Beyond academics

What looks like a hopeful conversation in New York City yesterday around what supports are needed for schools with high rates of poverty:

Supports should target students in school, through teachers, they said, but they shouldn’t be purely academic.
Those supports, panel members said, range from teaching students skills to calm down during a rage to helping parents access social services they might not even know they are eligible for.

Note that isn't quite the wraparound zone idea coming through the Promise Neighborhood and Race to the Top, as it's working directly with kids in school on non-academics (along with what might be covered by wraparound services). The notion that there are things beyond the math and reading scores that need to be a focus is new, or, as was commented on during the discussion, not well communicated.