Work & Academics

Goals and Expectations

The goal of this study is that students with emotional or behavioral disabilities who regularly attend this out-of-school time (OST) program will improve their classroom grade and be better able to identify strategies for managing their emotions and controlling their behavior. The homework completion rate will improve to an 85% completion rate and 75% of the classroom grades will improve by at least one grade letter. Furthermore, through the course of the workshops offered at the OST program, useful insights on how to more constructively work with children with emotional or behavioral disabilities (EBD) will be shared with regular classroom teachers.

Expected Outcomes

There are six main expected outcomes of this study:

1. All (100%) of the students with EBDs participating in the OST program will be promoted to the next grade level at the end of the school year.
2. The OST program will continue to focus on improving academic performance through homework assistance and will attempt to achieve the specific goal of an 85% homework completion rate across all students.
3. All (100%) of the students at the OST program diagnosed with EBD will be able to self-identify things they need to help them succeed academically. This includes classroom features such as assignment instructions being explained in person and home features such as a quiet area to complete homework.
4. A majority of the students at this apartment community (85%) will successfully learn techniques to better manage stress and frustration. Because of the extended hours their parents work, many of the children are often left unsupervised or left with inadequate supervision in the after-school hours. This adds to the stress levels the students may already be experiencing. Additionally, many students report feeling frustrated that they cannot communicate effectively because of their language difficulties. For most of them, Spanish is their native language; being second language learners further impacts their learning disabilities. Finally, another element adding stress to their already difficult lives is that a majority of the adults at the housing community is assumed to be undocumented immigrants; many parents are often reluctant to seek State services that may assist them because they do not feel comfortable with the paperwork necessary for their children’s participation.
5. As a result of behavior workshops, student referrals to the principal’s office or to the school disciplinarian will reduce by 50%. Based on the preliminary findings from the sessions held by the social worker, the primary emotional or behavioral disabilities which will be addressed are adjustment disorder, anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and conductive disorder.
6. All (100%) of the 12 participating regular-school-day teachers will learn ways to better design curriculum that helps these students achieve their educational objectives. For many of the teachers, one self-reported problem is that they do not feel they have adequate information available to them to help them determine the best strategies for managing challenging situations. The two main reasons identified are a lack of training and a lack of information about the range of EBDs and how they can impair a student’s academic performance. Upon the completion of the study, which takes place at an OST, a handbook will be created and an end-of-summer workshop will be conducted to help brief the teachers on classroom practices which may assist in a range of situations.

Measurement of Outcomes

Due to the nature of this study, the measurement of outcomes will be both qualitative and quantitative. For all numeric, quantifiable data, the OST program staff will collaborate with the local school district to arrange for the distribution of reports verifying the academic performance of the students as measured on the classroom report cards. Teachers will track the homework completion rate and create confidential files of previous incident reports and disciplinary actions. The OST staff will also track the homework completion rate as well as collaborate with school teachers to determine whether there is a discrepancy in terms of what is actually assigned and what the student actually brings as homework. Findings about the homework completion rate, the rate of disciplinary referrals, and the classroom grades will be described in the text and presented as tabular data. For reference purposes, and to aid in future research opportunities, data on teacher preparedness—including the number of hours of professional training they receive each year for working with students with EBD—will be included as an appendix in the final study.

Qualitative data will be collected in the form of interviews with parents, teachers, and students. Due to the relatively small sample size and the need for thorough data collection, the parent and student interviews will be conducted in person. The interviews will seek to identify several different items. First, for students, the interviews will help identify their self-knowledge of their learning styles or their emotional or behavioral mannerisms. Second, for teachers, the interviews will help identify the teacher’s perception of the students’ abilities as well as their self-reported attempts at intervention. Finally, for parents, the interviews will help identify ways in which they can help support their children emotionally and academically in the home environment. To get a better idea of how the intervention has affected participants qualitatively, the same interview will be conducted pre- and post-intervention. For sample questions for all three groups, please refer to the Appendices starting with Appendix A.

Additional qualitative data will be collected from randomized observations made at the OST program and at the students’ school. The observations will be non-obtrusive and only as frequently as necessary to collect sufficient observational data. The observer will be looking for firsthand accounts of student behavior in the classroom as well as the interaction between the teacher, students, and other peers. The purpose of the observations is not to evaluate the methods, but rather, to record the methods currently being employed to work with students with EBD. To minimize time spent taking notes, the observer will use a checklist to record data. The observations will be made randomly to minimize the validity threats associated with scheduled visits.

Analysis of Results and Validity Threats

A t-test will be used to determine whether the intervention was effective or not. Two t-tests will be used. The first will compare the mean classroom scores of the students before and after the intervention. The second will compare the homework completion rate. A p-value of < 0.05 will be used to determine whether the two samples are statistically different from each other. The raw data will be presented as tables in the text.

While designing this study, the writer has been careful to minimize validity threats. The single most concerning validity threat to this study is history. The writer cannot account for everything that occurs between the pre- and post-implementation stages. However, due to the existing high-frequency nature of the interaction between the school teachers and the OST program staff, and due to the amount of time the participants spend at the OST program when not in school, history is less of a threat. Another possible threat is the novelty or disruption effect. Again, considering that the OST program already has a well established relationship with the school district, and that they have been working with these children for over a year, the novelty or disruption effect will be minimal. The workshops will be non-intrusive and will resemble existing modules already in place at the OST program. The pre-intervention interviews will be conducted as part of the annual OST program enrollment process before which parents will be sent participatory consent forms and attend a meeting to be briefed on the purpose of the study. OST program staff members are already a familiar face at schools, so classroom observations should not cause undue disruptions. Finally, before the study takes place, all OST program staff will receive special training to help ensure that the workshops and studies are carried out as intended.

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