Work & Academics

Problem Description

Many of the students at the OST program, in particular the students diagnosed with emotional or behavioral disabilities, are receiving lower classroom grades than their peers. The problem has been identified by both teachers and administrators in the local schools as well as by many of the parents at the housing community. Both parties are interested in the potential for this problem being addressed in part in the OST program’s curriculum.

Of the specific reports from the teachers, they mention that the students with EBD are often disruptive at school, either physically or in their verbal interactions with other students and adults. Additionally, they report that the students do not complete their homework properly—if at all—and that they regularly perform poorly on periodic classroom assessments. Many teachers report that the students appear to be distracted in the educational setting and that they seem to lack motivation to complete tasks, especially those which are more long-term in nature. Additionally, despite the housing community’s close proximity to the school (approximately a 15-minute walk), school teachers have reported that the absentee-rate of students attending the OST program is significantly higher than those of their peers.

Parents have reported that they feel at a loss when trying to identify ways to improve the educational opportunities for their children. As relationships between parents and the school district are gradually improving, parents do feel that they have a better understanding of how their children should be doing. At the same time, they express frustration that they do not feel they have either the time or the energy to deal with some of the additional problems caused as a result of the emotional or behavioral disability. Parents with children with behavioral disorders have also expressed concerns about the way their children approach other children and adults at the apartment community despite their repeated attempts to discipline them.

Problem Documentation

The problem has been documented in different ways. Teachers and students report low grades on daily classroom assignments and school report cards. The student-work portfolios for these students are often very incomplete or include numerous examples of incomplete work. Teachers have also documented many cases where, rather than attempting to undertake a new task, the students either rebel and create disruptions in the classroom or become introverted and express insecurities about their abilities to complete the work.

Disciplinary related referrals for these students are also very frequent. Most of the referrals are made during the regular classroom hours and not between classes or during the recesses. There is little documentation available to indicate whether the disciplinary concerns are a result of the student being an instigator of problems or whether the student simply gets drawn into problematic situations.

Many of the regular-school teachers also identify poor organizational skills as a serious impediment to student success. Poor organizational skill is assumed to be the main reason for low levels of homework completion. Especially with multi-part homework assignments which are spread out over the course of a week or more, teachers routinely report that the work is returned incomplete. Furthermore, students rarely have their folder and their homework checklists with them when they come to school. This is indicative of a similar problem in which students come to school generally under-prepared, that is, without necessary items like pencils, notebooks, and binders.

Along with the negative behavior and the incomplete assignments, interviews with teachers have also revealed that the students exhibit poor interpersonal skills and low motivation levels. A number of teachers have indicated a pattern of extreme “shyness” which they feel works against the students’ academic and personal development. Some of this has been attributed to the language difficulties faced by students; however, teachers have reported that in the more extreme cases, this has led to students exhibiting behaviors similar to those of a person diagnosed with depression.

Preliminary interviews with parents have also been quite revealing. Many parents frequently express feeling “stressed” and “exhausted” at the end of the work-day and feel that they do not have enough time or patience to help their children by the time they get home. They have expressed dissatisfaction in what they have considered a “routine” lifestyle where they leave for work very early, return late, and often come home to discouraging reports of their child’s performance that day at school. Additionally, parents also identify feeling at a loss when it comes to dealing with the emotional or behavioral problems of their children and have expressed an interest in seeking other avenues for support. While many parents have reported that their lives have improved significantly since the new owners have taken control of the apartments, they do point out that their lives—and consequently, the lives of their children—are still quite difficult.

The OST program staff and volunteers have also documented similar evidence indicating the benefit of a more formal study. They have observed that, despite the noted effort on the part of the program participants, success is often thwarted by low self-efficacy and easily triggered frustration. Furthermore, while there has been a noted change in the attitudes towards schooling, these “good intentions” have yet to be met with adequate levels of success. Of the 55 students in the program, one fifth of them have been identified as still being at risk for being held behind one grade level. Regular-school teachers feel that these students are not ready—either academically or emotionally—to be promoted to the next grade level. Additionally, 5 of the 55 students are at risk for expulsion or out-of-school suspension for repeated disciplinary infractions.

Literature Review

The literature review has been divided into two separate categories. First, a review of the literature related to emotional and behavioral disabilities will be presented. This literature review was conducted with an emphasis on EBDs and socioeconomic status. Following this, a review of the literature relating to the significant role OST programs can play in a child’s educational opportunities will be presented. This review was conducted with an emphasis on building the skills necessary for academic success. Both reviews focused primarily on recently published literature.

Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities.

As mentioned earlier, emotional and behavioral disabilities take on a range of forms. One of the most commonly diagnosed EBD form is attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Schnoes, Reid, Wagner, & Marder, 2006). ADHD is expected to affect over 2 million school children and seriously impacts their academic potential (Schnoes et al., 2006). In a 2003 study, it was found that in the 6-17 year age group, 11.5% of students were diagnosed with LD, 8.8% with ADHD, and 6.3% with behavioral problems (Blanchard, Gurka, & Blackman, 2006). In the same report, however, parent surveys illustrated that parents viewed the problem as much more severe indicating that parents themselves may require additional support for understanding their children’s disabilities. This discrepancy may also be a result of students not being diagnosed because the behavior is thought to be temporary or transitional or it may be the result of parents not seeking diagnosis.

Low socioeconomic status is believed to be a risk factor contributing to students developing an EBD (Schnoes et al., 2006). One study (Newacheck, Rising, & Kim, 2006) found that behavioral and emotional disabilities such as LD, ADHD and depression can be viewed as the combined result of genetic factors, one’s surroundings, and the social environment. Specifically, the level of stress that a family may have to endure as a result of being impoverished is often very high and can leave a lasting impression on children. These stresses include feeling neglected, poor hygiene, housing insecurity, and malnutrition. Interestingly, Hispanic students are underrepresented in the ADHD statistics, but it is assumed that one possible reason is that—perhaps for cultural reasons—these families do not as actively seek out diagnosis (Schnoes et al., 2006; Ganz & Tendulkar, 2006).

The physical environment is not the only thing that has an impact on the child; the child’s familial environment can also factor into a child’s emotional stage and can contribute to an EBD. One study by Boyd, Diamond and Bourjolly (2006) found that children of depressed parents are at a higher risk for developing an EBD. This report further found that these conditions are exasperated for children with a low socioeconomic status. Some of the specific risks that children of depressed parents faced were depression, anxiety disorders, and conduct disorder. These children also had low levels of emotional literacy and were generally unable to self-regulate their emotions or behaviors. Because of the low social-skills levels, these children also had difficult peer interactions and were much more sensitive to criticisms and failure. Since their parents were too often unable to provide a supportive environment, their self-esteem and self-efficacy were also very low.

Students with emotional disorders and learning disabilities experience difficulties in academia, their social lives, and in transition to adulthood (Lane, Carter, Pierson, & Glaeser, 2006). Students with ED exhibit more behavioral problems than their peers (Lane & Carter , 2006). Teachers report that these students are more likely to have relationship problems—both with peers and with adults—and are more often contacted for disciplinary concerns (Lane & Carter, 2006; Blanchard et al., 2006). Compared to their peers, “students with ED had higher levels of negative narrative comments written in their cumulative folders, had more contacts with the school disciplinarian, and missed more days of school” (Lane et al., 2006, “Discussion” ¶4). Additionally, students with EBD are usually more than one year below their peers academically (Hodge, Riccomini, Buford, & Herbst, 2006).

A literature review conducted by Wagner & Davis (2006) related to working with students with ED identified five ways practitioners can help these students succeed. First, it was found that creating meaningful relationships with the students helps reduce the student dropout and absenteeism rates. Second, Wagner & Davis found that, even for students with ED, effective schools offer a well-prepared challenging curriculum. Rigor in the design as well as the implementation of the curriculum helped programs succeed. Third, the most effective teachers and the most effective programs were the ones that made learning relevant and created goal-oriented plans for their students. Fourth, successful programs also focused on the “whole child” and offered students support in areas such as social skills, life skills, and self-efficacy. Fifth, considerable effort was made to involve the student’s family. By involving the student’s family, practitioners were better able to reinforce the student’s goal-setting ability. Additionally, through increased interactions with family members, practitioners were able to help families identify different elements in their living situation that can be adjusted to better facilitate the student’s chances for success.

The literature also shows that the problem of working with students with EBD is not restricted to the students alone. Teachers feel they can be better prepared to work with students with EBD. According to one report:

Only 27.7% of students with ED had teachers who reported receiving in the previous 3 years at least 8 hours of continuing professional development related to working with students with disabilities, and only 37% had teachers who reported receiving that level of training for behavior management. Consistent with this relatively low level of training on issues pertinent to students with ED, 37.9% of students with ED were taught by general education teachers who “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” with the idea that they were adequately trained to teach students with special needs” (Wagner & Davis, 2006, “Rigorous, Inclusive, Supported Academic Programs” ¶3).

This is important to note because teacher under-preparedness can lead to a “cycle of negative reinforcement” whereby an inexperienced teacher simply “removes” the disruptive student from the class (Lingo, Slaton, & Joliyette, 2006). By excluding the student from the academic experience, future academic endeavors are more difficult since the student may have missed valuable material. Subsequent failures due to this increase the likelihood of the student acting out in the future.

Out-of-School Time Programs

The rise in the number of OST programs available can often be explained in socioeconomic terms. As the number of single-parent families increases, the divorce rate rises, or both parents spend more of their time at one or more jobs, the need for quality OST care increases (Zhang & Byrd, 2005). In a sense, it is not necessarily the case that parents today do not care as much as older generations did about the welfare of their children; it is more likely the case that parents today simply do not spend as much time at home as they did in the past. This problem is further impacted by income, with parents in lower-income families working longer hours with fewer benefits such as paid vacation or the flexibility to take days off to care for their children if the need arises (Miller, 2003).

Child safety is often the most cited reason for the need of OST programs; children who are unsupervised in the hours between the end of the school day and the time that their parents are home from work are more likely to be at-risk than children engaged in productive activities. Findings by the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Education show that these afternoon hours are the hours during which most youth begin experimenting with drug use, sexual activity, gang activity, or crime (Carter, 2003; Vinluan, 2005). The harm does not only come in the form of group activity, but can also come in the form of unsupervised individual access to media such as television programs, video-games, or internet sites which may be inappropriate for youth. Sometimes collective referred to as “screen time,” excessive unsupervised exposure to screen media has been shown to result in lower standardized reading test scores, contribute to health problems like obesity, and contribute to more aggressive behavior (Miller, 2003).

In addition to safety, however, OST programs are also important because they often have more flexibility in the approach they take towards teaching when compared to a regular school teacher. One significant difference usually comes in the form of the teaching method or the learning experience. OST programs are more likely to cater towards kinesthetic or visual learners, helping make up for the largely auditory learning experiences that students may be exposed to at school; this alternative approach, consequently, may encourage some children to develop an interest in learning or reach out to children who have an otherwise difficult time accessing the regular curriculum (Beck, 1996). In fact, the diversity of what individual learners can gain from OST programs has been cited as being perhaps more significant than the actual educational gains from participating in such programs. According to one recent report (Massachusetts After-School Research Study [MARS], 2005):

it is not clear that expecting programs to have direct academic effects is a fruitful avenue for the after-school field in general. There is a growing consensus that, while after-school programs can contribute to improving academic achievement, they are best suited to support development in what might be termed the “prerequisites” for academic success. (p. 2).

These prerequisites can include improved self-esteem, the development of leadership skills, improved time-management skills, and better behavior management.

Safety can also be seen from the program design perspective. As one can imagine, a poorly designed OST program can be almost equally damaging to children as leaving them unsupervised could be. Many similar problems—including poor diet, feeling neglected or insecure, not completing work, or not getting enough physical activity—can occur within a poorly structured OST program. Considering the potential number of hours participants may spend at an after school program each week, the program becomes, in a way, part of their “homes” so a program design that allows participants to feel comfortable is very important (Hall et al., 2003).

Since OST programs are perhaps better suited to reinforcing the prerequisites for success, it is important for OST programs to provide a setting in which a participant can develop significant positive relationships both among peers and between participants and adults. There are many programs which focus simply on providing positive role models—mentor programs—to help children become more self-aware and more confident expressing themselves. Positive reinforcement may also be lacking from their regular school-day activities or even in the home—especially in the case of low socioeconomic families where adult family members are too often focused on subsistence needs. Providing this reinforcement at an OST program can have long-lasting positive social and emotional effects on participants. OST programs can also be a perfect opportunity for a participant to have increased social opportunities by spending time with peers who may be from different schools or of different ages (Miller, 2003).

In conjunction with the creation of positive relationships, especially between participants and staff, OST programs are usually in a unique situation where they are able to offer very individualized instruction. This may be in the form of homework assistance, in the form of special projects which serve to develop a participant’s interest, or in the form of an individualized education plan for the student. It is important, however, that these projects serve a clearly defined objective. This is not to say that programming should be restrictive or that the approach towards the delivery of the lesson should be uniform, but rather that the instructor should be able to identify the significance of the work they are doing to be able to better set benchmarks for the student to recognize their progress (Hall et al., 2003).

In cases where a relationship between the participant and staff has been well established, the participant should clearly understand that the expectations for success are high. Higher expectations often lead to increased motivation, especially if the participant can be assured that failure will not result in dissatisfaction or punishment (MARS, 2005). To ensure flexibility, OST program staff should try to make their projects both challenging and relevant. Offering participants challenges can show participants that the program staff has confidence in them and also allows the participant an opportunity to try to find a new or different way to do something. Success in a particularly challenging project also boosts participants’ confidence in their abilities. Making sure that projects are also relevant gives students a chance to “own” their work, and encourages students to have the initiative to achieve things on their own. Both of these experiences can positively contribute to a student’s emotional health and self-efficacy (Hall et al., 2003).

For older participants in OST programs, the feeling that they have a voice or that they have ownership of certain elements of the program can also help contribute to the prerequisites for academic success. This goes beyond having them decide which activities they want to partake in and having them take active leadership or decision-making roles. Allowing older OST program participants these sorts of choices can also help improve their confidence while naturally helping develop their leadership skills (Hall et al., 2003)

In addition to the above recommendations for OST program design, OST program staff—or at minimum, the OST program coordinator—should also keep current with basic care programs in the community. These community services can be used when program staff encounter problem they are not qualified to deal with and can include services for emotional well-being, health, or family services. In addition to these services, the OST program should also be able to provide a well-maintained comprehensive collection of local networking resources that can help participants both during and upon completion of the program. These can include apprenticeships or other extracurricular activities such as art or sports that may not be a priority for the OST program (Hall et al., 2003). Being able to accurately refer a participant to a community service that they ultimately find helpful helps build trust and reinforces their impression that someone is genuinely concerned with their wellbeing. Both of these are significant in the development of a foundation for personal success.

As can be seen above, many of the above recommendations are not concerned with academic requirements. The assumption is that providing OST program participants an environment that exhibits these characteristics will provide participants an environment that contributes to the development of empowering skills. As mentioned earlier, building up these skills will ultimately lead to participants who are more interested in learning and more confident of their abilities to excel.

Causative Analysis

There are a number of speculated causes leading to the development of emotional or behavioral disabilities and students’ subsequent low academic performance. Students at this OST have not always had the support structure necessary for healthy mental development. Most of these students have endured the hardships of living in slum conditions for almost all of their childhood. While the majority of the children do not come from single-parent families—a feature common to other low-income groups—their parents are employed in low-paying, time-intensive jobs which negatively impact the potential for a healthy support structure in the home. Consequently, many older siblings—who are usually merely in their early teenage years—assume adult roles quite early on as they assume the role of caretaker for younger siblings or as they seek employment to add to the household income pool. For these makeshift caretakers, this responsibility can be quite stressful and negatively impact their own potential. For the children being supervised, it is likely that they are not receiving the quality or type of attention they may need to help them feel secure. While one can propose that parents should seek outside help, the situation at this OST program is also somewhat unique in that many parents are not comfortable seeking this form of help, especially when it involves official documentation; it is assumed that approximately half of the parents are undocumented immigrants.

From school documentation, we can confirm that the students from the OST program do not perform, on average, as well as their peers. The participants appear to have low self-esteem or low self-efficacy which severely impairs their ability to perform well. These qualities may stem from their experiences early in life as well as from the current home environment. Further compounding the already difficult learning difficulties, many of these students also have linguistic difficulties. Most of the students are identified as also having limited English proficiency and primarily speak Spanish at home. Because of the area’s demographics, this does not hinder their daily lives; however, it further compounds the difficulties they experience at school. Furthermore, because of language difficulties, many of the students have poor interpersonal skills. The students’ low level of interpersonal skills limits their social network thus compounding their already low self-esteem.

From preliminary interviews with the teachers during the design of the OST program, some teachers indicated that several of the program participants have demonstrated extreme test anxiety. The test anxiety behavior identified ranges from being physical, emotional, mental, or a combination of those types of anxiety. Physical signs such as excessive sweating or trembling have been noted. Emotional signs such as outbursts or fear have been observed. Mental disconnects, such as an inability to focus on the task, have also been observed. As mentioned in the literature review, anxiety disorders can be caused both by the environment as well as by familial factors. From the perspective of progressively building ones self-efficacy, one possible cause for these behaviors could be the overwhelmingly negative experience most of these children have had. For many of them, school is not somewhere that they have experienced success, and the repeated failures combined with the lack of a sufficient support structure as mentioned earlier can detrimentally impact one’s confidence in one’s ability to succeed.

The goal of this study is to consider these potential causes for the low academic performance level of students with emotional or behavioral disabilities and identify ways in which carefully structured out-of-school time programming can help support these children on their path towards improvement. Parents, teachers, and the students themselves have all been identified as playing a significant role in the problem, and one goal is to help extend the “tool-kit” available to all the stakeholders. While it is true that we may be somewhat defined by our environment, we do also have the ability to control the environment, or at least control how much the environment affects our development.

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