Enhance Equity of Opportunity? |
With the passage of Every Student Succeeds Act, concerns and issues
arise about what will and should be done to ensure that every student
succeeds. The months ahead are a critical time for reversing the
marginalization and fragmentation of student and learning supports that
policies over many years have created. Detailed discussion starts with
the rule-making related to Title I. The U.S. Department of Education has
issued a Request for information “seeking advice and recommendations for
Title I regulations under ESSA.” See
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2015-32178.pdf
This is the type of opportunity we think everyone concerned with
school transformation can and should use to enhance a stronger policy
focus on enhancing equity of opportunity for all students to succeed at
school.
As part of the National Initiative for Transforming
Student and Learning Supports, we are encouraging leaders across the
country to take this opportunity to emphasize that Title I guidelines
need to play a role in unifying and then developing a comprehensive and
equitable system of student and learning supports. Such a system is
essential for ending the fragmentation and marginalization of efforts to
directly address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage
disconnected students.
At the same time we realize that, while
there is considerable agreement about barriers to learning and teaching,
debates continue about how to design ways to prevent and ameliorate
problems. What has prevailed are policies and guidelines that focus on
specific subgroups of students and types of problems and a tendency to
downplay the degree to which problems overlap. Moreover, there has been
an overemphasis on special roles for those who the new legislation
refers to as Specialized Instructional Support Personnel. All this means
schools have only been able to provide essential supports to a
relatively few of the many students manifesting learning, behavior, and
emotional problems.
With all this in mind, we have drafted a set
of notes that expresses what we think should be advocated in responding
to the feds request for information (see the draft in the National
Initiative’s section of this ENEWS). Our intent is to stimulate a
discussion that will help clarify conflicting perspectives about what
should be advocated not only to the feds, but to states and districts as
they assume greater local control under the new law.
Note: We have also done a blog on this for Education Post – click here
Send your comments for sharing to
Ltaylor@ucla.edu
OR add a comment to the Education Post blog click here
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For a range of resources related to this matter,
see: National Initiative for Transforming Student and Learning Supports in 2016
In addition, see the list of Emerging Issues identified over the years by the Center and used as a stimulus for discussion on our Net Exchange - http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/newnetexchange.htm |
Previously highlighted hot issues
WebMaster: Perry Nelson (smhp@ucla.edu) |