Dear Colleagues,
By now you have heard the good news about the passage of the new education bill – Every Student Succeeds ACT (ESSA). This is the first major change in education in many years, but the news gets even better for those of us working on the School of the 21st Century and Family Resource Centers.
Specifically, under ESSA, wrap around services – also known as integrated student supports – may be implemented using Title 1 funds and are acknowledged as critical in efforts to improve academic outcomes. All of us have known this for some time, so the passage of ESSA and the highlighting of wrap around services is a great victory!
Along with several other key organizations, we have lobbied for the inclusion of wrap around services/integrated student supports and are overjoyed that we succeeded. In the next few months, we will keep you posted on steps you can take to benefit from ESSA.
If any of you already have plans - please let us know. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Matia Finn-Stevenson, Ph.D.
Associate Research Scientist, Child Study Center
Associate Director, Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy
Director, The School of the 21st Century and The Mutt-i-grees Curriculum