National Initiative:
New Directions for Student SupportRethinking Student Support to Enable Students to Learn and Schools to Teach
Over the many years that school reform has focused on improving instruction, little attention has been paid to rethinking student supports.
Why New Directions are an Imperative
We all recognize the urgency arising from the demands made by the No Child Left Behind Act.
With increasing accountability for student outcomes and dwindling budgets, it is essential to rethink use of existing learning support resources to maximize a school's capability for addressing barriers to student learning and teaching.
- Many schools are being designated as low performing
- Increasing accountability demands require demonstrating progress for students who are "economically disadvantaged, from racial and ethnic minority groups, have disabilities, or have limited English proficiency."
- All schools will be evaluated on criteria designed to identify sites that are "persistently dangerous."
Interested?
After a series of regional and state-wide summits, statewide initiatives and an outreach campaign are underway. The initiative in each state is designed to encourage advocacy for and initiation of New Directions for Student Support and builds a leadership network. The focus also is on delineating specific action steps for getting from here to there. At an appropriate time, the leadership network will organize a national policy makers' summit on student support to clarify new directions and encourage adoption of major recommendations.
Throughout the process, efforts across the country to move in new directions will be identified and showcased. And, technical assistance and training for localities and states moving in new directions will be provided. And, mutual support networks will be developed for sharing of effective practices, lessons learned, and data on progress.
- To download the News Release on Summits Initiative: New Directions for Student Support click here
- Brief program and policy analyses setting forth the case for moving in new directions – Examples that can be adapted and drawn from in presenting the case to administrators, school boards, etc.
- Assuring No Child is Left Behind; Enhancing Our Learning Support System by Building a Comprehensive Approach that Closes the Achievement Gap and Ensures Every Student has an Equal Opportunity to Succeed at School (click here)
- Two related "White Papers" with a set of talking points that can be used for brief presentations to administrators, school boards, etc., click here.
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Center for Mental Health in Schools
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