| Policy |
Schools today are under an ever-growing pressure to educate more effectively. Recent studies point to the need for educators to return to the basics, to stress the fundamental academic skills of mathematics, reading, and communication. At the same time schools find that they must increasingly deal with student behavioral problems such as chronic truancy, disruptive classroom behavior, alcohol and drug use, tuning out, fighting, and vandalism, which impede the learning process. These behaviors not only affect the learning of the students who exhibit them, they also influence the total learning environment of the school.
The Student Assistance Model (S.A.M.) described herein recognizes that these school-based behavioral problems are symptomatic of personal problems originating from various sources.
At the middle and high school stage, young people undergo dramatic changes in all areas of human development: physical, cognitive, and social. Their self concepts are subject to a constant state of flux. Desire for peer approval is a dominant factor in their lives. They are confused about how they should act, how they look, and how they will fit into society. On the one hand, they are treated as children, while on the other, chastised for not acting as adults. The support and comfort of their group often creates conflicts with their parents.
In addition, young people are affected by family problems such as divorce, abuse, unemployment, alcoholism, illness, and death.
Nationally, it is estimated that 10% of the student population have drug abuse problems (NIDA, 1982), 25% have an alcoholic parent (NIAAA, 1982), and 40% are from divorced homes (Bain, 1979).
Easy access to drugs, alcohol, and sexual activity offer convenient means of escape from these problems.
There is a growing realization that these troubled students have special needs for skill development and counseling beyond those of other students and beyond presently available resources. The Student Assistance Model will provide the sources to help these students.
The Student Assistance Model is based on the recognition that schools have the capability of being helpful to young people with personal problems. They are the only system in the community to serve all the children in that community.
They are often the first and primary system to experience their troubled behavior. As such, they provide an ideal setting for early identification and intervention, as well as for prevention.
For many high school students it may be their last opportunity to receive help. School support can make a significant difference in the direction of their lives.
The goal of this Student Assistance Model is to provide a framework within which students can receive help with personal problems, which may hinder their ability to function effectively at school.
At the same time, it is important to recognize that the role of the schools in resolving students personal problems is limited. The communities within which the schools serve must also develop effective resources to respond to the needs of young people. This working partnership will result in improved academic and personal functioning for the young people in the community. |