The Impact of Wraparound Services on Reading Scores in Canopy County Schools First Community Partnership School

The insufficient resources and opportunities available to impoverished students, their families, and
the broader community represent a missed opportunity that perpetuates imbalance when compared
to their middle and upper-class counterparts. Thousands of Florida students arrive at school daily
with burdens like hunger, homelessness, poverty, trauma exposure, and inadequate health care.
While traditional schools in the United States focus on meeting needs, they are often limited to
addressing one area at a time or offer fewer services. Unlike traditional schools, community
partnership schools in the US utilize a support services framework denoted by wraparound
services. Wraparound services provide a comprehensive, holistic, and family-centered way of
responding to students from impoverished communities. Wraparound services address the
comprehensive needs of the whole child, encompassing physical, emotional, and emotional
support, including access to healthcare, enrichment programs, and services aimed at fostering
family engagement. This study examines one community partnership school with two hundred and
thirty-two students participating in after-school academics. Cyprus Elementary is the first public
preschool to fifth-grade school within the Canopy County School District to become a Community
Partnership School. This research examines wraparound services’ impact on the Standardized Test
for the Assessment of Reading (STAR) scores. This study utilizes data published under
Renaissance Learning, an analytic reading service that provides adaptive assessments and
actionable data to prove how wraparound services affect reading test scores. This study is guided
by two hypotheses: The first examines where there is a significant difference in reading basement
scores on the STAR between students in grades 3-5 participating in wraparound services and those
using one service. The second investigation is that there is a meaningful difference in pre- postreading assessment scores on the STAR for students receiving wraparound service. This quantitative study utilizes independent t-tests to address the effects of wraparound services and
reading growth. This study informs legislatures, politicians, schools, and communities who wish
to make a case for turning low-income schools into community partnership schools. Providing data
will also advise non-profits and school leaders who find Title I schools in a comparable situation,
including the lack of health services, family support, and extended learning, primarily if the school
is located in a food and medical desert. The study recommends continuous research on the effects
of wraparound services on students’ academic achievement, both short and long-term, and further
investigation into which wraparound services best serve students in a Community Partnership
School.
Keywords: community partnership schools, wraparound services, poverty, STAR reading