Marshall Street

Helping Kids Grow into Their Best Selves

Families want safe and caring schools, the opportunity for their kids to go to college and to experience success, and for their kids to build a purposeful life — and yet, they don’t feel they have all the tools to help their kids across the finish line. They are tired of running a parenting race — the winner-take-all competition that fuels inequitable schooling.

Families are asking questions about preparedness. They want to understand how their kids develop and learn, and what matters most to their kids’ growth and success. With this knowledge, families can be the most powerful advocates for their kids, both at home and at school.

Marshall is dedicated to deeply understanding the needs of parents and children. We use our learnings to respond to the changing educational landscape and challenges facing our nation’s families.

We began with Prepared Parents to provide families with the tools to nurture their kids’ social-emotional and learning needs at home. Today, we are focused on exploring new, integrated models of support and services for families as they navigate moments of crisis for their children at school.

Navigating Critical Moments in a Child’s Education

While the pandemic was a once-in-a-lifetime event that impacted us all, millions of families experience individual disruptions every year when they find out their child is struggling, or when they are told school “just isn’t working.”

Whether it’s a diagnosis of a learning difference or trauma-related mental health challenge, navigating these moments of crisis is stressful, confusing and isolating for families. Without support, these disruptions can have negative, long-lasting consequences for children. And like other educational disparities, these consequences disproportionately affect students of color and our most underserved communities.

These challenges are complex. Yet, too often, both families and schools lack the information, resources and coordination to work together to quickly develop a cohesive plan that best serves the child and family.

A Better Way

What if families had access to a cohesive and reliable system of support to navigate moments of crisis that leads to the best long-term outcome for kids, and is sustainable for schools?

Our next project will explore the creation of an integrated, one-stop model accessible by families and schools that combines:

• Interventions with a focus on holistic care and learning (whole child)
• Coordination of assessment and diagnosis for children
• Information for educators and families on local, state, and federal rights and regulations
• Behavioral and developmental supports so kids can thrive
• Access to services like occupational, speech, physical, and other critical therapies

If you are interested in learning more, or partnering on this project, please email Mira Browne at mbrowne@summitps.org.

Setting All Kids up for Success with Prepared Parents

Prepared Parents was born to bridge the gap between school and home. We unbox leading learning science, developmental psychology, and behavioral research for families to support their kids’ social-emotional and learning needs at home.

Responding to a Global Health Crisis

When schools closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents needed resources to meet the challenges of remote learning and tools to support their kids’ mental and social-emotional health. Our work helped parents struggling through the most chaotic period in American public education. In the midst of a global pandemic, we worked quickly and nimbly to support families struggling with new and unprecedented challenges:

• Developed tips, projects, and activities for parents to nurture the habits and skills that mattered most for their kids.
• Launched digital learning kits that combine real-world project-based learning experiences with activities and routines to build social-emotional skills.
• Built a community 50K strong directly with parents, as well as through partnerships with employers and community-based organizations to support their parent communities.
• Engaged a network of education nonprofits to provide teachers and families the resources to bridge the divide between home and school through a shared language and experience.

Helping kids build the habits and skills that go hand-in-hand with living a fulfilled life

Prepared Parents builds on the bestselling book, Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life, authored by Diane Tavenner, CEO Summit Public Schools. Diane wrote Prepared to spark a much-needed, national conversation about how to achieve success for all kids.

In Prepared, Diane shares her journey as an educator, mother, and leader of one of America’s most innovative public-school networks. She gives parents a roadmap to prepare their children to succeed in college, thrive in today’s workplace, and lead secure and fulfilled lives.