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Student
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Guidebook
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Welcome
…to the Student Assistance Program Guidebook:
A Resource for Schools developed by The Student
Assistance Center at Prevention First.

Prevention First is a nonprofit resource center committed to building and supporting

healthy, drug-free communities through public education, professional training and effective
tools for those working to prevent drug use and related issues such as violence, teen
pregnancy and academic failure.

Student Assistance Center at Prevention First

A Student Assistance Program (SAP) is a K-12 school-based, evidence-informed framework
for prevention, early intervention, referral and support for students with needs that may
prevent them from fully benefitting from their educational experience. SAPs focus on building
supports for students dealing with non-academic barriers to learning including behavioral
health, family and relationship issues as well as other life needs.

The Student Assistance Center was established in 2006 to support Student Assistance
Programs in Illinois through training, technical assistance, and resources. The Center
grounds all services in evidence-informed practices. SAC services focus on planning,
implementing, evaluating, and strengthening Student Assistance services in public and
private schools serving grades K through 12. The Student Assistance Center provides
training and technical support to schools as well as resources including tools for everyday
use, newsletters, archived webinars on current topics, fact sheets, and more.
([Link]
SAC/)

Funding provided in whole or in part by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration

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 Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Target Populations and Non-Academic Barriers to Learning

Chapter 3: Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation

Chapter 4: Universal Strategies

Chapter 5: Selective Strategies

Chapter 6: Indicated Strategies

Chapter 7: Interventions Aligned with the Levels of SAP Service

Chapter 8: Involving Parents and other Adults in the Student Assistance Process

Chapter 9: Coordination and Development with Other School Services and Programs

Chapter 10: School / Community Collaboration and Partnerships

Chapter 11: Student Assistance Program Sustainability

Appendix A: Indicated Strategies: Best Practices Standards for Student Assistance

Appendix B: Indicated Strategies: Best Practices for Multi-Disciplinary Problem-

Solving Teams

Resources

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Overview
Bob Wise, President of the Alliance for Excellent Education, states that the Every Student
Succeeds Act (ESSA) presents states with significant opportunities for improving education.
He advocates that, “We need strong systems that will identify students who are struggling,
provide them with support, and celebrate the teachers and school leaders who are
responsible for their success.”1 That precisely is the purpose and framework of a Student
Assistance Program.

An abundance of evidence shows that curriculum and effective teaching practices alone
cannot accomplish the school’s mission of preparing students for successful lives beyond
school walls. School district and building level educational leaders must be compelled to
look beyond curriculum as the sole source for educational success. “Students’ abilities to
learn depends not just on the quality of their textbooks and teachers, but also on the comfort
and safety they feel at school and the strength of their relationships with adults and peers
there.”2

This Student Assistance Program Guidebook is for educational leaders, educators and
other youth workers, and offers processes, strategies, tools, websites and other resources
for schools implementing or looking to implement evidence-based Student Assistance
Programs as a strong system to support those struggling students.

Non-Academic Barriers to Learning

“There is growing recognition at the local, state, and federal levels in the United States (US)
and around the world that schools must meet the social and emotional developmental needs
of students for effective teaching and learning to take place and for students to reach their
full potential.”3 Those social emotional needs arise from non-academic barriers to learning
including:

• school adjustment problems

• trauma generated at school or at home
• attendance and dropout problems,
• mental health issues including depression or suicide issues, self-injury, stress and
anxiety related issues, grief
• physical and sexual abuse, violence
• substance abuse
• gender issues

1 NGA 01 ESSA 101 Opportunities for Governors, [Link] (November

2016)
2 Education Week, Social emotional needs entwined with student’s learning, security. January 4, 2014. (November
2016)
3 Brackett, Marc A. & Susan E. Rivers, Transforming Students’ Lives with Social and Emotional Learning. Yale
Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University. [Link]
Students%E2%80%[Link]. (November 2016)

4
 • family issues including dissolution, homelessness or displacement, family member
mental health and substance use disorders, and relationship difficulties
• parent or other family member incarceration
• military deployment
• delinquency and involvement with the juvenile justice system
• teen pregnancy and parenting

“ESSA places an unprecedented priority on the provision of supports for young people
struggling with barriers to learning, including programs that address academics along with
the climate and culture of the school setting. Improving the educational outcomes for all
students requires that schools - the places where children and youth spend most of their day
- promote the necessary conditions for learning, which include a safe, caring, participatory,
and responsive school/classroom climate, and the development of academic, social,
emotional, behavioral, and physical competencies. Barriers to learning and teaching, such
as inadequate access to the general education curriculum, poverty, trauma, disengagement,
absenteeism, bullying, and behavioral health issues, must be addressed.”4

Adults who struggle with these issues, and are unable to do their jobs, are often referred to
work programs called EAP’s (Employee Assistance Programs). These programs are designed
to help people work through life’s issues and get back on track and back to productive
work performance. This support model was translated to school policies in the 1980’s to
provide similar ways for students to maneuver through stressors that impeded academic
success. Known as SAP (Student Assistance Program), this model has become a means
for preventing, intervening, referring and supporting our students who may be experiencing
problems that prevent them from fully benefitting from their educational experience.

Student Assistance Programs:

• Work with students’ social emotional needs through three tiers of service
• Provide levels of supports to students to help them deal with these personal barriers
• Identify students who are impacted by personal roadblocks preventing them from
benefitting fully from their educational opportunity
• Maximize school and community resources through service coordination and bridges
to outside services
• Connect students and families to community services and take advantage of those
services at higher rates than reported nationally.5

When a school has mistakenly interpreted SAP to be an academic intervention model,

confusion arises about the purpose of two intervention programs addressing the same
problems. Since its inception, the Student Assistance Program model has never been
intended to be a pre-referral team or academic intervention model. Information presented in
this guidebook will help schools using Student Assistance as an academic intervention align
service efforts to address non-academic barriers as the model intends.

4 Illinois State Board of Education, Every Student Succeeds Act, State Plan, Draft 1. [Link]
[Link] (November 2016)
5 Fertman, CI; Schlesinger, J; Fichter, C; Tarasevich, S; Zhang, X and Wald, H (2000). Student Assistance Program
Evaluation final report submitted to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, October, [Link]
for further understanding components and indicators available for download at [Link]

5
Because Response to Intervention (RTI) is an instructional model focused on reading, math
and behavior, and Student Assistance is a non-academic intervention model, it is important
to understand the purpose, approach, structure and types of interventions that distinguish
Student Assistance Programs so that all interests of students are served and not just those
that are academic in nature. The Response to Intervention model (RTI) is an instructional
model. “The heart of any RTI model lies in the use of tiered instructional processes. Although
the assessment components of RTI (universal screening and progress monitoring) are
essential elements of implementation, it is the instruction that occurs as a function of the
outcomes of the assessments that truly drives the changes we hope to see in students who
are identified as being at some level of risk for not meeting academic expectations.”6 The
heart of Student Assistance lies in tiers of support for social emotional and life needs. Life
skill instruction occurs as a part of the universal and selective levels. However, most SAP
services occur at the level of the student, addressing individual life needs impeding the
ability to benefit from instruction. For many SAP interventions, instruction is not part of the
intervention at all.

Purpose of this Guidebook

This guidebook is grounded in the desire to provide districts and schools with evidence-
based information, ideas, tools, and resources to enhance student success. It provides
you with practical information and resources that you can apply right away in your Student
Assistance work and directs you to tools and other resources on the [Link]
website and other helpful sites. Student Assistance teams and coordinators should find the
guidebook helpful in program planning, implementation and evaluation.

6 Shapiro, Edward. Tiered Instruction and Intervention in a Response to Intervention Model. RTI Action Network. http://
[Link]/essential/tieredinstruction/tiered-instruction-and-intervention-rti-model. (November 2016).

6
 How to Use This Guidebook
You may go through the guidebook chronologically to gain information about the primary facets
of Student Assistance Programs. It includes notations of resources throughout, and concludes
with a wealth of resources found on the Prevention First website along with numerous other
helpful websites.

The framework model on the next page offers a visual diagram of Student Assistance services
implemented within a Student Assistance Program. A targeted student (one who fits within a
targeted population definition) is surrounded by a variety of service levels aligning with a multi-
tiered system of support. Student Assistance Programs have been part of school strategies in
Illinois since the 1980s, with the structure complementing Illinois’ MTSS framework for Response
to Intervention (See Chapter 8 “Coordination and Development with Other School Services and
Programs”.)

Visit [Link] to view additional resources and information regarding Student

Assistance Programs.

The Student Assistance Framework

The Student Assistance framework is an organizational model for delivering services at three
levels to students impacted by non-academic barriers to learning. All schools must commit to
making students the center of the totality of its educational efforts. Surrounding those students
must be supports for meeting needs that impact a student’s opportunity to take advantage of all
that is offered in the educational process. Instructional models focus on high standards, aligned
curriculum and instructional tiers of interventions that support students’ academic achievement
through instructional practices. Successful models must also address student’s non-academic
needs that create barriers to reaching those standards and benefitting from curriculum and
effective instructional practices.

The Student Assistance framework aligns with instructional models placing student success
at the center of all efforts. The Student Assistance framework supports effective instructional
practices with a focus on addressing the non-academic barriers to learning through universal,
selective and indicated strategies which aligns with Illinois’ ESSA state plan. Effectiveness
of these strategies is dependent upon efficient intentional planning, and collaboration with
existing programs and services from within the school and the community. Ethically, and
part of any effective planning process, on-going evaluation must be included in intentional
planning to ensure strategy effectiveness. Direct service delivery may include a Student
Assistance Core Team and/or a Student Assistance Coordinator as part of a sound internal
structure which involves the entire school. Sustainable practices throughout the planning and
implementation processes ensure that these types of supports remain available for students.

Student Assistance as an Effective Approach

Student Assistance Programs are recognized as evidence-based programs in the National
Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices. Additionally, several published peer
reviewed studies show that positive student outcomes are evident for students who participate
in a Student Assistance Program.

Students who participate in an SAP are expected to attend school, behave and progress
academically. The specific student school outcomes examined in one study are student

7
The Student Assistance Framework

Universal Strategies and Practices: School policies, programs,

and staff development

School / community collaboration and partnerships

Selective strategies and Practices: Educational groups and activities

Student Assistance Team
Evidence informed strategies and practices
Program planning and evaluation

Bridging to community service

Target: Students who are unable to fully
benefit from educational opportunities
due to non-academic barriers to
learning.

Student Assistance Coordinator

Coordination and development with school

programs and services

Indicated Strategies and Practices: Data-driven identification a screening

a problem-solving a monitoring

Sustainability Practices

attendance, suspension (for behavior or drug/alcohol policy violations), and promotion,

retention and graduation status after their SAP referral. Referred students show positive
improvements in attendance, a decrease in discipline problems (as measured by additional
suspension rate) and positive promotion and graduation status after their SAP referral.7

A Nebraska study found that students attending schools with SAPs reported lower alcohol use
rates (in the last 30 days) and significantly higher levels of academic achievement than schools
with no SAP.8

7 Fertman, Carl, et al. Retrospective analysis of the Pennsylvania Student Assistance Program outcome data:
Implications for practice and research. 2003. [Link]
(November 2016)
8 Scott, D., Surface, J., Friedli, D. & Barlow, T. (1999).“Effectiveness of student assistance programs in Nebraska
schools.” Journal of Drug Education, 165-174. (November, 2016).

8
 Most administrators value increased daily attendance. Lower truancy rates equate to
dollars and cents to support district programs and services. Studies have demonstrated
higher attendance rates for students receiving SAP services. When students can feel more
connected to the school, they typically will attend school more often. A major tenant of
Student Assistance is connecting students with a positive adult in the building to foster
school connectedness. Student Assistance has been shown in Illinois to improve academics
and behavior, reduce truancy and keep students in school. Student outcome data reported
by Student Assistance Programs throughout Illinois from 1999 through 2013 showed that
attendance, behavior, and academic performance improved in students with a Student
Assistance intervention plan.9

Student Assistance has historically been an effective vehicle in schools to address non-
academic barriers to learning. Students whose needs are beyond the scope of the school
are connected to community services and take advantage of those services at higher rates
than reported nationally. “Students through SAP are consistently, and at a higher rate
than reported nationally, linked to the behavior health care system. Many students coming
through a Student Assistance Program are referred to a community human services agency
for an assessment. Most the students who are linked to and assessed at the local agencies
comply with the assessment recommendation and access some if not all the recommended
programs and services.”10

“There is an abundance of evidence that most children in need of mental health services
do not receive them, and those that do, receive them, for the most part, through the school
system.”11 “Schools and medical care facilities are the two most common providers of
mental health service to children and youth in the U.S. Given this lead role in the provision
of mental health services, schools represent the most logical focal point for coordinated
service delivery.”12

9 Illinois Association of Student Assistance Professionals and the Student Assistance Center at Prevention First.
Academic and Behavioral Outcomes with Student Assistance Programs, [Link]
c5775ac6-24d1-40f8-9f74-b5bc6be26b3b/[Link]. (November2016).
10 Fertman, Carl, et al. Retrospective analysis of the Pennsylvania Student Assistance Program outcome data:
Implications for practice and research. (November, 2016).
11 Burns, B., Costello, E. J. Angold, A., Tweed, D., Stangle, D., Farmer, E. M. Z., et al. (1995).
“Children’s mental health service use across service section.” Health Affairs, 14, 148-159.
12 National Association of School Psychologists, position statement on interagency collaboration to support the mental
health needs of children and families, [Link] (November 2016).

9
An SAP is a powerful resource to integrate into the school environment. With the involvement of
all staff and volunteers, behavioral problems and fights are reduced, attendance is enhanced,
grades are better and fewer students drop out.13 Students receiving SAP services may also feel
greater perceived control over their lives, see greater importance in attending school, believe
there are better ways to solve problems than fighting, as well as make more certain plans to
abstain from substance use.14

The 5Essential Elements and Student Assistance Programs

Student Assistance strategies support schools’ efforts to improve the 5Essential Elements.
Statewide data shows that Student Assistance contributes to:

• Effective School Leadership by recommending policy and procedures around

behavioral health and life issues.
• Parent - Community Ties by engaging parents in trusting relationships, creating
networks of support and developing working relationships with community partners
to collaboratively address the needs of youth and families often securing services for
youth on site.
• Professional Capacity by strengthening staff development, enhancing the sense of
collective responsibility for all students in the school, and utilizing a collaborative
problem-solving practice for life issues which regularly facilitates “close collaborative
relationships among teachers.”
• Supportive Environment/Student Centered Learning Climate by building social capital
and supports for students through a network of relationships that offer moral support,
information and access to resources.15

Learn more about the important benefits of Student Assistance strategies and the 5Essential
Elements in the 5Essentials and Student Assistance at [Link]
Resources/b4b33788-f3e8-4b3a-b54d-11b01dc49b71/5Essentials_andStudentAssistance.
pdf
For responsible educators, the role students’ personal roadblocks play in improving school
performance cannot be ignored. One cannot assume that a student who comes to school
comes ready to learn. Nor can one ignore the students who do not attend school by simply
applying a truancy policy. Both life and school stressors can lead to a continuum of inter-related
risk behaviors ranging from inattention in class to truancy, bullying, risky driving, risky sexual
behavior, problem-gambling, teen pregnancy, demonstrating aggressive and violent behaviors as
well as repeatedly being victimized, mental health problems, and substance use among others.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs has long been considered a respected resource in looking at
human need and fulfillment including how students place focus.

13 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. National
Association for Children of Alcoholics Help is Down the Hall (2007).
14 Apsler, Robert, et al. Promoting positive youth development for at risk youth through a Student Assistance Program.
Journal of Primary Prevention, Vol 27., No. 6, pages 533 to 554.
15 The 5Essentials and Student Assistance: Tools for Strengthening Your School. Prevention First, Inc. https://
[Link]/Resources/b4b33788-f3e8-4b3a-b54d-11b01dc49b71/5Essentials_andStudentAssistance.pdf.
(November, 2016)

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 Chapter 2: Target Populations and Non-
Academic Barriers to Learning

“Schools most often focus on the cognitive level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the
educational process. When families, neighborhoods and schools are safe and healthy,
have abundance and students feel accepted by adults and students in culture and
gender as well as social acceptance, the cognitive level can have greater outcomes.
When conditions exist that demand greater attention on lower levels of deficiency
management and fulfillment, student focus at the cognitive level is significantly
diminished. Educators cannot assume that children have their physiological, safety,
belonging and esteem needs met, and that they are ready to learn simply because they
are in school.”16

Several areas of study help inform contributors to non-academic barriers to learning.

An emerging and significant area of study is the Adverse Childhood Experiences study
conducted through the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser-Permanente. The Social
Development model by Drs. Hawkins and Catalano lends well to others’ resiliency work.
The National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine’s extensive literature review
informs both basic needs of youth and characteristics of strategies and programs to promote
positive development. Positive Youth Development studies build upon risk and protective
factors to inform effective strategies moving beyond a problem focus to a solution-focused
approach.

This body of literature including the

frameworks, concepts and methods give
insight into what happens to youth that
impacts their lives, keeps them functioning
at deficiency levels as well as helps them One cannot assume
move toward the cognitive level. Each area of
study gives greater insight to educators and that a student who
other youth workers about more effectively
approached interventions that have potential comes to school
to move students closer to Maslow’s cognitive
level where educational content is delivered.
comes ready to learn.
Nor can one ignore
Student Assistance Target Populations and
Three Levels of Support
the students who do
Any student may at some point be appropriate
for Student Assistance services. However,
not attend school
some students’ life factors place them at by simply applying a
greater need for assistance more often.
Student Assistance targets students whose truancy policy.
needs arise from non-academic barriers to
learning and applies intervention strategies

16 Campbell D. E.“Young people do not learn math, reading, or English well if they are intimidated, defensive, and
fearful.” The Work of Abraham Maslow. Pearson Allyn Bacon Prentice Hall

11
framed on a three-leveled system of support which also aligns with the multi-tiered systems
of support used in Illinois. Strategies are organized through a coordinated approach into the
Institute of Medicine’s three target population levels: Universal, Selective, and Indicated.17
Universal strategies support all students through policies, programs, and staff development.
Selective strategies support students at higher risk due to indicators of need, yet are not
experiencing significant interruptions in their educational process. Indicated supports are
provided for individual students who are experiencing non-academic barriers to the extent
that the learning process is disrupted. More extensive information on each tier is offered in
additional chapters in this guidebook.

It is important to note that students may receive all three levels of support simultaneously.
Universal strategies address all students and staff in the building. Selective supports
often address up to 20 percent of the school’s student population. Indicated supports
typically focus on 5 to 10 percent of the student population, yet may vary when poverty,
homelessness, and crime are more prevalent in the community.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as a Predictor of Readiness to Learn

Abraham Maslow synthesized a large body of human behavior research in 1954 that is
widely accepted in behavioral psychology and supported by other major studies. Maslow
posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groups: deficiency needs and growth
needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next
higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, at some future time a deficiency
is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency.

Maslow’s position is that an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if
the deficiency needs are met. Literature on the ACEs study, risk factors, and Positive Youth
Development help inform what happens to students that impacts them so significantly that
their focus remains on meeting deficiency needs rather than focusing on curriculum. Protective
factor studies along with Positive Youth Development and the Search Institute’s Developmental
Assets inform strategies at all three levels of service that can move students closer to the
cognitive level increasing their opportunities to benefit from the educational experience.

The following diagram and the information that follows help us visualize where students in
the building may land in Maslow’s triangle.

Physiological: in addition to what we consider basic needs for self, we also consider health
of self and others including basic hygiene needs being met. Basic health includes eye, skin,
and dental health, general nutrition and lack of disease or pain in any area of the body. Risk
factors can include high insecure family transitions impacting housing and finances, low
family resources and supports, early pregnancy, sexual abuse, substance use.

Safety / security: includes physiological and psychological safety of self, family members,
and others. Risk factors such as domestic and school violence, gang involvement or threat,
environmental/community threats including gangs, substance use, and crime, personal or
family substance use, sexual relationships and assault, can impact this level.

17 Springer, Fred and Joel Phillips. The IOM Model: a Tool for Prevention Planning and Implementation. [Link]
[Link]/publications/Prevention%20Tactics/[Link] (November 2016).

12
 Belongingness and Love: risk factors include school connectedness, family structure
and responsibilities, how one vies for attention and acceptance, social and school norms,

Aesthetic and
Self-Actualization

Greater balance of risk and protective

factors; ACES score may be lower;
Cognitive – more developmental assets; more
where curriculum is delivered. Positive Youth Development factors
in place.

Esteem impacted by multiple ACE scores

and risk factors with fewer protective factors,
developmental assets and Positive Youth
Development needs being met.

Belongingness and love impacted by multiple ACE scores and

risk factors with fewer protective factors, developmental assets
and Positive Youth Development needs being met.

Safety / securityimpacted by multiple ACE scores and risk factors

with fewer protective factors, developmental assets and Positive Youth Development
needs being met.

Physiological impacted by multiple ACE scores and risk factors with fewer protective factors,
developmental assets and Positive Youth Development needs being met.

13
developmental tasks, physical characteristics and development, high family transitions and
mobility, school/family/peer attitudes toward problem behaviors. Peer group and social
exclusion are also strong risk factors.

Esteem: Lower order: status, fame, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation, respect
and dominance. Higher order: feelings of confidence, competence, achievement, mastery,
independence and freedom.

Cognitive: Learning new information not sought to fulfill deficiency needs. Learning
originating from a need/desire to learn and self-fulfillment rather than seeking information to
resolve a deficiency.

Aesthetic and Self-Actualization: Finding ways to achieve one’s full potential, and connect
to purposes higher than self, including helping others without gain and helping others
achieve their potential. These levels are more typically achieved at the adult life stage.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study

Many children grow up in less than ideal home situations. If there are students in the building
who have had multiple home placements, have an incarcerated family member, or are
involved with the juvenile justice system, there is a high degree of probability the student has
experienced several childhood experiences which impacts their ability to learn and behave
in the same manner as students who have not had the same number of experiences. These
examples of trauma are the more visible categories of adverse childhood experiences. Other
categories are not as easily identified in students, yet have no less impact on the educational
process.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences study, which has garnered more interest over the past
10 years, is one of the largest ongoing studies of childhood abuse and neglect, and the

14
 impact of these on health and wellbeing. Ten categories of adverse childhood experiences
were studied in over 17,000 people.

The ground-breaking CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study

looked at:

1. Emotional abuse
2. Physical abuse
3. Sexual abuse
4. Emotional neglect
5. Physical neglect
6. Family violence
7. Household substance abuse
8. Household mental illness
9. Parental separation or divorce
10. Household member incarceration

Subsequent ACE surveys include racism, witnessing violence outside the home, bullying,
living in an unsafe neighborhood, and involvement with the foster care system. Other types
of childhood adversity can also include being homeless, living in a war zone, being an
immigrant, moving many times, witnessing a sibling being abused, witnessing a father or
other caregiver being abused, involvement with the criminal justice system, attending a zero-
tolerance school, etc.18

Studies, including empirical evaluations, confirm that ACEs are common in all population
sectors, are highly interrelated, and produce a powerful cumulative effect on both brain
and overall human development. The studies reveal that the ACES score – the number of
categories experienced, and not necessarily the repetition or severity of any category -
determines impact and outcomes. Adverse childhood experiences impact student learning
through:

1. Inability to process verbal/nonverbal written information,

2. Inability to effectively use language to relate to others,
3. Lack of sequential organization,
4. Not understanding cause and effect,
5. Lack of sense of self and perspective,
6. Inability to distinguish emotions,
7. Lack executive functions: setting goals, developing a plan, carrying out goals,
reflecting on the process,
8. Difficulty with transitions (endings and beginnings).19

These are students who focus on survival rather than learning. The goal is to find places
that are ‘safe.’ They restrict their processing of what is happening around them, disconnect
or act coercively toward others, and cannot formulate a coherent, organized response.

18 ACES Too High News, [Link]

300-million-but-it-doesnt-have-to/#more-6466, (January 2017)
19 Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, The Heart of Learning and Teaching [Link]
institutionaled/pubdocs/[Link], (January 2017).

15
They have difficulty regulating their emotions, managing stress, developing empathy, and
using language to solve problems.20 One population, youth involved with the juvenile justice
system, have almost three times higher ACE scores than the general population. Those with
higher ACE scores had more substance abuse, self-harm behaviors, and school-related
problems such as disruptive behaviors, substandard performance, and truancy.21

Learnings arising from the ACES study help inform why students in Maslow’s Hierarchy
deficit levels struggle to do well cognitively in school. These insights help educators
understand what students are focusing upon in the classroom, and why that focus is not on
curriculum delivered at the cognitive level.

Risk and Protective Factors

Dr. J. David Hawkins, Dr. Richard F. Catalano and their colleagues at the University of
Washington, Social Development Research Group examined the relationship between risk
and protective factors and youth problem behavior. This work is considered a seminal study
in understanding children’s behavioral health issues.

Risk and protective factors hinder or promote developmental competencies in youth. The
absence or presence of risk and protective factors along with combinations of both can
impact mental health, substance use, delinquent and violent behaviors, teen pregnancy and
school dropout as well as inform the strategies used in prevention and intervention.

20 Ibid.
21 Michael Bagviolio, et. al., OJJDP Journal of Juvenile Justice, The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ace)
in the lives of juvenile offenders, [Link] (January 2017).

16
 The absence or presence of risk and protective
factors along with combinations of both can
impact mental health, substance use, delinquent
and violent behaviors, teen pregnancy and school
dropout as well as inform the strategies used in
prevention and intervention.

“Risk factors tend to be positively correlated with one another and negatively correlated
to protective factors. In other words, people with some risk factors have a greater chance
of experiencing even more risk factors, and they are less likely to have protective factors.
Risk and protective factors also tend to have a cumulative effect on the development—or
reduced development—of behavioral health issues. Young people with multiple risk factors
have a greater likelihood of developing a condition that impacts their physical or mental
health; young people with multiple protective factors are at a reduced risk.”22 Risk factors
are known to predict increased likelihood of drug use, delinquency, school dropout, teen
pregnancy, and violent behavior among youth.

Risk factors are grouped into five domains: individual, family, school, peer, and community/
society. Within each domain are specific risk and protective factors. Some risk and
protective factors are considered fixed and do not change. Others are variable and change
especially when interventions are effectively applied. Risk and protective factors also exist in
the contexts of relationships, community and society.

The correlations with Maslow’s Hierarchy are evident when reviewing individual and family
risk factors alongside ACEs data.

Resiliency
Much of the intervention work conducted by Student Assistance Programs is grounded in
helping students build resiliency. Resiliency studies help us understand a paradigm that
focuses on strengths and capacity for transformation in moving beyond a focus on problems
and negative outcomes. A helpful resilience definition posed by Masten contends that
“resilience refers to (1) people form high- risk groups who have had better outcomes than
expected; (2) good adaptations despite stressful (common) experiences (when resilience is
extreme, resilience refers to patterns in recovery); and (3) recovery from trauma.23

22 Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies, Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration,
Risk and protective factors, [Link], (January 2017).
23 Masten, A. (1994). Resilience in individual development: Successful adaptation despite risk and adversity. In M.C.
Wang & E.W. Gordon (Eds.), Educational resilience in inner-city America: Challenges and prospects (pp. 3-25). Hillsdale,
NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.

17
The process of resilience is the process of healthy human development. “At the most
fundamental level, resiliency research validates prior research and theory in human
development that has clearly established the biological imperative for growth and
development that exists in the human organism — that is part of our genetic makeup —
and which unfolds naturally in the presence of certain environmental attributes.”24 Bonnie
Bernard’s resiliency work identified four attributes of resilient individuals:

1. Social Competence: Ability to elicit positive responses from others, thus establishing
positive relationships with both adults and peers
2. Problem-solving skills: Planning that facilitates seeing oneself in control and
resourcefulness in seeking help from others
3. Autonomy: A sense of one’s own identity and an ability to act independently and exert
some control over one’s environment, and
4. A sense of purpose and future: Goals, educational aspirations, persistence,
hopefulness, and a sense of a bright future.25

Resilience focuses on development of competency traits that help students feel safe and
do well despite challenging circumstances. “These competency traits center on social
competence (responsiveness, cultural flexibility, empathy, caring, communication skills, and
a sense of humor); problem-solving (planning, help-seeking, critical and creative thinking);
autonomy (sense of identity, self-efficacy, self-awareness, task-mastery, and adaptive
distancing from negative messages and conditions); and a sense of purpose and belief
in a bright future (goal direction, educational aspirations, optimism, faith, and spiritual
connectedness).”26

Resiliency research has demonstrated that:

• Among matched groups of students, resiliency is the key factor in determining why
one group succeeds academically while the other does not,
• Six interrelated resiliency skills can be measured and taught,
• When students’ resiliency increases, their academic performance improves, along
with their attendance and behavior.27
Resilience is a process of linkages that happen through life – linkages to others, the
environment, and a hopeful social fabric. A consistent theme throughout resiliency literature
is the value of the caring and supportive school environment. Caring personal relationships
serve to build resilience in students. A primary function of Student Assistance interventions
has been to foster positive caring relationships between the identified student and at least
one positive adult in the building.

24 Resiliency in Action, Nan Henderson, The foundations of the resiliency framework, [Link]
articles-resources/the-foundations-of-the-resiliency-framework/, (January 2017).
25 Bernard, B. (1995). Fostering Resilience in Children., [Link] (January 2017).
26 Ibid.
27 Scholar Centric, Resiliency research, [Link] (January 2017).

18
 The Student Assistance indicated intervention approach focuses on several fundamental
strategies:

• Connecting a student with at least one positive adult in the building;

• Connecting the student and family with community resources designed to meet the
needs beyond the capacity of the school;
• Connecting the student to opportunities for bonding and mattering within and outside
the school;
• Developing problem-solving and communication skills;
• Providing opportunities to build help-seeking skills;
• Providing opportunities to build additional social emotional skills through one to one
work, through educational support groups; and through universally applied strategies;
and,
• Assisting students in developing and implementing appropriate structures for a
variety of environments.

Positive Youth Development (PYD) and the Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets
Positive Youth Development is a framework that guides Student Assistance Programs, and in
the larger community, programs and services that focus on helping children and youth grow
up in more healthy ways. Positive Youth Development is a strengths-based approach that
focuses on what youth need to succeed in both school and life. “Positive youth development
(PYD) is a holistic approach that focuses on the developmental characteristics—physical,
personal, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—that lead to positive outcomes and
behaviors among young people.”28

Positive youth development strategies intend to build competency rather than focus on
mitigating life problems, many of which originate outside the school. Student Assistance PYD
interventions seek “to achieve one or more of the following objectives: promote bonding,
social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, behavioral competence,
and moral competence; foster resilience, self-determination, spirituality, self-efficacy, clear
and positive identity, belief in the future, and prosocial norms; and provide recognition for
positive behavior and opportunities for prosocial involvement.”29

To approach these goals, SAPs use all three of the Institute of Medicine’s service levels
in a coordinated framework rather than attempt to work with each of these goals in each
student at the indicated level including policy development, universally applied programs,
educational social emotional curriculums, along with individualized intervention strategies.
SAPs that use the Positive Youth Development framework to approach their work typically
have a larger picture view of their purpose over schools that frustratingly find themselves ‘out
of ideas’ due to applying piecemeal strategies.

28 SAMHSA, National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices, , Positive Youth Development Literature Review,
[Link]
pdf(January 2017).
29 Ibid.

19
Search Institutes 40 Developmental Assets
The Search Institute released a framework of developmental assets in 1990 that identifies
a set of skills, experiences, relationships and behaviors that help children and youth to be
more successful. The more Developmental Assets acquired by a student, the better the
chances of succeeding in school and in life. The assets are categorized into 20 internal and
20 external assets and are tailored for age groups.

“Across the past 25 years, Search Institute and

others have shown that the number and intensity
The more of high quality relationships in young people’s lives
is linked to a broad range of positive outcomes,
Developmental including increased student engagement, improved
academic motivation, better grades, higher
Assets acquired aspirations for the future, civic engagement, more
frequent participation in college-preparatory classes
by a student, and activities, and a variety of other individual
the better the outcomes.”30

chances of Student Assistance Programs work collaboratively

with others in the building to integrate the 40
succeeding in Developmental Assets with other strategies. Although
the 40 assets help SAPs learn more about individual
school and in life. students, application of the assets is more often
focused as a universal strategy.

Each of the previously described areas of study

can and should be much more thoroughly examined to understand their value in planning
effective interventions at all three Student Assistance levels of service. Undeniably, services
guided by evidence based and informed bodies of work prove to offer better outcomes for
children and youth.

30 Search Institute, Developmental relationships. [Link]

(January 2017).

20
 Chapter 3: Program Planning,
Implementation and Evaluation
Step 1: Conduct need and resource assessment.
Step 2: Create and implement a plan.
Step 3: Implement programs
Step 4: Evaluate

Effective training alone cannot produce a good SAP. Intentional program planning must
occur by those that have attended training to determine what needs to be done by whom
how often, when, and where. Successful SAP planning is grounded in a systematic
continuous improvement process, the end goal of which is to foster the healthy development
of students by implementing Universal, Selective and Indicated strategies. The Four-Step
Program Process can lead SAP planners logically from identifying needs to measuring and
reporting outcomes.

Step 1: Identify Critical Needs and Existing System Resources for the Target
Populations
The first step in good program planning must be the identification of what non-academic
barriers to learning are impacting the students and staff most, and then identifying
the existing resources addressing those needs. A comprehensive needs and resource
assessment process examines factors about prevalence of conditions that contribute to
negative outcomes for students, and identifies support strategies and services that may
mitigate contributing conditions as well as build resilience. Logically, not all conditions
impact all students in the building to the same degree. Strategies will be tailored to
conditions and resources needed at each tier.

A need assessment allows a planning team to:

• Gain insight into both emerging trends as well as long-standing problems impacting
students and their families, staff members and administrators.
• Learn about barriers and roadblocks to students benefitting from existing school and
community resources.
• Gather baseline data which will help both with targeting interventions and future
evaluation.
• Create a strategic framework design that targets programs, services and
interventions to problem areas most impacting the school along with building
protective factors and resilience which can lead to greater potential outcomes,
especially in regard to student success.

21
The following list includes types of data a planning team may consider collecting as part of
the need assessment process.

Need Assessment:
Archival data is a storehouse of electronic and physical documents giving information
about the school over a specified period. Some types of archival data must be reported in
Illinois each year through the school report card process. Data about attendance, tardies,
suspensions, bullying and other violence, substance use policy violations, numbers
of transitional students, and other risk information are important data to note as well.
Disparities in services may be identified, and should also be noted from archival data.

Survey data may come from locally originated existing school surveys, as well as state
surveys such as the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System and the Illinois Youth Survey.
The 5Essentials Survey offers relevant school culture and climate data.

Key stakeholder interviews may offer some of the most important non-academic
barrier data and insight into problems, concerns, trends, and resources from those in
the building who may have the most contact with students experiencing such barriers.
Administrators, school counselors, social workers, and school health personnel often
have more detailed experiences working with student’s non-academic barriers. These
key stakeholder interviews help with gathering information and understanding the
impact of family situations or individual issues in a very confidential and sensitive
process. Although interviews are directed at aggregate rather than individual student
data, protecting student privacy should be essential in collecting this type of data. For
more detailed information, see the Need Fulfillment Key Stakeholder Interview guide at
[Link]
[Link]

Focus groups are composed of a trained facilitator and six to ten participants, and
are conducted without an audience. Group participants can be students, parents, staff
members, and representatives of community organizations serving youth. Focus group
questions center on identifying the ‘what’ and ‘why’ about topics relevant to the focus
group’s purpose.

22
 Electronic and live forums can be useful opportunities for a selected participant roster
to weigh in on non-academic issues impacting students. Through either format, an invited
panel composed of school, community, student, and parent representatives seeks to answer

questions about the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the issues, concerns, strengths and assets of the
topic being discussed.

Resource Assessment:
A second important step is the planning team’s analysis of data to identify the non-academic
issues most impacting the student population, and determination of which issues can be
addressed most effectively at the Universal, Selective, and Indicated tiers.

The resource assessment process follows need analysis to use what already exists and what
else is needed at each of the tiers.

A resource assessment allows a planning team to:

• Identify all relevant resources already existing in the building;

• Clarify services that are identified as needed, yet do not exist;
• Reduce duplication of services;
• Identify assets and strengths that may be helpful to target population members;

This data-gathering phase identifies assets and strengths in the school and community
that help address the problems and concerns identified in the first phase. An asset may be
a person, a place / space, a service, financial resources, time, policies, and opportunities.
Many of these resources will have surfaced in the need assessment. Although resources
will be identified in the need assessment phase, planners will benefit by examining assets
beyond the purview of those. The Student Assistance Program Resource Map can be helpful
to planners at this stage ([Link]
850f9e6eee0b/School_Resource_Map.pdf).

Step 1. Step 1 should conclude when the planning team has a clear picture of the critical
non-academic needs impacting the school along with a list of strengths and assets that
can help address those needs.

Step 2. Create a Plan that Includes Identified Outcomes through Implementing Universal,
Selective and Indicated Strategies

Creating the plan for all three tiers of service may appear daunting. Most school personnel
are familiar with creating and implementing school plans, and this Guidebook offers extensive
information and resources to include in this planning process. In this second stage, the planning
team will identify the Student Assistance services and the service delivery model that have the
potential to achieve the highest level of positive outcomes. Services should be planned for each
level of the Institute of Medicine’s service levels: universal, selective and indicated. In planning,
it is important to note that all students are eligible for Student Assistance services at each level
based on need rather than a failure to be successful at a different level. It is probable that some
students will simultaneously receive services at all three levels.

23
Universal Level:
Strategies are focused on the entire population of the school including both students and
adults. Strategies include policies, procedures, programs and messages aimed toward
building wellness and positive social-emotional skills while preventing or delaying the onset
of problem behaviors. (100% of population)

Selective Level:
Strategies at this level are more intervention-focused toward a subset of the population
for whom there are greater risks due to population characteristics. Characteristics may
include geographic factors such as communities with fewer services or norms that promote
unhealthy behaviors; parental factors including mental health issues and/or substance use;
grief and loss issues; gender identity issues; parental incarceration; teen pregnancy; or
homelessness. Students do not need to demonstrate behavior or academic issues to benefit
from selective interventions. (10 – 15% of population)

Indicated Level:
Strategies are focused on the individual student who is demonstrating early signs of
danger that may lead to additional problems including mental health issues, substance use,
violence, delinquency and school dropout. Strategies are more targeted and may involve
connection with community services for concerns outside the realm of the school. (5 – 8% of
population)

Determining the Service Delivery Model

School districts vary greatly in their supplies of personnel, time, and financial resources
which can impact the SAP approach to service delivery. Each approach is characterized by
strengths and limitations leading many school districts to use a combination of approaches.

Core Team Approach

• Most commonly implemented approach in Illinois (per collected state-wide data);
• Uses a fixed multi-disciplinary problem-solving team of individuals (core team) in
the building who work primarily with identified students to implement school-based
strategies as well as connect students and their families to community resources;
• Provides input to central and building administration on universal level strategies
including policy recommendations, social emotional programs, and staff development
on SAP related issues;
• Includes representatives from administration, classroom educators, school
counselors, social workers, and health interests in implementing the SAP process;
• Often functions on limited funding;
• One-to-one time to work individually with students in the program is limited.

24
 Internal Student Assistance Coordinator Approach
• An individual hired by the district to work directly with students and coordinate
prevention efforts;
• Often is combined with the core team approach; the director/coordinator may provide
direct student services, supervise others providing the services or use a combination
of both;
• Often combines specialized training with a background in school counseling or social
work;
• Typically, directly involved in review and recommendations of universal level
strategies including policy recommendations, social emotional programs, and staff
development on SAP related issues;
• Offers an increased amount of time devoted to student needs along with the
coordination of all SAP efforts in the building;
• Offers more time for prevention work due to dedicated SAP time.

External Student Assistance Coordinator Approach

• Rarely used in Illinois due to funding restrictions;
• An agency-based individual contracted through a district to provide services at the
school;
• Specialized training and certification in at-risk issues such as substance abuse and
mental health problems are strengths;
• Is trained to conduct initial screening and assessment for problems offering more
readily available connections to the community’s professional services;
• May be limited by funding for the number of hours per week allotted to work directly
with students;
• Little or no time devoted to directing prevention efforts or coordinating the continuum
of SAP services within the building;

Combining approaches can offer more comprehensive SAP services that address the entire
continuum of care.

Program and Service Goals and Objectives:

Empirical evidence tells us that how a program or service is implemented makes a significant
difference in outcomes. Program goals and objectives establish criteria and standards
against which service providers can determine program performance. Planners will need
to identify the goals and objectives of the program component or intervention planned for
evaluation.

An essential piece of program planning is formulating process and outcome measures for
each aspect of service delivery to inform how effectively the program is being implemented.
The intent of utilizing identified outcomes is to guide services to ensure quality. Outcomes
are performance measures and focus on accomplishments as well as establish value
through showing the benefits of the services offered. Specific indicators and benchmarks
become the service guide.

For each potential service identified in the planning stage, the planning team should identify
what they want to accomplish through the service, and create the specific indicators for
each goal that tell the team whether that is happening. When specific indicators are difficult

25
to create for a service, the team can break down the service into more specific activities with
indicator measures for the activities. More detailed information about process and outcome
performance measures and indicators can be found by visiting [Link] > Professional
Resources > Student Assistance Center and in Step 4: Conduct Programmatic Formative
and Summative Assessments for Program Evaluation.

The following list summarizes the planning activities for Step 2.

• Initial implementation activities with dates and responsibilities for implementation;

• Descriptions of roles and responsibilities for both program implementation and
ongoing service delivery;
• Goals and benchmarks for the first year of implementation;
• Staff development necessary for effective identification and referral;
• Student and family Student Assistance Program descriptions and referral information;
• Lists of resources to be used in interventions;
• Documentation and confidentiality processes;
• Implementation process data markers to measure whether services are implemented
as intended;
• Outcome indicators that evaluate program impact;
• Data systems for collecting, analyzing, and reporting individual student progress and
program evaluation information;
• Feedback mechanisms to identify changes needed during the service period;
• Strategies to support sustainability.

Several resources on the Prevention First website can be helpful in creating outcome
indicators and process benchmarks. Both the SAP Standards of Practice and the SAP Levels
of Development Workbook can offer practical information in gauging process and outcome
measurement.

26
 Step 3: Implementing Evidence-Based and Evidence-Informed Interventions
Step 3 includes finalizing any referral and documentation forms, delivering staff development
sessions and program information materials, and implementing interventions. A variety of
helpful information and tools for new SAPs can be found on the Prevention First website at
[Link]

The SAP is now ready to begin selecting interventions to meet the strategies identified in
the model. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration gives helpful
information regarding non-academic interventions.

“. . . . strong evidence means that the evaluation of an intervention generates consistently

positive results for the outcomes targeted under conditions that rule out competing
explanations for effects achieved (e.g., population and contextual differences). Experts agree
that evidence for the effectiveness of an intervention becomes ‘stronger’ with replication
and field testing under a variety of circumstances. However, there is less agreement about
the threshold of evidence or cut-off point below which evidence should be considered
insufficient. Ultimately, prevention planners and practitioners must judge the merits of the
evidence supporting the selection of one intervention relative to another. In some cases,
planners may not be able to find an intervention that meets their needs in the federal
registries or the peer-reviewed research literature. In these instances, other sources of
information such as articles in non-peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, or unpublished
program evaluation reports may be available. These sources may provide weaker support for
effectiveness; thus, they should be reviewed as specified in the guidelines.”31

It is helpful to note that prevention principles in several disciplines emphasize that schools
and communities should direct resources to a variety of intervention strategies rather than
implement a single strategy with the hope that it is enough to make a difference in the
population. Single strategies alone will not accomplish the desired result. The Institute of
Medicine’s levels of service upon which Student Assistance Programs are built offers the
framework for organizing this variety so that interventions are not randomly applied without
appropriate planning or monitoring.

Step 4: Conduct Programmatic Formative and Summative Assessments for Program

Evaluation
Evaluation should never be considered optional in programming connected to student
services. What happens in the school setting can significantly impact outcomes for youth.
Because the SAP is part of what happens in the school setting, it is the SAP’s ethical
responsibility to conscientiously consider the impact and effectiveness of the strategies that
are implemented.

Two types of evaluation, Formative or Process Evaluation, and Summative or Outcome

Evaluation, are important inclusions in this process.

Formative or Process Evaluation

Formative, or process evaluation takes place during program implementation with the

31 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. (2009)
Identifying and Selecting Evidence-Based Interventions: Revised Guidance Document for the Strategic Prevention
Framework State Incentive Grant Program. [Link] (January, 2017)

27
purpose of improving the program’s design or performance. The questions to be answered
in formative evaluation are, “Are we doing what we said we were going to do in the way
we said we were going to do it?” And, “Are we implementing the intervention(s) according
to best practices?” Formative evaluation involves gathering periodic implementation data
in line with goals, indicators and benchmarks established during the planning phase. This
information assists in adjusting service and program strategies, and assists schools in
identifying areas for further training and support. Additionally, feedback mechanisms for all
participants should be developed as a part of the formative evaluation process. Feedback
allows implementers the opportunity to adjust as needed. Program implementers should
especially be concerned during the implementation process about any facets that may be
creating negative impacts so these impacts can be quickly addressed.

Summative or Outcome Evaluation

Outcome evaluations are more complex in structure, data collection and interpretation; yet
without outcome data it is not possible to show that services and programs are causative
factors in change. Outcome data demonstrates what has been accomplished through the
services.

“What increased or decreased in whom or what?” is the question to be answered with

outcome data. Outcome data may not only reveal positive outcomes, but just as importantly,
data can show negative outcomes arising because of program implementation. Outcome
data may include both quantitative data (number of students achieving what changes or
in systems) and qualitative data (interviews to identify how individuals were impacted by
services). Both types of data are important to include in evaluation.

Both formative and summative measures should be established in the planning process,
and need to include the indicators that will be used to determine effectiveness. There are
numerous evaluation guides available online that can assist with planning and measurement.

Illinois’ Annual Statewide Data Reporting Process

The Illinois Association of Student Assistance Professionals (IASAP) collected process and
outcome data on a voluntary basis statewide beginning in 1993. Schools were asked to
complete and return a simple two-page report at the close of each school year. Collecting
the data for the report prompts a school to reflect on what has happened during the
school year. The Student Assistance Center worked cooperatively with IASAP to collect
and report state-wide SAP data beginning in 2008. Portions of this data may be viewed
on the Prevention First website ([Link]) under Professional Resources > Student
Assistance Center > SAP Data.

28
 Chapter 4: Universal Strategies

Step 1: Work with school policies to reflect Public Act 099-0456 and the Every
Student Succeeds Act
Step 2: Learn about evidence-based programs
Step 3: Establish program awareness and program marketing
Step 4: Conduct staff development

“School leaders must provide pro-social instruction, governance, and management

infrastructure; they must also address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage
disconnected students to support healthy development.”32

Universal level Student Assistance strategies include pro-social instruction, governance and
management infrastructure, and are applied to all students and/or staff. Universal strategies
are foundational in creating a safe, healthy and supportive climate for students and staff. Some
strategies, such as evidence-based programs may be applied to certain members of the
population at specific times with all students being exposed to the program over time. Other
strategies, such as school policy, apply to all students, staff, and visitors in the building.

Universal SAP Strategies include:

• School policies and procedures

• Prevention education and programs
• Evidence-based and informed practices
• Staff development
• SAP program awareness

The ESSA Activities to Support Safe and Healthy Students in Title 4 Part A addresses the
universal level strategies that have historically been implemented through Student Assistance
Programs. The intent of Part A is to support programs that contribute to a safe and drug free
learning environment that supports student academic achievement.

Universal Strategy: School Policy and Procedures

School policies that are effectively written and consistently applied to all school populations
are considered a universal protective factor and are foundational in addressing non-academic
barriers to learning. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, Illinois schools must submit,
among other information, the LEA’s plans that “will support efforts to reduce the overuse of
discipline practices that remove students from the classroom, which may include identifying
and supporting schools with high rates of discipline, disaggregated by each of the subgroups
of students.”33

32 National School Climate Council, School Climate and Pro-social Educational Improvement: Essential Goals
and Processes that Support Student Success for All, [Link]
dimensions_Prosocial_SC_Improvement_P_3-[Link] (November 2016).
33 Illinois State Board of Education. Every Student Succeeds Act, State Plan, Draft 1. (November 2016).

29
The decisions a school makes in creating and implementing policies and procedures
significantly impact students, staff, and families. Numerous schools have already put
significant efforts into planning and implementation of school policies establishing a sense
of physical and psychological safety for students. Creating a supportive school climate—and
decreasing suspensions and expulsions—requires close attention to the social, emotional,
and behavioral needs of all students.34

In light of learnings garnered through ACES studies, schools must ensure that students
impacted by family violence and other adverse childhood experiences receive necessary
supports particularly in reducing high rates of suspensions for students with multiple
adverse childhood experiences.

Strong foundational policies and procedures create effective and supportive learning
environments in which academic achievement can grow. Well-written policy and procedures
goes beyond a punitive intent and establishes the groundwork to support safety, appropriate
conduct and healthy living. These policies and procedures must then be applied consistently
and fairly in building a safe school climate with predictability, respect and responsiveness to
student need.

A school’s policy and procedures should serve multiple functions including:

• Provide clear rules about acceptable and unacceptable behavior in any area under
the school purview;
• Provide a framework for the rights and responsibilities of students, staff, and families;
• Serve as a preventive strategy in promoting appropriate behavior for all students and
staff;
• Provide guidelines for administering consistent consequences for inappropriate
behavior regardless of gender, ethnicity or previous infractions;
• Reflect the belief that everyone in the building must be treated with respect;
• Create better understanding through staff training which can result in improved
identification, stronger response to violations, and more consistent enforcement;
• Empower adults in the building with tools for responding appropriately in situations
that may impact the safety, health, and well-being of all those in the building including
potential policy violations and standardized expectations through “What should be
said and done;”
• Provide a range of consequences that appropriately fit the situation minimizing
suspensions and expulsions;
• Enable the school to minimize legal complications while maximizing safety for
students and staff;
• Provide a framework for documentation of inappropriate behavior by students and
staff;
• Serve as a step in the legal obligation to protect students and adults in the building;
• Promote staff training as a vital link in both the preventive and problem-solving nature
of policy and procedures;
• Define the relationship of the school to local law enforcement when violations include
community ordinances, local, state, and federal laws;
• Establish baseline rates of behavior.

34 Rethinking Discipline, U. S. Department of Education, [Link]

html (November 2016).

30
 Evidence does not show that discipline practices that remove students from instruction—
such as suspensions and expulsions—help to improve either student behavior or school
climate.35 Policies dictating a ‘one strike and you are out’ – a zero tolerance policy – are no
longer allowable in Illinois. As of September 2016, schools were mandated to implement
Public Act 099-0456, also known as Senate Bill 100. This legislation requires schools to
minimize expulsions and suspensions, and to provide appropriate interventions and supports
for students for whom expulsions and suspensions are being considered. Schools must now
create a policy to facilitate the re-engagement of students who are suspended out-of-school,
expelled or returning from an alternative setting.

The very nature of Student Assistance services fits well within the intent of PA 099-0456.
Referrals to the Student Assistance Program make sense as part of appropriate and
available behavior and disciplinary interventions for students for whom suspension or
expulsion is being considered. SAPs offer working models of multi-tiered interventions as an
alternative to over-used zero-tolerance policies. SAPs provide access to early intervention
and coordination of services that turn a school suspension into an opportunity for evidence-
based remediation.

Student Assistance Programs have often been the hub of re-engagement, or re-entry plans
to support a student’s path to academic attainment. Students who have been out of school
for any length of time may find fitting back into the matrix of the school while trying to get
up-to-date on curriculum is too overwhelming to face while also dealing with the reasons
for being out of school. These students typically need additional supports to reintegrate
successfully into the school’s academic and social matrix. The SAP can become that hub for
coordinating supports for these students assisting with both coordination and accountability.

Student Assistance Program Specific Policies

Many SAPs have specific policies and procedures for the operation of their services. These
policies and procedures address methods of identification, data collection and utilization,
basic service types provided, confidentiality and information sharing, parental notification
and involvement, documentation, and ethical principles in service delivery. Typically, SAP
specific policies and procedures are kept general in nature avoiding the intent of offering a
contract.

Universal Strategy: Evidence-Based Prevention Programs and Practices

School-based prevention programs can reduce the risk for students engaging in problem
behaviors. When one thinks of prevention, typically drug abuse and bullying prevention
programs come to mind. ESSA’s Title IV Part A includes drug abuse prevention programs as
strategies to implement. Prevention programs range much broader to include both types of
prevention as well as social emotional education, gang involvement prevention, addressing
pressures and sexual related issues, nutrition and obesity prevention, safety and overall
school violence, as well as others.

There is an educational and social mandate that data-driven decisions be made about
which types of prevention programs are most needed. Once those decisions are made, the

35 Ibid.

31
planning team will benefit from examining lists of evidence-based programs and practices.
The National Institute for Drug Abuse provides a list of 16 evidence-based prevention
principles to guide decisions about selecting and implementing prevention programs and
practices.36

Three primary lists can inform planners’ decisions about which programs and practices can
most effectively address population needs identified in the assessment data:

• The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices

([Link]/ nrepp);
• Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development ([Link]/cspv/blueprints/)
• The What Works Clearinghouse established by the U.S. Department of Education
([Link]

36 National Institute on Drug Abuse. Preventing drug use in children and adolescents, , [Link]
publications/preventing-drug-abuse-among-children-adolescents-in-brief/prevention-principles
(November 2016).

32
 Once the programmatic decisions are made, a strong leadership presence is needed
to establish the expectations for staff accompanied by staff development necessary in
supporting the prevention programs and practices.

Universal Strategy: Program Awareness and Marketing Student Assistance Program

Services

Overview:
The bottom line for marketing Student Assistance services is that the SAP is advocating
for students with non-academic barriers. Student Assistance Program marketing is basic
capacity building to use program services, and is designed to assure that no student slips
through the cracks when services are needed. Program marketing is essential so that
staff, students, parents and community organizations understand the scope, purpose,
accessibility and function of the SAP. Program promotion can turn observers into supporters,
supporters into partners, partners into stakeholders, and stakeholders into advocates for the
needs of students experiencing non-academic barriers to learning.

Strategies:
Strategies for program marketing include more formalized channels such as staff development
sessions, as well as less formalized communication channels such as one-to-one or small
group conversations. Staff development builds a common knowledge base of non-academic
barriers to learning, and forms the platform for strategies focused on how those non-academic
barriers can more specifically be addressed through Student Assistance services.

Program marketing is shaped with the question that every SAP should ask, “Who needs to
know what information to use our Student Assistance Program services?” Common marketing
strategies can inform how to think about answering this question. When the SAP considers
those who use SAP services as clients, they are able to distinguish the types of information
each client (SAP user) needs. A smart marketing planner will understand that “clients” may be
very different and need different types of information.

The SAP can have a range of “clients” or customers. These might include:

• Students
• Parents or caregivers of students
• All staff members including support staff
• Individuals working in the building not paid by the district including probation, school
resource officers and interventionists
• Administrators
• Central office administrators and staff
• Board of education
• Community agency individuals, including private counselors and treatment resources

A simple formula gives the SAP direction in planning.

Clients + Information Needed = Design of the SAP Marketing Plan
The SAP should ask for each client group, “What do SAP clients in this group need to know
to use SAP services effectively?” Once needs of each “client” have been determined, the SAP
should match plans with needs. Differentiated clients mean utilizing different information and
communication channels.

33
After both the clients and the information needed have been identified, the SAP’s next question
is, “What medium would best convey the message?” and “How should we use this medium?”
Technology should be considered as the SAP looks at media for messages. Web pages, blogs,
texts, screen savers, Facebook, Twitter and email can be used to help keep the SAP in the
forefront. Other methods for continued promotion of SAP services can include:

• School newsletter articles

• Parent/teacher organization meetings
• Parent night or open house nights
• SAP signs at doorways of SAP team members
• School magnets
• Drama club vignette on in-house television for students and staff emphasizing how
and when self-and friend-referral can be made
• Reading an anonymous success story at the beginning of a faculty meeting
• In-class presentations to all classes

Just as marketing professionals do not consider one ad campaign sufficient, the SAP should
consider ongoing marketing efforts. A designated marketing team member on the SAP will
keep marketing strategies consistent. A variety of program marketing samples can be found
on the Prevention First website ([Link]), Profession Resources, Student Assistance
Center, and Newly Trained Team Resources.

High transition rates in schools means getting information to students and parents when they
are entering the new school. New staff members will also need basic information about using
SAP services.

Program marketing efforts must be conscious and intentional, keeping in the forefront that
these efforts are about students getting the help they need and deserve.

Universal Strategies: Staff Development

Overview:
People most often use what they know, and avoid what they don’t understand. Staff
development is pivotal in creating a culture and climate of health and safety. The role of staff
development in Student Assistance is to build consistency in working with the ‘whole child’ as
part of the educational process. For students to receive the non-academic supports needed
to more fully benefit from the educational experience, staff members must be empowered
to act in a manner to appropriately identify and respectfully connect students to the Student
Assistance Program. The SAP should think about staff development as a process rather than a
one-time event.

Effective staff development should:

• Be actively, rather than just passively, supported by school leadership;

• Differentiate the role of Student Assistance in relationship to response to intervention
or other early intervention models;
• Create an understanding of the nature of non-academic barriers to learning and their
impact on educational success;

34
 • Emphasize the need and expectation for demonstrating respect for all students;
• Standardize policy implementation through both consistent application of
expectations and responses including timely referral to the SAP;
• Ensure that staff can identify and refer students to the SAP;
• Inform their role in working with the SAP following referral;

Strategies:
The role of the SAP is to provide a common knowledge base on SAP related issues.
Staff development can be conducted through multiple channels including face-to-face
presentations in the school setting, DVDs and online videos, fact sheets distributed
electronically and email messages.

Minimum staff development topics should include:

• The role of prevention programs in building a safe, healthy school environment;

• Signs and symptoms of at-risk behaviors including anxiety, depression, suicide,
relational and self-violence, alcohol and other drug use;
• Needs of students and families impacted by gender identify, foster care, military
connected, children of alcoholics and mentally ill adults, high transitions, incarcerated
family members, other types of trauma, and recovering students;
• Brain development, stress, trauma, violence and chemical use;
• Preventing and responding to child abuse and neglect;
• Awareness of the school’s SAP flowchart;
• Skills in completing basic SAP forms;
• The educator’s role in responding to self-disclosure;
• How to recognize and appropriately respond to requests for help;
• Promoting healthy norms and knowing how to respond to classroom comments that
promote unhealthy behaviors;
• Awareness of confidentiality regulations for sharing information and confidentiality
with respect to students, families and staff;
• Awareness of the SAP continuum of prevention, early intervention and support
services;
• SAP collaboration with RtI.

Additional training topics that will enhance a staff member’s ability to assist students include:

• Enabling behaviors in the school setting

• Family dynamics and characteristics of high-stress families
• Intervention strategies
• Bullying and violence reduction strategies
• Relational violence
• Communication skills in motivating change
• Stress management for students and staff
• Wellness and healthy development
• Family dynamics and characteristics of chemically dependent families
• Protective factors, asset development and positive youth development

35
Staff development should include a ‘skills’ component while increasing awareness and
knowledge. “How will you use this skill in your work?” is a question all participants can be
reasonably expected to answer following any staff development session.

Regardless of the staff development delivery model, the result of effective staff development
must be a knowledgeable staff that is empowered and motivated to act in ways consistent
with the school’s policies and programs to provide a learning environment that is safe and
healthy for students, staff, and families.

36
 Chapter 5: Selective Strategies

Step 1: Identify the population demographics most appropriate for selective SAP
educational groups and other strategies.
Step 2: Identify the topics and structural format for conducting educational
groups, mentoring, tutoring, and other selective group programs.
Step 3: Select curriculum and trained group facilitators for each selective strategy
Step 4: Implement and monitor
Step 5: Evaluate

Selective SAP Strategies:

• SAP educational support groups

• Tutoring
• Mentoring
• After school programs

Overview:
The intent of selective strategies is to improve social emotional skills to school population
subsets of students to prevent further involvement in higher risk behaviors. Selective
strategies target the entire subgroup regardless of the degree of risk in any individual in the
group. Strategies are equally applied across the group.

“Selected prevention includes programs and practices that are delivered to sub-groups
of individuals identified on the basis of their membership in a group that has an elevated
risk for developing substance abuse problems.”37 Selective strategies are focused also on
sub-groups at higher risk for issues including homelessness, foster care, juvenile justice
involvement, pregnant and parenting teens, gang involvement, grief and loss, and gender
issues among others. Many of the youth experiencing these higher risks live with continually
elevated levels of stress, and do not receive the support they need to cope with the stress
and anxiety that impacts them daily. As these students can learn social emotional skills, the
ability to place more focus on academic opportunities improves.

“When children, teens, and adults feel emotional pain, they seek out ways to lessen it.
Some find relief talking with a friend, counselor, or caring adult. Some feel better after
recess, working out, or playing a sport. In today’s world, many turn to alcohol, tobacco,
and other drugs to ease their emotional pain. Some use a little over a short period, while
others become addicted.”38 Student Assistance selective strategies help youth build assets,
increase protective factors and positive development needs to assist them in dealing with
emotional pain in more constructive manners.

37 Springer and Phillips.

38 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, The National Association for Children of Alcoholics. (2006) Help is
down the hall. Administration. [Link] (November, 2016).

37
SAP educational support groups form the most significant services in this category, and
may be offered for voluntary or mandatory attendance (which may be precipitated by policy
violations). Topical focus varies from basic life skill development to recovery support. Groups
may be facilitated by staff who are trained group facilitators as well as community agency
members whose background includes specialized training in facilitating educational or other
SAP groups.

Strategies:
SAP educational support groups are organized topically to meet varying needs of students.
Each topical group is organized to help members cope with specific issues. Common topics
found among SAP groups include:

• grief and loss,

• study skills,
• boys groups and girls groups,
• stress management, anger management,
• abstinence from alcohol and other drugs,
• concerned persons groups,
• gender identity groups,
• recovery support groups, among others.

The SAP need assessment process conducted prior to implementing the SAP should
have identified common barriers impacting students. This data informs the types of
barriers to address through curriculum-based educational support groups. The SAP is
tasked with choosing which barriers to address with this format based on the numbers of
students experiencing the barrier along with the impact, selecting the available resources,
implementing, and monitoring the groups.

Educational support groups follow a curriculum with established goals and objectives,
are focused on building protective factors and social-emotional skills, are time limited,
and use process and outcome evaluation measures. The following have been identified
by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as goals for Student
Assistance educational support groups.

1. Educate: Giving children a framework for understanding more about what they are
experiencing.
2. Clarify: Providing responses to conversation through offering information that students
solicit directly.
3. Validate: Assisting students in understanding and expressing the emotions that are often
repressed in difficult family situations.
4. Problem-solve: Teaching students to identify core problems, consider options as well as
consequences, and put solutions into action.

38
 5. Connect to support systems: Assisting students in identifying potential support systems
such as positive family members, community groups
such as youth groups, community activities and appropriate
professionals.
6. Assess and respond to protection issues: Identifying concerns that may indicate
physical or sexual abuse and neglect can be facilitated through group conversation.39

Students can be identified for participation in groups through staff recommendations,

students signing up following a classroom presentation, the problem-solving team’s
recommendation or interviews between the SAP coordinator and students.

School counselors and social workers have often had training in facilitating educational
support groups, and would be a natural choice for this aspect of Student Assistance
services. Teachers may also be available to implement the groups upon completion of
sufficient support group facilitation training.

As with any intervention, formative and summative evaluations must be conducted to identify
both unintended harm and effectiveness of the group.

39 SAMHSA, Help is Down the Hall.

39
Chapter 6: Indicated Strategies

Step 1: Set up a referral and identification process to connect students needing

additional supports to the SAP.
Step 2: Conduct a screening process to collect relevant data.
Step 3: Conduct a problem-solving process to identify priorities for interventions
as well as select appropriate interventions.
Step 4: Implement interventions.
Step 5: Monitor progress

Most students experience some types of non-academic barriers to learning during their
educational career. Many of these students have enough protective factors and support
structures that they will not need individualized interventions and supports to mitigate these
barriers and stay on course for successful school completion. Risk and protective factor
and Positive Youth Development (PYD) research is helpful to SAPs in looking at barriers to
learning, and provides much information on what factors influence individual development.

Indicated SAP strategies focus on students who are demonstrating higher risk behaviors
or higher levels of non-academic barriers. Indicated students may be identified through a
variety of strategies and receive one-to-one support to deal with the barriers to become
more successful in school.

At this level of service, SAP problem-solving core teams and SAP coordinators create
individualized intervention plans that may address life-need deficits and emphasize
protective and PYD factors in supporting students. SAP individualized plans look at
addressing both risk and protective factors which research has shown to be the most
effective method for promoting positive youth development and preventing problem
behaviors.40

Progress monitoring is an essential component with indicated level interventions. Because

Student Assistance focuses primarily on school-based brief interventions, progress
monitoring occurs frequently with the purpose of assessing the impact of the intervention.
School staff utilize a variety of progress monitoring strategies and tools to gauge the relevant
impact of the intervention. Confidentiality regulations can prevent direct communication
with treatment providers. When interventions are community-based, communication
about intervention effectiveness may be more limited and include a student’s perceptions
of change or reviewing archival data such as homework completion, behavioral referrals,
attendance data, etc.

Student Assistance is a multi-tiered support model based on need and not ‘failed to achieve
success’ at one tier before moving to the next tier. Therefore, many students receiving
services at the indicated level are appropriate for SAP educational groups as well, and will

40 Channing Bete, The Social Development Strategy.. [Link]

[Link]
(November, 2016)

40
 receive both selective and indicated SAP services simultaneously. Indicated students may
require Student Assistance support for only brief periods of time or may need ongoing
support throughout their educational experience.

Indicated strategies are data driven, following evidence-based practices using both in-
school and community resources to provide support. Both the referral and screening
processes employ a variety of data indicators and sources to clarify supports needed. The
problem-solving process draws from evidence-based practices. Progress monitoring, again,
uses data to make decisions about support effectiveness. Steps 2, 3, and 4 of the four-step
process are often cyclical as the interventionist or intervention team explores the variety of
non-academic barriers, and creates plans that build on previous successes or reexamines
plans that aren’t demonstrating the level of success desired.

A Student Assistance core teams employs best practices for problem-solving teams in
providing the four steps for indicated SAP services. Student Assistance coordinators follow
best practices and the professional and ethical guidelines for both school counselors and
school social workers in following the four step SAP process.

41
The following diagram shows the SAP indicated process flow.

Step 1: Student Identified for SAP Services through Systematic Processes

Indicated Strategies: The Four-Step Student Assistance Intervention Process
• Staff Referral – Behavior, Academics, • Self-Referral
Health, Attendance • Administrative Referral
Step 1: Student Identified for SAP Services through Systematic Processes
• Parent Referral • Survey
• Peer
• Referral
Staff Referral – Behavior, Academics, • Community Referral
• Self-Referral
Health, Attendance • Administrative Referral
Step 2: Data Collection to Support Data-Driven Decisions
• Parent Referral • Survey
• Peer Referral • Community Referral
• Computerized records • Data collection forms
• Step 2: Data
Parent Collection to Support Data-Driven Decisions
contact • Student interview

• Computerized records • Data collection forms

Step 3:•Systematic Problem-Solving Based on Data •Assessment
Parent contact Student interview

School-based Options
Step 3: Systematic Individualized brief intervention plan
Problem-Solving Based on Data Assessment
RtI process Individual behavior contract
Mentoring – skill building
School-based Options Community-based
Individualized Options plan
brief intervention
Connection with community agency for assessment
RtI process Service opportunities
Individual behavior contract
Social or other–skill-building
Mentoring opportunities
skill building Tutoring
Community-based Options
Connection with community agency
Screening with external SAP interventionistfor assessment Service opportunities
Big Brothers/Big Sisters
Social
School or other skill-building opportunities
psychologist Tutoring
Connect with health care
Screening
Support with external SAP interventionist
groups Big Brothers/Big
Food Sisters
pantry/clothing
School psychologist Connect with health care
Conflict mediation Community assistance organizations
Support groups Food pantry/clothing
Social worker
Community assistance organizations Local clinics
Conflict mediation
Social worker Local clinics
Step 4: Progress Monitoring and Case Management

• Step 4: Progress
Ongoing Monitoring
monitoring and Case
and student Management
progress review daily or every week to three weeks
depending on intensity of student need
• •Continue
Ongoing monitoring
to meet and student progress review daily or every week to three weeks
with student
depending on intensity of student need
• Plan additional intervention strategies in response to progress or continue existing
• Continue to meet with student
•strategies
Plan additional intervention strategies in response to progress or continue existing
• Develop monitoring plan
strategies
• •Develop support
Develop plan plan
monitoring
• Develop support plan

42
 Indicated Strategies: The Four-Step Student Assistance Intervention Process

Step 1. Identification and Referral: Students may be connected to Student Assistance

services through a variety of methods.

Referrals to the SAP are most often made by caring adults in the building including teachers,
administration, or staff who see indicators that cause concern. Referral transmission can
be handled electronically or through a paper form to a central referral location. A common
practice is the use of a single point of referral entry through a single referral form for all
intervention referrals including SAP. A triage person or team screens referrals for crisis
needs, priorities and other needs, and moves the referral to the appropriate helping resource
including the SAP, a response to intervention team, a pupil personnel team, social worker,
guidance counselor or nurse in the building.

A referral may also be directed to the SAP due to a policy violation. SAP case management
for policy violations typically follows a set protocol including attending a meeting facilitated
by an administrator with the student and the parent, explaining any options and resources
available through the SAP for the violation, and signing all necessary documentation. At
that point, the SAP may also begin a screening process to collect school-based data to
determine additional areas of concern and begin the problem-solving process.

A unique and important feature of Student Assistance Programs is student self and friend
referral. Students will seek help when they believe they will be taken seriously by and
receive help from caring adults. SAPs help students understand when and how to connect
with the SAP when they feel help may be needed for themselves or a friend.

When the referral is appropriate for Student Assistance services, the SAP case file is initiated
with forms and archival information including class schedules, grade and attendance
reports. The referral then moves into the screening stage.

Step 2. Screening: A case manager or facilitator is assigned to complete the screening

(data collection) process including data collection observation forms distributed to staff
members and others who have contact with the student. These forms request observation
and archived data, and are returned to the case manager and put in the student’s secure
SAP file. A student interview and parent contact/ interview is also conducted at this stage.
The case manager or SAP coordinator reviews the file for information and patterns of
behavior. The case manager presents the data to the SAP core team at the first available
opportunity when a core team is used in the problem-solving process.

Step 3. Problem-Solving: With a team approach, the team discusses the data and identifies
evidence-informed strategies to develop an intervention action plan. The SAP coordinator
may employ a core team or pupil personnel team in the same manner, or make intervention
decisions individually. A Student Assistance plan may involve community services and/
or school-based services and may include coordination with the response to intervention
problem-solving team or coordinator when academic interventions are indicated.

Step 4. Monitoring and Case Management: Progress monitoring may occur on a daily or
weekly basis to determine if the supports are addressing the student’s needs. Depending
on the intensity of need, the team schedules a team review in two to three weeks following

43
implementation. The case manager or action plan manager monitors the case and reports
back to the team for additional work at the designated team meeting. The team adapts or
adds to the intervention plan to continue services as needed. The case is closed when the
team believes the student no longer needs SAP service, at the end of the school year, or
the student transitions to another school. For schools with SAP coordinators and no SAP
team, the process typically will be the same including screening, determining intervention
strategies, placement in a program or group, monitoring and follow-up with support. All
cases are closed at the end of the school year, and may be reopened at the beginning of the
next school year.

A variety of helpful Student Assistance forms can be found at [Link] – Professional

Resources – Student Assistance Center. See Appendix A for the Student Assistance Best
Practice Standards and Appendix B for Best Practices for Multi-Disciplinary Problem-
Solving Teams.

44
 Chapter 7: Interventions Aligned with the
Levels of SAP Service
Step 1: Identify universal and selective interventions to be implemented along
with rates of frequency to be repeated
Step 2: Create a list of evidence-informed interventions to be applied
at the indicated level that reflect protective factors, the 40 Developmental
Assets and the Positive Youth Development strategies.

An intervention is basically an action taken to improve a situation. With Student Assistance,

those actions occur at the universal, selective and indicated levels, and can be applied
simultaneously. SAPs often look to the Student Assistance Center for new ideas about
evidence-based and informed interventions at each level of service. Examining samples of
commonly used intervention strategies that promote resiliency and build protective factors
can be helpful in selecting strategies most relevant to the issues experienced in individual
schools and by individual students. Evidence-based interventions for universal strategies
are more commonly found in programs as discussed in Chapter 4: Universal Strategies.
Programs with funding to measure impact from multiple replication clinical trials present the
strongest use of evidence.

Interventions may be longer-term as found with the universal level or very brief at the
indicated level. The intervention may come in the form of a curriculum with a specified
dosage or very brief plan – perhaps even one day in length. Interventions may be simple
or complex regardless of the intervention level. Some universal level curriculum-based
interventions may require a much greater dosage than others. At the indicated level,
complexity of interventions varies significantly by student need.

Studies reveal that whether the intervention is a program at the universal level, a six-week
curriculum for an educational support group, or short-term indicated level interventions,
the relationship between the individual applying the intervention and the receiver(s) is a key
ingredient in the intervention’s degree of success. This concept is supported by Murphy
and Duncan in suggesting that changing the adult applying the intervention with a student
when progress is not happening may be one of the first adaptations needed to improve
outcomes.41

The National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices uses a quality of research
rating in describing evidence in universal prevention programs. The Blueprints for Healthy
Development is a highly regarded group that also rates effectiveness of prevention programs
applied primarily at the universal and selective levels.

Effectiveness evidence for indicated level interventions in any framework is in its infancy.
Indicated interventions are significantly different in structure and application, and little
attention has been devoted to identifying non-programmatic strategies that address non-
academic barriers to learning at the indicated level. The guide for these strategies has

41 Murphy, John and Barry Duncan, Brief Interventions for School Problems, New York: Guilford Press. 2007.

45
become protective factors, Positive Youth Development literature, and additional resiliency
information. The Illinois social emotional learning standards, goals and performance
descriptors are valuable guides for identifying appropriate indicated interventions as well.
These guides help SAPs build evidence-informed strategies to apply particularly at the
indicated level.

The Paxis Institute has conducted significant evaluation on evidence-based kernels which
may be described as a “behavior–influence procedure shown through experimental analysis
to affect a specific behavior and that is indivisible in the sense that removing any of its
components would render it inert.”42 These kernels can inform universal, selective, and
indicated strategies for SAPs. The Promise Neighborhood Research Consortium provides
a brief list of kernels with explanations which can be helpful to SAP service providers in
planning interventions.43

Need or screening assessment data drives the purpose and design of the intervention.
Typically, the need has identified a lack of something. The starting point to designing the
intervention after identifying the lack is identification of the protective factor, life skill, or
asset that would help to mitigate that lack which then becomes the hoped outcome of the
intervention. This identification is crucial in implementing any intervention.

Several interventions applied through Student Assistance, however, may not be directed
at a protective factor, life skill, or asset. When immediate need or a crisis is identified, the
intervention becomes whatever actions most appropriately address the need. Such may be
the case with a student who is identified as homeless without basic food and shelter needs,
a student identified as using life threatening substances, or indicates suicidal thoughts.
Students who are identified as being abused would constitute an immediate notification to
a DCFS line. Other basic life needs that may not constitute a crisis such as connection to
a community resource for clothing, a food pantry, or transportation options may, again, not
involve identifying a protective factor, life skill, or asset.

As SAP service providers become more familiar with the protective factors, Positive Youth
Development characteristics and the 40 Developmental Assets, intervention development
becomes a more systematic process. The essential component of progress monitoring
that evaluates whether the intervention is achieving its intended outcome assists the SAP
provider in building an evidence base around which interventions have shown greater
success over time.

Knowledge is information from valid sources that is applied within a context with reflection
about the outcomes. The 25 interventions offered as examples in this chapter are grounded
in an array of program information that has been applied in multiple contexts. Each sample
is followed by levels of service in parenthesis at the end of the example: universal = U,
selective = S, and Indicated = I. Examples have been gathered through conversations with
Student Assistance service providers over multiple years with SAPs in Illinois as well as
other states. It is the responsibility of every SAP to examine the potential for both positive

42 Embry, Dennis and Anthony Bigland, Clinical Child and Family Review, Evidence based kernels: fundamental units of
behavioral influence. [Link] (January 2017).
43 Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium, Evidence-based kernels, [Link]
[Link], (January 2017).

46
 and negative outcomes when applying interventions to their school’s population. The 25
sample interventions are offered for informational purposes, and should not be considered
an exhaustive list of interventions for any school.

As a Student Assistance Program selects interventions at each level of service, the multitude
of resources found on respected internet sites can provide selection guidelines for each
program or service. Numerous highly-rated books are available which offer guidance in
designing and implementing indicated level interventions. The fact that indicated level non-
academic intervention research is in its infancy does not mean that SAP service providers
are not afforded expert guidance in intervention design, implementation, and evaluation.

Targeted Outcomes with Intervention Samples

The SAP helps increase the students’ sense of physical and psychological safety as well as
fostering positive norms and providing opportunities to belong by addressing school climate
with an evidence-based school-wide prevention program such as Rachael’s Challenge. (U)

The Student Assistance Program participates in the school’s crisis plan development and
includes referral to the SAP for individual students needing additional support. The crisis
plan and individual referral helps to strengthen students’ sense of physical and psychological
safety. (U, I)

The SAP helps students learn to develop individual crisis and safety plans to increase their
sense of having some control over threatening environments and increasing their sense of
physical and psychological safety. (S, I)

The SAP helps address the need students have some control over their own experiences and
behavior as well as feel they can make a difference in their social group through a universal
prevention curriculum. (U)

The SAP students build structural skills through developing organizational and study plans.
(S, I)

The SAP addresses the need to feel socially connected through interventions that connect
the student to a positive adult in the building. (U, S, I)

The SAP addresses opportunities to belong as well as the need to build engagement and
connections through creating lists of opportunities for students to join organizations or
be involved with service opportunities, and assisting in connecting to those groups and
opportunities. (S, I)

SAPs assist students to connect to opportunities for genuine service in the school and
community that increase student’s perceptions of personal value and their ability to make a
difference in their social group and their environment. (S, I)

SAPs assist students in learning skills that build a sense of competence around affecting
their environment through universal or selective level curriculum and through indicated
interventions that focus on social emotional skill building. (U, S, I)

47
SAPs assist in increasing a sense of control over their own behavior through working with
students in creating their own behavior plans to deal with threatening situations. (S, I)

SAPs help increase a student’s sense of self efficacy by engaging the student in problem
solving for themselves and others. (U, S, I)

SAPs help build physical and psychological safety by providing opportunities to address
times of unusual stress through working one-to with a SAP counselor or team member. (I)

SAPs assist students in building emotional self-regulation through individualized behavior

plans created by the student with guidance of the SAP service provider. (I)

SAPs assist students in providing supporting relationships through short term mentor
assignment with a positive adult in the building. (I)

SAPs foster supportive relationships and a sense of belonging through educational support
groups. (S)

SAPs address the need youth feel to have their physical and emotional needs met through
connecting the student and family to community resources that specifically address those
needs. The SAP provider places intentional focus on not only making the referral, but also
monitoring to assure the student and family receive what is needed. (I)

SAPs assist students’ need to feel competent by involving students in planning their own
interventions as well as conducting their own progress monitoring. (I)

48
 Chapter 8: Involving Parents and other
Adults in the Student
Assistance Process

Step 1: Identify current school-wide family engagement plans and strategies

Step 2: Identify ways that families currently engage with the school
Step 3: Identify reasons families may not be engaging with the school
Step 4: Establish goals and procedures for engaging families specifically with the
SAP
Step 5: Create print materials and electronic messages to connect with parents
Step 6: Work with the school-wide family engagement team to incorporate SAP
strategies into the school’s overall efforts

Overview:
“Evidence shows a strong connection between parent and family involvement in schools and
children’s academic achievement, attendance, attitude and continued education. But families
may not become involved if they do not feel the school climate – the social and educational
atmosphere of a school – is one that makes families feel welcomed, respected, trusted,
heard and needed.”44

Effective family engagement goes far beyond contacting parents or other caregivers when
a problem arises at school. Family engagement must be meaningful through sharing
responsibility for the academic, physical, social, emotional and behavioral growth of youth.
Family engagement is more successful when policies and practices deliberately provide
strategies known to be effective, including those that involve diverse populations.45

Decades of research show that when parents are involved students have:

1. Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates

2. Better school attendance
3. Increased motivation, better self-esteem
4. Lower rates of suspension
5. Decreased use of drugs and alcohol
6. Fewer instances of violent behavior
7. Lower dropout rate

44 Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, Best practices briefs: parent involvement in schools, No. 30-R, June
2004.
45 Illinois State Board of Education, Comprehensive System of Learning Supports, [Link]
learningsupports/html/[Link] (November 2016)

49
The more families participate in schooling, in a sustained way, at every level — in advocacy,
decision-making and oversight roles, as fund-raisers and boosters, as volunteers and para-
professionals, and as home teachers — the better for student achievement.46

System-wide strategies provide the overall foundation for engagement in a wide variety
of capacities. These strategies include developing a family engagement system, building
a welcoming environment, creating high expectations for a family-friendly school, and
organizing district resources to create a matrix of support.47
The planning team must make note of reasons families may not become engaged with
schools, and be intentional in its strategies to reduce these barriers. A variety of reasons for
families may not be involved in their child’s education have been noted:

• Economic and time constraints

• Language barriers
• School to family communication not encouraging participation
• Physical limitations
• Negative previous experiences with school
• Differing family values from school institutional values
• Cultural discomfort with the school

46 Engaging resistant parents. Social Justice Solutions, [Link]

resistant-parents/ (November 2016)
47 Illinois State Board of Education, Family Engagement Framework, [Link]
(November 2016)

50
 Student Assistance attempts to bridge families, schools, and community services through
universal, selective and indicated strategies. SAP service providers are intentional about
making families feel welcomed and respected while directing efforts to meet the individual
needs of students and their families. Student Assistance has the potential to foster stronger
positive relationships with families in overall schoolwide engagement strategies paving the
way for strengthened cooperation when intervention is necessary.

Strategies:
The full Student Assistance continuum of care offers opportunities for family engagement.
The SAP should establish set protocols for when and how parents are to be involved with the
SAP. Within that lens, goals should be set for each of the three levels of SAP service.

Universal strategies families should be involved in:

• The four-step Student Assistance planning process

• A community coalition when one exists
• Planning and implementing SAP prevention activities
• Policy review and recommendations
• Selection of evidence-based programs
• Skills, attitude and recognition programs
• Planning and implementing parent university and parent prevention days

Universal: Program Awareness Information

Student Assistance Programs often engage families through posting information about
SAP services on the school website, inviting parents to contact the SAP when needed.
Programmatic description material is often distributed to families at school events and during
parent/teacher conferences.

Selective: Schools need to include:

• Parental permission as a step to involvement with educational support groups

• Periodic communication about the group process when appropriate
• Parenting sessions for groups of high-risk students

Indicated:
At times, some students may develop emotional and behavioral responses to situations in
their lives which persist and negatively impact themselves, their family, and those in the
educational environment. This can be frightening to parents because they want the best for
their child, yet do not know how to respond to this perceived threat to the child and his/her
future. The Student Assistance Program provides both a safe place to help families facing
these concerns as well as a helpful bridge to services within the community. When the
SAP reaches out to parents and confirms the parents’ interest in their child, the process of
facilitating change can face fewer obstructions.

Several guiding principles can help SAPs serve several important functions with parents at
the indicated level:

51
 • Parents are contacted when it is in the best interest of the student. The SAP seeks
family input in the screening process, and may continue family communication and
input throughout the intervention process.
• Parents often are not familiar with community services available to help families. The
SAP can serve as a bridge in both increasing awareness of available services
and assistance in making connections with services.
• Parents are typically mandatorily involved in the disciplinary and support processes
for policy violations.

A parent’s involvement is desirable when the student demonstrates behaviors of concern

including behavioral health problems, health concerns, and attendance or academic decline.
When a student self-refers, the decision to involve parents should be made on a case-by-
case basis, and must also consider federal confidentiality guidelines.

The SAP should seek a series of potential meetings rather than a one-time event. The initial
meeting with parents seeks to establish rapport and identify issues of concern. Information
presented to parents should be factual and based on observable data that has been
collected.

Administrative guidance in cases involving potential legal complications with confidentiality

should be sought prior to meetings. The SAP is subject to federal confidentiality regulations
including HIPPA, FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) and CFR (Code of Federal
Regulations) 42. The building administrators are the pivot point for all legal issues impacting
SAP services. SAPs are encouraged to be aware of federal regulations by involving
administrators in cases and decisions that could be affected by federal confidentiality
regulations.

A student’s self-disclosed information about involvement with chemicals is impacted by

federal confidentiality laws. Before any parent meeting, it is important that the SAP clearly
understand federal confidentiality regulations. SAPs should weigh potential endangerment
from chemical involvement with a student’s right to confidentiality. Administrators can
determine when the district’s legal counsel should establish procedures. SAPs are
encouraged to stay school-based and focused on grades, attendance and behavior.

52
 Chapter 9: Coordination and Development
with Other School Services and
Programs

Step 1: Use the resource map or list created in Chapter 2 to identify all potential
resources within the building that may be helpful to students and families.
Step 2: Meet with coordinators or facilitators of other school programs and
services to inform them about the Student Assistance Programs’ intent
and services.
Step 3: Learn about any criteria necessary for students or families to participate in
other services in the building.
Step 4: Establish procedures for communicating with each service both on a
regular basis and on single-case situations.
Step 5: Identify common data needs for each program or service. Collaborate to
share and report data.

Overview:
The most effective approach to addressing student needs, especially behavioral health
and other barriers to learning, is to coordinate service delivery through a framework that
supports all needed services in the building. The Student Assistance framework is not
intended to cover all aspects of student need in the building. Most schools offer response to
intervention, supports for health needs, tutoring, perhaps a pupil personnel team that works
with more clinical aspects of student need, bullying and other violence prevention, social
workers or school counselors, among other services.

The Student Assistance framework complements multi-tiered support systems which seek to
significantly reduce learning, behavioral and emotional problems, promote social-emotional
development and effectively reengage students in classroom learning. Effective planning
included the examination of current frameworks and services offered to students, families,
and staff within the school. Student Assistance service providers should work closely with
multi-tiered systems of support as well as other learning supports to create simultaneous
service delivery that can enhance both the response to instructional interventions and the
development of social emotional supports that allow the student to focus on the curriculum.
Coordination and communication of efforts are key in keeping appropriate services in place
while reducing duplication of efforts.

Strategies:
Several key principles can help guide a program and service integration process.

1. Mapping available school resources is the foundation to integration. The Student

Assistance Center offers a school resource map template with a guide to
help schools complete this first step toward integration. Visit [Link]
> Professional Resources > Student Assistance Center > General
Resources to find the mapping guide. Reports have often identified diverse

53
 populations as being underserved. Resource mapping should particularly identify
how diverse populations are served in the building to assure that all students needing
services are being connected appropriately.

2. Create a single point of referral for any adult to make a referral for SAP services. A
quickly completed referral card or web embedded process can result
in more students being appropriately identified for support compared to a system that
uses detailed referral forms. A single referral point allows for a triage team to quickly
direct the referral to the SAP or other support service as needed.

3. Establish a self and friend referral process for students. A unique feature of Student
Assistance is the capacity and encouragement for student self and friend referral.
Students will seek help from trusted adults when they are aware that their requests
will be taken seriously and shared information will be handled respectfully.
Issues typically generating self-referrals include problems such as self-injury,
disordered eating, anger issues, gender concerns, anxiety, depression or suicidal
thoughts,along with a number of other personal problems.

Rather than funneling referrals through the centralized referral system, directing self and
friend referrals to the Student Assistance Program is necessary to create a trust climate.
Additional school helping systems can be accessed by the SAP when a self-referral occurs.
Social workers and school counselors along with health professionals in the building are
typically part of the Student Assistance Program, and would be considered appropriate entry
points for student self and friend referrals. Crisis procedures are important to have in place
when indicators of immediate need become apparent which include attempts at self-injury or
threats of suicide, violent behaviors, or severe withdrawal that creates an inability to carry on
normal routines. Although Student Assistance is an appropriate support structure following
crisis intervention, a referral and problem-solving process is not the correct strategy when a
student is in crisis.

4. Create cross-representational protocols when more than one framework exists

within a building. The SAP framework is an intended collaborative approach to
addressing the needs of the whole child. When more than one problem-solving team
is implemented in the school, which is particularly common with larger schools,
create cross-representing team members. Students are the beneficiaries when the RtI
problem-solving or other school team has a team member meeting with the SAP, and
the SAP is represented on other teams.

Simplified procedures for cross-connecting students to other needed services facilitates

supports. Procedures should be intentional in trying to expedite service and avoid delays
whether that is through a conversation with the right professionals or through technology
use, especially in large schools where trying to connect personally may be more challenging.
Communicate with other program and service providers in the building to learn about overall
practices within a program or service, and how students receiving SAP services qualify for
supports. Additionally, when a student is receiving supports from more than one system in

54
 the building, such as health support, academic team support and SAP, it is not only good
practice, but just common sense to communicate across programs or services often so that
students don’t fall through the system cracks or receive duplicative services.

5. Identify commonly used data sets across services and programs so that relevant data
sharing across programs can occur. Data sharing requires practices protecting data
through processes that meet legal requirements and promote respect for students
and families. For some schools, this may mean additional training in legal, ethical and
professional practices that guide what, how and when data can be shared.

6. Schedule at minimum one collaborative planning meeting to evaluate how services

are being accessed, utilized, monitored and evaluated. This collaborative meeting
should examine these factors not only for the overall student population, but also for
diverse groups represented in the student population.

7. Provide necessary staff development until staff members understand how support
systems in the building work together so that staff will use what exists. If staff do not
utilize support systems due to lack of understanding, students do not get the help
they need to be successful. The planning and evaluation team must examine lack of
staff understanding when support systems are not being fully utilized.

There is no one-size-fits-all program and service integration plan. Following the strategies
above should help maximize efforts while reducing gaps and fragmented services.

55
Chapter 10: School / community
collaboration and partnerships

Step 1: Identify youth support systems and programs within the community.
Step 2: Create a master list of local resources that hold potential for developing
partnerships or offer resources, assessment or treatment services for
youth and families.
Step 3: Meet with youth councils or collaborations to represent the Student
Assistance Program and to help members learn about the impact of non-
academic barriers to learning.
Step 4: Meet with youth service providers that offer mental health and/or
substance abuse screening and treatment services to learn about service
criteria.
Step 5: Meet with local program providers who are able to provide prevention,
intervention, and/ or treatment services in the school setting to establish
procedures and protocols that meet legal requirements for services and
sharing information.
Step 6: Establish evaluation benchmarks and criteria, and monitor programs and
services annually.

Overview:
“Lasting educational success can only happen when a well woven net of services has been
created to support the varied needs that our children present in the school setting.”48

Schools are not the primary source of problems facing youth. Many, if not most, non-
academic barriers to learning originate outside the school, and are then manifested in the
school because students spend much of their day in the school setting. Students’ behavioral
health issues are public health problems. Family issues are centered in the family. Yet,
schools are often considered by many as the sole source for creating solutions to these
problems. This long-outdated line of thinking keeps schools in isolation without the capacity
to fully address youth issues.

A school-community partnership model that moves away from school isolation, or simply
disseminating information out from the school, to true partnerships allows the school to
leverage needed resources increasing capacity to more fully support youth. This paradigm
means examining commonalities in vision, mission, goals, and services. All too often,
a student may be receiving services from several in-school and community resources.
Unfortunately, this scenario may include insufficient communication and common planning
resulting in incompatible goals, duplicated services, or incomplete supports especially for
students experiencing co-occurring problems.

Successful Student Assistance services act as a bridge between families, the school,
and the community. In order to create that bridge, the SAP must establish efforts to work
directly with community partners to address the needs of youth. Among some of the most

48 Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership. Guidelines for School-Community Partnerships, [Link]
learningsupports/pdfs/[Link] (November 2016).

56
 important community resources for youth and families are substance abuse prevention and
treatment providers, mental health services, juvenile justice systems, youth development
groups, community food pantries, and community coalitions. Studies show that students in the
juvenile justice system have experienced more adverse childhood experiences than the general
population of students. These students can especially benefit when SAPs work with community
support systems.

Strategies:
Universal tier:
Creating an effective school-community partnership is complex, and goes far beyond efforts by
the Student Assistance Program. The SAP, however, can implement strategies that contribute to
an overall school-family-community partnership.

One of the primary tasks for those delivering SAP services is the creation of an exhaustive list
of the resources available in the community along with criteria to be eligible for resources to
support student needs. The resource list can be widely circulated to families, students, and
community partners.

Student Assistance should be represented at local youth councils whose purpose is to share
service information and develop partnerships. The primary goal of this participation is to begin
making contact that can build relationships with community youth serving organizations. An
inherent role is helping community organizations understand problems non-academic barriers
create in educational success, as well as the structure and intent of the school’s Student
Assistance Program. Student Assistance coordinators and team members will also seek to
understand and identify a range of services in each of the tiers.

Likewise, Student Assistance representation is a natural role with substance abuse prevention
community coalitions. Both entities strive toward the goal of keeping youth healthy and drug
free. SAPs can serve as an invaluable information resource on the impact of substance use on
educational success, as well as offer information about how school policy and helping processes
function.

Student Assistance coordinators and or team members must reach out to community partners
to identify services that can be offered at the school site. Identify ways these partners can share
their services, skills, and time with the school. Services may include local prevention providers
offering life skill lessons in the school, tutoring, mentoring, and policy consultation, among
others.

Local universities may offer a wide range of services through school partnerships including
program evaluation assistance, public health majors that can assist with school and community
need assessment or master’s level social work or school counselors who can be group
facilitators or life skill educators.

SAPs can benefit greatly from collaboration with community resources. Community-based
prevention providers are a great resource for SAPs looking for assistance with evidence-based
substance abuse prevention programs. Across the state, the Illinois Department of Human
Services funds grants to agencies to work with schools and communities to prevent substance
use and abuse by youth. These providers often will implement evidence-based prevention
programs in classrooms, and working with these providers meets their agency’s needs to work

57
with students and meets the SAP’s needs for universal programming. Additionally, some of
these prevention providers also work with SAP teams to assist them in developing operational
processes and procedures.

Community partnerships provide the school with excellent opportunities for staff development
to understand unique problems and strategies associated with foster youth, military connected
families, poverty, homelessness, gender identity issues, mental health problems, and substance
use.

A result for many collaborative relationships is seeking collaborative grant funding opportunities.
Most human service grants are built on inclusiveness, and require collaborative relationships
prior to applying for grant funds. Existing partnerships demonstrate the school operates as an
open system, and is willing to work with the community to address youth problems.

Selective and Indicated tiers:

The primary role for SAPs at these tiers is helping students and families connect to community
services that can help meet their specific needs. Students and families are more likely to follow
through with connections to services when there is a person attached to the service rather than
just an agency name and number. The SAP can assist this process through providing a service
intervention grid with agency names, contact persons with phone numbers, and criteria for using
that service.

Adolescent substance abuse and mental health service providers are excellent resources for
SAPs in several ways. SAPs and service providers can create a win-win situation in working
together to provide services within the school. SAPs win because a student with mental health
or substance abuse needs gets services in a location that is convenient and readily accessible
at the school. Treatment providers win because they are accessing students who might not
attend scheduled services outside the school setting. Mental health services are becoming more
common at the school to reduce stigma and barriers to accessing mental health treatment.49 The
SAP can play a natural role in collaborating with these onsite service providers.

The juvenile justice system can pose unique challenges due to legal complications when working
within a partnership. School administrators may receive a list of students currently working
with probation and court services. Unfortunately, the list may never reach the SAP who may
also be working with the student in setting goals, establishing interventions, and monitoring
progress simultaneously, yet independently, from the juvenile justice system. Working together
means establishing common protocols, getting legal documentation in place, cross training,
and common meeting time. The benefits produce a more unified approach in working with
youth. Both systems are more knowledgeable of the youth’s progress in school and in the
community allowing more effective supports.

Creating school-community partnerships can be challenging, requiring intentional efforts

and creative strategies. Partnerships require structure, effective leadership, and governance.
Research clearly shows that all partners benefit when genuine collaborative planning and
service implementation occurs.

49 National Institutes for Health, School-Based Anxiety Treatments for Children and Adolescents, [Link]
[Link]/pmc/articles/PMC3399129/, (November 2016)

58
Chapter 11: Student Assistance Program
Sustainability

Step 1: Identify the SAP’s performance functions

Step 2: Identify the performance and governance goals
Step 3: Identify task and maintenance problems
Step 4: Complete cyclical tasks of setting, achieving, monitoring, adapting and
evaluating Steps 1, 2, and 3.
Step 5: Build program champions

Overview:
Sustainability usually refers to a program’s staying power – how to make it past the early
stages to being available for the long haul. Building sustainability in any program or service
means planning for long-term success, and involves a series of cyclical tasks including
setting, achieving, monitoring, adapting, and evaluating. Student Assistance services must
be intentional about building sustainability for no other reason than the ethical responsibility
of every youth serving group to assure they do no harm.

Institutionalizing Student Assistance into the fundamental mission and services of the
school creates stabilization in SAP services making these important efforts nonexpendable
when funding sources change. School policies and procedures are necessary to create
such stabilization. However, institutionalizing does not negate the need for sustainability
work. Even when funding and other resources are stable over time, needs of staff, students,
families and community supports change offering opportunities and barriers. The intent of
sustainability planning is to evolve more efficient mechanisms when changes occur so that
quality services go uninterrupted or may even improve.

Strategies:
Sustainability planning is not a one-time event, nor does it happen in a linear process. SAPs
must apply these cyclical tasks to their:

• Performance functions –types of SAP services to be delivered including Universal,

Selective, and Indicated tiered services
• Program performance goals – identifying how much, how often, and for whom
services will occur
• Program governance goals – who performs services at each tier, and who monitors
that performance, who determines and monitors the daily operation of services
• Task and maintenance problems – day to day operational issues that occur within any
normal system

Student Assistance sustainability planning is not guess-work. Evidence-based standards

exist specifically for both Student Assistance Programs (Appendix A) and for problem-
solving multi-disciplinary teams (Appendix B). Sustainability planning should not be owned
by any individual within the school, and should be part of overall sustainability planning for
all supports within the building.

59
 Sustainability often needs support from school-based and community-based partners who
are able and willing to communicate the value of Student Assistance in helping students
become more successful. The Student Assistance Center offers a sustainability tool entitled
“The Levels of Development Guide Assessment Tool” to assist SAPs in identifying and
measuring benchmarks in performance functions, goals, and governance as well as task
and maintenance processes. Visit [Link] > Professional Resources > Student
Assistance Center for more information.

60
Appendix A: Indicated Strategies: Best
Practices Standards for
Student Assistance
Overview:

The following best practice standards specific to Student Assistance Programs were
identified through research conducted in Pennsylvania on the Student Assistance Core Team
approach.50 Following the standards allows the SAP to foster stronger process evaluation
outcomes, which can lead to stronger student outcomes.

Strategies:

See [Link]
Formative%20Assessment%20Best%[Link] to review more detailed information
about each practice.

1. Building administrator involved in and supports SAP.

2. ATOD and mental health SAP liaison works with team.

3. SAP coordinator exists for the building.

4. Consequences for policy violations for alcohol and other drugs, bullying and other acts of
violence are clearly stated.

5. SAP structure and organization (including members and titles, clear delineation of
roles and responsibilities, meeting times, membership selection criteria, etc.) are clearly
delineated.

6. Description of SAP services for faculty, students and others including handbooks,
brochures, etc.

7. In-service training for teachers, pupil personnel, support staff and administrators provide
time and support for SAP informational systems.

8. Specific student communication strategy established.

9. Specific parent communication strategy established.

10. SAP is accessible to all targeted students.

11. Formal procedures and decision-making process established.

50 Fertman, CI; Schlesinger, J; Fichter, C; Tarasevich, S; Zhang, X and Wald, H (2000). Student Assistance Program
Evaluation final report.

61
 12. Screening process includes clear and consistent student data collection and review
procedures.

13. Confidentiality guidelines are well delineated with team members demonstrating respect
for and understanding of parents’ and students’ privacy rights.

14. Formal parent involvement procedure established.

15. Regular meeting time sufficient to complete SAP work.

16. Members’ role assignments and responsibilities articulated (e.g., leaders, secretary, case
manager).

17. Supports and provides linkages for students and parents to access school and
community services.

18. Procedures promote student access to and compliance with school and community
services and treatment recommendations.

19. School resources are available and accessible.

20. Team members participate in appropriate entry level SAP training.

21. Team members participate in a maintenance and development training program.

22. Team has adequate training schedule and budget.

23. SAP monitoring and improvement mechanisms are in place.

62
Appendix B: Indicated Strategies: Best
Practices for Multi-Disciplinary
Problem-Solving Teams

Overview:
Best practice strategies typically lead to more consistent and higher quality outcomes.
Several types of best practice strategies exist in Student Assistance work. The problem-
solving process strategies guide intervention planners through the four stages to create an
effective planning process for each student.

Strategies:
The Student Assistance problem-solving process will function best when aligned with best
practices for multi-disciplinary problem solving teams. Whether the team is a SAP core or
RtI team, the best practices play an important role in how the team functions, which impacts
potential positive outcomes for youth. Step 1 begins with an initial screening to collect
relevant data to establish data- informed decision making. Data collection in screening
should be grounded in a systematic process that is followed for each identified student
referred for SAP services. Forms that list observable school-based data are completed by
individuals who have contact with the student and are likely to be able to provide information
that sheds light on behaviors of concern and strengths demonstrated by the student.

A significant factor in dealing with life needs, mental health issues and substance use
concerns is the degree of need. The screening process is designed to reveal both needs
and immediacy. A social worker, nurse or school counselor’s perspective on effective
interventions, time frames for implementation and monitoring can be especially valuable in
higher need circumstances involving mental health and substance abuse issues impacting
the student.

The following list of best practice protocols was generated through literature on evidence-
based practices in problem-solving teams. See [Link]
d8679e8f-146c-4a65-8d54-779283c46b2f/BestPracticesProtocol_ProblemSolvingTeams.pdf
for detailed practices, including references.

Step 1: Framing the Problem – Screening and Assessment

1.1 Conduct a screening process exploring relevant sources of information.

1.2 Collect sufficient information about the student’s functioning inside and outside the
classroom.

1.3 In observable, measurable terms, define the indicators of the concern. What is it that the
student does or does not do and/or needs or does not need that causes concern?

1.4 Conduct analysis of concern: expected vs. demonstrated. What is the situation of the
concern? (Environmental)

63
 1.5 Conduct a basic functional behavior analysis when it appears the situation is primarily
behavior centered.

1.6 Analyze global academic skills and break down into sub-skills that appear to be the
weakness.

1.7 Avoid “admiring the problem.”

1.8 Prioritize concerns identifying those as most critical or immediate needs.

1.9 Identify concerns in order of short term vs. long term.

Step 2: Designing and Implementing Interventions

2.1 Create specific targets for intervention, selecting those with maximum effect and those
that are foundational skills and needs.

2.2 Prioritize targets.

2.3 Establish goals that are specific and measurable. (Visit [Link]
[Link] for a list of age-appropriate social-emotional
skills to assist with goal setting involving social-emotional skills).

2.4 Establish multiple strategies that can address the goal. Selection should be based on
evidence-based practices.

2.5 Identify resources necessary for implementing strategies.

2.6 Establish a plan of action that specifies what will occur, who will do it, where the actions
of the intervention will occur and when the actions will be implemented.

2.7 Identify instruction or coaching needed for any staff involved in implementing the
intervention.

2.8 Determine when and how progress toward the goal will be monitored. Establish clearly
stated benchmarks or criteria for measurement.
(See [Link]
SAC/, under “General Resources”). Forms may be used with both SAP work and RtI.

2.9 Implement with the frequency and dosage necessary to maintain fidelity to the evidence
base.

Step 3: Monitoring and Adapting

3.1 Determine who, what and when for observing and measuring the benchmarks or criteria
for measurement of progress.

64
3.2 Tie monitoring schedule to sufficient frequency and dosage of interventions.

3.3 Compare student’s progress to the baseline. Consider both a comparison of the student
to his/her peers and the student’s individual progress over time.

3.4 Chart and plot the student’s progress.

3.5 Conduct a review meeting to establish expected and achieved rates of progress.

3.6 Establish reasons for negative or positive growth.

65
 Resources

Student Assistance Center Professional Resources offers a large variety of tools, articles,
webinars, and other information to help both new and experienced SAPs.
[Link]

Youth Today is a collaboration of 12 federal agencies, this comprehensive site offers an array
of information and tools designed to help youth workers form partnerships and enhance the
effectiveness of programs tailored to the needs of at-risk youth in a community.
[Link]

Chapter 3: Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation

Comprehensive Needs Assessment, [Link]

[Link]

Illinois Youth Survey, [Link]

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, [Link]

[Link]

Need Fulfillment Key Stakeholder Interviews,

[Link]
[Link]

Student Assistance Program Resource Map, [Link]

cc04c131-ac1c-4d62-8020-850f9e6eee0b/School_Resource_Map.pdf

Information and tools for program forms and other documentation, [Link]
org/Professional-Resources/Student-Assistance-Center-SAC/

Strategic Prevention Framework

[Link]

Chapter 4: Universal Strategies

Creating Schoolwide Prevention and Intervention Programs

[Link]

Creating Safe Supportive Schools

[Link]

Adolescent Substance Abuse and School Policy [Link]

content/19/2/[Link]

66
[Link]
(2)2014_Substance%20Use%20School%[Link]

[Link]

National Institute on Drug Abuse

17 prevention principles to enhance protective factors and reduce risk factors
[Link]
adolescents-in-brief/prevention-principles

National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices

[Link]

Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development

[Link]

Selecting and Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions

[Link]
Interventions-for-Substance-Abuse-Prevention/SMA09-4205

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, Model
Programs Guide [Link]

Chapter 5: Selective Strategies

Summary of Recognized Evidence-Based Programs Implemented by Expanded School

Mental Health (ESMH) Programs* Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland
School of Medicine**
[Link]
[Link]

Conducting Support Groups for Elementary Children K-6: A Guide for Educators and Other
Professionals. Author Jerry Moe

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2007)

Help Is Down The Hall: A Handbook for Student Assistance
[Link]

Chapter 6: Indicated Strategies

The WOOP Toolkit, a planning tool to work one-to-one with students for goal setting.
[Link]
[Link]

The National Center On Addiction And Substance Abuse At Columbia University.(2011)

Adolescent substance use: America’s #1 public health problem. [Link]/
upload/2011/[Link]

67
 New tools and documents to use in working with students 2016
[Link]

Newly trained team resources including program marketing materials

[Link]

Variety of tools and articles – General Resources

[Link]

Chapter 8: Involving Parents and other Adults in the Student Assistance Process

ISBE’s Family Engagement Guide

[Link]

Chapter 9: Coordination and Development with Other School Services and Programs

UCLA Mental Health in Schools Center, Moving Beyond the Three Tier Intervention Pyramid
Toward a Comprehensive Framework for Student and Learning Supports
Policy brief [Link]

UCLA Mental Health in Schools Center: Building comprehensive, multifaceted and integrated
approaches to address barriers to student learning Policy brief [Link]
edu/publications/32%20building%20comprehensive%20multifaceted%20and%20
integrated%[Link].

UCLA Mental Health in Schools Center, Implementing Response to Intervention in Context

Policy brief [Link]

68
Chapter 10: School / Community Collaboration and Partnerships

A Guide to Developing School Community Business Partnerships

[Link]
[Link]%[Link]

Resources including articles, tools and webinars on school families and community
engagement
[Link]

Family School Community Partnerships 2.0: Collaborative Strategies to Enhance Student

Learning
[Link]

Chapter 11: Student Assistance Program Sustainability

Tools to assist with sustainability tasks – Resources for SAP Sustainability

[Link]

69