The School Development Program is a schoolwide restructuring program designed to address the needs of the whole child. The program emphasizes collaboration among school administrators, teachers, parents, and health-care workers, and a school environment where children feel valued and secure.
Schools adapt the program to their own curriculum.
The School Development Program has three components. A School Planning and Management team develops and manages a comprehensive plan for social and academic improvement. A Mental Health Team analyzes social and behavioral patterns in the school in an effort to resolve recurring problems. A Parents' Group works to involve families in all areas of school activity. More than 250 schools have implemented the School Development Program model since 1968, when Yale University child psychiatrist James Comer developed the program in collaboration with public schools in New Haven, Connecticut.