Yale Child Study Center & Scholastic Form Collaborative to Advance Research on Literacy and Health

The Yale Child Study Center–Scholastic Collaborative for Child & Family Resilience Outlines Mission to Improve Academic and Mental Health Outcomes for Communities

New Haven, CT – December 11, 2018 – Today, the Yale Child Study Center and Scholastic announced the launch of a Collaborative to focus research on the intersection of literacy and health across a range of education content areas including early childhood, social emotional learning and teaching, equity and social justice, family and community engagement, and more. The Yale Child Study Center–Scholastic Collaborative for Child & Family Resilience is a forum for researchers, educators, health care professionals, families, and community members to advance progress towards improving academic and mental health outcomes.

For more information about the Yale Child Study Center–Scholastic Collaborative for Child & Family Resilience, visit: www.medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/scholasticcollab

The Collaborative is founded on the same principles that led to positive outcomes for Discover Together, an integrated system of programs from the Yale Child Study Center, Scholastic, and local partners to address rural poverty in Grundy County, TN. With a focus on literacy as a critical component of health and emotional wellness, Discover Together offers ongoing resources to increase social connectedness and build resilience within multi-generational families throughout Grundy County. The program is also the inspiration for one of the first initiatives launched under the Collaborative, Discover Together: Brownsville.

Discover Together: Brownsville takes a multigenerational approach to supporting the literacy and social-emotional development of families with young children in the urban Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. In partnership with United for Brownsville, the Collaborative will work with the local community to foster pride-in-place, relationship-building, and resilience throughout spaces where people live and learn. This will include the establishment of a family co-op for young children and their caregivers which will be accessible outside of hours normally sponsored by community programs. Participants will engage in reading, singing, games, and field trips as part of a place-based curriculum, learning to redefine narratives and explore opportunities for growth.

The findings from the Collaborative will contribute to the creation of resources, programs, professional development, and curriculum for supporting children and families. The Collaborative is led by a steering committee including renowned researchers from the Yale Child Study Center Dr. Linda C. Mayes, Dr. Fay Brown, and Dr. Megan Smith, as well as Scholastic Education leaders and experts Greg Worrell, Janelle Cherrington, and Karen Baicker.

“Health and literacy are deeply connected because a quality education is at the core of sustaining a healthy life,” said Dr. Linda C. Mayes, the Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, and Director of the Yale Child Study Center. “This Collaborative with Scholastic allows us to reach more families and communities with the information and resources they need to engage in literacy and enjoy healthy lives for themselves and for future generations.”

“The power of narrative to support a child’s academic and social development is a longstanding belief at Scholastic and will be a driving force behind the mission of our Collaborative with the Yale Child Study Center, which will support our early childhood initiatives globally. We want to ensure that every child and family has what they need to shape their own stories, reframing adverse circumstances and envisioning the brightest futures imaginable,” said Greg Worrell, Scholastic Education President. “By connecting literacy and health, and bringing the community into the education experience, children and their families will benefit.”

For more information about Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, visit the Company’s media room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com. More information about the Yale Child Study Center is available at https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy.