Special Resource Material Developed by the Center
Title: Steps and Tools to Guide Planning and Implementation of a Comprehensive System to Address Barriers to Learning and Teaching
Description: The data are clear: Too many students are not doing well in school. Too many are experiencing interfering barriers, most of which are not internal dysfunctions but are associated with neighborhood, family, school, and peer factors. If the situation is to change, schools must play a greater role in providing supports for students experiencing barriers to learning and teaching. At this time, most school improvement plans do not effectively focus on enhancing student outcomes by comprehensively addressing barriers to learning and teaching. For many students, such a focus is essential to (re)engaging them in classroom instruction and enabling classroom learning. And, the straight forward psychometric reality is that in schools where a large proportion of students encounter major barriers to learning, test score averages are unlikely to increase adequately until barriers are effectively addressed. So, it is time for schools to move forward in establishing the type of comprehensive system for addressing barriers to learning and teaching that can enable them to be more effective.

Access at:   http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/stepsandtoolstoguideplanning.pdf  632kb; 71pp