Effects of a School for Pregnant Students on the Incidence of Low-Birthweight Deliveries

To evaluate effects of an alternative public school for pregnant teenagers in New Haven, CT, medical and school records were reviewed for a 1-year birth cohort of 230 adolescent mothers. Nearly three-quarters of all school-aged primiparas who were enrolled in the city's public schools when they became pregnant attended the alternative school. Because of summer vacation, however, students who conceived in January through April began attending later in pregnancy than did those who conceived in May through December; these mothers were significantly more likely to deliver a preterm, low-birthweight infant. No such seasonal effects were found for other teenagers in the city who were not enrolled in public school at conception. Positive birth outcomes for early program attenders are similar to those reported for a nurse-home-visitation program. The results suggest that school programs have considerable potential to be an effective service delivery model for providing prenatal intervention to adolescents.     

Relative efficacy of parent and teacher involvement in a shared-reading intervention for preschool children from low-income backgrounds

The effects of an interactive shared-reading intervention were evaluated with 3-to 4-year-old children from low-income families who attended subsidized child care. The children entered the program with oral language skills that were significantly below age-level as measured by standardized tests. Children were pretested and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: (a) no treatment control, (b) a school condition in which children were read to by their teachers in small groups, (c) a home condition in which children were read to by their parents, and (d) a combined school plus home condition. Parents and teachers were trained in a specific form of interactive reading via an instructional videotape. The intervention was conducted for 6 weeks, after which children were posttested on standardized measures of oral language, and language samples were obtained during a shared-reading assessment. Significant effects of the reading intervention were obtained at posttest and were largest for children in conditions involving home reading.     

Effects of a single cash transfer on school re-enrollment during COVID-19 among vulnerable adolescent girls in Kenya: Randomized controlled trial

COVID-19 related school closures in Kenya were among the longest in Africa, putting older adolescent girls nearing the end of secondary school at risk of permanent dropout. Using a randomized-controlled trial we evaluated a logistically simple cash transfer intervention in urban areas designed to promote their return to school. There were no required conditions for receiving the transfer and the intervention is interpreted as a labeled cash transfer. It had substantial significant effects on re-enrollment of adolescent girls, with greater effectiveness for older girls and even for some not enrolled earlier in the school year. The program effectiveness demonstrates feasibility of the approach and underscores the potential importance of additional resources for schooling during the pandemic, when a large majority of households had suffered income losses.     

Gender differences in associations between exposure to school HIV education and protective sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted disease/HIV diagnosis among high school students

This study aimed to assess associations between school HIV education and protective sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV diagnosis with a representative sample of male and female high school students. Data from male and female adolescent participants in the 1999, 2001 and 2003 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (n = 12,243) were analyzed. Adjusted regression analyses stratified by gender were conducted to assess relationships between school HIV education exposure and the following outcomes: no sexual initiation, condom use at last sex, no multiple sex partners in the past three months and no history of STD/HIV diagnosis. Participants were mostly White (75%) and were 51% male; the subsample of sexually active students was younger than the total sample but was otherwise similar in demographics. School HIV education was reported by 93% of our sample and was significantly related to sexual initiation among boys (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval = 1.4–2.7) but not girls. Among sexually experienced students (n = 4752), boys reporting exposure to school HIV education were significantly more likely to report condom use (odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.6–3.1), no multiple sex partners (odds ratio = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.3–4.4) and no STD/HIV diagnosis (odds ratio = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 2.0–5.0); girls reporting such exposure were significantly more likely to report no multiple sex partners (odds ratio = 2.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.3–3.6). In conclusion, exposure to school HIV education is associated with sexual protective behaviors and reduced likelihood of STD/HIV diagnosis for boys but less so for girls, suggesting the need for more gender‐tailored approaches to school HIV education.     

What Does She Expect When She Dresses Like That? Teacher Interpretation of Emerging Adolescent Female Sexuality

When examining the experiences of adolescent girls, a study into the presumptions teachers have regarding female adolescent sexuality is a very important aspect to explore. This article presents the findings from a study we conducted with eleven middle- and high school teachers in a southeastern state from both rural and urban districts. In-depth interviews were conducted to determine how their experiences and perceptions impact their understanding of the emerging sexuality of students in their classrooms. Several findings emerged, including that girls continue to be placed in contradictory positions concerning sexuality, that adverse sexual labels continue to serve as a means of sexual harassment that many teachers do not recognize, and that perceptions of sexuality and acceptable behavior remain deeply embedded in race and class issues.     

Experiences in After-School Programs and Children's Adjustment in First-Grade Classrooms

The experiences of 150 children in after-school programs were examined in relation to performance in first grade. Three aspects of program experiences (emotional climate, quality of peer interactions, and program curriculum) were associated with the children's concurrent adjustment at school, controlling for family selection factors. Staff positivity in the after-school programs was associated with boys displaying fewer internalizing and externalizing problems, whereas staff negativity was related to boys obtaining poorer grades in reading and math. Program flexibility was associated with boys having better social skills. More frequent negative interactions with peers in the programs were related to more internalizing and externalizing problems, and poorer social skills at school. Boys who attended programs offering a larger number of different activities had more internalizing and externalizing problems, and poorer grades in reading and math. After-school experiences also were related to girls' behaviors, but associations were less apparent for girls than boys.     

Accelerating the development of formal thinking in middle and high school students

In an attempt to accelerate the development of formal operations in average young adolescents, intervention lessons relating to all formal schemata were designed in the context of school science courses. Over a period of two years, up to 30 intervention lessons were given by science teachers to their classes in eight schools. Boys who started the program aged 12+ showed a pre-posttest effect size on Piagetian tests of 0.89 SD compared with control classes. In terms of British norms for the development of operational thinking this was a mean change from the 51st to the 74th percentile. Neither the middle school students nor the 12+ girls showed greater gain than the controls. Gains were shown by girls in one 11+ class and in the two 11+ laboratory classes. In the laboratory school students given intervention lessons by the researchers maintained their gains over controls in formal operations at a delayed posttest one year after cessation of the program. There was no effect on tests of science achievement during the intervention. It was argued that the interventions needed to be accompanied by in-service training designed to enable teachers to change their teaching style in line with their students' increased operational thinking capacity.     

The role of teachers in sex education and the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria

Research was undertaken to assess the role of primary school teachers with regard to the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Structured and semi‐structured questionnaires were responded to by 210 teachers drawn from primary schools in Eastern Nigeria (with pupils aged 6–15 years). These were supplemented by focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The findings show that the teachers have a reasonably high knowledge of the modes of HIV transmission, the behavioural risk factors and modes of prevention. The teachers, however, are reluctant to teach this because of socio‐cultural and religious factors, lack of teacher training in delivery of sex education as well as poor motivation. The motivation and participation of primary school teachers in the prevention of HIV in Nigeria are very low. This calls for serious and urgent policy intervention to remedy the situation and increase the role of primary school teachers in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.     

Secrets and lies: sex education and gendered memories of childhood's end in an Australian provincial city, 1930s–1950s

There are few historical studies about the sex education of Australian youth. Drawing on a range of sources, including the oral histories of 40 women and men who attended two single‐sex, selective high schools in a provincial Australian city (Newcastle, New South Wales) in the 1930s–1950s, this paper explores the adolescent experience of sex education and gender relations. First, it outlines attempts by the New South Wales State Government and the Newcastle community to introduce sex education, especially during the moral panic about sexuality generated during World War Two. Second, it charts the experiential realm of growing up for adolescent females and males. Hegemonic gender ideology meant that sexual knowledge was mostly kept secret from adolescent girls, and that frightening lies about sexual matters proliferated in the vacuum created by sexual ignorance. For adolescent males, sexual knowledge, while still shrouded in myth and mystery, was more readily available. Indeed sex education classes were introduced at the boys' school in the 1950s, while the girls' school remained silent on the matter for the entire time. At the theoretical level, the paper suggests that the dominant ideology of femininity included sexual ignorance and was allied to the ideology of childhood innocence. Both ideologies were artefacts of patriarchal power.     

Reading Skills in Emotionally Disturbed,Institutionalized Adolescents

Abstract

Good behavior ratings were found to accompany good marks in all subject areas studied (commerce, English, math, foreign languages, science, and social studies), and unsatisfactory behavior ratings were found to accompany failing marks in all subject areas except foreign languages for 441 tenth and eleventh grade Negro girls who attended school for at least 150 days during the school year. Teachers, whether they were male or female, who gave favorable behavior ratings also tended to give higher grades than teachers who gave unfavorable behavior ratings. Social studies teachers gave the highest proportion of excellent behavior ratings, and English teachers gave the highest proportion of unsatisfactory behavior ratings.     

Factors affecting teachers’ continuation of technology use in teaching

This study was conducted to investigate the continuation of technology use in science and mathematics teaching of the teachers who attended a professional development program between 2010 and 2012. Continuation of technology use was hypothesized to be affected by the professional development program and by personal, institutional, and technological factors. Twelve teachers and three school leaders participated in the study. Data was collected through interviews. Findings showed that the continuation of technology use differed for the teachers involved in the professional development program. While all teachers reported to have gained knowledge and skills through the professional development program and were positive about technology use in education, only some teachers continued the use of technology. The data revealed that despite the challenges that all teachers in the sample encountered when using technology in their teaching (such as large classrooms, problems with electricity supply, lack of time and lack of technology tools), the encouragement of school management was a critical factor in teachers’ continuation of technology use. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Family‐Centred Early Intervention in Singapore

This paper describes the pilot project (Project ASSIST) on early intervention of 40 disabled infants between the ages of 2 and 5 years. Its main objective was to look into the feasibility of integrating children with mild disabilities into mainstream preschool centres in Singapore. The intervention goals were related to the problems encountered by the children, their families and teachers. Professional staff such as occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists and psychologists intervened through providing consultations to parents and teachers who were taught the intervention follow‐up. An evaluation conducted after 9 months of the program (a) showed high levels of peer and school personnel acceptance, (b) indicated that Project ASSIST was an important service to both children and their families, and (c) demonstrated the feasibility of integrating children with disabilities into mainstream preschool centres.     

Masculine Female Adolescents at School

The current literatures on girls, queer youth, and multicultural education have ignored a significant group of young people and their experiences in school. This research is a retrospective exploratory study of masculine female adolescent schooling experiences, focusing on the school experiences of adults aged 18-54 who were socially defined as "girls" but who presented a masculine gender expression. This group of people, who may call themselves "tomboys," "butches," or "transgendered" are so underrepresented in the dominant discourses that there is no common language by which to categorize them. In interviews conducted over the past year, these participants revealed the transphobia, homophobia, and misogyny, as well as the support and freedoms they experienced within educational systems. This study reveals the need for critical examination of school policies and their impact on transgender youth. Further development of anti-oppressive curricula which address gender expression as a form of diversity is needed, as well as a better understanding by teachers of the complexity and multiplicity of gender expression.     

Suggestions for the ideal follow-up for bereaved students as seen by school personnel

Little is known about how teachers and head teachers (school personnel) attend to children experiencing grief. Our aim was to investigate what the school personnel perceive to be optimal help from the school in such situations. We conducted seven focus group interviews and one single interview among 17 teachers and 5 head teachers from primary and secondary schools. Although the school personnel obviously have high levels of empathy and commitment towards grieving students, they expressed limited knowledge about how child bereavement affects school performance, concentration, and learning, and how this restricted their own efforts to arrange for grieving children during the school day. They also signalled tensions created by the need to mediate too many tasks in the teacher’s role, school staff’s lack of grief knowledge, and guilt for not doing more for bereaved children at school. Despite the existence of solid theoretical and research base in the field of grief in children, opportunities for provision of evidence-validated intervention by teachers and other school personnel in response to grief, and prompt referral of bereaved children suffering more complex grief reactions, appear to be severely compromised. The school personnel pointed out the necessities for action plans and written routines, resources and clarifications of roles, and some basic help principles, key help measures, and improvements to improve the support for bereaved schoolchildren.     

The barriers and enablers to education among scheduled caste and scheduled tribe adolescent girls in northern Karnataka,South India: A qualitative study

This qualitative study explored the barriers and enablers to scheduled caste/scheduled tribe (SC/ST) adolescent girls entering into, and completing secondary education in northern Karnataka, South India. In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 adolescent girls, their respective parent/guardian (n = 22) and 11 teachers, recruited purposively from 11 villages within two districts in northern Karnataka. Multiple barriers were identified to disadvantaged caste adolescent girls’ entry into and retention in education in this setting, and these operated at the individual, family, community and school levels. In addition, some enablers to education were also described. The study highlights the importance of involving multiple stakeholders to overcome the barriers to education for SC/ST girls, and of working to change beliefs and expectations around gender norms as well as improving the quality of education in this setting.     

Guidance and counseling program development in Botswana

In this article the procedures utilized in developing recommendations for guidance and counseling programming in Botswana are discussed. Initially, the status of guidance and counseling was determined through numerous interviews with individuals in many locations in the country. In addition to the information gained from these interviews, a needs assessment was conducted through reviewing national documents and surveying primary and secondary teachers and secondary students. Questionnaires administered to 106 primary school teachers, 89 secondary school teachers and 405 secondary school students were analyzed.Data from these sources comprised the foundation for recommendations for a sequence of developmental tasks for Guidance and Counseling Program Development in the Botswana Educational System. Six primary counselor roles including 1) Counseling Service, 2) Consulting Service, 3) Information Service, 4) Referral Service, 5) Placement and Follow-up Service and 6) Evaluation and Research Service serve as the basis for these recommendations.     

The Younger Sisters of Childbearing Adolescents: Their Attitudes, Expectations, and Behaviors

To examine the precursors of the disproportionately high rates of early childbearing among the younger sisters of adolescent mothers, this study compared the attitudes, expectations, and behaviors of early adolescent girls ( M age = 12.93) who had an adolescent childbearing sister ( n = 75) to those of early adolescent girls who had only adolescent nonchildbearing sisters ( n = 348). Results indicated that the younger sisters of childbearing adolescents were consistently different from the younger sisters of nonchildbearing adolescents on key characteristics known to be correlated with early sexual activity and adolescent childbearing: that is, they were more accepting of nonmarital adolescent childbearing, perceived younger ages for typical life-course transitions (best age to get married, have first child), had more pessimistic school and career expectations, and were more likely to have engaged in problem behaviors (smoke cigarettes, skip school). These younger sister characteristics were associated with a nonvirgin sexual status in the current sample and with high closeness and high rivalry with the childbearing sister but could not be accounted for by such within-family experiences as subjects' mothers' permissiveness or lack of mother-daughter communication. Findings suggest the mechanisms by which the younger sisters of childbearing teens themselves become vulnerable to early parenthood.     

Gender differences in academic and social behavior of elementary school transfer students

This study describes a tutoring program designed to help children in grades 3 through 5 who underwent an unscheduled school transfer. We examined gender differences in self-concepts, academic performance, teacher evaluations, and peer ratings. Gender differences were found in several measures, although gender did not substantially interact with the intervention. As expected, female transfer students reported lower self-concepts than males; teachers reported that boys were more popular; peers also rated boys as more aggressive and girls as more likable. Findings suggest that preventive interventions for transfer students need to account for effects of gender.     

Teachers' attitudes towards adolescent sexuality and life skills education in rural South Africa

This study investigated the attitudes of 43 teachers and school administrators towards sex education, young people's sexuality and their communities in 19 secondary schools in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and how these attitudes affect school-based HIV prevention and sex education. In interviews, teachers expressed judgemental attitudes towards young people's sexuality and pregnant students, and focused on girls' perceived irresponsible behaviour instead of strategies to minimise HIV risk. Despite general awareness of the HIV epidemic, few teachers perceived it as an immediate threat, and teachers' own HIV risk was infrequently acknowledged. Teachers perceived themselves to have higher personal standards and moral authority than members of the communities and schools they served. Male administrators' authority to determine school policies and teachers' attitudes towards sexuality fundamentally affect the content and delivery of school-based sexuality education and HIV prevention activities. Opportunities to create a supportive educational environment for students and for female teachers are frequently missed. Improving teachers' efficacy to deliver impartial, non-judgemental and accurate information about sex and HIV is essential, as are efforts to acknowledge and address their own HIV risks.     

Evaluation of the peacemakers program: School‐based violence prevention for students in grades four through eight

This study evaluated the violence prevention effects of The Peacemakers Program, a school‐based intervention for students in grades four through eight. The program includes a primary prevention component delivered by teachers and a remedial component implemented by school psychologists and counselors with referred students. The teacher‐delivered component consists of a psychoeducational curriculum and procedures for infusing program content into the school environment. The study included almost 2,000 students in an urban public school system, with pre‐ and post‐program assessment and comparison to a control group. There were significant, positive program effects on six of the seven variables assessed, including knowledge of psychosocial skills, self‐reported aggression, and teacher‐reported aggression, with a 41% decrease in aggression‐related disciplinary incidents and a 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior. On some outcome variables, intervention effects were stronger for boys than girls and for middle school compared to upper elementary school students. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.