
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Educators believe a student’s sense of belonging is directly connected to academic achievement, and Philadelphia-area schools have employed a variety of strategies to help students feel secure and accepted.
You can draw a straight line between a student feeling included in the school community and their academic achievement, said Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Head of School Delvin Dinkins.
“In my mind, the extent to which students feel that sense of belonging is directly correlated to outcomes,” Dinkins told KYW Newsradio.
“Our data shows that when students feel belonging, they feel immersed, they feel connected, and they feel like there's a sufficient support structure so they can thrive.”
At Springside, a private school in Chestnut Hill, classes are single-sex through eighth grade and coed in the upper grades.
“That structure certainly facilitates various, I would say, smaller schools within a school that allow students to get to know themselves and get to know their peers,” Dinkins said.
Students who don’t feel part of a school community are more likely to perform poorly in class, try drugs or skip school altogether, said School District of Philadelphia Office of School Climate and Culture Deputy Chief Abigail Gray.
“Feeling a close and connected relationship with peers and at least one adult in your school, for a student, is one of the most potent protective factors against all kinds of negative outcomes,” she said.
Daily “community meetings” are held for students to share feelings and cultivate empathy. Simply sitting in a circle, she said, allows students to connect.
“They will come in the morning, and they sit in a circle on the floor, and they look up at the teacher with these bright little eyes,” she said. “They are just so excited to see their teacher and to see their classmates. And that's a magic that the teacher has created.”
Gray is confident the sessions will result in better academic achievement. But she said other factors are in play, including student discipline problems and an ongoing teacher shortage.
“We’re seeing more behavior than we’ve seen in the past. We’re seeing more staff shortages than we have had in the past,” Gray said.
“As we are introducing lots of positive programs and very relationship-focused programs, we’re also facing greater challenges at the same time. So it’s hard to see it [progress] in the numbers quite yet. But we will.”
Dinkins and Gray say their schools regularly survey students to monitor their well-being.