Why CIS of Michigan?

Your School Improvement Plan goals and outcomes name what needs to happen.

CIS provides staff and systems to execute them.

How CIS Moves Your Numbers

At Communities In Schools of Michigan, our Student Support Coordinators work inside schools and alongside volunteers, partners, and the local community to ensure students get the support they need—both in and out of the classroom. By offering a range of services and tailoring support to individual needs, we can serve the whole school while focusing extra attention on students facing the greatest challenges.

Here’s how we help:

How We Do It: The CIS Model

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Discover Needs

Through conversations with teachers and students—alongside robust data analysis—CIS student support coordinators identify the biggest challenges facing schools and individual students.

Integrate Supports

Student Support Coordinators work with school teams—including existing Multi-Tiered System of Supports, School Improvement Plan, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports teams—to integrate the supports identified in the planning process.

Plan Together

CIS works with schools to develop individualized plans that prioritize academic and non-academic supports that meet students' needs.

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Monitor, Evaluate, and Adjust

CIS continuously monitors student and school progress using data and feedback to optimize results.

Harvard-Research Backed

1.

2.

Discover Needs

Through conversations with teachers and students—alongside robust data analysis—CIS student support coordinators identify the biggest challenges facing schools and individual students.

Integrate Supports

Student Support Coordinators work with school teams—including existing Multi-Tiered System of Supports, School Improvement Plan, and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports teams—to integrate the supports identified in the planning process.

Plan Together

CIS works with schools to develop individualized plans that prioritize academic and non-academic supports that meet students' needs.

3.

4.

Monitor, Evaluate, and Adjust

CIS continuously monitors student and school progress using data and feedback to optimize results.

Inverted triangle with school and student icons

Three Tiers of Support

The CIS evidence-based model is a whole-school approach to deliver tiered supports that best meet the needs of the school, including those of individual students.  

We provide these supports in three different tiers.

  • Whole-School Level

    Widely available services designed to foster a positive school climate and address school-level risk-factors.

  • Targeted Services

    Targeted services which are typically provided in a group setting to students with a common need.

  • Individualized Services


    Intensive, individualized services are typically provided in a one-on-one setting to students with highly specific needs.

Principles in Action

Our Guiding Theory

Students exist within interconnected systems, including school, family, community, and their own organizations. Our work transcends immediate needs. We intentionally strengthen the following systems to create lasting pathways for success:

  • Schools: Creating learning environments where every student thrives

  • Families: Serving as powerful advocates for their children's success

  • Communities: Strengthening communities through authentic collaboration and partnership

  • CIS Organizations: Modeling shared principles in our culture, operations, and partnerships.

Principles in Action

Grounded in Bill Milliken’s Five Basic Principles, Principles in Action reflects a core belief that has guided CIS from the beginning. Today, we are expanding that belief to more fully recognize the systems that shape a student’s success—schools, families, communities, and the organizations that support them. Together, our shared principles affirm that every student—and every system that surrounds them—needs and deserves:

  1. A Caring Adult - Every student and every adult connected to them benefits from genuine, consistent relationships with caring adults. These connections—rooted in respect and understanding—form the foundation for connection and growth.

  2. A Safe Place - Students, families, and staff deserve to feel safe, respected, and supported in every dimension: physical, emotional, relational, and cultural. CIS plays a unique role in establishing conditions where safety enables learning, personal growth, and thriving communities.

  3. A Healthy Start - Foundational to student success is the opportunity to begin each day ready to learn and grow. This requires more than access to food and healthcare—it requires systems that ensure dignity, well-being, and supportive conditions across physical, emotional, and relational dimensions. These conditions must sustain students, families, and staff as an interconnected community. CIS applies this same principle to our own organizational health, recognizing that a thriving nonprofit must attend to the well-being of its team, culture, and systems. When our organization is healthy—with clear purpose, sustainable practices, and supportive conditions for our staff—we are better positioned to build and strengthen the foundational systems that enable every person in our community to participate fully and contribute meaningfully.

  4. A Marketable Skill - Students, families, and staff deserve opportunities to develop skills, confidence, and connections that open doors to future opportunities. These tools help individuals and communities adapt, thrive, and lead.

  5. A Chance to Give Back - Everyone has gifts to contribute. Students, families, and staff benefit from opportunities to exercise leadership, engage in service, and support others. This principle of reciprocity ensures that those who receive support are also empowered to strengthen the systems around them.

Graphic description of the 5 principles in action listed in the text

What This Means in Practice

The Principles in Action framework guides decision-making across our network at every level:

  • For students and families: Experiencing consistent support, safety, skill-building, and opportunities to contribute meaningfully

  • For schools: Partnering with CIS to create cultures where all students are set up to succeed

  • For communities: Developing sustainable partnerships that address challenges and build collective capacity

  • For CIS staff: Operating with intention, modeling these principles in how we work together and continuously improving our practice