Casey Family Programs is pleased to sponsor the Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Improving Educational Continuity and School Stability for Children in Out-of-Home Care.
The issue of educational continuity and school stability for children in out-of-home care speaks to many dynamics that shape students’ educational outcomes. The longer a youth is in out-of-home care, the greater the number of out-of-home placements he or she is likely to experience. The challenge for all systems is to ensure youth in out-of-home care receive a positive school experience that will result in each young person’s achieving his or her individual potential.
In this Breakthrough Series Collaborative ten selected jurisdictions will step up to the challenge and initiate strategies and tests of change that target improving educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care. This initiative will require bold action and innovative leadership to make lasting change and partnerships.
We believe that educational continuity and school stability promotes positive school experiences leading to improved educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care. Participating jurisdictions will identify, develop, and test potentially promising strategies for improving practice in their education and child welfare systems that will ultimately support educational continuity and school stability for children in out-of-home care. Jurisdictions will accomplish this by:
- Engaging with a group of other jurisdictions in critical change activities;
- Creating environments in which strategies can be developed and tested;
- Developing a cadre of leaders across the country who are working toward solutions;
- Creating and sustaining partnerships to advance the work; and
- Disseminating lessons learned.
Breakthrough Series Collaborative Methodology
The Breakthrough Series Collaborative is a methodology that Casey Family Programs adapted from the healthcare field that originated in 1995 with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. It is a model of quality improvement that brings together teams from across the country focused on a prevailing issue, such as educational continuity and school stability, who are committed to making small-scale, rapid tests of change that will lead to dramatic systems-wide improvements.
In 2000, we sponsored our first Breakthrough Series, in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, focusing on Improving Healthcare Issues for Children in Foster Care. In 2002, in collaboration with the Packard Foundation, we conducted a Breakthrough Series on Recruiting and Retaining Resource Families. Our third Breakthrough Series Collaborative, on Supporting Kinship Care, was launched in 2004, and in 2006 we completed our fourth Breakthrough Series on Reducing Disproportionality and Disparate Outcomes for Children and Families of Color in the Child Welfare System.
For additional information about this Breakthrough Series Collaborative, contact Kary James (BSC Manager) by telephone at (202) 728-2009.