Six Pathways to Healthy Child Development and Academic Success: The Field Guide to Comer Schools in Action

"Meets the highest standard of evidence for comprehensive school reforms that improve student achievement."
Review of Educational Research, 2003

"In a refreshing departure from today′s focus on academic testing, Comer′s SDP is designed to foster the development of the whole child. In Comer′s schools, children are taught not only academics but the skills and behaviors they need to be successful in school and in life."
Edward Zigler, Sterling Professor of Psychology, Emeritus
Yale University

Healthy child development is the key to academic achievement and life success!

Children and adolescents who enjoy healthy growth and development along six primary pathways are the students who learn well and achieve success in school and in life. But children from poorly functioning families and impoverished social networks too often find themselves without adequate preparation and support for the academic challenges that await them in kindergarten and the grades that follow. Believing that schools are uniquely situated to foster healthy development, renowned child psychiatrist Dr. James P. Comer and his colleagues at the Yale School Development Program (SDP) have dedicated 35 years to guiding students, schools, and educators toward academic success along the six developmental pathways of learning.

Combining research; evidence-based best practices; essential tools for planning, data analysis, and assessment; and a generous collection of charts, tables, and graphics, Six Pathways to Healthy Child Development and Academic Success offers educators a comprehensive and effective framework for whole school reform. In 17 lively and informative chapters, Dr. Comer and his coauthors offer a complete guide to:

• Fostering healthy student growth and development along physical, cognitive, psychological, language, social, and ethical pathways
• Comprehensive school planning to optimize opportunities for child development and learning
• Creating a positive school climate in which all adults-teachers, parents, administrators, school staff, and community members-can help children grow and succeed
• Ensuring continuous professional development and program improvement for the entire school community

Six Pathways to Healthy Child Development and Academic Success is the first-ever published field guide to the tried, tested, and true methods used by the Comer Process to promote child development and learning. Now every concerned educator and school leader can use this innovative framework to ensure that all school decisions are made in the best interest of children and their success!

James P. Comer, M.D., is the founder and chairman of the Yale School Development Program, Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, and Associate Dean of the Yale University School of Medicine. He has been the recipient of the Grawemeyer Award in Education, the John and Mary Markle Scholar in Academic Medicine Award, the Rockefeller Public Service Award, the Harold W. McGraw, Jr., Prize in Education, the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Education, the Heinz Award for Service to Humanity, and  many other awards and honors, including 41 honorary degrees.

Edward T. Joyner, Ed.D., is the Executive Director of the Yale School Development Program. He served as the SDP′s first director of training, was the original designer of the SDP Leadership Development Academies, and initiated university-public school partnerships to strengthen local school reform efforts. He is the architect of the SDP′s systemic initiative to coordinate the work of the school board, central office, building staff, and the larger school community to create an optimal environment for teaching and learning throughout each school district. He currently oversees all of the operations of the Yale School Development Program and serves as the lead implementation coordinator for New York.

Michael Ben-Avie directs the Impact Analysis and Strategies Group, which studies corporate, nonprofit, and government partnerships that promote youth development and student learning. He conducts national studies designed to evaluate the effectiveness of mentoring programs and psychological interventions on children′s lifepaths. He has co-edited books about the Yale School Development Program with James P. Comer and colleagues, and has published numerous book chapters, journal articles, and reports on educational change initiatives, high schools, parent involvement, and the relationship between youth development and student learning.