Reducing Alcohol Use in First‐Year University Students: Evaluation of a Web‐Based Personalized Feedback Program

The efficacy of a Web‐based personalized feedback program—electronic CHECKUP TO GO (e‐CHUG), aimed at reducing heavy drinking in 1st‐year university students—is evaluated. Results indicated that high‐risk students in the e‐CHUG group reported significantly greater reductions in weekly drinking quantity frequency of drinking to intoxication, and occurrence of alcohol‐related problems. Recommendations for integrating Web‐based alcohol programs into a comprehensive prevention program are discussed.     

Do you get what you pay for with school-based health programs? Evidence from a child nutrition experiment in rural China

This study uses a randomized controlled trial of a school-based anemia reduction program in rural China to examine how increased school emphasis on health promotion affects academic performance. Although education and health promotion are complementary functions of schools, they do compete for finite school resources. We compare the effects of a traditional program that provided only information about anemia and subsidies to an otherwise identical program that included performance incentives for school principals based on school-level anemia prevalence. By the end of the trial, exam scores among students who were anemic at baseline improved under both versions of the program, but scores among students in the incentive group who were healthy at baseline fell relative to healthy students in the control group. Results suggest that performance incentives to improve student health increase the impact of school-based programs on student health outcomes, but may also lead to reallocation of school resources.     

Do single-sex schools enhance students’ STEM (science,technology, engineering,and mathematics) outcomes?

In many countries, males currently lag behind females in schooling attainment but females are still underrepresented in STEM studies. This pattern has raised renewed interest in the potential of single-sex schools for enhancing STEM outcomes. Utilizing the unique setting in Seoul, where assignment to single-sex or coeducational high schools is random, and with multiple years of administrative data from the national college entrance examinations and a longitudinal survey of high school seniors, we assess causal effects of single-sex schools on students’ math test scores and choice of the science-math test. We also assess whether single-sex schools affect students’ interests and self-efficacy in math and science, and expectations and actual choices of a STEM college major in university. We find significantly positive effects of all-boys schools consistently across different STEM outcomes but not for girls. We address one possible mechanism by conducting mediation analysis with the proportion of same-gender math teachers.     

Gender Differences in Performance on Mathematics Achievement Items

Gender differences in performance on three types of mathematics test items were investigated using data from students with three different course backgrounds. Eight randomly equivalent samples of high school seniors were each given a unique form of the ACT Assessment Mathematics Usage Test. Only students with three specific profiles of high school mathematics coursework were considered in the analysis. The three background conditions ranged from little mathematics (Algebra I only) to a modest background (two Algebra courses and Geometry) to a full mathematics program including Introductory Calculus. For each background condition, examinee performance was analyzed in a 2 (Gender) x 3 (Item Category) x 8 (Test Form) split-plot factorial design. The results indicated, that, at each of the studied background levels, females performed less well than males on geometry (strategic, geometric) and reasoning (strategic, nongeometric) items. On the other hand, females performed as well as males on algorithmic, operationsoriented items.     

Youth Participatory Action Research in the High School Curriculum: Education Outcomes for Student Participants in a District-Wide Initiative

This study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of a school-based youth participatory action research program on the education outcomes of participating high school students. The program was a year-long elective course in six high schools in the same California district whose student population is predominantly low-income youth of color. A propensity score matching approach compared the reading achievement, attendance rates, and discipline referral rates of 153 students who participated in the program to nonparticipating peers with similar demographics and baseline scores on the outcomes. Results showed that the program significantly improved students’ attendance rates with less compelling evidence for its effect on reading achievement. These findings suggest that youth participatory action research may be an effective pedagogical practice for high school students, particularly low-income students of color.     

Minority status,sex, and school psychological services

The sex and minority status of 355 students referred for psychological services from a random sample of schools in an urban school system were examined in relation to the frequency of referral, type of problem, and the nature of subsequent psychological services. A significantly higher percentage of both minority students and males were referred for psychological services; males were referred approximately twice as often as females. When referral problems were categorized as either academic or behavior problems, there were no differences between majority and minority students nor between males and females on percentage referred for each type of problem. Parent contacts were made significantly more often for majority students and for females, and recommendations to parents of majority students were more varied than those made to parents of minority students. Special Education resource services were recommended significantly more often for minority students. Possible reasons and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Feasibility trial of the school-based STRONG intervention to promote resilience among newcomer youth

There are thousands of refugee students in Canadian schools and many struggle with distress and trauma symptoms. Even those not demonstrating overt distress may face adjustment challenges. This paper describes the pilot of the Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (STRONG) program in ten schools. STRONG is a 10-session, manualized program focused on building skills and helping students process their migration journey. This pilot used a pragmatic mixed-methods approach to evaluate the feasibility of STRONG, with a focus on acceptability, implementation, and perceived utility of the intervention. Clinicians (n = 16) provided data at the training, throughout the intervention and at the end through clinician surveys and focus groups. Clinicians reported high levels of acceptability for the training and program. Implementation challenges included time constraints, external influences, and some challenges with language. Overall STRONG was seen to provide significant positive benefits for students in increasing connectedness, stress management, and coping strategies. Clinicians felt that students developed more positive self-image and had improved optimism. This feasibility trial of the STRONG program indicated the potential utility for promoting resilience and reducing distress among refugee students through a structured, school-based group intervention.     

Toward equity and excellence in math and science education

Two studies examined the effectiveness of an innovative program, Mathematics, Engineering Science Achievement (MESA), designed to prepare high school minority students for math-based fields. The program is noteworthy because it incorporates recommendations of educators and policymakers for improving the quality of math/science education and decreasing the underrepresentation of minorities in these fields. Study 1 showed that MESA seniors completed more math/science courses and showed higher academic performance than similar minority students. However, their verbal and mathematics performance was below seniors nationwide planning math-based college majors. Study 2 revealed that the majority of former MESA students were pursuing a math-based major at the university level and showed satisfactory postsecondary progress. Features contributing to program effectiveness and areas requiring additional action are explored.     

我校大学生专业承诺与学习倦怠的现状及其关系

采用相关量表对我校377名学生的专业承诺、学习倦怠现状进行调查。研究结果表明,我校大学生的专业承诺水平不高,而学习倦怠水平较高。在性别上,女生的专业承诺水平高于男生,男生的学习倦怠水平较高,但在成就感方面,男生高于女生;在学科上,理科学生的专业承诺水平略高于文科学生,而文科学生的学习倦怠水平较高;在年级上,大一学生的专业承诺水平高于大二、大三、大四,大三、大四学生的学习倦怠水平高于大一、大二学生。回归分析表明,情感承诺是我校大学生学习倦怠的重要预测变量。     

The Impact of School-Based Mentoring on Adolescents’ Social–Emotional Health

In order to support at-risk adolescents in their transition to high school, a school-based mentoring program was implemented for a group of 9th and 10th grade students. Due to the need for greater clarity regarding the impact of school-based mentoring on youth outcomes, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine the impact of one-to-one mentoring on students’ social–emotional health. Strengths-based survey data were collected from participants at pre-intervention and post-intervention. Findings suggested that school-based mentoring is a promising practice for improving the social–emotional strengths of adolescents and/or protecting them from the risks associated with adolescence.     

Drug Use in High School: Race and Gender Issues

Abstract

Drug use was examined in a sample of high school students from a small city of 16,000 predominantly working-class residents. There were 579 high school participants (296 girls and 283 boys) of whom 102 were Black (53 girls, 49 boys). The analyses were based on responses to a self-report questionnaire administered to students by their classroom teachers. Items for this study were selected from a larger database that was part of a community-wide project. The findings did not support the general consensus among professionals who provide services to this age group that minority youth are more at risk for drug use than their White peers are. The White students were more likely than the Black students to have had exposure to legal and illegal drugs. Whites more than Blacks, and boys more than girls, used tobacco, but White females were more likely than the others to be alcohol users. Also, Black males reported the highest self-esteem, and White females, the lowest. These self-esteem reports were supported by the results from a question about thoughts of suicide—Black males reported the lowest percentage of suicidal thoughts, and White females reported the highest.     

Influence of Demographic Factors on the Selection of a Private Business Career College

This study investigated private business career students to determine whether demographics, such as sex, influence students' college choices. The survey results show that students' selections depend on demographic factors. For example, while programs and location are important to males and females, males are more likely to select a school because it has the desired program, whereas females are more likely to select because of the school's location.     

A school-based intervention on elementary students’ school engagement

Prior research has reported signs of low engagement in the early stages of schooling. The present study assessed the effectiveness of a school-based intervention that promotes cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in elementary school children through a story tool. The study followed a cluster-randomized design with 259 fourth graders nested in 12 classes; the classes, not the individuals, were randomly assigned to an intervention or control group. Both groups were assessed in four waves in two measures for each engagement dimension. Data were analyzed with a multilevel approach. Findings show that the intervention enhanced students’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement. Still, there is a delay before the intervention program exhibits a beneficial effect.Moreover, gender discrepancies were found. Before the intervention, girls showed higher cognitive and emotional engagement, but boys exhibited higher emotional engagement after the intervention. In addition, current results indicate that the program benefited the boys more than the girls. Finally, there was no evidence that the engagement outcomes differed depending on the parent’s educational level. Findings provide valuable information for future research and educational practice.     

Digital messaging to improve college enrollment and success

We investigate the efficacy of text messaging campaigns to support students with key steps in the college search, application, selection and transition process with concurrent cluster randomized control trials. Collaborating with national non-profit organizations, we implemented text-message based outreach to students in the high school graduating class of 2016 in over 700 high schools that primarily serve low-income students. Collaborating with several Texas school districts, we implemented a school-based version of the intervention. In contrast to the national version which produced null and negative effects, the school-based intervention yielded positive and significant impacts on several college-going steps but still only yielded significant impacts on college enrollment and second-year persistence for certain subgroups.     

Randomized controlled trial of the Child Protection Unit: Grade and gender as moderators of CSA prevention concepts in elementary students

BackgroundDespite the importance of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention, there are few recent randomized controlled trials of school-based CSA prevention programs.Objectives(1) To evaluate the effects of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on students’ CSA prevention concept knowledge, ability to recognize, report, and refuse unsafe touches, and perceptions of teacher-student relations and (2) investigate the moderating role of age and gender on program effectiveness.Participants and settingEight elementary schools in a large suburban school district in the northeast United States were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition, with analyses conducted on a total of 2172 students.MethodsStudents in intervention schools received the 6-week CPU and those in the control schools were exposed to business as usual. Students were administered assessments at baseline and then at post-test.ResultsUnivariate Analyses of Covariance revealed that students in the intervention schools had significantly higher scores on all outcomes than students in the control schools at post-test, even after controlling for baseline scores. Children in younger grades made greater gains from the program, and girls scored higher than boys in CSA knowledge and ability to recognize, refuse, and report unsafe touches, but both boys and girls made significant gains.ConclusionsResults support the importance of beginning early with school-based CSA prevention efforts. Although boys are still at a relative disadvantage in terms of their knowledge and ability in this area, they are able to make gains at the same rate as girls.     

A pilot evaluation of the social validity of a bullying bystander program adapted for high school students

Although school‐based programs are effective at decreasing bullying, the majority of studies have been conducted with elementary and middle school students. We conducted a pilot study using a randomized controlled design investigating the social validity of a brief, bullying bystander program adapted to be age‐appropriate for high school students (N = 65). Results indicated that high school students in the intervention group perceived the program to be acceptable and relevant and reported greater increases in knowledge ( = 0.27) and confidence to intervene ( = 0.27) in bullying situations compared to students in the control group. Despite being trained in the use of four intervention strategies, students reported using two of the strategies infrequently. Additionally, we found a significant difference between the intervention and control group for only one strategy (Φ = ?0.44). This study provides partial support for the social validity of the adapted program. Implications for implementing the program at the high school level are discussed.     

Differences between high and low academic achieving university students in learning and study strategies: a further investigation

The outcome evaluation of Pare-Chocs, a school-based cognitive-behavioural (CB) prevention program for adolescent depression, was conducted with 53 adolescents at risk of school dropout and exhibiting high depressive symptoms using a theory-driven evaluation model. Our results show a significant relationship between the intervention and proximal variables: Experimental-group students presented less cognitive distortions and better problem-solving strategies at post-treatment and follow-up. Greater participation intensity predicts less cognitive distortions and better problem-solving strategies at follow-up. Moreover, less cognitive distortions at post-treatment and follow-up are linked to less depressive symptoms. These promising results encourage future evaluative research on school dropout prevention programs linked with at-risk students’ characteristics. For practitioners, they suggest that the implementation of a CB prevention program for depressive symptoms in school settings could lead to decrease depression risk factors and improve protective factors among youth at risk of school dropout.     

Gender effects for student perception of the classroom psychosocial environment

A future shortage of science teachers has been predicted, and since women are presently underrepresented in the sciences, they are a good potential source for future science teachers. Unfortunately women appear to become less interested in science as they continue in school. Because the classroom psychosocial environment has been shown to be related to learning outcomes, it may contribute to women's lack of interest in sciences. This study compared the classroom environments perceived by fourth grade, seventh grade and high school boys and girls in classes taught by males and females to determine if any perceptual differences existed. The three, two factor MANOVAS (teacher gender by student gender) showed no differences for fourth grade students, one for seventh grade students and three for high school students. The seventh grade boys and girls perceived classes taught by females as having more friction than classes taught by males and high school boys and girls perceived classes taught by females as being more difficult than classes taught by males. Further, for the high school students it appears that classes are perceived more favorably when the opposite genders are combined. These perceptual differences combined with role modeling may contribute to the lack of women in science. More research is necessary to determine causal relationships.     

A large-scale evaluation of the KiVa antibullying program: grades 4-6

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the KiVa antibullying program using a large sample of 8,237 youth from Grades 4-6 (10-12 years). Altogether, 78 schools were randomly assigned to intervention (39 schools, 4,207 students) and control conditions (39 schools, 4,030 students). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that after 9 months of implementation, the intervention had consistent beneficial effects on 7 of the 11 dependent variables, including self- and peer-reported victimization and self-reported bullying. The results indicate that the KiVa program is effective in reducing school bullying and victimization in Grades 4-6. Despite some evidence against school-based interventions, the results suggest that well-conceived school-based programs can reduce victimization.     

Building bridges to life after high school: Contemporary career academies and student outcomes

Career academies serve an increasingly wide range of students. This paper examines the contemporary profile of students entering career academies in a large, diverse school district and estimates causal effects of participation in one of the district's well-regarded academies on a range of high school and college outcomes. Exploiting the lottery-based admissions process of this technology-focused academy, we find that academy enrollment increases the likelihood of high school graduation by about 8 percentage points and boosts rates of college enrollment for males but not females. Analysis of intermediate outcomes suggests that effects on attendance and industry-relevant certification at least partially mediate the overall high school graduation effect.