Every child is one adult away from being a success story. - John Shipp
Services offered through the CCC focus on promoting positive youth development for students in the classroom and at home while offering strategic support services to parent/caregivers and teachers.
CHILD CONNECTION CENTER COLLABORATION
New Jersey Department of Education
Rutgers, Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs
Clayton Board of Education
Gloucester County Special Services School District
Deptford School District
Elk Township School District
Westville School District
Paulsboro School District
Franklin Township School District
Logan Township School District
National Park School District
Unique Collaboration.
District partners, the NJ Department of Education and Rutgers, Senator Walter Rand Institute unite to provide shared services to students and families in five neighboring Gloucester County Schools: Herma Simmons Elementary (Pre K-5); Central Early Childhood Center (Pre K-1), Aura Elementary (Pre K-6), Billingsport Early Childhood Center (Pre K-2), Parkview Elementary (Pre K-6), Logan Township Elementary (1-4), Pine Acres Early Childhood Center (Pre K-1), Main Road Elementary School (3-4), National Park Elementary School (Pre K-6).
Supported (in part) by the NJ Department of Education, the partners utilize a single intake process and common family assessment plan across all implementation sites. Each Child Connection Center implementation site incorporates:
1. Student supports focused on promoting positive youth development in classrooms and at home through classroom presentations, family check-ins, counseling support in small groups, behavior plans, positive reinforcement, and family engagement;
2. Family supports focused on providing parent consultations, family plan development, and connection to community support services;
3. Classroom support for teachers through connection with an educational consultant to assist teachers in classroom management; assistance in goal setting; development of a reinforcement system for positive behaviors; and methods for engaging adult caregivers in their child’s academic success.
About the Child Connection Center.
The Child Connection Center is focused on general education and how students, potentially all students, can benefit from soft skills training and strategies to achieve student-identified social goals. The aim is always to have a proactive approach to social-emotional learning (SEL), as opposed to a reactive or punitive approach. The Child Connection Center offers a network of supports, spanning from individual student support (including positive reinforcement approaches and character development opportunities), student support through small groups (on topics like perseverance and having a growth mindset, emotional regulation, family ties, social skills), teacher support and classroom strategies (including push-in workshops and curricular supports), and a range of caregiver supports and external referrals to collaborating agencies and programs.
What we have found over time is that the range of impacts from this intervention program are remarkably wide. While the core focus is on student improvement over time, the Child Connection Center has also had immediate positive impacts on teachers, caregivers, and entire school communities. As one staff member put it, “we are educating parents as we work with students, and that means we are educating the community as a whole.” The impacts on teachers (and potential impacts on teacher retention) are real as well: Child Connection Center staff report that teachers use both the program dedicated space and counseling services themselves on an ongoing, informal basis.
Understanding the Social Emotional Learning Process
The most effective models used in educational settings for improving student school experiences and outcomes focus on SEL, and outcomes from these models range from improved social development in students to improved academic outcomes in the long-term. The Child Connection Center utilizes the Clayton Model, which extends this approach, and involves caregivers and families, working collaboratively from day one with the adults who impact a child’s life and their engagement in school. Positioned in a school-setting, the CCC has the flexibility to implement whole group lessons focused on Social Emotional Learning (SEL).
The Home-School Connection
When you build a connection between home and school, children will benefit tremendously. Research shows that when these two worlds are bridged together, students will do better in school, teachers gain high self-esteem, and parents become empowered and invested in their child's life. One way to build connection is homework. Teachers’ expect it to be done, kids do not enjoy doing it and parents are caught in the middle. Click below for some ideas to help make homework time more manageable.