UCLA A Graphic Overview Enhancing School Improvement: Addressing Barriers to Learning and Re-engaging Students

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A Graphic Overview

Enhancing School Improvement:Addressing Barriers to Learning

and Re-engaging Students

UCLA

We just missed the school bus. \ Don’t worry. I heard the principal say

\ no child will be left behind. /

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About this Resource

This is part of a set of 7 power point sessions. For each session, there are also a package of handouts (online in PDF) that cover the material. Many of these handouts provide additional details on a given topic.

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Feel free to use the power point slides and the handouts as is or by adapting them to advance efforts to develop a comprehensive system of learning supports.

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Session Topics I. Why is a System of Learning Supports Imperative

for School Improvement?

II. What is a System of Learning Supports?

An intervention perspective

III. What is a System of Learning Supports?

An infrastructure perspective

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Session Topics

IV. What is a System of Learning Supports?

A policy perspective

V. What’s Involved in Getting from Here to There?

VI. Engaging and Re-engaging Students with an Emphasis on Intrinsic Motivation

VII. Concluding Comments

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Session IWhy is a System of

Learning Supports Imperative for

School Improvement?

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Topics Covered

>Some Major Concerns

>Lenses for viewing school improvement efforts

>School improvement planning:

What’s being done & what’s missing?

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I. Why is a System of Learning Supports

Imperative for School Improvement?

Some Major Concerns

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The current focus of school

improvement policy and practice

is too limited to ensure that all

students have an equal

opportunity to succeed at school.

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The limited focus contributes to:

– High Student Dropout Rates

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– High Teacher Dropout Rates

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– Continuing Achievement Gap

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– So Many Schools Designated as

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– So Many Schools Designated as Low Performing

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– So Many Schools Designated asLow Performing

– High Stakes Testing Taking its Toll on Students

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– So Many Schools Designated as

– Low Performing

– High Stakes Testing Taking its Toll on Students

– Plateau Effect

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Some of the data:

The dropout rate for our nation remains unacceptably high. In 2006, the Education Trust reported that nearly 25 percent of the ninth grade population will not end up graduating from high school.

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Some of the data:

Students are not the only ones dropping out of school. We are losing teachers at a rate of almost 1,000 a day. As the Alliance for Excellence in Education noted in 2005, many are not retiring; they are just leaving the profession.

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Some of the data:

Student achievement in core academic subjects, as reported in 2007 by the National Center for Education Statistics, shows far too many students are performing poorly.

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Some of the data:

Take reading levels as an example.

Despite reports of small recent gains, most American students, across grade levels, are reading at the most basic levels and “only about 30 percent of high school students read proficiently and more than a quarter read below grade level.”

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Some of the data:Other relevant data form the National Center for

Education Statistics (NCES) indicate that>the primary home language of almost 11 million children is not English>10 percent of public school students in kindergarten through grade 12 had been retained (i.e., repeated a grade since starting school), >11 percent had been suspended and 2 percent had been expelled (i.e., permanently removed from school with no services)

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Some of the data:

The NCES joins others is stressing that research suggests that growing up in poverty can negatively impact children’s mental and behavioral development as well as their overall health, making it more difficult for them to learn.

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Some of the data:

While it is a widely held belief that education should be a great equalizer, the U.S. Department of Education recognizes that, in large portion, children living in poverty attend schools that, at best, have marginal performance records.

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Data from the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) clearly shows the plateau effect

related to academic achievement.

Trend in NAEP reading average scores for 9-year-old students


The Nation’s Report Card – National Center for Education Statistics

See key on next slide

The Nation’s Report Card – National Center for Education Statistics


Note:

The long‑term trend assessment was updated in several ways in 2004. Outdated material was replaced, accommodations for students with disabilities (SD) and for English language learners (ELL) were allowed, and administration procedures were modified. A special bridge study was conducted in 2004 to evaluate the effects of these changes on the trend lines. The study involved administering both the original and revised formats of the assessments to determine how the revisions may have affected the results.

Key

Original Assessment Format

Revised Assessment Format

See note below

* Significantly different (p < .05) from 2008.

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Three Lenses for Viewing

School Improvement Efforts

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Lens #1 = All Students

Range of Learners

I = Motivationally ready and able

II = Not very motivated/lacking prerequisite skills/ different rates & styles/minor vulnerabilities

III = Avoidant/very deficient in current capabilities has a disability and/or major health problems

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Not some --

ALL youngsters

are to have an equal

opportunity to succeed at school

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Lens # 2 = Barriers to Learning

Categories of Risk-Producing Conditions

that Can be Barriers to Learning

>Environmental Conditions

>Family

>School and Peers

>Individual

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Examples of Environmental Conditions

• extreme economic deprivation

• community disorganization, including high levels of mobility

• violence, drugs, etc.

• minority and/or immigrant status

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Examples of Family Conditions

• chronic poverty

• conflict/disruptions/violence

• substance abuse

• models problem behavior

• abusive caretaking

• inadequate provision for quality child care

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Examples of School & Peer Conditions

• poor quality school

• negative encounters with teachers

• negative encounters with peers

• inappropriate peer models

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Examples of Individual Conditions

• medical problems

• low birth weight/neurodevelopmental delay

• psychophysiological problems

• difficult temperament & adjustment problems

• inadequate nutrition

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Barriers to Learning and School Improvement

Range of Learners


Not verymotivated/lackingprerequisite

II = skills/different rates& styles/minorvulnerabilities

III = Avoidant/very deficientin capabilities

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Range of Learners





No barriers

InstructionalComponent

ClassroomTeaching

+Enrichment

Activity

DesiredOutcomes

(High Expectations& Accountability)

(High Standards)

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Range of Learners





No barriers

Barriers*To

Learning,Development,

Teaching

InstructionalComponent

ClassroomTeaching

+Enrichment

Activity

DesiredOutcomes

(High Expectations& Accountability)

(High Standards)

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Caution: Don’t misinterpret the term

>Barriers to learning It encompasses much more than a

deficit model of students.

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And, it is part of a holistic approach that emphasizes the importance of

>Protective Buffers

(e.g., strengths, assets, resiliency, accommodations)

&

>Promoting Full Development

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Lens # 3 = Engagement & Disengagement

Source of Motivation

Extrinsics Intrinsics Intrinsics/ Extrinsics

EngagementInterventionConcerns

Disengagement(psychological

reactance)

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Engaging & Re-engaging Students in Classroom Learning

How are schools

>maximizing Intrinsic Motivation?

>minimizing Behavior Control Strategies?

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Motivation,

and especially Intrinsic Motivation

are fundamental intervention

considerations related to student

(and staff) problems

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School Improvement Planning:

What’s Being Done &

What’s Missing?

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With all the budget problems, We have to do everything on a shoestring.

\ \ Are you saying you \ still have a

shoestring?

/

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School Improvement Planning: What’s Missing?

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School Improvement Planning

Missing: A Comprehensive Focus on:

– Addressing Barriers to Learning & Teaching

– Re-engaging Disengaged Students in Classroom Learning

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This becomes evident when we ask:

What do schools currently do to

(1) address barriers to learning

and teaching

and

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This becomes evident when we ask:

What do schools currently do to

(1) address barriers to learning

and teaching

and

(2) re-engage students in

classroom instruction?

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How is the district/school addressing barriers to learning?

Talk about fragmented!!!

Psychological Testing

Violence & Crime

Prevention

Special Education

After-School Programs

HIV/Aids PreventionPupil Services

District

Juvenile Court Services

Community-Based Organizations

Mental Health Services Social

Services

HIV/AIDS Services Child

Protective Services

Pregnancy Prevention

Counseling

Codes of Discipline

Physical Education

HealthEducation

Clinic

Health Services

Nutrition Education

School Lunch Program

Drug Prevention

Drug Services

Smoking Cessation For Staff

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What does this mean for the What does this mean for the district and its schools?district and its schools?

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Current Situation at All Levels in the Educational System with Respect to Student/Learning Supports

– Marginalization

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– Marginalization

– Fragmentation

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– Marginalization

– Fragmentation

– Poor Cost-Effectiveness (up to 25% of a school budget used in too limited and often redundant ways)

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– Marginalization

– Fragmentation

– Poor Cost-Effectiveness (up to 25% of a school budget used in too limited and often redundant ways)

– Counterproductive Competition for Sparse Resources (among school support staff and with community-based professionals who link with schools)

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What’s the

community doing?

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AGENCY REFORM

Restructuring and Reforming

Community Health and Human Services

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The intent of current agency reform policy –

>end fragmentation

>enhance access to clientele

The focus –

>interagency collaboration

>school-linked services, sometimes based (co-located) at a school

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Problems –

>doesn’t integrate with school’s efforts to address barriers to learning

>limits the focus to current agency work

As a result, current agency policy produces –

>an additional form of fragmentation

>counterproductive competition

>greater marginalization

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It is important to remember that

Community Agency Reform is not the same thing as

Strengthening Communities

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• The major intent of agency reform is to restructure services to reduce fragmentation.

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• The emphasis is mainly on interagency collaboration.

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• The emphasis is mainly on interagency collaboration.

• Schools have been included since they offer better access to agency clients. Thus, the concept of school linked services, and the idea of community agencies co-locating services on a school site.

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Because the focus is on services, little attention is paid to

»integrating community resources with existing school programs and services designed to address barriers to learning;

»including a full range of community

resources;

»strengthening families and neighborhoods by improving economic status and enhancing other fundamental supports.

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School

Banks

Police Day care Center

Faith-based Institutions

Higher Education Institutions

Local Residents

Businesses

Restaurants

Health & Social Services AgenciesCommunity

Based Orgs.; Civic Assn.

Media

Artist & Cultural

Institutions

Library

Senior Citizens

From Kretzmann & McKnight

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To Recap:

School improvement policy and planning have not addressed barriers to development, learning, and teaching as a primary and essential component of what must be done if schools are to minimize behavior problems, close the achievement gap, and reduce the rate of dropouts

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To Recap:

As a result, current efforts are marginalized, fragmented, often

redundant and off track, and they have resulted in counterproductive competition

for sparse resources

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To Recap: The need is for a comprehensive system of learning supports that

(1) addresses barriers to development, learning, and teaching &

(2) (re-)engages students in classroom learning

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Study Question

What are the many external and internal

barriers that interfere with students

learning and teachers teaching and

how does all this affect the school?

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Study Question

What is currently being done to

address barriers to learning and

teaching and what is keeping the

work from being as effective as

needed?

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Study Question

How would you change school improvement planning to ensure a

comprehensive system of learning supports is developed to more effectively address barriers to

development, learning, and teaching and also (re-)engage students in classroom learning?

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Some Relevant References & Resources

>School Improvement Planning: What's Missing? http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsmissing.htm

>Addressing What's Missing in School Improvement Planning

http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/enabling/standards.pdf

>The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports: New Directions for Addressing Barriers to Learning – http://www.corwinpress.com/book.aspx?pid=11343

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Next:

We turn to four fundamental, interrelated concerns involved in moving forward to develop

A Comprehensive

System of Learning Supports

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Four Fundamental and Interrelated Concerns

Policy Revision Framing Interventions to

Address Barriers to Learning and Teaching into a

Comprehensive System of Interventions

Rethinking Organizational

and Operational Infrastructure

Developing Systemic Change Mechanisms

for Effective Implementation,

Sustainability, and Replication to Scale

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In Session II, we begin with the concern for framing

interventions to address

barriers to learning and

teaching as a comprehensive

system of interventions

Documents

UCLA A Graphic Overview Enhancing School Improvement: Addressing Barriers to Learning and Re-engaging Students