Natalie Cummins is a Registered Early Childhood Educator (RECE) with a Masters in Environmental Studies who has worked with the GEEC research team for six years. What excites her about this this collaborative research group is the opportunity to “contribute to research that aims to reduce inequities for children and families.” Currently, she is the Research Project Manager for the School redesign and neighbourhood redevelopment: A longitudinal study of educational success families and equity and Reducing inequities in children’s educational success and family well-being in marginalized communities through innovation in public education projects.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Studies at Ryerson University, Natalie worked at Ryerson University’s Gerrard Resource Centre (GRC), Canada’s only university-based family support program, to develop environmental programs for children and families. In the program families explore their local parks through stories, hikes, play and inquiry-based activities. Natalie is also currently a RECE, Family Supports in the EarlyON program at the GRC.
Natalie’s graduate community-based participatory research project titled Semilla: A Community-University Partnership for Environmental Education brought together the voices of community members, students and school staff in the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor in Costa Rica to co-develop an environmental education resource and highlight promising practices in community-university collaboration. You can read more about Natalie’s work here.
In GEEC Research, Natalie has been an integral part of the team. Most recently, she worked with Dr. Sejal Patel on a paper published in the journal Improving Schools titled Student and Staff Social Dynamics and Transitions during School Redesign.
Meet Katherine Benvenuto, a Research Assistant on the GEEC team. Katherine studied Psychology at York University. She chose to study psychology because of her interest in mental health, which eventually led her to find her passion in research design, specifically research methods and data analysis. Katherine has worked with the City of Toronto’s Parks and Recreation department where she guided community residents in navigating school and community institutions, and find resources. Currently, Katherine works with the GEEC Research team as a Research Assistant.
In the GEEC team, Katherine is excited to combine her experience working in communities with her passion for research design. Katherine is interested in the use of innovative research methods in community-engaged research. “I strongly believe that individuals’ actual experiences and voice adds context and value to the research you are doing,” she says. Currently, Katherine is working with the team to analyze data collected in the Reducing inequities in children’s educational success and family well-being in marginalized communities through innovation in public education project. What she likes most about this type of research is that it isn’t only for an academic audience but also works to mobilize findings with communities and has the potential to impact community members’ daily lives.
Earlier this year at GEEC, Katherine assisted with the School redesign and neighbourhood redevelopment: A longitudinal study of education success and well-being project. What she learned from this study was the potential impact of the physical built environment on healthy child development and child and family services.
How can marginalized communities be supported through innovation in public education?
The Reducing inequities in children’s educational success and family well-being in marginalized communities through public education investigates how the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) comprehensive, multi-pronged, system focused, and holistic Model Schools for Inner Cities (MSIC) initiative works and what initial conditions and program features help contribute to sustainable improvement in marginalized students’ educational success and family well-being.
“We are proud to be a Model School for Inner Cities,” school poster reads.
What is Model Schools for Inner Cities?
In an effort to level the playing field for all students, the TDSB’s MSIC initiative was launched in 2006. The MSIC initiative aims to reduce inequities and achievement gaps for students in low socioeconomic communities by providing additional school-based supports and services for students in Toronto communities with the highest needs. The TDSB began with four pilot school sites in the first year, which then expanded to over 150 schools six years later serving over 56 000 students in low socioeconomic communities (Kugler, 2007; Toronto District School Board, 2005). Grounded in maintaining high expectations for students and promoting a vision of achieving excellence, the MSIC initiative is guided by five essential components:
Innovation in teaching and learning practices
Support services to meet the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students
Supporting the view of the school as the heart of the community
Frequent research, review, and evaluation of students and program effectiveness
Commitment to share successful practices
At a MSIC school, there are also services for parents, such as the Parenting and Family Literacy Centre.
The MSIC initiative offers a variety of services, supports, and resources for students and families in MSIC schools including:
Health and educational support services (e.g., nutrition programs, free vision and hearing tests, in-school health clinics, before- and after- school programs)
EarlyON Centres (school-based drop-in programs for parents with young children)
Parent Academy (a program that provides an opportunity for parent representatives to organize and offer locally relevant parenting and workforce development workshops)
Additional staff to support student academic success and wellbeing (e.g., Teaching and Learning Coaches, Community Support Workers, Social Workers)
Additional teaching and learning resources (e.g., information technology, MSIC social justice curriculum, ongoing professional development for teachers)
Partnerships with community organizations (partnerships with local agencies to offer programming and opportunities to students and families within and outside of school)
Our Approach
To investigate how the MSIC initiative works and its approach to supporting equity in children’s educational success and family well-being, we will work in collaboration with our partners at the Toronto District School Board to conduct:
Secondary analysis of qualitative data, including child and staff focus group and interview data collected at five MSIC school sites over time
New key informant interviews with school board staff
New focus groups with parents at five school sites
After data collection is complete, we will focus on sharing our results with study participants, school community members, and the broader public.
References
Kugler, J. (2007). Inner city model school initiative: A vision for equity and social justice. Orbit, 36, 4-6.
Toronto District School Board. (2005, May). Model Schools for Inner Cities task force report. Retrieved February 14, 2019 from https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/Community/Community%20Advisory%20committees/ICAC/research/InnerCityReportMay2005.pdf
Document citation: Patel, S. (2019). Reducing inequities in children’s educational success and family well-being in marginalized communities through innovation in
public education: Knowledge mobilization summary report. Toronto, ON: School of Early Childhood Studies, Ryerson University.
This is an ongoing study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Partnership for Change: The RBC Immigrant, Diversity and Inclusion Project, Ryerson University, and the Toronto District School Board. We will continue to share more updates about our ongoing project soon.
In October 2018 at the Teaching for Justice conference in Toronto, the GEEC research group led by Dr. Sejal Patel joined Toronto District School Board (TDSB) Researcher Coordinator Maria Yau and TDSB Model Schools for Inner Cities (MSIC) Program Coordinator Alison Rutherford to share about ongoing MSIC research and practices.
The MSIC initiative aims to reduce inequities and achievement gaps for students in low socioeconomic communities by providing additional supports for schools in Toronto communities. The initiative was first piloted in 2006 in three schools and has since grown to include 150 schools serving 56 000 students (Toronto District School Board, 2017). The goals of the initiative focus on equity, community (including partnerships with families), inclusivity and high expectations for students in inner-city schools. The presentation shared findings from research investigating the MSIC initiative and highlighted some of the conditions for the initiative’s success.
From left to right, Dr. Sejal Patel of GEEC research, TDSB Model Schools Coordinator Alison Rutherford, and TDSB Research Coordinator Maria Yau present findings from ongoing MSIC research and practices.
Patel, Yau and Rutherford shared about the programs and services offered by the TDSB’s MSIC initiative that are guided the initiative’s 5 essential components:
Innovation in teaching and learning practices
Support services to meet the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students
Supporting the view of school as the heart of the community
Frequent research, review, and evaluation of students and program effectiveness
Commitment to share successful practices
The MSIC initiative offers additional educational, health, and well-being support services for students and families, such as nutrition programs, in-school health clinics, before and after school programs and hearing and vision assessments. The initiative strives to make schools the heart of their local communities through supporting family-school-community partnerships, by offering family drop-in programs through on-site Parenting and Family Literacy Centres (now EarlyON Centres), and by encouraging school staff to get to know the communities they work in through community visits and faith walks, among other strategies.
Ongoing research and review of the MSIC initiative has highlighted some key areas of success. Research conducted by the TDSB has found a rise in Grade 6 EQAO reading test scores, increased levels of school readiness and improved resiliency scores in MSIC schools over time. In Ryerson University-TDSB community-partnered qualitative research, families and school staff have spoken about the importance of community-school partnerships, Community Support workers, and programs that support children with disabilities, while the children’s voices highlighted the benefits of relationships with staff in the school including the social workers and the benefits of paediatric health clinics in their schools, among numerous other findings.
The presentation concluded with a discussion of the potential conditions for the MSIC initiative’s continued success. Some topics discuss the role of leadership, additional support and resources to level the playing field for all students, and the role of innovative curriculum in raising expectations for students and addressing social justice issues.
The Teaching for Justice Conference is a yearly conference where educators, students, and community partners gather to discuss issues of social justice, share resources, and meet with others who continue to challenge systems of oppression. To read more about the Teaching for Justice Conference and the other presenters, click here.
To read more about the MSIC initiative, click here.
References
Toronto District School Board [TDSB]. (2017). Enhancing Equity Task Force: Report and recommendations. Toronto, ON: Author. Retrieved February 14th, 2019 from: http://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/community/docs/EETFReportPdfVersion.pdf
