Student Assistance Program

Barriers to Learning

Student assistance has historically focused on dealing with behavioral health issues that impact the individual student, family, and school. Students impacted by individual, family, and community Stressors such as mental health issues, substance use, and violence are at greater risk for socioemotional and behavioral health concerns as well as lowered academic achievement and reduced graduation rates. Schools that are impacted by these Stressors and that lack adequate measures of support are at greater risk of fostering climates that produce fewer students achieving their potential. These Stressors, called "barriers to learning," can occur to students of all ages. Student assistance programs are specifically targeted to address these barriers.

Student assistance has been shown to reduce behavioral problems, increase academic performance, and increase school attendance for all students. Student assistance partners with parents, students, school resource officers, other school faculty, community coalitions, and agencies in seeking to mitigate these barriers.

Scope of Student Assistance

Student assistance is not a special education initiative. Student assistance services focus on the needs of every child in the school as well as serving the school as a whole through system enhancement and change. Student assistance exists in schools in all 50 states serving students in Grades K(indergarten) through 12 focusing and organizing prevention, early intervention, and support services. Although a comprehensive prevalence picture of student assistance does not currently exist, a number of states report hundreds of SAPs functioning within their state.

Development of tne Student Assistance Field

Student assistance emerged in the early 1970s and was patterned after the successful approach of employee assistance programs as a way to assist secondary schools in dealing with alcohol and other drug problems at a time when there were no historical programs or strategies on which to build. The focus was on formalized intervention processes with goals of addressing adolescent alcohol and other drug use intended to get individuals into treatment programs. The Reagan administration's Chemical People program enhanced community awareness of adolescent substance use and prompted a number of hospital-based treatment centers to initiate "care team" training to engage schools in moving adolescents toward treatment. These care teams became the groundwork for a number of future SAPs that would expand efforts to address all barriers to learning.

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