Addressing Barriers to

1

• Addressing Barriers to
• Learning and Teaching
• to Enhance School Improvement

UCLA
2

• We just missed the school bus.
• \ Dont worry. I heard the
  principal say
• \ no child will be left
  behind.
• /

3

• About this Resource
• This is part of a set of 3 power point sessions.
  There is also a related 7 session set online. For
  each session, there are also a package of
  handouts (online in PDF) that cover the material.
  Many of these handouts provide additional details
  on a given topic.

4

• Feel free to use the power point slides and the
  handouts as is or by adapting them to advance
  efforts to develop a comprehensive system of
  learning supports.

5
Outline of Topics

• I. Ensuring All Students Have an Equal
• Opportunity to Succeed at School
• A. Whats Being Done and Whats Missing?
• B. What are Major Barriers to Learning and
  Teaching?

6

• C. Whats Needed to Address Barriers?
• A Comprehensive System of Learning Supports to
  
• address barriers to development, learning, and
  teaching
• (re-)engage students in classroom learning

7

• II. Toward a Comprehensive System of Learning
  Supports
• A. How Does School Improvement Policy and
  Practice Need to be Expanded?
• B. What are the Implications for Framing a
  Comprehensive System for Addressing Barriers to
  Learning and Teaching?

8

• III. Next Steps
• A. Rework Infrastructure
• B. Assign Leadership and Develop a Learning
  Supports Resource Team
• C. Expand School Improvement Guidance and
  Planning to Focus on Developing a Comprehensive
  System of Learning Supports
• D. Use of the Centers Free Resources (e.g.,
  toolkit, distance coaching)

9

• Session I

10

• Whats Being Done
• and Whats Missing?

11

• School Improvement Planning
• Whats Missing?
• Missing A Comprehensive Focus on
• Addressing Barriers to Learning Teaching
• Re-engaging Disengaged Students in Classroom
  Learning

12

• 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

13

• Data from the National Assessment of Education
  Progress (NAEP) clearly shows the plateau effect
  related to academic achievement.

14
The Nations Report Card National Center for Education Statistics
Trend in NAEP reading average scores for
9-year-old students
Trend in NAEP reading average scores for
13-year-old students
See key on next slide
15
The Nations Report Card National Center for Education Statistics
Trend in NAEP reading average scores for
17-year-old students
Significantly different (p lt .05) from 2008.
Note The long-term trend assessment was updated
in several ways in 2004. Outdated material was
replaced, accommodations for students with
disabilities (SD) and for English language
learners (ELL) were allowed, and administration
procedures were modified. A special bridge study
was conducted in 2004 to evaluate the effects of
these changes on the trend lines. The study
involved administering both the original and
revised formats of the assessments to determine
how the revisions may have affected the results.
16

• Three Lenses for Viewing
• School Improvement Efforts

17
Lens 1 All Students

• 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 current
  capabilities has a disability and/or major health
  problems

18

• Not some --
• ALL youngsters
• are to have an equal
• opportunity to succeed at school

19
Lens 2 Barriers to Learning

• Categories of Risk-Producing Conditions
• that Can be Barriers to Learning
• gtEnvironmental Conditions
• gtFamily
• gtSchool and Peers
• gtIndividual

20

• Examples of Risk-Producing Conditions
• that Can be Barriers to Learning
• Environmental Conditions
• extreme economic deprivation
• community disorganization, including high levels
  of mobility
• violence, drugs, etc.
• minority and/or immigrant status
• Family
• chronic poverty
• conflict/disruptions/violence
• substance abuse
• models problem behavior
• abusive caretaking
• inadequate provision for quality child care

21

• Examples of Risk-Producing Conditions
• that Can be Barriers to Learning (cont.)
• School and Peers
• poor quality school
• negative encounters with teachers
• negative encounters with peers
• inappropriate peer models
• Individual
• medical problems
• low birth weight/neurodevelopmental delay
• psychophysiological problems
• difficult temperament adjustment problems
• inadequate nutrition

22
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 vulner
abilities III Avoidant/ very deficient in
capabilities
No barriers
Instructional Component Classroom Teaching Enri
chment Activity
Desired Outcomes (High Expectations
Accountability)
Barriers To Learning, Development, Teaching
(High Standards)
23

• Caution Dont misinterpret the term
• gtBarriers to learning
• It encompasses much more than a deficit model of
  students.

24

• And, it is part of a holistic approach that
  emphasizes the importance of
• gtProtective Buffers
• (e.g., strengths, assets, resiliency,
  accommodations)
• gtPromoting Full Development

25
Lens 3 Engagement Disengagement
Source of Motivation
Extrinsics Intrinsics Intrinsics/

Extrinsics Engagement Intervention Concerns D
isengagement (psychological reactance)
26

• Addressing Barriers Requires Enhancing How a
  School Approaches Motivation
• Motivation, and Especially Intrinsic Motivation
  is a Fundamental Intervention Consideration
  Related to Student (and Staff) Problems
• 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

27

• School Improvement Planning
• Whats Being Done
• Whats Missing?

28

• What do schools currently do to
• (1) address barriers to learning and
  teaching
• and
• (2) re-engage students in classroom
  instruction?

29
How is the district/school addressing barriers to
learning?
Psychological Testing
Clinic
After-School Programs
HIV/Aids Prevention
Pupil Services
Health Services
Violence Crime Prevention
Physical Education
Special Education
Health Education
Nutrition Education
Juvenile Court Services
District
School Lunch Program
Community-Based Organizations
Drug Prevention
Counseling
Mental Health Services
Drug Services
Social Services
Pregnancy Prevention
Codes of Discipline
Smoking Cessation For Staff
HIV/AIDS Services
Child Protective Services
Talk about fragmented!!!
30

• What does this mean for the district and its
  schools?
• Current Situation at All Levels in the
  Educational System with Respect to
  Student/Learning Supports
• Marginalization
• Fragmentation
• Poor Cost-Effectiveness (up to 25 of a school
  budget used in too limited and often redundant
  ways)
• Counterproductive Competition for Sparse
  Resources (among school support staff and with
  community-based professionals who link with
  schools)

31

• Whats Needed to
• Address Barriers?

32

• Whats Needed to Address Barriers?
• A comprehensive component to
• (1) address interfering factors
• and
• (2) re- engage students in classroom
  instruction

33

• An Integrated Sequence of Interventions

Promoting
learning Healthy Development plus
Prevention of Problems (System of Prevention)

as necessary
Intervening as early after onset of problems as
is feasible (System of Early Intervention)
as necessary
as necessary
Specialized assistance for those with severe,
pervasive, or chronic problems (System of Care)
34
An Enabling Component to Address Barriers
Re-engage Students in Classroom Instruction
Range of Learners
I Motivationally ready and
able Not very motivated/ lacking prerequisit
e II skills/ different rates
styles/ minor vulnerabilities III
Avoidant/ very deficient in capabilities/
No barriers
Instructional Component Classroom Teaching Enri
chment Activity
Desired Outcomes (High Expectations
Accountability)

• Enabling
• Component
• Addressing
• Interfering
• Factors
• (2) Re-engaging
• Students in
• Classroom
• Instruction

Barriers to Learning, Develop., Teaching
(High Standards)
35

• To Recap
• School improvement guidance 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

36

• 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

37

• 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

38
Study Question

• What are the many external and internal barriers
  that interfere with students learning and
  teachers teaching and how does all this affect
  the school?

39

• Study Question
• What is currently being done to
• address barriers to learning and
• teaching and what is keeping the
• work from being as effective as
• needed?

40

• Study Question
• How would you change school
• improvement planning to ensure a
• comprehensive system of learning
• supports is developed to more
• effectively address barriers to
• development, learning, and teaching
• and also (re-)engage students in
• classroom learning?

41
Some Relevant References Resources

• gtSchool Improvement Planning What's Missing?
• http//smhp.psych.ucla.edu/whatsmissing.htm
• gtAddressing What's Missing in School Improvement
  Planning
• http//smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/enabling/stand
  ards.pdf
• gtThe School Leader's Guide to Student Learning
  Supports New Directions for Addressing Barriers
  to Learning http//www.corwinpress.com/book.aspx?
  pid11343

42

• Next Session
• Moving forward in developing
• A Comprehensive
• System of Learning Supports

43

• Four Fundamental and Interrelated Concerns

Policy Revision
Framing Interventions to Address Barriers to
Learning and Teaching into a Comprehensive
System of Interventions
Rethinking Organizational and Operational
Infrastructure
Developing Systemic Change Mechanisms for
Effective Implementation, Sustainability, and
Replication to Scale