Community of Schools and Services Model (COSS Model)

Adolescents (ages 12-19) at risk of homelessness

The Community of Schools and Services (COSS) Model is an innovative early intervention service-delivery and reform-oriented model for addressing and supporting vulnerable young people and their families. It is designed to reduce disengagement from education and early school leaving and to help where family issues are heading towards a crisis and possible homelessness, as well as other adverse outcomes.

The COSS Model takes a place-based systems approach for maximum efficiency and represents a raft of innovations to realize a more effective early intervention system for addressing vulnerable youth.

The COSS Model consists of four foundations:

• Community collaboration
• Early identification
• The practice framework and early intervention support work with families
• A robust, embedded longitudinal monitoring and measurement of outcomes

David Mackenzie
Upstream Australia

• https://upstreamaustralia.org.au/the-coss-model/
• Email: info@upstreamaustralia.org.au

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Manual Information

There is not a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Number of days/hours:

This information is available through the Program Contact.

What is included in the Published, Peer-Reviewed Research section?

• MacKenzie, D., Hand, T., & Gill, P. (2024). The ‘Community of Schools and Services’(COSS) Model of Early Intervention: A system-changing innovation for the prevention of youth homelessness. Youth, 4(3), 1305–1321. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth4030082

  Type of Study: Other quasi-experimental

  Number of participants: Not specified

  Population:

  • Age — 12–18 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — Not specified
  • Gender — Not specified
  • Status —

    Participants were secondary students at-risk for homelessness.

  Location/Institution: Regional City of Albury, 550 km from Sydney, in the State of New South Wales

  Summary:

  The purpose of the study was to present the findings of the Embedded Development and Outcomes Measurement (EDOM) report, which is a feature of the Community of Schools and Services (COSS) Model. Participants were identified youth who became homeless with 2 years post identification. Measures utilized include the Australian Index of Adolescent Development (AIAD) Survey. Results indicate that when COSS Model support is delivered to identified at-risk students, (1) 40–50% of individuals are no longer at such high risk of homelessness 12-months later; (2) only 3–5% of students identified as at risk of homelessness and supported through the COSS Model sought assistance from local homelessness services in the following two years; and (3) the flow of adolescents (12–18 years) into the local homelessness services was reduced by 40% from 2019 to 2023. Limitations include that the outcomes data are based on a single COSS Model community and the use of an interrupted times series (ITS) design.

  Length of controlled postintervention follow-up: None.

• Hand, T., & Mackenzie, D. (2024). The Community of Schools and Services (Coss) Model in the Homelessness Policy Discourse: 2018-2024. Policy. https://homelesshub.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/UA_Policy-Brief_COSSinPolicy_2018-2024_2024_FINAL.pdf

• MacKenzie, D. (2016). COSS: Building a 'Community of Schools and Services' model. Parity, 29(6), 19–21. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.273604994181006