The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports: New Directions for Addressing Barriers to Learning

  "Offers a broad view, and a systemic approach missing from most books on school reform and improving student outcomes, especially for the student who is not achieving." -Susan Wooley, Executive Director American School Health Association "I have not read any other book that is as comprehensive in explaining how the fragmentation of services limits our ability to serve children, as well as provides the 'how to.' In this era of data-based decision making, the authors continue to present well-researched material that perhaps many educators have only read about in isolation." -Sandra Screen, Ph.D., Director Detroit Public Schools, MI Bring new direction to programs and policies for learning supports to address barriers to student learning! Barriers to learning and teaching interfere with students' ability to participate effectively and benefit fully from classroom instruction and other educational activities. For school improvement efforts to succeed in ways that truly improve student achievement and student test scores, systemic changes must be made in how schools provide learning supports. Howard S. Adelman and Linda Taylor now provide this exciting new guide to student learning supports for school leaders, along with a companion volume for schoolwide use, offering an innovative approach to addressing barriers to learning. Emphasizing an intervention framework that is comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive, and offering a sophisticated approach to rethinking and facilitating systemic changes to infrastructure and policy at school and community levels, The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports covers strategies built on decades of research. The authors provide case studies, resources, quizzes, cartoons, and more than 75 figures, tables, and tools for analysis and capacity building to help school leaders understand, assess, and remedy the gap between the learning supports students need and the learning supports they are currently receiving. The unparalleled New Directions for Student Support Initiative described in this guide has been cosponsored by more than 20 professional associations, including: The American School Counselor Association The American School Health Association The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning The National Alliance of Pupil Service Organizations The National Association of School Nurses The National Association of Pupil Services Administrators The National Association of School Psychologists The National Association of Secondary School Principals The National Association of State Boards of Education The National Middle School Association The School Social Work Association of America And others!

Table of Contents:
List of Guides: Tools for Analyses and Capacity Building Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Part I. Why Learning Supports Are Imperative and What’s Wrong With the Way We’re Doing It Now 1. Why New Directions Are Imperative 2. Which Students Need Learning Supports? 3. Complex Problems, Limited Solutions 4. Controlling Behavior at the Expense of Motivating Learning Part II. New Directions for Learning Support at a School Site 5. Addressing Barriers to Learning in Schools 6. A Schoolwide Component for Learning Support 7. Rethinking Infrastructure: Starting at the School Level 8. School-Family-Community Connections: With a Special Focus on School-Community Collaboratives 9. Using and Extending the Research Base for Addressing Barriers to Learning 10. Coda: Building Prototypes and Going-to-Scale Part III. Resources 11. More About Understanding and Labeling Student Problems 12. Student Support and Behavior Problems 13. Reframing the Roles and Functions of Student Support Staff 14. About Surveying How a School Is Addressing Barriers to Student Learning 15. Natural Opportunities to Promote Social and Emotional Learning and Well-being 16. About Mental Health in Schools 17. New Directions for Student Support Initiative Brief: Assuring That No Child Is Left Behind 18. Examples of Policy Statements 19. Our Published Works and Center-produced Resources on Addressing Barriers to Learning 20. Internet Sites for a Sampling of Major Agencies and Organizations Relevant to Learning Supports Index