----

##  Research on Full-Service Schools and Students with Disabilities.                ERIC/OSEP Digest.                                                            

Full-service schools have been described as one-stop centers in                 which the educational, physical, psychological, and social                      requirements of students and their families are addressed in a                  coordinated, collaborative manner using school and community                    services and supports (Dryfoos, 1994). 
In the full-service school             model, schools house a variety of health care, mental health, and               related services for children and their families. Offering services             on school grounds alleviates many of the problems that interfere                with families obtaining services for their children (e.g., no                   transportation, lack of understanding of public health and social               service systems, inability to take time away from work, and lack of             health insurance). The services offered by full-service schools vary            and are delivered through collaboration among the school, agencies,             and the families. Examples follow: 
Preventive service 
* Adult               education 
* Immunizations 
* Family planning 
* Recreation 
*              After-school care 
* Social services to access basic living                    resources 
* Economic services/job placement 
* Quality early                 childhood education 
* Mental/physical health screening 
*                    Consultation 
* Drug and alcohol prevention 
* Drop-out                       prevention 
* School meal programs 
* Child care 
Early                      intervention services 
* Guidance and counseling 
* Tutoring 
*              Public health care 
* Conflict resolution 
* Child abuse                      education 
* Juvenile alternative services 
* Latch-key                       services 
* Mental health counseling 
Intensive treatments for                chronic disabling conditions 
* Special education services 
*                 Related services 
* Emergency, crisis treatment 
* Case                       management HOW DO FULL-SERVICE SCHOOLS BENEFIT STUDENTS WITH                  DISABILITIES?The potential of full-service school programs for              students with disabilities is only beginning to become apparent. For            the most part, full-service school programs have been designed for              at-risk children. The emerging literature base ties the concept of              full-service schools to the following areas of need: 
* Prevention.            Because of their emphasis on prevention, full-service schools hold              promise for providing services to children early, when health or                behavior problems are first detected. Early intervention has often              been shown to reduce the risk of more severe problems. 
* Support.             Students with disabilities come disproportionally from families who             are living in poverty and/or living with physical or mental health              needs or educational needs (e.g., literacy). Integrating services at            the school holds particular promise for improving outcomes for these            children. Full-service schools can provide noncurricular services to            students that support their total well-being, enabling them to                  learn. 
* Integrated services related to special education. The                Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the 1997                 Amendments underscored the importance of viewing special education              as a service and not as a place. The full- service school program               benefits students with disabilities because it provides easy access             to services.  Further, providing school-based services may reduce               concerns of general education personnel regarding complex medical or            behavioral problems, by providing access to specialists. WHAT IS              RESEARCH FINDING ABOUT FULL-SERVICE SCHOOLS AND

STUDENTS WITH                DISABILITIES?During the last decade, the US Department of                   Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has funded              several projects to investigate the status of full- service schools             in serving students with disabilities. The following project                    descriptions represent an emerging knowledge base on the state of               practice. PARTICIPATION OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN                      CALIFORNIA'S

STATEWIDE INITIATIVECalifornia's Healthy Start              program, a state program designed to integrate services near or at              school settings, provided the context for researchers at SRI                    International to evaluate system issues, service issues, and family             outcomes related to providing school-linked services. Researchers               concluded that special education teachers had contact with the                  school-linked services programs. 
Researchers also interviewed                 families of children with disabilities regarding their involvement              and satisfaction levels with the school-linked programs. The                    majority of those families who had received services, found them to             be easily accessible and of high quality. 
Researchers offered the             following recommendations for practice (Blackorby, Newman, &                    Finnegan, 1997; Blackorby, Newman, & Finnegan, 1998): 
* Staff from            the different agencies must open lines of communication, conduct a              needs assessment to determine services to be offered, and resolve               differences in procedures, ideology, and structure. 
* Staff must              conduct an ongoing review of records and needs assessments to ensure            that appropriate services are being provided. 
* Students with                 disabilities must be specifically targeted by school-linked services            sites. 
* Personnel at school-linked services sites must find ways             to reach all limited-English-proficient populations. REPLICATION              AND EVALUATION OF A FULL-SERVICE MODELUniversity of Maryland                researchers replicated and evaluated the  Linkages to Learning Model            for the delivery of school-based mental health, health care, and                social services (Fox, Leone, Rubin, Oppenheim, Miller, & Friedman,              1999). The model was designed to provide prevention and early                   intervention services to children at risk for developing emotional              and behavior disorders. 
The school and the community were involved            in initial and ongoing needs assessments to determine student needs.            Mental health, social service, educational support, and physical                health services were offered as part of the full-service                        model. 
Researchers found that in the full-service model: 
*                  Classroom teachers reported a positive effect on children's behavior            over time. 
* Children who needed services most were the ones who              received them. 
* Children reported significantly higher emotional             distress levels at baseline than children in the control school.                Three years later, distress scores for children in the experimental             school were lower than those of children in the control group. 
*              Children receiving educational services improved significantly more             on tests of mathematic achievement. 
* Parents reported a                      significant decrease of children's negative behaviors over 3                    years. THE RELATIONSHIP OF FULL-SERVICE SCHOOLS TO THE                        PREVENTION

OF SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCEResearchers                   Marjorie Montague and Anne Hocutt at the University of Miami studied            two full-service schools in urban districts in Florida. The schools             were selected because they had a large proportion of children who               were poor and likely to be eligible for Medicaid. Both schools had              state-funded clinic buildings on school grounds that housed the                 service providers. 
Overall, locating the services on school                   grounds resulted in greater access and utilization. An important                focus of the study was a qualitative investigation of the                       facilitators and barriers to service access and utilization with the            full-service school approach for children at risk for emotional                 disturbance. Characteristics that facilitated access to services                included: 
* Coordination. School-based coordinators and teams were            utilized to link the full-service school programs to the general                school program. 
* Community involvement. Monthly meetings of                  school personnel, families, and community providers took place. 
*             Building administrator support. The principal supported the                     full-service program by developing creative use of funds, organizing            community resources, and demonstrating commitment to the                        program. 
* Cultural sensitivity. Educational and other services at            the schools were provided in a culturally appropriate manner.                   Service providers represented the cultural and linguistic                       backgrounds of the children served. 
Researchers found funding of              the services to be a major barrier (Hocutt, Montague, & McKinney,               2000). They concluded that Medicaid and managed care were not viable            funding sources in the prevention of serious mental health                      problems. IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICEThe concept of              full-service schools fits with the trend in special education to                form interagency and family collaborations and to integrate                     comprehensive services into the student's educational program.                  Full-service schools hold promise for addressing the needs of                   children in special education in the following ways: 
* Preventing             problems from becoming serious and/or being referred to more                    intensive support programs. 
* Providing early intervention. 
*               Supporting students with multiple risk factors in accessible                    locations. 
* Providing comprehensive intervention support in                  school settings. 
More research is needed to explore specific                  features of how students with disabilities may be served in                     full-service school models. In addition, research is needed that                addresses the variety of implementation issues (e.g., funding,                  forming collaborative partnerships, eligibility for services, and               interfacing classroom staff with service providers) that affect                 delivery of services. REFERENCESBlackorby, J., Newman, L., &              Finnegan, K. (July 1998). Integrated services, high need                        communities, and special education: Lessons and paradoxes. Menlo                Park, CA: SRI International. 
Blackorby, J., Newman, L., &                     Finnegan, K. (April 1997). School-linked services for students with             disabilities and their families: A case study of 20 families. Menlo             Park, CA: SRI International. 
Dryfoos, J. (1994). Full-service                 schools: A Revolution in Health and Social Services for Children,               Youth, and Families. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass                             Publishers. 
Fox, N., Leone, P., Rubin, K., Oppenheim, J., Miller,             M., & Friedman, K. (1999). Final report on the Linkages to Learning             program and evaluation at Broad Acres Elementary School. College                Park: University of Maryland, Department of Special                             Education. 
Hocutt, A., Montague, M., & McKinney, J. (in press).               The impact of managed care on efforts to prevent development of                 serious emotional disturbances in young children. Journal of                    Disability Policy Studies. 
----- 
ERIC Digests are in the public             domain and may be freely reproduced and disseminated, but please                acknowledge your source. This digest was prepared with funding from             the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), US Department of               Education, under Contract No. ED-99-C0-0026. The opinions expressed             in this publication do not necessarily reflect the positions of OSEP            or the Department of Education.                                              **Title:** Research on Full-Service Schools and Students with Disabilities.                ERIC/OSEP Digest.                                                            **Note:** Digest #E616.                                                                **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education. ERIC/OSEP              Special Project, 1110 North Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA 22201-5704.                Tel: 800-328-0272 (Toll Free); Tel: 703-620-3660; E-mail:                       [email protected]; Web site: http://ericec.org.                            **Descriptors:** Demonstration Programs,  Disabilities, Elementary Secondary                     Education,  Integrated Services,  Intervention, Models, Outcomes of             Treatment,  Prevention,  Program Effectiveness, Program Evaluation,             Research Utilization, Theory Practice Relationship                           **Identifiers:**  Full Service School Model                                                   
###
[Return to ERIC Digest Search Page]