Comer, James P. (1934–)

James P. Comer, the founder of the Comer School Development Program, is the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine's Child Study Center. Born in East Chicago, Indiana, Comer earned an AB degree from Indiana University in 1956, an MD from Howard University College of Medicine in 1960, and an MPH from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1964. He was trained in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, the Yale Child Study Center and the Hillcrest Children's Center in Washington, D.C. He has been a Yale University medical faculty member since 1968. In addition to his recognition as one of America's leading child psychiatrists, Comer served his country in the U.S. Public Health Service where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

The School Development Program (SDP), an organization for which Comer may be best known, was established in 1968 in two elementary schools as a collaborative effort between the Yale University Child Study Center and New Haven public schools in response to a need for an organizational and management system or process, based on knowledge of child development and relationship issues. Comer designed a nine-element, school-based intervention process that consists of three teams and three operations and is guided by three principles: collaboration, consensus, and no-fault. His SDP has improved the learning environment in more than 500 American schools.

The continuity of relationships is essential to the success of the SDP. With a focus on urban education, Comer established effective, equitable, and successful learning practices for all students. The SDP is committed to the total development of children regardless of their socio-economic status and the circumstances of their home lives, through the creation of learning environments that support children's physical, cognitive, psychological, linguistic, social, and ethical development—the interdependent six developmental pathways referenced throughout Comer's work. The SDP consists of structures and processes to make academic and social change work within a learning community through the establishment of academic and social goals that are customized per community and periodically monitored and modified.

Acknowledging the importance of restoring community, the SDP and Comer recognized that neither schools nor parents alone can prepare students for survival in a complex society. The whole community benefits in various ways, from initial increased visibility to longer-lasting coordinated and integrated services that result in intelligent, healthy, and productive citizens, when organizations work together collaboratively and effectively. Comer suggested there are direct and indirect benefits to children that include expanded learning opportunities, a coterie of caring adults, development of leadership skills through internships and apprenticeships, increased motivation to stay in school, and desire and efforts to pursue higher education.

Comer developed a theory of educational reform based on the assumption that the process of change in schools is the process of relationship and community building. He observed that schools are social systems with unique environments that are created by the collective behavior and interactions among stakeholders within the system: parents, community members, educators at all levels, psychologists, social workers, noninstructional staff members, and students. The essence of the SDP process is participation and belonging, as the less powerful learn to determine their own destinies by deciding what is more or less important, what [Page 184]needs attention first, and what actions are both necessary and sufficient.

...