Educational Leadership Commons^™

Preface

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) is a unit of the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa. The Institute's mission is to promote the improvement of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education throughout the state of Iowa. To fulfill this mission the Institute serves as a catalyst for: informal dialogue on educational issues impacting the schools of Iowa, region, and nation; developing collaborative relationships with individuals and/or organizations external to schools; and education policy development.

Meeting The Needs Of At-Risk Students: A Collection Of Papers [Complete Monograph]

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No abstract provided.

Keynote Address [Sally Liechty], Sally Liechty

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Every day at Moulton School I face a variety of situations that set the stage for me and the other educators as we work to help children learn. Each day I face at least one circumstance involving drugs, loaded guns, families in poverty, prostitution, desegregation, single parents, or transient families. Moulton Elementary is not atypical of schools across the United States. The following statistics concerning children in our country should frighten us into reality. Each day in this country: • 27 children die because of poverty • 13 million children live in poverty • 9 children are shot to death …

Keynote Address [Mary Wilcynski}, Mary Wilcynski

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Let's begin with a bit of imagining. Let's take ourselves back to our own high school experience. Picture yourself when you were 17 years old in the spring of your junior year. What was your hairstyle? A butch cut, a bouffant, long hair, short hair? How about your clothes? Traditional cords and button-down collars, tie-dyed T-shirts and jeans? Did you have a car? What were you involved in at school? Think back for a minute to that spring of your junior year. A major concern might have been getting a date to the prom. Let's keep remembering. Write down your …

Focus Area One: Coordinating Services Between Schools And Agencies [Coleman], Harold B. Coleman

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Any child can be at risk at some point during his/her life. An entire family can also be at risk. But what does it mean to be at risk? The Iowa Child Development Coordinating Council has defined at risk for the purpose of prekindergarten children as: An at-risk prekindergarten child is any child, who because of physical or environmental influence is at risk of entering the education program at the kindergarten level lacking sufficient development necessary to succeed.

Any of the following may place a prekindergarten child at risk: • being a member of a low income family (under 150% …

Focus Area One: Coordinating Services Between Schools And Agencies [Ferguson], James E. Ferguson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Coordination of services between schools and human service agencies has long been an area in need of attention. Current coordination of services is often related to a specific project or case rather than being an ongoing strategy. B.A. lntragator noted that "interorganizational relationships may be interchangeable called collaboratives, cooperatives, coalitions, and consortia. These relationships may occur when two or more independent organizations agree to pool their authority, resources, and energies to achieve a desired goal or goals. The terms "coordination" and "collaboration" will be used in this paper as synonyms.

Collaborative relations are the wave of the future. Undergraduate schools …

Focus Area One: Coordinating Services Between Schools And Agencies [Hoth], Leona Hoth

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Schools today are teaching students with personal and family needs. These needs extend to the school and quite often interfere with children's ability to perform, succeed in their thinking, and process information. Such problems not only affect academic performance but also deter social, emotional, mental, and behavioral functioning which puts the students at risk. Public education cannot adequately service all problems of the family/child, so the expertise of community services and state agencies is called upon.

Focus Area Two: Increasing Family Involvement In The Child's Development [Boyde], Suzanne Boyde

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

I approach the topic of "increasing family involvement" from a personal point of view. I am a parent whose increased involvement in my child's education has been met with responses ranging from appreciation to consternation. My child has a long-standing mental illness which, after the passage of PL 94-142, has often cast his educators and me into what could be described most charitably as an uncomfortable relationship. As with many parents in similar situations, the very symptoms of the disorder which made my child eligible for special education were the rich source of parent conference material throughout his elementary education.

Focus Area Two: Increasing Family Involvement In The Child's Development [Collinson], Jan Collinson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The importance of the family in a child's development has been debated by psychologists, physicians, educators, and anyone who has ever looked at a child and asked "Why?" Families have been blamed for having a child with autism or a behavioral disorder and credited for raising a genius. Somewhere between blame and credit is the fact that a child makes the greatest physical and mental growth from birth to five years of age than at any other time in life. The family has the greatest influence during that time period.

When the child begins school, other factors become influential-peers, adults, …

Focus Area Two: Increasing Family Involvement In The Child's Development [Goodwin], Myrna J. Goodwin

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

A child's education begins with the family at the child's birth. Then during the hospital stay both child and mother are nurtured by the medical staff. Schools could begin their interest in the child's education if an educator visited the newborn's home to deliver ideas on learning in the home.

When the mother and child leave the hospital and arrive at their home, the environment (along with heredity factors) begins to shape the child's future. Physical, intellectual, and spiritual needs will be accommodated in varying degrees. If the baby's basic physical needs are met, that's good; but if the physical …

Focus Area Two: Increasing Family Involvement In The Child's Development [C. Johnson], Carol R. Johnson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Ample evidence reveals that parents significantly influence their children's academic performance. Several studies have correlated parental nurturance with the intellectual functioning and growth of the preschool child (Moore & Cooper, 1982). Baumrind (1967) found that parents who combined positive reinforcement with willingness to direct the child and to demand independent, mature behavior fostered competence in their children that is highly correlated with intelligence (Moore & Cooper, 1982).

Several other studies (Baumrind, 1967; Epstein & Radin, 1975; Radin, 1970) correlate their positive intellectual development of the preschooler to parental explaining of restrictions and parental consulting with the child, both of which …

Focus Area Two: Increasing Family Involvement In The Child's Development [Levine], Polly Levine

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

If the goal of education is to develop productive citizens who are life- long learners, then parents must be nurtured as partners in the educational process to attain that goal. Educators recognize the need to have parents involved in the schools. They are also painfully aware of many families’ reluctance to take an active role in education. To begin to deal with parent involvement, schools must seriously look at the messages they send to parents. Human service agencies can be major contributors to helping the process when schools collaborate with parents to benefit the family unit. However, agencies also receive …

Focus Area Three: Providing For The Health Needs Of Children In The School Setting: Facilitator's Summary, Linda S. Gleissner

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

School health has historically dealt with routine issues such as immunizations: screening tests for vision, hearing, or growth; and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses. Additionally impacting on school programs and the lives of young people are issues such as drug and alcohol usage, nutrition, teenage pregnancy, access to adequate health care, and communicable disease. Implicit in each of these issues is the need for collaboration across agencies in identifying strategies to influence the lives and health of our young people. No one agency has either the human or fiscal resources to effectively meet the needs.

Focus Area Three: Providing For The Health Needs Of Children In The School Setting: [Moore], Brenda R. Moore

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Historically, school health has been an under-emphasized and neglected area of health care, dealing with routine issues such as immunizations, mandated screening tests for vision, hearing or growth, and treatment for minor trauma. With changing health care needs, school health has become an increasingly important arena for attempting to deal with many of society's most difficult health concerns. Increased concerns in areas such as drug usage, communicable diseases, teenage pregnancy, inadequate access to health care, and increasing numbers of children with special health care needs (Appendix A) has created a marked imbalance in demands when compared to the resources usually …

Focus Area Three: Providing For The Health Needs Of Children In The School Setting: [Wiarda], Sally Wiarda

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Health programs which serve school-age youth are currently provided through a segmented and fragmented system. A significant disparity exists between health needs and available services. Consumer-oriented health and human service providers recognize that school-age youth - those individuals most at risk of receiving fragmented care - are readily accessible while involved in the school system.

However, health services in the schools which address school related activities such as immunizations, minor injuries and illnesses, and athletic physicals, although involving school and health personnel, often fail to recognize primary and preventive health needs of at-risk children.

Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity Of Service For Highly Mobile Children And Families [Casey], Gail J. Casey

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

This position statement will focus on the following topics regarding the provision of service to students whose school life has been characterized as mobile. The following areas will be reviewed from my perspective: (a) academic achievement, (b) special education services, (c) peer acceptance, (d) the students' view of their situation, and (e) the view of social services. The summation will then draw together the selected areas from the students' perspective.

Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity Of Service For Highly Mobile Children And Families [Ford], Sharon Ford

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Iowa statistics show that there are 14,136 people homeless and one-half of these are children; 413 are living on the street, 1,998 are living in cars, tents, etc., 1,876 are living in shelters, and 9,849 are living with friends. Iowa exceeds the United States in the percentage of children living in poverty. This is an issue which we need to address if we really want to help at-risk children and families.

Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity Of Service For Highly Mobile Children And Families [B. Johnson], Barbara Johnson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Current trends in education find us looking at the problems associated with students we deem at risk of dropping out of school. We have introduced the term "students (or children) at risk" into the educational vocabulary. For our purposes, students at risk will be defined in accordance with the Iowa Department of Education definition, as any student in jeopardy of not completing a high school education and becoming a productive worker. These students include potential dropouts who may be learning disabled, teen parents, youth offenders, academically low achievers, economically deprived children, children of abuse, physically disabled, emotionally or physically traumatized, …

Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity Of Service For Highly Mobile Children And Families [Perrish], Charlcie Perrish

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Families in our society have become increasingly mobile due partly to the refinement and availability of modern transportation. Many families relocate to maintain employment or to secure affordable housing. At least one in five families moves each year (Kuczen, 1982). This frequency of movement contributes to the decline in a family's sense of community and often results in isolation from family, friends, and other valuable support systems.

Sometimes when a family experiences severe difficulties, children must be removed temporarily from their parents. These children are usually placed in foster care. When a child enters foster care, the child not only …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Elliot], Ron Elliot

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

At risk brings to mind many different ideas and concepts. At some time probably every student would be considered at risk. What causes some students to rise to the challenge and others to fail?

Obviously, many factors influence decisions. As a child, the biggest influence would be family. As a child enters school, the influence base broadens and starts to shift toward school and peers.

As a school system, we are constantly striving to improve the school performance of all children. Over the past two or three years, our district has looked critically at this process and has reached some …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Frazier], Bette Fraizier

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

In the 1980's, the nation's schools came under scrutiny. Effective schools became a national focus. Leaders in the movement, such as Ron Edmonds and Larry Lezotte, shared with us the elements necessary in making education effective for all students. One of these elements, or correlates, is school-home relations. The home school component that unites these institutions in the education of the whole child is vital to student success. It is an important consideration in the programming for all special needs children. Yet, I would propose to you that it has no greater value anywhere than in the education of the …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Mueller], Ron Mueller

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

The mission for educators is to keep today's at-risk students from becoming tomorrow's dropouts. At-risk students need to believe that schools are good places to be and feel a sense of belonging. In every school hallway, there should be the sign "Welcome to Your School. There Is No Better Place To Learn." By the year 2000, as many as one-third of the nation's children may be at risk unless we have a vision to discover ways for them to face success. Unfortunately, many students perceive that they cannot achieve self-esteem in the school environment at an early age. In his …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Stokes], Gary Stokes

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

To determine how equitably we are distributing public and private resources for the development of children and youth in central Iowa, Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA) in the fall of 1990 conducted a survey of 500 families about their children's participation in school and community activities. Over 300 of the families, with average annual income of $9,800, were applicants at MICA for home heating assistance; 200 families, with income averaging $37,000, are members of 18 area churches. In total, the activities of 1,170 young people between the ages of 5 and 18 were compared. MICA found that:

• Participation in school …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Schoenauer], Barb Schoenauer

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

No issue has been bantered about more within the educational community during the past few years than that of the at-risk child. Are there truly more at risk or are we now becoming more cognizant of the problem? Is it a new name for an old problem?

Recently professionals concerned with the dropout rate and the number of graduates unprepared to become productive members of society have urged schools to address the problem of children at risk of school failure. This call to action has resulted in an extensive assortment of reports and policy statements all designed to address the …

Focus Area Five: Improving The School Performance Of All Children [Young], Kristen Young

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Few students enjoy feeling like a faceless number, or worse, a faceless problem to be passed on to someone else. The treatment the student receives from the teacher serves as a blueprint for the student to follow in dealing with others. Will this be a blueprint that builds positive relationships and encourages hard work and the pursuit of new experiences? Students who are not reaching their educational capabilities sit in every classroom, in every school. To address the needs of these students, we must acknowledge that they are not just ESL students, troublemakers, or poor attenders. To serve these students …

Focus Area Six: Creating Partnerships With The Private Sector To Support Children [Boyd], James N. Boyd

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

Iowa is slowly losing its population to the Sunbelt states and even to Minnesota. As the jobs go, so go the families.

Certainly the State of Iowa has tried to offer incentives to businesses to develop and to expand, but we still seem to be losing people. This trend keeps occurring even though Iowa is a leader in education and its people have a highly-regarded work ethic. The decline of the family farm and the consolidation of the small schools illustrate this dilemma to the ultimate.

What is called for is the cooperation among state and local governments, business, and …

Focus Area Six: Creating Partnerships With The Private Sector To Support Children [Domsic], Valli A. Domsic

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

At-risk students need support from every sector of our society. The number of young people who can be considered at risk is increasing steadily. This is not a problem which can be alleviated with a quick fix. We cannot vaccinate our children against the economic, psychological, and social perils of divorce, death, substance abuse, poverty, learning difficulties, and teenage pregnancy.

At best, our society can work together to form a network which provides a supportive structure for all students and particularly those students who are deemed to be at risk. While Iowa's legal definition of at risk clearly defines the …

Focus Area Six: Creating Partnerships With The Private Sector To Support Children [Jackson], H. James Jackson

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

I believe that business and education can form viable partnerships that will prove beneficial to all students and their families. While I support the idea of providing services for students in traditional at-risk situations or conditions I believe that all students are, at sometime during their school years, at risk.

In recent years, both the business and educational communities have consciously and deliberately encouraged the development of formal partnerships. The reasons for the formalization and expansion of the partnership concept is related, I believe, to two factors: the educational community seeking philosophical and financial support for their increasing funding needs, …

Executive Summary, Dave Else

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

John Dewey said, ''The purpose of education is to allow each individual to come into full possession of his or her personal power." A rapidly growing number of youth in Iowa and across the nation have little hope of capturing their personal power for a variety of reasons. They are students at risk. At risk of ridicule by peers; at risk of failure in school; at risk of being unable to bond with society; at risk of social deprivation; and at risk of never realizing their sense of personal value, worth, and dignity.

Focus Area Four: Providing Continuity Of Service For Highly Mobile Children And Families: Facilitator's Summary, Linda A. Fernandez

Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series

High mobility-frequent change of residence and/or school-is an indicator of a child at risk, or potentially at risk. Frequent mobility may be a symptom of conditions that contribute to at-risk behaviors, but the effects of high mobility compound the problems confronting at-risk children. The causes and effects of high mobility of families and children need to be examined to determine what social services need continuity, the most efficient and effective methods of increasing continuity of services, and what deterrents must be removed to provide the continuity.