Increasing attention to "Implementation Research" and the "Implementation Problem" has given rise to confusion about matters such as the role of "empirically-supported practices," "fidelity of implementation," and "monitoring fidelity of implementation." To clarify the matters, we approach these topics from the broad perspective of efforts to…

SEAs, LEAs, and schools need to develop a "Unified and Comprehensive System of Learning Supports" in order to enhance equity of opportunity for all students to succeed at school and beyond. Such a system directly addresses barriers to learning and teaching and re-engages disconnected students. Developing the system requires transforming…

Education cut-backs are likely to worsen in the short run. This makes it imperative for policy makers to reverse trends toward lopsided cutbacks that decimate efforts to address factors interfering with learning and teaching. Furthermore, it is essential to move forward in more cost-effective ways by unifying student and learning supports and…

This report begins with conclusions drawn from a wide range of research, reports, and other sources that convey what superintendents say is driving their work. The focus first is on what they identify as the challenges and frustrations of the job and what they say are factors interfering with student progress. Then, discussion turns to the…

Whatever is enacted legislatively, viable school improvement depends on how policy makers conceive and leaders plan to address the full range of factors affecting learning and teaching and how the operational infrastructure is reworked to enable strategic and effective development of essential interventions. This is especially so for schools that…

This report focuses on the reality that the dropout situation is unlikely to improve as long as policy and practice fail to ensure students have a comprehensive system of student and learning supports. To highlight the intervention problem, the emphasis is on first comparing federal practice guidance recommendations for addressing the dropout…

This report addresses the question: "Where do interventions for concerns about substance use fit into the work of schools?" By way of background, we begin by differentiating between use and abuse and briefly summarizing some major issues and data relevant to substance use and treatment of abuse and dependency. And, to highlight the importance of…

As the focus on school improvement at a state education agency moves from mostly a compliance approach to playing a greater role in capacity building, the agency's leadership needs to rethink student and learning supports. That is the focus of this report. Given that almost half of the chief state school officers have assumed their position in the…

This report explores the infrastructure problem at the district level. Then a prototype is offered to stimulate discussion of changes that are essential to the development of a comprehensive system of learning supports at every school. The report also briefly highlights infrastructure frameworks for schools and school complexes formulated and…

For those concerned with school improvement, resource-oriented mechanisms are a critical facet of efforts to transform and restructure daily operations. Resource-oriented organizational mechanisms focus specifically on ensuring the appropriate use of existing resources and enhancing efforts to address barriers to student learning. This report…

Today's school and community stakeholders are attempting to address complex, multifaceted, and overlapping psychosocial and mental health concerns in diverse, fragmented and at-times marginalized ways. This has led to competition for sparse resources and inadequate results. Enhancing mental health in schools is not an easy task. The bottom line is…

It is time for reform advocates to expand their emphasis on improving instruction and school management to include a comprehensive component for addressing barriers to learning. In doing so, they must pursue this third component with the same level of priority they devote to the other two. That is, such an enabling (or learner support) component…

Resource-oriented organizational mechanisms focus specifically on ensuring the appropriate use of existing resources and enhancing efforts to address barriers to student learning. This report first explores such mechanisms at the school level, then in terms of a feeder pattern, and finally at the district level. We stress the fact that what we…