The 52 skill-building interventions delivered in a school setting showed greater improvements in social competence than those provided in community-based settings.

School settings have several advantages over community settings that may make them more effective for delivering skill-building interventions. Most children attend school every day, which means that there are greater opportunities for regular, structured skill-building than might occur in afternoon, evening, or weekend programs offered outside the structure of the school day. School-based programs also reduce barriers like transportation and thus increase the likelihood that youth will attend and receive the full benefits of an intervention if they attend school consistently.

Delivery staff in school settings, especially teachers and other school personnel, have greater opportunities to interact with students outside of the intervention itself and can serve as consistent and familiar faces to the youth. This proximity can also give delivery staff greater understanding of youth’s challenges and strengths. Additionally, teacher involvement means that lessons can be reinforced and skills practiced throughout the school day. Finally, interventions provided at school can benefit the school climate. In a school-based program, children with limited skills and those with more developed skills learn the same content, often together, which may help create a more positive school climate.

If you are not already working in schools, it can be a challenging and time-consuming process to develop the buy-in and trust necessary for access. Another drawback is that the youth you are trying to reach may not be in school regularly or at all. While the strong effects that we observed for interventions delivered in school settings may be due to intangible features of the school environment, some of the features of school-based interventions may be transferable to community settings. For example, community-based programs could work to ensure that delivery staff are consistently delivering the lessons and reduce practical barriers to attendance.

Assess Feasibility

Locations and partnerships
Take stock of the available options based on past or current partnerships with schools or school health centers. Are there opportunities to create new or build on these relationships? Is it realistic to forge new partnerships with school districts and individual schools?
School needs.
Use local data and existing partnerships to identify schools with needs aligned to the goals of your program. Are there opportunities for partnerships?
Staff development and resources.
Consider what resources are necessary to deliver services in schools. Would you need to hire additional staff? Negotiate with current funders or identify additional resources?
Program resources.
What resources would need to be added or shifted to accommodate format changes? Would you need additional staff to continue serving the same numbers of families? Would you need additional space to provide more individualized services?
School context.
Consider where and how you might implement services within schools. Is your intervention adaptable to a school context? Are your participants accessible in schools, or are many of them not in school?

Take Action

Consider the following courses of action depending on the results of your feasibility assessment:

If it’s not feasible to implement in schools:

Create similar features in your community settings. If school-based implementation isn’t feasible, consider ways to create circumstances that mimic the positive characteristics of school-based programs. For example, look for opportunities to increase the time program participants spend with each other so they can practice skills. If participants aren’t already friends or classmates, offer social events and booster sessions to encourage participant engagement.

If you are thinking about implementing in schools:

Build relationships and trust. Seek permission to attend school meetings, afterschool activities, or other events to learn about school culture and become a consistent presence.
Cultivate champions. Identify a school staff person who believes in your program and can connect you with decisionmakers. Ask to present at a staff meeting to share your ideas and engage with educational support staff. Show how your intervention helps the school meet its goals, such as by demonstrating how the intervention aligns with the state’s education standards.
Tackle logistics. Coordinate with school staff to determine how scheduling will work: how to coordinate student schedules, select classes that can be missed, and reserve space.

Breadcrumb

Consider Providing Programming Within a School Setting

Outcome

Social Competence

Intervention Family

Skill-Building Interventions