Comer School Development Program

1) Category:
• General program

2) Issues Behind the Program:

• Development and learning are inextricably linked. Students who have not had adequate
support for their development may come to school lagging behind their classmates who
may have had an optimal preschool developmental experience. This may have a
negative effect on students' learning skills.
• The majority of teachers and administrators or school personnel have not been
adequately prepared, or do not possess the tools necessary to work with students who
grew up in difficult conditions, or with those who grew up in conditions different from
the other students and themselves. Schools can be organized and staff trained to meet
more of the needs of their students. Schools can also partner with community
organizations and resources to support the needs of children and their families who are
under stress and facing challenges that may impede learning and optimal development.

3) Objectives:
• To become involved in the overall development of all of the students
• To create a learning environment favourable to the student's psychological, physical,
cognitive, language, social and ethical development
• To recognize and address the experiences or skills that a student may lack and which
impede his or her full development; to build upon the strengths and assets students
possess
• To mobilize adults (parents, school personnel, and other adults) to support the
development and educational success of students
• To help schools and districts change how they are organized and how they govern
themselves; to build a culture that increases positive interactions among everyone
involved in the educational enterprise

4) Environment:
• Primary and secondary schools

5) Target Group:
• Students from 5 to 16 years old
• Teachers

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6) Key Words:
• Comer school development program, coeuréaction, school-family-community
partnership, general program, school-family relationship, academic success, unified and
comprehensive approach, mobilization, learning support, reform, child development,
adolescent development, community school, prosocial behavior, classroom
management, school and classroom climate, student engagement, primary prevention,
collaboration, professional development

7) Program Description:
• Dr. James P. Comer is considered to be the precursor to modern reforms in American
schools. His method is a means of organizing, coordinating, and integrating activities in
schools and districts to support the overall development of students.
• The Comer School Development Program is a concerted, comprehensive and
collaborative approach to mobilizing adults (parents and school personnel) in order to
offer student learning and developmental support.
• Fundamental elements for an efficient education include the following: comprehensive
school reform, management and administration on site (in the school: school-based
management), parent involvement in the decision-making process, study groups for
teachers.
• Every school can become an SDP school if administrators and teachers are willing to put
in the effort to make it work. The effort required is demanding but rewarding.
• Philosophy:
o The school-family relationship is a key factor in a child's academic success.
o Development is a continuous process that begins before a child is born.
o The most enriching experiences for students occur when they have positive
relationships.
o Parents are children’s first teachers. All adults within a community must work
together to help students grow and develop well so they can be successful in life.
o Interaction between teachers and students creates important emotional ties for the
young person: the student can identify with teachers, imitate them, and internalize
their attitudes, values and ways.
o Teachers can and should support students’ physical, psycho-emotional, moral-
ethical, cognitive, social, and language development.
• The program uses a unique approach based on child and adolescent development
principles:
o To inform and to guide school logistics, child behavior management and child
pedagogy in order for students to attain a higher academic level and greater
personal development

8) Steps:
I. The SDP invites the school board, the school principal and the personnel at the central
office as well as the school personnel to become involved in the program. (This step
may vary depending on the school and/or district.)
II. Typically, the SDP holds information and steering meetings at all levels, starting with
the central office, the school board, and the school administrators.

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 III. The SDP assigns a coordinator to facilitate and guide the school in implementing the
program.
IV. The principal forms a management committee which has a representative from each of
the following groups: central office, schools, parents, community.
V. The SDP personnel, led by the implementation coordinator, carries out contextual
analysis to determine the strengths, problems, needs, and available resources of all the
schools that will implement the Comer Process. The data is then used to develop an
action plan in collaboration with school staff/leadership.
VI. When all the necessary preliminary work has been completed and all nine components
of the process have been implemented according to the model, sweeping changes may
be seen at the school and classroom level, along with optimal interaction among the
various stakeholders in the school community.

9) Activities/Actions:
• The Comer Process consists of nine elements:
o Three teams to promote the school vision and to organize and lead the students:
 The School Planning and Management Team
 The Student and Staff Support Team
 The Parent Team
o Three operations for developing the vision through activities:
 The Comprehensive School Plan
 Staff development that builds capacity to execute the Comprehensive School
Plan
 Assessment and modification
o Three principles to guide interactions within the school:
 No-fault Problem Solving: Focus on problem resolution rather than blaming and
fault finding.
 Consensus Decision Making: Through dialogue and conversation, make decisions
that are in the best interests and support the development of students.
 Collaboration: Encourage leaders and teams to work together.
• The School Development Program supports its network of schools and districts with
Professional Development and Consultation Services:
o The School Development Program designs and delivers customized professional
development experiences for pre-K to 12 educators at the school and district levels.
The SDP synthesizes and combines the latest research with their experiences as
professional educators to provide participants with practical, effective, and
research-based strategies that they can use immediately. They also offer on-site,
customized professional development workshops.
o The SDP has created two professional development programs that are designed to
improve instruction, foster collaboration, and tap the knowledge, skills, and
experiences of veteran and novice teachers. They are Teachers Helping Teachers
(THT) and the Balanced Curriculum Process (BC).

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10) Resources Required:
• Human resources :
o SDP Implementation Coordinator
o District Coordinator
o Student and Staff Support Team (school principal, career counselors, regular and
special education teachers, social workers, psychologists, nurses, and anyone else in
the school with knowledge of child and adolescent development)
• Financial resources:
o Start-up funding

11) Roles of the Participants:

• The SDP Implementation Coordinator:
o trains and supports implementation of the Comer Process.
• The District Coordinator:
o acts as a go-between between the various players (central office, schools, parents,
community).
• The School Planning and Management Team:
o is responsible for planning activities and for establishing academic, social and
community objectives, etc.
• The Student and Staff Support Team:
o ensures a favourable social environment;
o facilitates the sharing of information and advice;
o responds to the needs of students;
o develops intervention programs;
o enables access to community resources, etc.
• The Parent Team:
o is involved in the school;
o organizes activities;
o supports the school’s academic and social programs;
o is responsible for involving the parents in the school through various activities in
which parents can support academic and social programs;
o selects representatives for the School Planning and Management Team.
• The School Board:
o is involved with the initial implementation process and ongoing systemic support.

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

• The SDP is identified as being one of three comprehensive reform models “meeting the
highest standard of evidence.” (from a report published by the Center for Research on
the Education of Students Placed at Risk [CRESPAR], Borman et al. 2003).
• Comer, J.P. & Emmons, C. (2006). The research program of the Yale Child Study Center
School Development Program. Journal of Negro Education, 75 (3), 353-372.

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 • Emmons, C. L. & Comer, J. P.(2009) Capturing Complexity: Evaluation of the Yale Child
Study Center School Development Program, in R. Deslandes (ed.) International
Perspectives on Contexts, Communities and Evaluated Innovative Practices: Family-
School-Community Partnerships. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 204-219.
• Norris M. Haynes, Christine L. Emmons, Sara Gebreyesus, and Michael Ben-Avie (1996).
The School Development Program evaluation process. In James P. Comer, Norris M.
Haynes, Edward T. Joyner, and Michael Ben-Avie (Eds.), Rallying the Whole Village: The
Comer Process for Reforming Education (pp. 123-146). NY: Teachers College Press.
• "Changing Schools for Changing Times: The Comer School Development Program,"
Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR). Volume 3, Number 1 is a
special issue that presents a collection of case studies and examines the research
evidence on the Comer School Development Program.
• See other research on SDP at:
http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org/evaluation/index.aspx

13) Program Material:

• Book: Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's World by James P.
Comer (352p.), published in 2004 by Yale University Press. (For a list of Dr. Comer’s
books, go to:
http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org/about/people/faculty/comer.aspx.)
• The Field Guide to Comer Schools in Action , Edited by Edward T. Joyner, James P.
Comer, and Michael Ben-Avie and published by Corwin Press.
o The three-book collection includes the following titles:
 Six Pathways to Healthy Child Development and Academic Success
 Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning
and Development
 Dynamic Instructional Leadership to Support Student Learning and
Development
• SDP Instruments (School Climate, Development, and School Management Surveys)
• Websites:
o http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org
o http://www.youtube.com/comersdp

14) Additional Information:

• The information contained in this factsheet was taken from: International Perspectives
on Contexts, Communities and Evaluated Innovative Practices: Family-School-
Community Partnerships, edited by Rollande Deslandes, and from the following website:
http://www.schooldevelopmentprogram.org.

15) Contacts:
• James P. Comer, M.D., M.P.H.
Comer School Development Program
100 York Street, Suite 1A
New Haven, CT 06511
Tel.: (203) 737-4000
Email: schooldevelopmentprogram@yale.edu

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