Student Mobility

Greene County
Community Partnership of the Ozarks, Inc.

Core Result: Children Succeeding in School
Benchmark: Mobility

February 2002

Objective
Decrease the average mobility rate in Caring Communities neighborhoods from 70.8% in the 97-98 school year to 55.2% in the school year of 2001-2002.

Strategies
Research indicates students who attend the same school for a complete school year are more likely to achieve academically. In Greene County we have experienced high mobility rates due to lack of adequate housing, low wage jobs, challenging neighborhoods and a lack of comprehensive services. The following strategies were developed to provide a multi-dimensional support system to families in the impoverished neighborhoods:

• School Health Nurses: the nurse time was increased for more availability to the students and families in the community.
• Social Workers and Social Work Interns: workers were available in the community to help families deal with crisis situations and assist them in accessing community resources to stabilize their family. This support helped families to stay in their neighborhoods thus decreasing their mobility.
• Mental Health Services: through a partnership with Burrell Behavioral Health, therapists were made available at the neighborhood level to work with families and children in crisis to help stabilize their family and situation.
• Neighborhood Based Activities: these activities involve neighborhood residents getting to know each other, thus decreasing their feeling of isolation. In addition, these activities helped to identify strategies that addressed neighborhood concerns that might otherwise have caused residents to move from the area.
• After School Clubs: clubs were based on neighborhood needs, student request and teacher identified concerns. If the child missed school, then they could not participate in the club for that day. With additional volunteer support, the number of clubs increased, as did the frequency with which they were offered.
• FAST (Families and Schools Together): this best practice strategy was utilized to help bring families together to offer support. The Greene County Partnership has consistently exceeded the evaluated norm for the program in regards to family attendance, retention and post-test scores for improvement.

Results
The chart below compares the average mobility rate between the Title I Caring Communities Neighborhoods and the other Title I Non-Caring Communities schools in the R-12 School District in Springfield.

As shown in the graph above, the neighborhoods of Caring Communities have consistently decreased their mobility. The greatest reduction has been the Boyd/Berry neighborhood decreasing from 127.2% in 97-98 to 105.7% for the 2000-2001 school year, a decrease of 22%!

Funding/Return on Investment
For every $1 of Caring Communities flexible funds invested, there was a return of $3.71 leveraged in the community.

Barriers / Road Blocks
Although these strategies have consistently shown positive results, the school district has not made the commitment to continue the strategies without Caring Communities support. However, for FY 03, the budget request under consideration does include financing to continue the strategy of School Health Nurses.

Systems reform/policy change:
Due to the consistent impact and positive results shown by these strategies, it is imperative that, at the state level, consideration be made to support funding for School Health Nurses, School Based Social Workers and After-School Clubs that have proven to be successful in keeping children safe and in school.