Obviously, a small school has less staff and other resources than most larger schools. Nevertheless, the three major functions necessary for school improvement remain the same in all schools, namely (1) improving instruction, (2) providing learning supports to address barriers to learning and teaching, and (3) enhancing management and governance.

The recent IDEA reauthorization calls for what has been dubbed a "Response to Intervention" (RTI) approach. The intent is to use "well-designed and well-implemented early intervention" in the regular classroom as a way to deal with a student's problems and enhance the assessment of whether more intensive and perhaps specialized assistance (and…

Recent policy and program analyses conducted by our Center make it clear how few support staff are full participants at school and district tables where major school improvement decisions are made. It is not surprising, then, that student support staff are not appropriately accounted for in school improvement planning and implementation. This…