November 2004

School Discipline Techniques and Positive Behavior Supports

This series of articles from the Council for Exceptional Children's Online Journal offers information and guides on effective discipline and social skill techniques, including “positive behavior support” strategies. Positive behavioral supports can help prevent discipline problems, minimize students' resistance to academic instruction, and can be used without disrupting classroom routines. Other articles focus on encouraging mentoring and family involvement in and out of the classroom. Read about these and other effective discipline and social skill techniques in the Sept./Oct. issue of TEACHING Exceptional Children (TEC).

To view these articles, visit: http://journals.sped.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=tec_toc

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School-Based Mental Health Programs: Information and Recommendations

Gathering evidence of the widespread prevalence of mental health problems in children and adolescents have made improving mental health access and care an increasing concern. School-based programs offer increased opportunity for diagnosis and treatment of children's and adolescents' mental health problems. This policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics outlines how pediatric health care professionals, educators, and mental health specialists can work in collaboration to develop and implement effective school-based mental health services. It describes common challenges to implementing programs and offers recommendations to schools, pediatricians for overcoming barriers and establishing effective service networks.

To view this resource, visit: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/113/6/1839?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=mental+health&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1101227254955_8222&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=1&journalcode=pediatrics

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Education and Transition Supports for Youth With Disabilities

Take a look at the resources offered by the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition's (NCSET) E-Newsletter. This information includes conference announcements, guides, funding information, and news items on topics relevant to the education and transition of youth with disabilities. The NCSET website, www.ncset.org, provides further information on educational and transition supports for youth with disabilities.

To view this resource, visit: http://www.ncset.org/enews/current.asp

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Upcoming Conferences:

Convention to Address Discipline, Learning Disabilities, Students from Diverse Cultures, Mental Health, and More

Leading experts in special education will address a wide range of issues affecting special educators and their students at the Council for Exceptional Children's (CEC) 2005 Annual Convention & Expo. This four-day conference will be held from April 6 th -9 th , 2005. Just a few of the topics to be addressed include: consequences for students with learning disabilities; behavior supports; teaching students from diverse cultures; meeting students' mental health needs, and alternatives to public schools.

To find out more about this convention, visit: http://www.cec.sped.org/conventions/maryland_2005/speakers.html#2

 

June 2004

Chavkin, N. (2000). Family and community involvement policies: Teachers can lead the way. Clearing House, 73 (5), 18-20.

The author is a professor of social work and Co-director of the Center for Children and Families at Southwest Texas State University. This article provides support for the need for policy development on family and community involvement. It takes the position that teachers can have a vital role in leadership regarding this policy development. It provides a summary of the issues related to family and community involvement. Although limited in scope, it does address the teacher's role, which has been limited in other sources reviewed. This summary also points out the need for staff training on coordination and collaboration with families and community agencies.

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Epstein, J. and Hollifield, J. (1996). Title I school-family-community and partnerships: Using research to realize the potential. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, I (3), 263-278.

The authors are from the Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children's Learning at Johns Hopkins University. The Center conducts numerous studies of family and community partnerships. This particular research article reviews the requirements of Title 1; summarizes recent research on the effects of school-family partnerships on students, teachers, and parents; and discusses two major research-based programs for building school-family-community partnerships. In addition, this article introduces the theory of overlapping spheres of influence, which purposes that efforts are most effective when goals, missions, and responsibilities for children are shared. It also introduces the framework of six types of involvement for development and implementation of a comprehensive program of partnerships: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community. The two major research projects reviewed are Action Teams and Parent-Teacher Action Research, and the impact both have on family and community involvement.

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Epstein, J. Sheldon and Sheldon, S. (2002). Present and accounted for: Improving student attendance through family and community involvement. Journal of Educational Research. 95 (5), 308-318.

The authors are principal research scientists at John Hopkins University, and are nationally recognized for their work on family and community partnerships. This particular work reports the results of a longitudinal study on the effect of family and community involvement on school attendance. Administrators and community members will find the list of specific strategies helpful in their attempts to address school attendance and chronic absenteeism. This work adds to the knowledge base for approaches that deal with disengagement and precursors to dropping out. The study involved 18 schools, both elementary and secondary, with a variety of socioeconomic and ethnic diversity. The data collected spanned 3 years historically and measured change over a 1-year period after interventions were utilized. Results concluded that family, school, and community partnerships could improve student attendance with increases in average daily attendance and decreases in chronic or frequent absenteeism reported.

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National Parent Teachers Association (1997). PTA issues standards for parent involvement in education. Reading Today, 14 (5), 16-17.

The U.S. National Parent Teachers Association has developed six standards essential for any school or program involving parents and families. They are: regular, two-way meaningful communication between home and school; promotion and support of parenting skills; active parent participation in student learning; parents as welcome volunteer partners in schools; parents as full partners in school decisions that affect children and families; and outreach to the community for resources to strengthen schools. Although this article is brief, it provides an important endorsement of these six standards that reinforce similar elements found in research studies by Epstein and Sanders. This provides a framework for school administrators and school boards who are developing their own district standards.

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U.S. Department of Education. (1995). Summary review of the literature. Studies of education reform: Parent and community involvement in education. Retrieved from www.ed.gov/SER/ParentComm/index.html on January 22, 2004.

             

In 1991, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned 12 studies of national education reform. In the area of parent and community involvement, three areas were identified for study: district-wide programs, school restructuring, and adult-child learning experiences. This summary of the literature provided state of the art parent and community involvement programs and practices as of the early 1990s. Although the literature review is somewhat dated, it contains five chapters of detailed information that any educator, parent, or scholar would find as a valuable resource. Limitations of the review include limiting aspects of "middle" grades. It was difficult to isolate materials addressing grades 4-8 only. Therefore, K-3 and grades 9-12 may have been part of some of the studies cited in the literature. There was also an overlap in the three areas identified for the study. However, this is a very comprehensive report and should be a part of any resource list for family and community involvement.

 

May 2004

Cash, T. (2004). Alternative schooling. In Smink, J. & Schargel, F. P. (Eds.). Helping students graduate: A strategic approach to dropout prevention. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education .

Terry Cash considers an alternative school to be a school for students who have exhibited academic and discipline problems, as well as those having difficulty adjusting to the traditional school routine for a myriad of reasons. The alternative school program is specifically designed to reach students who are at risk of academic failure and dropping out of school. This chapter offers a brief review of the types of services and activities that make alternative schools different from traditional schools, and summarizes what the research reveals are the best practices in alternative education.

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Kleiner, B., Porch, R., & Ferris, E. (2002). Public schools and alternatives for children at risk of education failure: 2000-01. NCES 2002-004 . Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

The 2001 "District Survey of Alternative Schools and Programs," conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through its Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), is the first national study of public alternative schools and programs for students at risk of education failure to provide data on topics related to the availability of public alternative schools and programs, enrollment, staffing, and services for these students. The results presented in this report are based on questionnaire data from a nationally representative sample of 1,534 public school districts.

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Raywid, M. (1994). Alternative schools: The state of the art. Educational Leadership, 52 (1), 26-31.

In this article, Raywid describes what she contends to be the three types of alternative schools. She claims that evidence suggests: "when adopted as a model, alternative schools can transform school districts." Additionally, t his article provides a synthesis of available literature on the trend of alternative schools.

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Tobin, T., & Sprague, J. (2000). Alternative education strategies: Reducing violence in school and the community. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8 (3): 177-186.

This article presents   effective teaching techniques employed in alternative education programs for students at risk of school failure, drop out, delinquency, and violence. Tobin and Sprague support the development of effective, research-based alternative school programs. Furthermore, they offer suggestions for future alternative program development.

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U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (2003). The Condition of Education 2003. NCES 2003-967. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/quarterly/5_2/q7_1.asp#H6 .

The Condition of Education 2003 presents indicators of important developments and trends in American education based on reliable data gathered over the last few years. Specifically, the report states that in 2001, 39 percent of public school districts had alternative schools and programs, serving about 613,000 high-risk students. Public alternative schools were most common in school districts with large enrollments, in urban areas, and in the southeast.

 

April 2004

Internet Link: The Sunnyside, Arizona, Unified School District's K-12 Prevention Program

http://www.sunnysideud.k12.az.us/programs/prevention.asp

The Prevention Program involves the District's commitment to have full-time counselors, full-time nurses, parent involvement assistants, psychologists, and campus security monitors at every campus. The Prevention Program also involves coordination and liaison with the Tucson Police Department, the Pima County Sheriff's Department, the Pima County Juvenile Court, and the Pima County Attorney's Office.

Sunnyside's Prevention Program provides staff development and student trainings in violence prevention, gang awareness, resiliency factors, drug-free lifestyles, and healthy/position choices, aligned with the District's K-12 Comprehensive Health Curriculum. The program works to provide resources and opportunities to explore and create options for "at-promise" students during and after school and in the summer months, through agreements with the Tucson Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Pima County Parks and Recreation Department.

The Prevention Program uses research-based information to develop and implement programs and procedures in prevention/intervention services that work to make the Sunnyside Community a safer, healthier place to live.

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Internet Link: A Manual to Combat Truancy, July 1996 http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Truancy/index.html

This document was prepared by the U.S. Department of Education in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice. It is a comprehensive look at best practice regarding truancy programs.

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Internet Link: Effective Truancy Prevention and Intervention, August 2003

http://www.wilder.org/research/reports/pdf/Hennepinctyschoolsuccess%208-03.pdf

This review of relevant research was prepared for the Hennepin County School Success Project by Michelle Decker Gerrard, Alyssa Burhans, and Jennifer Fair, Wilder Research Center, 1295 Bandana Boulevard North, Suite 210, Saint Paul, MN 55108.

The Hennepin County School Success Project asked the Wilder Research Center to conduct a review of research related to effective truancy prevention programs of three types: school- based interventions, community-based interventions, and law enforcement or court-based interventions.

In conducting the review, Wilder Research Center staff focused on articles that included a rigorous evaluation of program outcomes (results). In particular, staff sought out projects that were evaluated using a control or comparison group or long-term follow-up of attendance patterns. Of the 53 articles examined, 25 gave anecdotal descriptions of services or programs but did not include research evidence on program effect. Those 25 articles are not extensively cited here. Instead, the emphasis is on studies that involve larger groups of students and those that do not rely mainly on anecdotal evidence of attendance improvement.

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Article: Epstein, J. L., & Sheldon, S. B. (2002). Present and accounted for: Improving student attendance through family and community involvement. The Journal of Educational Research, 95 (5).  

This article addresses many aspects of family and community involvement that can have a positive impact on attendance and school engagement.

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Internet Link: Colorado Foundation for Families and Children. (n.d.). Best practices in developing truancy reduction programs.

Available on the Colorado Foundation for Families and Children website: http://www.truancyprevention.org/pdf/03_BestPractices.pdf  

 

March 2004

Web site: http://www.polkbrosfdn.org/full_service_schools_initiative.htm

This Web page provides an overview of the Full Service Schools Initiative and its outcomes. In spring 1996, the Polk Bros. Foundation funded three Chicago public elementary schools so that they could partner with a nonprofit organization to develop full-service schools. The school nonprofit partnerships developed local planning committees and hired full-time resource coordinators to implement programs. From 1997 through 1999, the three partnerships extended the use of their school buildings for after-school and weekend programs, involved parents more extensively in school life, and linked what happened in classrooms with after-school and evening programs.

Web site : http://ericec.org/digests/e616.html

This digest provides an overview of research on full-service schools and students with disabilities. It provides the outcome data for different populations in these schools.

Article: http://www.excellenceineducation.ca/analyst/C_009.2_HHB_LON.php

This overview of full-service schools is from the Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education, which provides nonpartisan education research and information to policymakers, education partners, and the public. Its purpose is to encourage higher performance throughout Canada's public education system.  

Topical Brief: http://ericec.org/osep/topical/fullsvc.html

The ERIC/OSEP Topical Brief Full-Service Schools' Potential for Special Education examines the concept of full-service schools and considers how students with disabilities may interface with, and ultimately benefit from, them. To this end, the topical brief addresses the following questions:

• Why full-service schools?
• What is a full-service school?
• What is the relationship of full-service schools to special education?
• What are special education researchers learning about full-service schools in Kansas, California, Florida, and Maryland?
• What are policy and practice implications?

Book: Full-Service Schools: A Revolution in Health and Social Services for Children, Youth, and Families by Joy G. Dryfoos ( San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999)

One of the first resources to describe school-based services, this book highlights school centers in which health, mental health, social, and/or family services are co-located and tailored to meet the needs of the particular school or family. The publication discusses why the educational reform movement now includes the full-service school vision. It also includes program examples of a full-service school, a discussion about school-based health clinics, a summary of the research that supports the efforts of school-based services, and a broad discussion of the organizational and service delivery issues. The appendixes profile states that support school-based services and federal programs that could be tapped as funding sources for creating new school-based programs.

 

February 2004

Web site: www.nasbhc.org

The National Assembly on School-Based HealthCare is a national nonprofit association representing school-based health care providers and supporters. Its mission is to promote accessible, quality school-based primary health and mental health care for children and youth through interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts. Visit the Web site to access many important resources.

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Web site: http://www.healthinschools.org/about.asp

The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) is a policy and program resource center located at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.

CHHCS builds on a 20-year history of testing strategies to strengthen health-care delivery systems for children and adolescents. For the past decade, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Center staff and consultants have worked with institutional leaders, state officials, and clinical providers to maximize outcomes for children through more effective health programming in schools.

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Brochure: www.metrokc.gov/health/yhs/sbhc-brochure.pdf

This brochure describes the program in Seattle and King County, Washington, for school-based health centers. It describes aspects of the program and outcomes for the children and youth in the community.  

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Training module: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/MHSBHC/mod1.pdf

Addressing Limited Center Resources is an 84-page module that contains many valuable suggestions regarding access to additional funding sources, as well as blended funding for school-based health centers.

 

Holiday 2003/2004

Journal Article: Are School Based Mental Health Services Effective? Evidence from 36 Inner City Schools

by Paula Armbruster and Judith Lichtman

Community Mental Health Journal, Vol. 35, No. 6, December 1999

This article describes an evaluation of a community-based program that provides clinic-based services and school-based services in an inner-city community. The results indicate that school-based mental health services show improvement comparable to the clinic-based services and have the potential to reach children who otherwise would not have access.

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Journal Article: Psychosocial Functioning of Youth Receiving Mental Health Services in the Schools Versus Community Mental Health Centers

by Mark Weist, Patrick Myers, Eileen Hastings, et al.

Community Mental Health Journal, Vol. 35, No. 1, February 1999

This article reviews a study that evaluates psychosocial difference between youth receiving mental health services in community mental health centers and youth receiving services from a program operating in 10 Baltimore schools. Findings support the conclusion that school-based mental health programs are reaching youth who need mental health services, who otherwise may not receive them.

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Book: Safe, Supportive and Successful Schools : Step by Step

by David Osher, Kevin Dwyer and Stephanie Jackson

Sopris West Educational Services, 2004

The book and CD-Rom provide a "cookbook" for planning and funding three levels of school improvement: schoolwide programs focusing on the social, ethical, and emotional development of ALL students; early interventions for SOME students who have minor behavioral problems; and intensive interventions for those FEW students who experience significant emotional and behavioral disorders. Strategies for K-12 are provided in an easy to read format. There are many reproducible forms and checklists.

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Online Resource : School-Based Mental Health Services Support Improved Classroom Behavior and School Safety

Access through the National Association of School Psychologists Web site

www.nasponline.org/advocacy/sbmhsvcs.html

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Online Resource: About Mental Health in Schools

Access through the UCLA School Mental Health Project, Center for Mental Health in Schools Web site UCLA School Mental Health Project