The School Leader?s Guide to Student Learning Supports: New Directions for Addressing Barriers to Learning

"Offers a broad view, and a systemic approach missing from most books on school reform and improving student outcomes, especially for the student who is not achieving."
-Susan Wooley, Executive Director
American School Health Association

"I have not read any other book that is as comprehensive in explaining how the fragmentation of services limits our ability to serve children, as well as provides the ′how to.′ In this era of data-based decision making, the authors continue to present well-researched material that perhaps many educators have only read about in isolation."
-Sandra Screen, Ph.D., Director
Detroit Public Schools, MI

Bring new direction to programs and policies for learning supports to address barriers to student learning!

Barriers to learning and teaching interfere with students′ ability to participate effectively and benefit fully from classroom instruction and other educational activities. For school improvement efforts to succeed in ways that truly improve student achievement and student test scores, systemic changes must be made in how schools provide learning supports. Howard S. Adelman and Linda Taylor now provide this exciting new guide to student learning supports for school leaders, along with a companion volume for schoolwide use, offering an innovative approach to addressing barriers to learning.

Emphasizing an intervention framework that is comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive, and offering a sophisticated approach to rethinking and facilitating systemic changes to infrastructure and policy at school and community levels, The School Leader′s Guide to Student Learning Supports covers strategies built on decades of research. The authors provide case studies, resources, quizzes, cartoons, and more than 75 figures, tables, and tools for analysis and capacity building to help school leaders understand, assess, and remedy the gap between the learning supports students need and the learning supports they are currently receiving.

The unparalleled New Directions for Student Support Initiative described in this guide has been cosponsored by more than 20 professional associations, including:

• The American School Counselor Association
• The American School Health Association
• The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
• The National Alliance of Pupil Service Organizations
• The National Association of School Nurses
• The National Association of Pupil Services Administrators
• The National Association of School Psychologists
• The National Association of Secondary School Principals
• The National Association of State Boards of Education
• The National Middle School Association
• The School Social Work Association of America
• And others!

Howard S. Adelman is professor of psychology and codirector of the School Mental Health Project and its federally supported National Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. He began his professional career as a remedial classroom teacher in 1960. In 1973, he returned to UCLA in the role of professor of psychology and also was the director of the Fernald School and Laboratory until 1986.

In 1986, Adelman and Linda Taylor established the School Mental Health Project at UCLA. The two have worked together for over 30 years with a constant focus on improving how schools and communities address a wide range of psychosocial and educational problems experienced by children and adolescents. Over the years, they have worked together on major projects focused on dropout prevention, enhancing the mental health facets of school-based health centers, and developing comprehensive, school-based approaches for students with learning, behavior, and emotional problems. Their work has involved them in schools and communities across the country. The current focus of their work is on policies, practices, and large-scale systemic reform initiatives to enhance school, community, and family connections to address barriers to learning and promote healthy development. This work includes codirecting a national Center for Mental Health in Schools, which facilitates the National Initiative: New Directions for Student Support.

Linda Taylor is codirector of the School Mental Health Project and its federally supported national Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA.

In her early career, Taylor was involved in community agency work. From 1973 to 1986, she codirected the Fernald Laboratory School and Clinic at UCLA. In 1986, she became codirector of the School Mental Health Project. From 1986 to 2000, she also held a clinical psychologist position in the Los Angeles Unified School District and directed several large-scale projects for the school district.

Taylor and Howard S. Adelman have worked together for over 30 years with a constant focus on improving how schools and communities address a wide range of psychosocial and educational problems experienced by children and adolescents. Over the years, they have worked together on major projects focused on dropout prevention, enhancing the mental health facets of school-based health centers, and developing comprehensive, school-based approaches for students with learning, behavior, and emotional problems. Their work has involved them in schools and communities across the country. The current focus of their work is on policies, practices, and large-scale systemic reform initiatives to enhance school, community, and family connections to address barriers to learning and promote healthy development. This work includes codirecting a national Center for Mental Health in Schools, which facilitates the National Initiative: New Directions for Student Support.