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School Success for at-Risk Kids Innovative work around the country is highlighted as part of a series of brief articles in the American Psychological Association’s February 2012 Monitor. The Center at UCLA’s framework for a unified and comprehensive system to address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students is highlighted in the article entitled “Helping at-risk students succeed.” The description of the UCLA work underscores examples of efforts at state departments of education and in districts and notes the Center’s collaborations with Scholastic, the American Association of School Administrators, and the National Association of School Psychologists.
http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/apa/monitor_201202/index.php?startid=15#/48
Compulsory Attendance -- Obama Rekindles State Debates on Dropout Age President Barack Obama's call for every state to require school attendance until age 18 may spark a flurry of action in some statehouses, but changing attendance laws will do little by itself to drive down the nation's dropout rates, experts say. Policymakers and educators must develop comprehensive strategies for making school engaging and relevant, and for spotting and addressing early signs of dropping out. See ECS' summary of state compulsory attendance policies."http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/86/62/8662.pdf
(from EdWeek 2/8/12 http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html A Quarter of Oregon Students Chronically Absent A quarter of Oregon's school children miss at least 10% of the year, according to a new analysis by a coalition of nonprofits that believes school attendance is closely tied to student achievement. Historically, schools and districts have tracked attendance by looking at the average daily attendance of their students as a group. This analysis looks at the year-long attendance of individual students. (Corvallis Gazette-Times, 02/01/12) .
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/state-and-regional/a-quarter-of-oregon-students-chronically-absent/article_a4c77b4e-db5d-57b2-8ba1-0d2f75a893a7.html
Connecticut Governor Proposes $12 Million for Early Education Governor Malloy outlined a $12 million proposal to increase access to preschool and improve the quality of early childhood programs. The governor wants to spend $4 million to provide preschool to 500 more children and $5 million to create a quality rating system for daycare and preschool programs. Another $3 million would help support people who work with young children.(Hartford Courant, 02/02/12)
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-malloy-early-childhood-0203-20120202,0,1040453.story
State special education rates vary widely An analysis of the U. S. Department of Education data shows that the percentage of students in special education varies widely among states. The average percentage across all states is 13 percent, and two-third of states are above that number. Those differences could have major financial implications for states. Special education funding can account for up to 20 percent of school budgets. 1/24/12.
Http://www.stateline.org
Programs Help Foster Youth Achieve College Success A growing number of colleges and universities are offering more services to students who grew up in foster care, including academic and social support. Spurring much of the activity is a 2008 federal law that makes it less costly for states to extend foster care beyond age 18. Research shows that 70% of youth who are aging out of foster care plan to attend college - but between 3% and 11% complete a bachelor's degree. (USA Today, 01/18/12)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-01-17/foster-care-youth-college-programs/52623632/1
Task Force Wants to Halt School Closings, Turnarounds An Illinois state legislative task force created to address community concerns over Chicago's efforts to shut down or completely overhaul underperforming schools is calling for a moratorium on school closings and turnarounds. Task force members said the district's guidelines for determining school closings and turnarounds remain unclear. (Chicago Tribune, 01/13/12)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-cps-closing-moratorium-20120113,0,1520141.story
NEW FROM OUR CENTER RTI and Classroom & Schoolwide Learning Supports: A Guide for Teachers and Learning Supports Staff
This guide is designed to (a)broaden perspectives of response to intervention,(b) provide frameworks for contextualizing the work in classrooms and schoolwide, and generally (c) enhance practices.
It is divided into the following units:
I. Framing Response to Intervention in the Classroom
II. Pursuing Response to Intervention Sequentially and Effectively
III. Pursuing Response to Intervention as One Strategy in a Comprehensive System of Student and Learning Supports
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/rtiguide.pdf
For schools to significantly enhance home involvement will require (1) broadening the focus beyond thinking only in terms of parents and (2) enhancing the range of ways in which schools connect with primary caretakers. Particular attention must be given to outreaching to those who are reluctant to engage with the school, especially if they have a child who is not doing well. Also, to avoid marginalization and minimize fragmentation, it is essential to embed home involvement interventions into an overall approach for addressing factors interfering with school learning and performance and fully integrate the work into school improvement policy and practice.
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/homeinv.pdf
“Not Another Team!” School Improvement Infrastructure Viewed through the Lens of Addressing Barriers to Learning and Teaching
This brief underscores the need to rethink the proliferation of school teams, work groups, and committees. While such mechanisms are essential to enhancing school improvement, they must be designed in a delimited way to carry out fundamental functions and must be fully integrated with each other. From a functional perspective, because of current marginalization and fragmentation, particular attention must be paid to mechanisms for developing a comprehensive system of student and learning supports.
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Team.pdf
This report focuses on the reality that the dropout situation is unlikely
to improve as long as policy and practice fail to ensure students
have a comprehensive system of student and learning supports. To
highlight the intervention problem, the emphasis is on first comparing
federal practice guidance recommendations for addressing the
dropout problem with data about what schools are doing; then, we
stress the need to embed dropout prevention into development of a
unified and comprehensive component for addressing barriers to learning
and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students at every school.
http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/drop.pdf
WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THIS?
Also access other news stories relevant to improving addressing barriers to learning through links at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsnew/linkstolatest.htm
Among the sources used in gather the above items are:
The ECS e-clip at
http://www.ecs.org/e-clips
The Public Education Network (PEN) Newsblast at: http://www.publiceducation.org/newsblast_current.asp The Update from the American Orthopsychiatric Association at: http://www.aoatoday.com/news.php AAP MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER at: http://www.aap.org/commpeds/dochs/mentalhealth/mh5n.html
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Center for Mental Health in Schools
WebMaster: Perry Nelson (smhp@ucla.edu)