In 2019, the Houston Independent School District Wraparound Services department created a student and family needs survey, which asked students, parents and teachers to identify key nonacademic challenges they face across five domains: health, mental health, basic needs, home learning environment and enrichment activities.
The Kinder Institute's Houston Education Research Consortium assisted HISD's Student Support Services department in analyzing the 2019 survey results. Given the strain that the pandemic has placed on families in HISD, HERC collaborated with Student Support Services to redesign the needs assessment to cover a more comprehensive set of needs for 2021-22. In addition to answering questions about the out-of-school challenges they were facing, the revised survey also asked respondents to identify the barriers that were preventing them from accessing relevant services.
In the fall of 2023, HISD bolstered its wraparound services with the opening of seven Sunrise Centers. The student needs survey helped identify the needs Sunrise Centers could address. HERC researchers also helped the district determine where the first seven Sunrise Centers should be by mapping areas of high student need and helping HISD families understand how far the centers were from their homes. Researchers also evaluated the program’s first year to identify what was working and what could be improved.
