Leadership Institute
Addressing Barriers to Learning
& Teaching and Re-engaging
Disconnected 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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In the accompanying handouts
we have included more than
we cover in the power point
slides. Our hope is that you
will look the handouts over
when you have time.
Feel free to use any handout as
is or by adapting them.
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Topics to be Covered
I.
Why is a System of Learning Supports Imperative
for School Improvement?
II.
What is a System of Learning Supports?
Rethinking Intervention
III. What is a System of Learning Supports? (cont.)
Reworking Infrastructure
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Topics
IV. Intrinsic Motivation: Engaging and Re-engaging
Students, Families, & Staff
V. What’s involved in Getting From Here to There
VI. Planning Next Steps
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I. Why is a System of
Learning Supports Imperative for
School Improvement?
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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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The limited focus contributes to:
– High Student Dropout Rates
– High Teacher Dropout Rates
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The limited focus contributes to:
– High Student Dropout Rates
– High Teacher Dropout Rates
– Continuing Achievement Gap
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The limited focus contributes to:
– High Student Dropout Rates
– High Teacher Dropout Rates
– Continuing Achievement Gap
– So Many Schools Designated as Low
Performing
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The limited focus contributes to:
– High Student Dropout Rates
– High Teacher Dropout Rates
– Continuing Achievement Gap
– So Many Schools Designated as Low
Performing
– High Stakes Testing Taking its Toll on
Students
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The limited focus contributes to:
– High Student Dropout Rates
– High Teacher Dropout Rates
– Continuing Achievement Gap
– 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:
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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Data from the National Assessment
of Education Progress (NAEP)
clearly shows the plateau effect
related to academic achievement.
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17
Three Lenses for Viewing
School Improvement Efforts
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Lens #1 = All Students
Not some -ALL youngsters
are to have an equal
opportunity to succeed at school
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Lens #1 = ALL Students
Range of Learners
Motivationally
ready and able
Not very
motivated/
lacking
prerequisite
skills/
different rates
& styles/
minor
vulnerabilities
Avoidant/
very deficient
in capabilities
20
Lens #2 = Barriers to Learning and School Improvement
Range of Learners
I = Motivationally
ready and able
Not very
motivated/
lacking
prerequisite
II = skills/
different rates
& styles/
minor
vulnerabilities
III = Avoidant/
very deficient
in capabilities
No barriers
Barriers
To
Learning,
Development,
Teaching
Instructional
Component
Classroom
Teaching
+
Enrichment
Activity
Desired
Outcomes
(High Expectations
& Accountability)
(High Standards)
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Appreciating the Full Range of
Barriers to Learning and School Improvement –
For most students, it’s more about
 Environmental Conditions
 Neighborhood
 Family
 School and Peers
than about
 Individual deficits
And, of course, a holistic approach emphasizes
>Protective Buffers (strengths, resiliency)
>Promoting Full Development
22
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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Caution: Don’t let anyone
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
Engagement
Intervention
Concerns
Disengagement
(psychological
reactance)
Avoiding Over-reliance on Extrinsics,
Maximizing Intrinsic Motivation,
Minimizing Behavioral Control Strategies
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Engaging & Re-engaging Students
in Classroom Learning
It’s time to pay greater attention to how
schools
>maximize Intrinsic Motivation
>minimize Behavior Control Strategies
>re-engage Disconnected Students
>sustain Teacher Motivation
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Motivation,
and especially Intrinsic Motivation
are fundamental intervention
concerns related to student
(and staff) problems
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• First Concern – Enhancing understanding of
intrinsic motivation as related to academic
achievement and the achievement gap
• Second Concern – Reducing overemphasis on
behavior/social control & enhancing appreciation of
the impact of psychological reactance
• Third Concern – Re-engaging students who have
become actively disengaged from classroom
instruction
• Fourth Concern – Teacher motivation
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<><><><><><><><><><><>
From the perspective provided by these
three lenses, schools need to revisit
their school improvement plans with an
eye to what’s missing.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
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Brief Activity
• Think about how your school improvement plan
addresses students who do not come to school
motivated and ready to learn.
• Using the three lenses, jot down what’s being
done to:
(1) Address barriers to learning
(2) Re-engage disconnected students
34
I. Why is a System of Learning Supports
Imperative for School Improvement? (cont.)
School Improvement Planning:
What’s Being Done &
What’s Missing?
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What we see around the country
Psychological
Testing
Clinic
After-School
Programs
Pupil Services
Violence &
Crime
Prevention
Special Education
HIV/Aids
Prevention
Physical
Education
Health
Education
Juvenile Court
Services
Community-Based
Organizations
Mental Health
Services
HIV/AIDS
Services
District
Child
Protective
Services
Pregnancy
Prevention
Nutrition
Education
School Lunch Program
Drug Prevention
Counseling
Social
Services
Health Services
Codes of
Discipline
Drug Services
Smoking Cessation
For Staff
Talk about fragmented!!!
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Why the fragmentation?
Current situation at all levels in the educational system
with respect to student/learning supports is that the efforts are
Marginalized in school improvement
policy and practice
 Fragmentation is one result and isn’t solved by focusing solely
on improving coordination
 Poor cost-effectiveness is another result (up to 25% of a school
budget used in too limited and often redundant ways)
 So is counterproductive competition for sparse resources
(among school support staff and with community-based
professionals who link with schools)
37
Why the Marginalization?
How school improvement planning addresses barriers
to learning and teaching
Direct Facilitation of
Learning & Development
Safe schools &
Some Student & Family Assistance
Instructional /
Developmental
Component
Management
Component
Besides offering a small amount
of school-owned student
"support” services, schools
outreach to the community to
add a few school-based / linked
services.
Governance and Resource Management
38
• Clearly, there are some supports; what’s
missing is a dedicated, unified, and
comprehensive component focused on:
(1) addressing barriers to learning and
teaching
AND
(2) re-engaging students who have become
disconnected from classroom instruction
39
The missing component becomes
evident when school improvement
plans are analyzed with respect to
what is planned for those students
who do not come to school every day
motivated and ready to learn.
40
The need is to move from the prevailing two-component framework
to a three-component framework in order to develop
a Comprehensive System of Learning Supports
Direct Facilitation of
Learning & Development
Addressing Barriers to Learning
Instructional/
Developmental
Component
Learning
Supports
Component
Management
Component
Governance and Resource Management
41
Unifying Policy & Practice for Addressing Barriers to Learning
Direct Facilitation of Learning
(Instructional Component)
Addressing Barriers to Learning/Teaching
(Enabling or Learning Supports Component)
Examples of Initiatives, programs and services that
belong under the umbrella
>positive behavioral supports
>programs for safe and drug free schools
>bi-lingual, cultural, and other diversity programs
>compensatory education programs
>family engagement programs
Governance and Resource Management
(Management Component)
>special education programs
>mandates stemming from the No Child Left
Behind Act & other federal programs
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Activity:
Discuss what you think teachers at
your school would answer if asked
what proportion of their students
show up each day motivationally
ready and able to do what the teacher
has planned to teach that day.
Why are so many students not
motivationally ready and able?
After your discussion, enjoy a break.
43
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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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 major intent of agency reform is to
restructure services to reduce fragmentation.
• The emphasis is mainly on interagency
collaboration.
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• The major intent of agency reform is to
restructure services to reduce fragmentation.
• 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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From Kretzmann & McKnight
Police
--
Communities have many resources!
Day care
Center
Banks
Faith-based
Institutions
Higher Education
Institutions
Senior
Citizens
School
Library
Local
Residents
Businesses
Artist &
Cultural
Institutions
Restaurants
Media
Community
Based Orgs.;
Civic Assn.
Health & Social
Services Agencies
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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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In the handout, material , we have put some key questions
we hope you are thinking about at this point.
For discussion:
• What are the many external and internal barriers
interfering with your students learning and your
teachers teaching and how does all this affect
your schools?
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Some matters that work against dealing
effectively with addressing barriers
to learning and teaching
59
Next:
We turn to four fundamental,
interrelated concerns involved in
moving forward to develop
a Comprehensive
System of Learning Supports
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Toward developing , implementing, & sustaining a
unified and comprehensive component
Four Fundamental and Interrelated Concerns
Policy
Revision
Framing Interventions to Address
Barriers to Learning and Teaching into
a Comprehensive System
of Interventions
Developing Systemic
Change Mechanisms for
Effective Implementation,
Sustainability, &
Replication to Scale
Rethinking
Organizational &
Operational
Infrastructure
Also, counter the overemphasis on extrinsic reinforcers by reintroducing a focus on intrinsic motivation.
We begin discussing these
fundamental concerns by
clarifying a way to
frame interventions as
a comprehensive system
for addressing barriers to
learning and teaching
and re-engaging
disconnected students
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II. What is a System of Learning Supports?
Rethinking Intervention
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Overview
• A Sequential Approach
• Defining Learning Supports
• Framing a Comprehensive System of
Learning Supports
>Continuum
>Content
>Major examples of intervention activity
in each content arena
• Combined Continuum and Content Arenas
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Needed: An Integrated Sequence of Interventions that Includes
a Comprehensive System of Learning Supports
Promoting learning &
Healthy Development
as necessary
plus
Prevention of Problems
(System of Prevention)
Intervening as early after onset of
problems as is feasible
(System of Early Intervention)
as necessary
Specialized assistance for those
with severe, pervasive, or chronic
problems (System of Care)
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Defining Learning Supports
Learning supports are the resources, strategies, and
practices that provide physical, social, emotional, and
intellectual supports to enable all pupils to have an
equal opportunity for success at school by directly
addressing barriers to learning and teaching and
re-engaging disconnected students.
A comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive learning
supports system provides supportive interventions in
classrooms and school-wide and is fully integrated
with efforts to improve instruction and management
at a school.
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Framing a Comprehensive
System of Learning Supports to
Address Barriers to Learning
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Meeting the needs of all students requires
>promoting assets
>preventing problems
&
>dealing with problems
And doing so in keeping with the principle
of providing what is needed in the least
disruptive and restrictive manner
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A system of learning supports
frames both an
intervention continuum
& delineated arenas of content
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Levels of Intervention Continuum—Interconnected Systems for
Meeting the Needs of All Students:
One key Facet of a Learning Supports Component
School Resources
(facilities, stakeholders,
programs, services)
Community Resources
Systems for Promoting
Healthy Development &
Preventing Problems
primary prevention – includes
universal interventions
(facilities, stakeholders,
programs, services)
(low end need/low cost
per individual programs)
See examples
See examples
Systems of Early Intervention
early-after-onset – includes
selective & indicated interventions
(moderate need, moderate
cost per individual)
Systems of Care
treatment/indicated
interventions for severe and
chronic problems
(High end need/high cost
per individual programs)
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
Support
for
Transitions
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
Support
for
Transition
Home involvement &
Engagement
In Schooling
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Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
Support
for
Transition
Community
Outreach
Home involvement &t
Engagement
In Schooling
UCLA
Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
Student &
Family
Assistance
Support
for
Transition
Community
Outreach
Home involvement &t
Engagement
In Schooling
UCLA
Categories of Basic Content Arenas for
Learning Supports Intervention
Classroom-Based
Approaches to
Enable Learning
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance &
Prevention
Infrastructure
>leadership
mechanisms
Support
for
Transition
Student &
Family
Assistance
Community
Outreach
Home involvement &t
Engagement
In Schooling
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Major Examples of Activity in
Each of the Six Basic
Content Arenas
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Classroom-Based Enabling &
Re-engaging Students in Classroom Learning
FOCUS:
Classroom based efforts to enable learning
• Prevent problems; intervene as soon as problems
appear
• Enhance intrinsic motivation for learning
• Re-engage students who have become
disengaged from classroom learning
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Classroom-Based Enabling (cont.)
EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES
• Opening the classroom door to bring in available supports
• Redesigning classroom approaches to enhance teacher
capability to prevent and handle problems and reduce
need for out of class referrals
• Enhancing and personalizing professional development
• Curricular enrichment and adjunct programs
• Classroom and school-wide approaches used to create
and maintain a caring and supportive climate
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Crisis Assistance and Prevention
FOCUS
School-wide and classroom-based efforts for
>responding to crises
>minimizing the impact of crises
>preventing crises
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Crisis Assistance and Prevention
EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES
• Ensuring immediate assistance in emergencies so
students can resume learning
• Providing Follow up care as necessary
• Forming a school-focused Crisis Team to formulate
a response plan and take leadership for developing
prevention programs
• Mobilizing staff, students, and families to anticipate
response plans and recovery efforts
• Creating a caring and safe learning environment
•Working with neighborhood schools and community to
integrate planning for response and prevention
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Support for Transitions
FOCUS
School-wide and classroom-based efforts to
>enhance acceptance and successful transitions
>prevent transition problems
>use transition periods to reduce alienation
>use transition periods to increase positive
attitudes/motivation toward school and learning
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Support for Transitions
EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES
• Welcoming & social support programs for newcomers
• Daily transition programs (e.g., before/afterschool, lunch)
• Articulation programs
• Summer or intersession programs
• School-to-career/higher education
• Broad involvement of stakeholders in planning for transitions
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Home Involvement in Schooling
FOCUS
School-wide & classroom-based efforts to engage the home in
>strengthening the home situation
>enhancing problem solving capabilities
>supporting student development and learning
>strengthening school and community
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Home Involvement in Schooling
EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES
• Addressing specific support and learning needs of family
• Improving mechanisms for communication & connecting
school and home
• Involving homes in student decision making
• Enhancing home support for learning and development
• Recruiting families to strengthen school and community
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Community Outreach for Involvement
and Support (including Volunteers)
FOCUS
Building linkages and collaborations to strengthen
students, schools, families, and neighborhoods
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Community Outreach for Involvement
and Support (including Volunteers)
EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIES
• Planning and Implementing Outreach to Recruit a Wide
Range of Community Resources
• Systems to Recruit, Screen, Prepare, and Maintain
Community Resource Involvement
• Reaching out to Students and Families Who Don't Come
to School Regularly – Including Truants and Dropouts
• Connecting School and Community Efforts to Promote
Child and Youth Development and a Sense of Community
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From Kretzmann & McKnight
Police
--
Communities have many resources!
Day care
Center
Banks
Faith-based
Institutions
Higher Education
Institutions
Senior
Citizens
School
Library
Local
Residents
Businesses
Artist &
Cultural
Institutions
Restaurants
Media
Community
Based Orgs.;
Civic Assn.
Health & Social
Services Agencies
UCLA
Student and Family Assistance
FOCUS
Specialized assistance provided through
personalized health and social service programs
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Student and Family Assistance
• Providing support as soon as a need is recognized and
doing so in the least disruptive ways
• Referral interventions for students & families with problems
• Enhancing access to direct interventions for health, mental
health, and economic assistance
• Care monitoring, management, information sharing, and
follow-up assessment to coordinate individual
interventions and check whether referrals and services
are adequate and effective
• Mechanisms for resource coordination and integration to
avoid duplication, fill gaps, garner economies of scale,
and enhance effectiveness
• Enhancing stakeholder awareness of programs and services
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For more specific examples and mapping and
analysis self study surveys for each arena, see the
Center’s online resource aid:
Guide to resource mapping and management
to address barriers to learning:
An intervention for systemic change
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Combined Continuum and Content Arenas
Levels of Intervention
Systems for Promoting Systems for Early
Healthy Development & Intervention (Early
Preventing Problems
after problem onset
Systems of
Care
ClassroomFocused
Enabling
Content
Arenas
Crisis/
Emergency
Assistance
&
Prevention
Support
for
transitions
Home
Involvement
in Schooling
Community
Outreach/
Volunteers
Student &
Family
Assistance
Activity: Mapping & Analyzing Learning Supports
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System of Learning Supports is Designed to Produce a Declining
Proportion of Students Needing Special Assistance
Systems for Promoting
Healthy Development
& Preventing Problems
(a)*
(b)*
Intervention
Content
Arenas
Levels
Systems for
Early Intervention
(early-after
problem onset)
Systems
of Care
(c)*
(d)*
(e)*
Specialized Assistance & other
intensive interventions
(f)*
Accommodations for
differences & disabilities
(a) = Classroom-focused enabling; (b) = Support for transitions
(c) = Home involvement in schooling; (d) = Community outreach/volunteers; UCLA
(e) = Crisis/ emergency assistance and prevention; (f) = Student and family assistance
The framework is meant to guide development of
a comprehensive system of learning supports as
a primary and essential component of school
improvement.
Reminder:
Such an enabling component is meant to:
(1) address interfering factors
and
(2) re- engage students in classroom instruction
UCLA
What’s Missing?
Range of Learners
I = Motivationally
ready and able
II =
Not very
motivated/
lacking
prerequisite
skills/
different rates
& styles/
minor
vulnerabilities
No barriers
Barriers
To
Learning,
Development,
Teaching
Instructional
Component
Classroom
Teaching
+
Enrichment
Activity
Desired
Outcomes
(High Expectations
& Accountability)
(High Standards)
III = Avoidant/
very deficient
in capabilities
UCLA
An Enabling or Learning Supports Component to Address Barriers
and Re-engage Students in Classroom Instruction
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 capabilities
Instructional
Component
No barriers
Barriers
To
Learning,
Development
Teaching
Enabling
Component
(1) Addressing
Interfering
Factors
Desired
Classroom
Outcomes
Teaching
+
(High Expectations
Enrichment & Accountability)
Activity
(High Standards)
(2) Re-engaging
Students in
Classroom
Instruction
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To Recap:
School improvement planning for developing a
comprehensive system of learning supports to
address barriers to learning and teaching requires:
(1) adoption of a umbrella framework that can unify
current efforts
(2) expansion of the framework for school
accountability (to account for efforts to enhance
social and personal functioning and address
barriers to learning and teaching -- we will detail
this later)
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To Recap:
Combining a continuum of intervention with a
discrete set of content arenas to establish a
comprehensive framework to guide
development of an enabling/learning supports
component. The resulting matrix provides a
mapping tool and a planning guide for
developing a comprehensive set of learning
supports.
UCLA
Activity
Looking at schools you know:
How close are they to having a unified and
comprehensive system of learning supports?
To answer this, many schools are using our
Center’s tool for mapping & analyzing
Learning Supports – (It’s online as part of a
toolkit of aids)
Take a few minutes now to do a bit of mapping
using this aid.
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