Promoting a Systematic Focus on Learning Supports to Address Barriers to Learning and Teaching - Anticipating Congressional hearings related to reauthorizing NCLB, this report focuses on how learning supports can be enhanced in the reauthorized law. The emphasis is on fully integrating the development of a comprehensive system of learning supports as an essential component in school improvement efforts. (Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, July 2006) ...

Helping Students Make Good Decisions and Act on Them: The Real Meaning of Guidance and Advisement - This four-page brief provides recommendations for successful guidance at the high school level and examples of schools whose counseling programs include these important components. Among the recommendations: counselors should help students develop six-year plans for all years of high school and the two years following graduation; technology can and should be used to “help students plan a challenging high school program of study, explore career options, maintain a list of potential colleges and careers and build a résumé." According to the brief, students whose mentor or advisor helped them plan a high school program of study and review their course choices at least annually had substantially higher academic achievement than other students. (Southern Regional Education Board, September 2005)...