Building Full-Service Schools: Lessons Learned in the Development of Interagency Collaboratives

Although the history of clinical-school-eommunity collaboration can be traced back to the end of the 19th century, the full-service school movement represents a new era in the quest for more effective ways to deliver human services to children. As awareness that school systems alone cannot address the social problems affecting millions of children, the concept of full-service schools has been embraced as a potential solution to service delivery problems affecting children living in high-risk environments. Built on shared commitment to positive child development, full-service schools represent an effort to make human service systems partners in the educational process, while simultaneously making school systems partners in the delivery of human services (Adelman & Taylor, 1999; Dryfoos, 1994a, 1995/1997/1998; Morrill, 1992)