Efficacy of the Check & Connect Mentoring Program for At-Risk General Education High School Students

Although graduation rates are rising, the high school dropout problem remains a national crisis, and evidence-based information about interventions for at-risk students is critically needed. Prior research shows that Check & Connect, an individualized mentoring program, has positive effects on school persistence and progression for students with disabilities. This study examined the efficacy of Check & Connect with general education students who showed early warning signs of risk for dropping out of high school in a large urban district. The sample included 553 students with the lowest predicted probabilities of on-time graduation based on attendance, behavior, and course performance in Grades 8 and 9. Students were randomly assigned to receive a Check & Connect mentor for three years, starting in the summer after Grade 9, or not. Findings suggest the program was implemented with fidelity, except with students who left district schools. Check & Connect did not have any statistically significant impacts on measures of engagement, academic progress, the likelihood of dropping out, or graduation. These results are discussed in the context of other literature on mentoring and dropout prevention.     

Modifying School Attendance of Special Education High School Students

Abstract

This study evaluated a program to modify the school attendance of special education (SE) high school students. Twenty 1st and 2nd-year SE high school students from a semirural area in the Southeast were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Treatment students received social and tangible rewards for good attendance, and their parents were notified whenever they were absent. All tangible rewards were donated by local businesses, and all procedures were implemented by university undergraduates working for course credit. Thus, treatment involved no cost to the high school. We predicted that treatment would lessen the degree to which students would show the decline in attendance that usually occurs over the course of the semester. As expected, students in the control group showed a significant linear decline in their attendance to SE and regular classes, p < .05. In contrast, students in the treatment group showed no significant decline in attendance over the course of the semester. The findings show that programs like the one evaluated here can reduce the absenteeism of SE high school students without any cost to the schools.     

Book review of Amazing Grace

Students who are at risk of dropping out of school can be identified retrospectively as early as third grade on the basis of attendance patterns, academic performance, and behavior. Check &; Connect is a model designed to promote student engagement, support regular attendance, and improve the likelihood of school completion. The program has been used successfully with students attending middle school and high school, with and without disabilities, and in suburban and urban settings. An overview of Check &; Connect, key components of the model, and an application of the model implemented with students who were referred for excessive attendance problems during elementary school years are described. Results from an evaluation of its effectiveness with students who received intervention for at least 2 years (n = 147) showed increased levels of student participation as evidenced by significant increases in the percentage of students whose absences or tardies dropped to or below 5% of the time. In addition, over 90% of the school staff (n = 123) perceived students were showing increased levels of engagement and 87% of school staff reported parents were more supportive of their child's education. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed in light of rigorous criteria used to examine the effectiveness of social programs. In addition, directions for future research are proposed.     

Evaluation of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program in a Regular Norwegian School Setting

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management (TCM) program implemented as a school-wide preventive intervention at 1st to 3rd grade in a regular school setting reduces the development of problem behavior and improves social competence. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design, the IYTCM was implemented in 21 schools and compared with 22 matched schools that did not receive the program. A total of 241 1st to 3rd grade teachers and 1518 students aged 6 to 8 years took part in the trial. Mixed-model analyses found small positive effects on changes in students’ social competence (d_w?=?0.19), while effects on change in students problem behavior were less than small (d_w?相似文献   

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.     

Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in Urban Middle-Grades Schools: Early Identification and Effective Interventions

This article considers the practical, conceptual, and empirical foundations of an early identification and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates in our nation's cities. Many students in urban schools become disengaged at the start of the middle grades, which greatly reduces the odds that they will eventually graduate. We use longitudinal analyses—following almost 13,000 students from 1996 until 2004—to demonstrate how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior, and course failures in sixth grade can be used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school. Fortunately, by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, graduation rates can be substantially increased.     

Hard Cash and Soft Skills: Experimental Evidence on Combining Scholarships and Mentoring in Argentina

Abstract

We evaluate a long-standing program run by one of the largest education foundations in Argentina that offers scholarships and nonacademic mentoring to secondary school students. We randomly assigned 408 grade 6 students within 10 public schools in the Province of Buenos Aires to either receive the program throughout secondary school or not to receive it. After three years, the program improved students’ academic behaviors (e.g., studying before an exam or catching up on missed work), but we find little evidence that these changes translated into broader improvements in students’ academic mindsets (e.g., self-beliefs about performance and efficacy), perseverance (e.g., grit), or learning strategies (e.g., metacognition). The program also improved students’ performance in school during the first year (e.g., grades, attendance, and passing rates), but we do not find similar gains in subsequent years. This may be due to a large share of treatment students being expelled from the program for not meeting its requirements. The program did not improve student learning or personality traits (e.g., conscientiousness). Finally, we find some heterogeneous effects for female students and students from low-income families.     

Market Forces and Strategic Adaptation: The Influence of Private Scholarships on Planning in Urban School Systems

While the current debate about the effects of vouchers focuses on the effects of private schools on achievement, it is also important to examine how the introduction of need-based scholarships influences change in school systems. This study uses a qualitative method to examine the influence of a privately funded scholarship program on strategic adaptations within urban public and private schools in a major metropolitan area. The study revealed that senior administrators in public and private schools rapidly adapted their strategies to contend with the new program: suburban public schools prevented scholarship students from enrolling; urban public schools increased choices for public school students; and private schools actively recruited students. However, the scholarships had little influence on the ways these administrators viewed school choice.     

Mandatory voice: Implementation of a district‐led student‐voice program in urban high schools

This qualitative case study explores how urban high schools implement a district‐initiated student‐voice program, referred to as Student Advisory Committees, intended to improve school climate. The study uses an implementation science framework to analyze interview data from principals and advisors in 22 urban high schools. An iterative, top–down thematic analytic procedure was used for analysis and interpretation of the data. The results suggest wide variation in how the program was implemented in terms of fidelity, dosage, quality, program reach, and adaptation, with contextual school factors—namely, principal and school characteristics—that help to explain this variation. In addition, the findings indicate that these contextual factors had a significant influence on how the school district implemented the student advisory committees. The authors discuss the implications for program implementation in the context of urban school districts and for school psychologists.     

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.     

Achievement and Climate Outcomes for the Knowledge is Power Program in an Inner-City Middle School

This study was designed to examine the effects of a whole school reform, the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), specifically designed to raise academic achievement of at-risk urban middle school students by establishing an extended school day and year, a rigorous curriculum, after-school access to teachers, and increased family-school connections. In our mixed-methods design, qualitative (interview and observation) and quantitative (survey and achievement test) measures are employed to determine first-year program implementation and student outcomes for the KIPP:DIAMOND (Daring Individual Achievers Making Outstanding New Dreams) Academy (KIPP:DA), an inner-city school in a large, high-poverty urban district. For the achievement analyses, 49 KIPP:DA students were individually matched to highly comparable control students of the same ethnicity, socioeconmic status, gender, and ability, who attended different district schools in the same neighborhood. Statistically significant and educationally meaningful advantages for KIPP:DA students were found on 4 out of 6 standardized tests. The achievement results are interpreted in relation to the key program elements, the positive school climate established, and the quality of the 1st-year implementation.     

Effective Dropout Prevention and College Attendance Programs for Students Placed at Risk

In this article, we review research on programs designed to reduce dropout rates and increase college attendance among at-risk students in middle and high schools. Two dropout prevention and 4 college attendance programs either fully or partially met the review's criteria for methodological adequacy of evaluation and replicability. The Coca-Cola Valued Youth Program and Achievement for Latinos through Academic Success demonstrated strong impacts of comprehensive programs to reduce dropout rates. Improved college attendance rates were documented for Upward Bound, SCORE, Project Advancement Via Individual Determination, and Graduation Really Achieves Dreams. In general, successful programs emphasized creating meaningful bonds between students and teachers, connecting students to an attainable future, giving students opportunities to work while in school, providing academic assistance, and giving students high-status roles in the school.     

Benefits of the Michiana Daily Mathtracks Programme for students living in poverty

This paper summarizes results from a math intervention implemented in a high-poverty urban community. Over 7,300 students from kindergarten to 4th grade in 1 low-socioeconomic-status school district participated in the study. Students from 13 different schools (36 different classroom) participated in the treatment. Comparisons were made to purposely selected control-group schools and all other students in the district. The aim of the intervention was to help early elementary-age students living in poverty learn essential math facts and master basic computational skills as a foundation for improving their math ability. The study used a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design with control and treatment groups. Achievement for both groups was compared to that of the school district as a whole, with analysis disaggregated by poverty status. The results found positive gains in the treatment group's math achievement at every grade level, transcending differences in socioeconomic status.     

Evaluating a Multidimensional Reading Comprehension Program and Reconsidering the Lowly Reputation of Tests of Near‐Transfer

We conducted a 14‐week experimental study of 2 versions of a relatively comprehensive RC intervention that involved 50 classroom teachers, 15 tutors, and 116 children drawn in equal proportions from grades 3 and 5 in 13 schools in a large urban school district. Students were randomly assigned in equal numbers to the two tutoring conditions and a control group. Results indicated that students in the two tutored groups tended to perform comparably on all tests and to outperform controls (more so in grade 5 than grade 3) on near‐transfer but not far‐transfer measures of RC. This differential pattern of program effects for near‐ versus far‐transfer measures raises questions about how tests of near‐transfer and far‐transfer are conventionally understood.     

An Extreme Degree of Difficulty: The Educational Demographics of Urban Neighborhood High Schools

Despite the growth of a variety of alternatives to the neighborhood high school, most students in big-city school systems still attend large comprehensive high schools that serve a particular residential area. The authors contend that the extreme concentration of educational need at these schools is often overlooked by policymakers, school reform programs, and even district personnel. To illustrate the challenges facing neighborhood high schools, this article examines key academic characteristics of 9th-graders in Philadelphia during the 1999-2000 school year. The authors find that a large percentage of 9th graders at neighborhood high schools have been 9th graders for 2 or more years. Many of the 1st-time 9th graders either are over-age, are 2 or more years below grade level in reading and math, or had weak attendance in 8th grade. These data suggest that large and sustained investments of human and financial capital are desperately needed in the many neighborhood schools that serve primarily, and often almost exclusively, students with multiple risk factors for academic failure.     

Home Visiting Among Inner-City Families: Links to Early Academic Achievement

This study examines the long-term effects of a home visiting program, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, on students from mostly low-income, Latino families (n = 254). Children who were in the home visiting program during their early years were compared with a similar demographic group who participated in prekindergarten in the same inner-city area but did not participate in home visiting. Data linked participation in home visiting to state test scores and other information from public schools through the end of elementary school. Research Findings: Secondary data analyses tested for intervention effects on reading and math achievement in an urban school district using 4 waves of data covering kindergarten through 5th grade. Growth curve modeling showed that participation in home visiting predicted higher academic achievement through the 5th grade. Practice or Policy: Parent-focused intervention during early childhood appears to have a lasting impact on children’s achievement. In addition to parent engagement, quality school curriculum and quality instruction affect achievement in elementary school. A comprehensive curriculum focus throughout the early school years should be implemented regardless of preparation for high-stakes testing.     

Effects of a Learner-Centred Environment on the Academic Competence and Motivation of Students at Risk

This study examined the efficacy of a learner-centred environment in enhancing the academic achievements and motivation of high school students who are at risk of dropping out of school. Three groups of students at high academic risk were compared. The control group consisted of students who are exposed to a remedial academic program in a traditional school context, and the experimental groups consisted of students enrolled at schools that have implemented a structured academic program in a learner-centred environment. It is shown that a learner-centred environment yields significantly higher achievement scores and a somewhat higher internal motivational orientation. These results suggest that a structured academic program in a learner-centred environment could provide hope for students at academic risk and other students who are likely to be lost to the academic educational system.     

Factors influencing the academic achievement of the Turkish urban poor

This study estimates the individual and combined effects of selected family, student and school characteristics on the academic achievement of poor, urban primary-school students in the Turkish context. Participants of the study consisted of 719 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade primary-school students from 23 schools in inner and outer city squatter settlements. The findings indicated that the set of variables comprising student characteristics, including well-being at school, scholastic activities and support, explained the largest amount of variance in academic achievement among the urban poor. Although the effect sizes are small, family background characteristics and school quality indicators were also found to be significantly related to academic achievement. The implications of this study for improving primary schools in urban poor neighborhoods are discussed.