Learning Supports: The Missing Component in School Improvement
Guest post by Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor
School reform over the past decade has focused on two arenas: improving curriculum and instruction, and the way our schools are governed and managed. We have new curriculum, new tests, new evaluation schemes, new schools, new technology, and new teachers. But schools still are not doing anything significant to address factors interfering with youngsters benefiting from all these changes. As those who have followed our work know, we are determined to change this short-sighted state of affairs by ensuring there is a third primary and essential arena that directly focuses on addressing barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students.
Research shows that such factors include a wide range of neighborhood, family, school, and peer variables. Some studies suggest that more than 60% of the variation in student performance comes from matters such as parental income and level of education, unsupportive and hostile environments, and so forth. Students facing
School reform over the past decade has focused on two arenas: improving curriculum and instruction, and the way our schools are governed and managed. We have new curriculum, new tests, new evaluation schemes, new schools, new technology, and new teachers. But schools still are not doing anything significant to address factors interfering with youngsters benefiting from all these changes. As those who have followed our work know, we are determined to change this short-sighted state of affairs by ensuring there is a third primary and essential arena that directly focuses on addressing barriers to learning and teaching and re-engaging disconnected students.
Research shows that such factors include a wide range of neighborhood, family, school, and peer variables. Some studies suggest that more than 60% of the variation in student performance comes from matters such as parental income and level of education, unsupportive and hostile environments, and so forth. Students facing
