National Center for Urban School Transformation

http://www.ncust.org

Building Student Supports in Urban Schools

National Center for Urban School TransformationSan Diego State University

2011

National Center for Urban School Transformation

Dedicated to identifying, studying, and promoting the best practices of America’s highest achieving urban schools in a manner that supports urban districts in

transforming teaching and learning

http://www.ncust.org

Learn more at the Annual Symposium on High-Performing Urban Schools in San Diego, CA – May, 2012

In high-performing schools, students have prompt access

to efficient and effective support systems that address

their academic, social, and emotional needs.

Student Supports in High-Performing Schools:

Timeliness Students are identified for assistance in a timely

manner, often long before crises erupt. Structures like student support teams ensure that teachers, parents, and other school personnel have regular opportunities to raise concerns, identify options, and schedule supports and interventions. Students do not have to wait to fail before assistance is provided.

Student Supports in High-Performing Schools:

Coordination

Supports are coordinated in a way that ensures effective communication between support providers, classroom teachers, parents, and other key parties. Structures are developed and maintained to ensure ongoing communication.

Academic interventions are structured to ensure that providers know precisely what students have mastered and what they need to master most.

Student Supports in High-Performing Schools:

Effectiveness

Supports and interventions are evaluated regularly to determine if students are making appropriate progress. Often, measures of progress are identified prior to student placement so that everyone understands what progress is to be achieved. Interventions that frequently are not effective are eliminated. Those that are often effective are built upon and expanded.

How Do High-Performing Schools Build Effective Student Supports?

1. Leaders keep the primary focus on building strong general programs that meet student needs.

Leaders continuously work to help educators improve the quality and effectiveness of the general school program (including regular classroom instruction).

How Do High-Performing Schools Build Effective Student Supports?

2. Leaders engage others in regular efforts to address student needs that are not being addressed through the general program.

Regularly, leaders convene meetings to discuss issues that might be impeding student success. In these meetings, participants suggest, consider, and commit to actions designed to help students succeed.

How Do High-Performing Schools Build Effective Student Supports?

3. Leaders constantly seek out supports and interventions with strong evidence of results.

Leaders seek out supports and interventions that have proven records of success. As they identify possible supports, leaders seek documented evidence of success with populations of students similar to theirs. They creatively find ways to bring the most promising supports to their schools.

How Do High-Performing Schools Build Effective Student Supports?

4. Leaders continuously evaluate the effectiveness of supports and interventions.

Leaders seek evidence that each student receiving a support or intervention is making appropriate gains. When supports are not working for individual students, leaders engage others in determining why and how to improve the effort. When supports are not helping any students make gains, those interventions are terminated.