Student Support Services at The Meadows School: The Next Chapter

Over the past four years, my goal has been to communicate The Meadows School’s approach to student support. I’ve shared that this is conceptualized around a pyramid model, ensuring high-quality classroom instruction and data-based decision making for all students with targeted supports and the provision of accommodations for students with more precise needs. See https://mtss4success.org/essential-components for an overview of the framework. Our team consists of an Academic Learning Specialist, an Intervention Support Specialist, an Academic Coach, a School Nurse, and divisional School Counselors. You can meet them on the Student Support Services section of The Meadows website and read our prior Blog posts to learn more.

This year, as we continue to grow our program, we are revisiting and honoring a model that harkens back to our founder, Carolyn G. Goodman. She has been known to cite that educational success is like a three-legged stool with students, faculty, and families serving to support that end goal. During the establishment of Student Support Services, we focused on the first two legs of the stool. We have provided the human resources to support the learning and well-being of our students and these faculty members have collaborated with instructors to ensure high-quality classroom experiences. This year, with an expanded team, we are excited to add a focus on supporting that third leg, the families.

To that end, we will be hosting targeted parent programming in the form of in-person and recorded Parent Coffees on topics most relevant to you. If there is a need for “how do I develop and support good study habits for my child,” then we will host a session around that concept. We may also invite external speakers to share their knowledge. For example, we are in discussion with an occupational therapist to provide an overview of executive functioning skills and habits that can be put into practice at home.

We will be hosting a Health Expo in conjunction with our annual drive-thru Vaccine Clinic on November 4th. Specialists will be invited to share resources ranging from developmental milestones and dental hygiene practices to physical activity guidelines and nutritional advice. We will also have an occupational therapist and speech pathologist on site to provide free screenings. Please join us between 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the Beginning School that day.

Student Support Services has also been establishing a digital resource portal for families. Over the next few weeks, you will be able to find the Student Services tab in MyMeadows where you can locate resources on a broad range of topics for you to explore at your leisure.

A final role of Student Support Services is to serve as a hub to connect families with community resources to help each child succeed. Within this umbrella, we offer on-campus private occupational therapy and speech services. We have also created a number of after-school tutoring options. Upper School students may receive support through the National Honor Society’s Writing and Tutoring Centers housed in the Upper School library. Lower School students can be connected with Middle or Upper School students for peer-to-peer support or with an adult for targeted tutoring.

If you would like to connect with a member of our team to discuss any of these support options or to make a request for a resource, please reach out to kwithey@themeadowsschool.org.

Looking forward to partnering with you as we continue to strive for educational success for our students this year.

Dr. Kristin Withey
Director of Student Support Services