, and family supports. Weiss and Reville note that while policy has generally been positive in supporting the community school initiative, the need has always outweighed the resources. The authors note difficulties with this model, including the gap between the goals of what full-service community schools aim to accomplish and the reality of what they can offer. While organizations are starting to collaborate more, the question remains of whether or not the expectations for schools to provide this level of wraparound social services is realistically attainable and sustainable.
In this book (released in 2019), Weiss and Reville are positioned to situate the presentation of their research within the overall context of current United States social, economic, and political conditions. America is experiencing a divided time politically, and this book identifies some possible causes for this when they postulate that rural poverty has often been overlooked, and whole communities have been “largely neglected by advocates and policy makers,” (p. 73). In a country where public schools were designed to serve middle-class families (Larea, 2011), entire groups of people have been failed by the educational system. Social reform is now more necessary than ever. When addressing social inequities, Reville and Rothstein argue that, “schools alone, as currently constituted, could not address these disadvantages.” (p. 126). This statement positions additional ISS services as a necessity for equalizing the playing field for student success. These supports tackle discrepancies in out-of-school life experiences, but it may not be clear that those who support their implementation are not inadvertently placing all responsibility on educational systems for student achievement gaps.
It is heartening to read about successful cases where principals have funding that pays for groceries, rent, utilities, and other needs of families. However, this provokes questions about whether or not those principals are still able to maintain the leadership, evaluation, and discipline responsibilities that traditionally accompany their position. To make some of these ISS approaches a reality, it might be necessary to re-think time, funding, and responsibilities of schools in relationship to outside social services. This book presents topics for further exploration, which include examining where outside organizations should work to support their local educational systems. The authors point out that schools are being asked to do more than ever, oftentimes with less support. This information makes a case for deeper exploration of social service collaboration with educational systems, as a potential way of meeting citizen needs more consistently without placing an unmanageable amount of responsibility on schools.
One valuable aspect of this book is that it emphasizes the strengths of students and communities. While there are countless challenges that accompany poverty, some ISS interventions in this book vary from the deficit-based research that is typically presented. The emphasis on the strengths in these communities sets a hopeful tone for an otherwise discouraging topic. For example, in Boston, educators are working to “identify each student’s unique strengths and talents” (p. 50) when developing support plans. In Vancouver, the kindness of the community is highlighted as a strength, with examples of social media successfully connecting students with donations of items they need.
This book provides useful information to many readers. Educators could use the examples in this book to make programmatic changes that encourage a culture of success. Family and community members reading this book will discover opportunities to volunteer, collaborate, and offer experiences to students. Administrators, professors, teachers, and other service providers will find several examples of services and partnerships that could be implemented. Researchers and members of higher educational institutions could find themselves answering the call to provide data. If policy makers, leaders, and philanthropists read this book, they will discover ways their positions can be used to build future successful members of society. This book can start conversations that could lead to social reform. This research indicates that anybody has the ability to make positive changes.
