A Brief Introduction to the Yale School Development Plan (a/k/a ‘The Comer Model’)

More than a generation ago, in his study of underperforming schools in New Haven, CT, Yale University child psychiatrist James Comer made a discovery whose impact on American education is still being felt, decades after he first brought it to public attention.

What Dr. Comer found was that higher-performing schools almost always had one thing in common. They welcomed parents and the community ––– not just as helpers, but as partners. Partnership between the family, the community and the school is the big idea behind Dr. Comer’s Yale School Development Plan (SDP).

That big idea is also the organizational model for Staten Island Community Charter School.

SICCS’s Three-Team Model

As the SICCS planning board wrote in its charter application, which was approved by the New York State Board of Regents in December, 2009:

“Staten Island Community Charter School will adopt the Yale School Development Plan’s three-[team] organizing system, to create a structure that supports whole school planning, professional development, [and] student achievement[;] and [that] provides a structure for active parent participation.”

Here’s a graphic profile of the SDP process, prepared and copyrighted by the Yale Child Study Center:

The three SICCS teams are:

The Academic Planning and Management Team, composed of teachers, a parent representative, and other key personnel. Establishes the framework for whole-school planning and instructional goals.

The Student and Staff Support Team, composed of teaching specialists (English Language Learners, Special Education, etc.), (a) social worker and classroom teachers, uses a case-study approach to examine individual student progress and learning needs, for differentiation and enrichment.

The Parent Team, composed of parents and the family coordinator, plans meaningful parent involvement activities and volunteer training and scheduling.

Staten Island Community Charter School uses only the three-team aspect of the Yale plan in a formal way. But the plan’s comprehensive approach to school planning; its belief in ongoing tracking and modification, when necessary; and its school needs-based staff development model are all part of our approach, in principle and practice.