
Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Classroom Success, Creating Optimal Conditions for Learning
Dr. Earl F. Calcutt Middle School
SMART BRIDGING HEALTH AND ACADEMIC GAPS WIDENED BY PANDEMIC

Patricia Martinez, Chief Equity and Empowerment Officer, Central Falls School District; Dr. Christopher Conti, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Ginn Group Collaborative and SMART; Melanie Ginn, President and CEO, Ginn Group Collaborative and Architect of the SMART Model; Dr. Stephanie Downey Toledo, Superintendent of Schools, Central Falls School District; Ernie DuPont, Executive Director Workforce Initiatives at CVS Health; Ann Lynch, Deputy Superintendent, Central Falls School District

Renita Quick, Chief of Staff, Ginn Group Collaborative; Joseph Diaz, MD, MPH, Associate Dean for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs; Alison Buckser, MPH, Associate Director, Foundation Relations at Brown University; and Cindy Montoya, National Implementation and Utilization Manager
Welcome to The Ginn Group
Ginn Group Collaborative (GGC), led by President and CEO Melanie Ginn, is a nationally recognized design management firm with a proven track record in delivering exceptional outcomes and incisive analysis for clients. GGC brings objective and insightful perspective and expertise to review, research, develop, and deliver advanced business and legal analysis, strategies, and solutions. The GGC team is comprised of an exceptionally “deep bench” of talented multi-disciplinary professionals. Every aspect of their work is infused with an entrepreneurial spirit, a drive for excellence, a fearless willingness to take the road less traveled, and a passion for solving problems with the most efficacious, cost-effective, and swiftest solutions. As one client exclaimed, “Melanie is like a Corporate Sherpa, providing guidance that delivers incredible results!”
SMART (School Health Model for Academics Reaching All and Transforming Lives) is an educational solution that focuses on breaking the cycle of poverty and improving the trajectory of lives by supporting academic achievement through onsite SMART Centers. Our centers identify and address the physical, behavioral, social, and emotional barriers to classroom success through the proactive delivery of on-site integrative health services, in real time.
The SMART Model delivers a comprehensive, system-wide strategy for education-driven health services. The model is built on the numerous, well-documented interconnections between the “Whole Child” factors of physical and behavioral health, wellness, social and emotional learning, and educational attainment.
The SMART approach not only increases the health, success, and overall well-being of individuals; it reaches families and school staff, positively impacting entire communities.
Origins of SMART: Analyzing the Health Center Challenge
- Ginn Group Collaborative had been evaluating school-based health centers’ lack of sustainability and utilization. Key factors that were identified as undermining their success were reactiveness, a failure to manage costs, siloed operations, and the misallocation of resources away from activities that deliver key outcomes.
- Poor health outcomes were adversely affecting academic achievement and graduation rates, which in turn lowered competency rates and the ability to meaningfully participate in future workforce opportunities.
GGC’s innovative solutions quickly increased productivity, increased billing revenue, and broadened outcomes to more stakeholders. - In 2012, CVS Health brought their support for this landmark work as a Legacy Sponsor with a long-term commitment to SMART as an innovation in health care delivery that meets unmet needs, closes health equity gaps, and improves outcomes at lower costs for individuals on their path to improved socioeconomic status.