How CIS Works

Most communities have resources available to help students succeed in school and prepare for life -- but they may be in the wrong place. Children and families must first locate and then travel to agencies scattered all over town, usually during school hours and with no way to coordinate the various services.

CIS reverses this process, bringing resources and relationships to where children already spend their days -- the public school. The CIS approach to delivering these resource is caring, comprehensive, coordinated and tailored. The result is student success and achievement in life.

Kids are unable to focus on learning for a variety of reasons. CIS seeks to understand and address these reasons, whether kids need eyeglasses, tutoring, nutritious food, or just a safe place to be. The need could be something as simple as getting kids vaccinated to meet school attendance requirements. The solution: bringing in a mobile medical unit for immunizations. Or the need could be something more complex, like helping young people find positive alternatives to joining gangs.

CIS helps students stay in school and make right choices by connecting schools with needed community resources. By bringing resources, services, parents, and volunteers into schools, we create a community of caring adults who work hand-in-hand with educators. CIS helps communities assess the needs of their youth and design plans for meeting those needs, using existing resources.

Results. Based on a comparative analysis of outcomes for more than 600 CIS and 600 non-CIS schools over a three-year period, findings of an independent national evaluation conclude:

? Compared with dropout prevention programs where scientifically based evidence has been reviewed by the Department of Education?s What Works Clearinghouse, the CIS Model is one of a very few in the country proven to keep students in school and is the only one to prove that it increases graduation rates.

? Effective implementation of the CIS Model correlates more strongly with positive school-level outcomes (dropout and graduation rates, achievement, etc.) than does the uncoordinated provision of service alone, resulting in notable improvements of school-level outcomes