tations set for her, feedback given, or any transition resulted in her receding into the hood of her jacket and crying. Her grades plummeted during the first quarter of sixth grade. At lunch, we often found her eating alone. We began by establishing connec- tions with her one person at a time while also connecting her with counseling services on campus. The goal was to avoid overwhelm- ing her, given her fragile emotional state. Her language arts teacher now meets
with her weekly at lunch to support her academically and emotionally, and invites other students in the class to join them. CN worked with her grade-level counselor to identify lunchtime clubs she would be inter- ested in attending, and she now has joined the movie club, where she enjoys a non- threatening environment with low-level social interaction. She is thriving in this set- ting. Not only does she attend regularly, she has made new friends and has lunch with them every day. She is smiling more often and has even asked a question during class, a giant leap forward for her.
Review, reflect and revise There is no “silver bullet” that will au-
tomatically result in school connectedness, and efforts to foster student connectedness to school are never “over.” We must continu- ally review, reflect upon and revise what we are doing in order to meet the unique needs
References
Eisenberg, M., Neumark-Sztainer, D. & Perry, C. (2003). “Peer harassment, school connectedness, and academic achievement.” Journal of School Health, 73(8), 311-316.
McNeely, C. & Falci, C. (2004). “School connectedness and the transition into and out of health-risk behavior among adolescents: A comparison of social be- longing and teacher support.” Journal of School Health, 74(7), 284-292.
McNeely, C., Nonnemaker, J. & Blum, R. (2002). “Promoting school connected- ness: evidence from the National Lon- gitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.” Journal of School Health, 72(4), 138-146.
of each individual student. But when pro- grams and systems are combined with the collective efforts of adults who share the phi- losophy that we all own all of our children, we can and do foster student connectedness to school. n
Search Institute. (2002, 2006). The Asset Ap- proach. Minneapolis, MN.
Katherine Baker is principal of Terman Middle School in Palo Alto. Bhavna Narula is the sixth grade counselor at Terman Middle School.
20 Leadership
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