INTEGRATING EARLY-CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY-SUPPORT SERVICES WITH A SCHOOLIMPROVEMENT PROCESS - THE COMER-ZIGLER INITIATIVE

In 1987, Edward Zigler conceptualized the School of the 21st Century, a child care and family-support model with 7 components linked to or b ased in public schools. In 1969, James Comer conceived of the School D evelopment program, which mobilizes adults in a school community to wo rk together in planning a school program that promotes optimal student development. Independently, the School of the 21st Century and the Sc hool Development Program have been implemented in hundreds of U.S. sch ools. In 1992, a plan was developed at the Yale University Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy to integrate the 2 models in a collaborative initiative termed CoZi. Ln this article, we present the background and description of the 2 models, the story of the first im plementation of CoZi in an urban southeastern school, findings regardi ng implementation of the integrated model, an overview of the expansio n to 3 pilot schools in different types of communities, and plans for evaluation and wider dissemination.