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PROJECT REAL (Rural Early Adolescent Learning): Demonstrating the Efficacy of the SEALS Program
Principal Investigators: Thomas W. Farmer, Penn State; Jill V. Hamm, UNC-CH
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences (R305A04056)
What are SEALS and REAL?
• SEALS is Supporting Early Adolescents’ Learning and Social Success. It is a universal intervention program that uses professional development with teachers of early adolescents, to off-set student risk for adjustment difficulties during the early adolescent transition.
• REAL is Rural Early Adolescents’ Learning, and is the research intervention project in which the SEALS intervention was finalized and tested for efficacy.
Person-Environment Mismatch Hypothesis (Eccles et al., 1993)
• Many youth experience difficulties during early adolescence, particularly as they transition to middle or junior high school
• When students’ abilities, characteristics, and aims are not consistent with the resources and demands of the school ecology, they are more likely to experience difficulties
• When students’ needs and goals are congruent with opportunities afforded by the environment, they will experience positive affective, behavioral, and motivational outcomes
Developmental Science
• Individuals develop as an integrated whole (see figure 1)
• Multiple factors operate as a correlated system
• Correlated constraints – Stability in functioning – Change in functioning
Individual Functioning and
Adaptation
Academic Competence and
Growth
Social Competence and
Growth
Behavioral Competence and
Growth
Positive Behavior
Enhancement
Academic Engagement
Enhancement
Social Dynamics Training
Academic Engagement Enhancement –
-General strategies that promote an instructional context that is responsive to the need of a broad and diverse range of students
Positive Behavior Enhancement –
- Strategies to create structure and consistency across classes
- Encouraging self-directed behavior
- Proactive approaches to prevent behavioral difficulties
Social Dynamics Training – - Promoting teachers’ awareness of the impact of peers on motivation & achievement.- Recognizing peer groups and social roles- Identifying youth with social difficulties that interfere with their own or others’ learning- Strategies to use peer group dynamics to foster classroom engagement- Strategies to help students with social difficulties develop positive, supportive relationships
• Universal Components
• Site Visits, Needs Assessments, and Summer Institutes
• Web-based training modules on universal topics including:– Early adolescent development– Motivation and academic
engagement– Instruction for low-achieving
students– School and classroom social
dynamics– Information processing– Literacy support
SEALS Intervention Delivery
Targeted Components
• Video-conference consultation with Project REAL staff following Directed Consultation Model • Provides a forum for
intervention specialists to facilitate discussions of:– Web-based training
modules– Strategies for at-risk
students– Strategies for classroom
issues
Research Design for Project REAL
• Intervention schools matched with control schools– 1/2 with middle school transition configuration– 1/2 alternative configuration (e.g., k-8, k-12)– Schools are matched closely on demographic data
• Baseline student data collected in spring of 5th grade; Process/transition data collected in fall and spring of 6th grade
• Student outcome data on school adjustment and academic achievement collected in spring of 6th grade
• A follow-up year of data is collected for some sites
(7th grade, fall & spring)
• Pilot Sites– 2 Appalachian states, 4 middle school transition schools– Northern Plains: 4 k-12 schools
• Full Implementation Sites– Appalachia: 4 middle school transition schools– Midwest: 2 k-8, 2 middle school transition schools– Southwest: 4 middle school transition schools– Deep South: 4 k-12 schools– Southeast: 2 k-8, 2 middle school transition schools– Far West, 4 middle school transition schools– Pacific Northwest, 4 k-8 schools
Across Rural Areas of the United States:Total Number of Districts/Schools: 36 districts/schoolsTotal Number of Teachers: 392Total Number of Students: approximately 4000
Research Sites
Evidence of Efficacy of SEALS Program in Rural Schools
• Effects on student achievement and student capacity variables (individual and individual-in-context adaptation)
• Effects on teacher capacity to enhance individual-in-context adaptation
• Effects on multiple dimensions of the peer culture of effort and achievement, with implications for student achievement
SEALS Program Effects on Student Achievement and Student Capacity
Hamm, Farmer, Robertson, Dadisman, Murray, Meece, & Song, 2010
• Is participation in Project REAL associated with more favorable outcomes on measures of (a) student’s perceptions of the social-academic context, (b) affective relationships with schooling, and (c) student achievement?
• Do estimated program effects differ by subgroup (i.e., gender or race/ethnicity)?
• Perceptions of Social-Academic Context– Peer norms for effort and achievement (Hamm, 2001)
– Emotional risk of participation (Hamm & Faircloth, 2005)
– Bullying context (Song, 2008)
• Affective Relationships with Schooling– Sense of belonging (Hagborg, 1994; 1998)
– School valuation (Voelkl, 1996)
• Achievement– End-of-year state-level standardized test (school
records)– Grades (school records)
Three Key Outcome Domains
Sample
• Recruited from all 4th, 5th, & 6th grade classrooms of four public k-12 schools in a state in the Northern Plains– 72% agreed to participate, N=165 student participants– 45% Native American, 55% White– 92 boys, 73 girls
• Schools were eligible for U.S. Department of Education’s Rural and Low-Income School Program (RLISP) – Locale code 7 or 8 and at least 20% of students are
from families living below the federal poverty level– In our sample, 64.6% of students were eligible for
subsidized meals through the National School Lunch Act
After controlling for previous year scores on each outcome, and for student demographic characteristics, students in Project REAL intervention schools, compared to their peers in matched control schools reported …
• More supportive peer norms for effort and achievement;
• More peer protection from bullying;• A greater sense of school belonging;• Greater valuing of school;• Higher year-end grades.
Summary of Results
State Standardized Test Scores
664.4
656.6
667.2
671.8
665.8
664.2
645
650
655
660
665
670
675
Intervention Comparision
Subgroup
Raw
sco
re (m
ean)
Native American White Overall
Students' Perceptions of School Belonging/Valuing
3.7
3.44
3.14
3.42
2.8
2.9
3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
Intervention Comparision
Sch
ool B
elon
ging
, mea
n
Native American
White
Students' Perceptions of Peer Norms for Effort and Achievement
3.99
3.233.44 3.46
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Intervention Comparision
Pee
r no
rms,
mea
n
Native American
White
SEALS Program Effects on Teacher Capacity: Teacher Attunement and Benefits to Student Adjustment
Hamm, Farmer, Dadisman, Gravelle, & Murray, in press
Attunement is an aspect of teacher involvement, which is the extent to which teachers “take time for, express affection toward, enjoy interactions with, are attuned to, and dedicate resources to their students” (Skinner & Belmont, p. 573)
– Dimensions of teacher involvement (i.e., teacher support, teacher caring) have demonstrated benefits to students’ social and affective experiences of school.
Teacher attunement refers to teachers’ understanding of students’ peer group affiliations.
SampleSix rural middle schools
– Two from Midwestern and four from Southwestern regions of United States– School sizes ranged from 131 to 246 students– Two schools were primarily White student body (91.3% White), four were primarily
Latino student body (70.8% Latino)– Consent rate 73%– 28-98% of students from each school were eligible for free/reduced lunch– 50% of participating schools did not meet AYP during this school year
Students– 254 participating students, all sixth-graders, 56% female– 50% of participating students Hispanic, 46.6% White, 1.5% African-American, 1.9%
other (Asian, multi-racial, American Indian, unknown)
Teachers– 26 sixth-grade teachers (14 intervention/12 control)– Average level of education is a master’s and some graduate work– 72% of teachers have 10+ years of teaching experience– Teachers in Southwestern schools primarily Latina, teachers in Midwestern schools
primarily European-American
Differences in Teacher Attunement to Peer Groups in Intervention versus
Control Schools
Teacher Attunement Scores
Control (.31, SD = .06) Intervention (.56, SD = .05)0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Chart Title
Differences in Classroom Practice for Intervention versus Control School
Teachers
Control (2.54, SD = .25) Intervention (3.42, SD = .28)0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Observation Scores
Teacher Attunement and Student Experiences of the School Social Affective Context
Teacher attunement predicted improvements over the course of the middle school transition year to students’ …
• Sense of school belonging• Perceptions that classmates would intervene in
bullying instances• Perceptions that they (self) would intervene in bullying
instances• Students whose teachers maintained greater
attunement also declined in their perception that their classmates encouraged bullying.
Enhancing the Peer Culture of Effort and Achievement: SEALS Intervention Effects
Hamm, Farmer, et al., 2011
• Peer cultures reflect a “…stable set of activities or routines, artifacts, values, and concerns that children produce and share in interactions with peers.” (Corsaro & Eder, 1990; p. 197).
• Early adolescents experience a peer culture of academic effort and achievement; aspects of this peer culture are associated with students’ subsequent academic effort and achievement (Hamm,
Hoffman, & Farmer, 2011)
Key Indicators of Peer Cultures of Effort and Achievement
• Peer group normative contexts
• Provision of peer support
• Social costs/benefits of academic behaviors and dispositions to social status
SampleParticipating Rural Schools• 10 matched pairs (20 schools) from 16 school districts in
9 states• 5 pair middle school transition, 5 pair k8/k12• 62% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch• School size: 72-622 students• School proportion of ethnic minority students .04% - 98%• Average consent rate 70.2%
Students and Teachers• 1619 students (54% female, 35% ethnic minority)• 115 6th grade teachers (77% female)
Fidelity of Intervention Training
• Site visit prior to intervention school year• Summer institute prior to intervention school year
– Introduction to three intervention components• Completion of self-guided instructional models and
directed consultation sessions during intervention school year
• Teacher professional development hours were logged– Average of 27.55 hours (SD = 3.76)
Fidelity of Teacher Implementation
• Determined by classroom observation by trained observers blind to condition
• Instrument well-aligned with intervention components
• Intervention classrooms were significantly more aligned with intervention ideals than were control schools
Components Alpha
Classroom Structure .909
Feedback .929
Behavior Management .897
Instructional Protocol .853
Communication Appropriate .906
Use of Groups and Social Dynamics .831
Organization and Information Processing .922
Relevant and Meaningful Motivation .903
Overall Reliability of Observation Measure .920
Peer Group Injunctive Norms – Intervention/Control
Control (3.57, SD = .68) Intervention (3.75, SD = .69)3.45
3.5
3.55
3.6
3.65
3.7
3.75
3.8
1 SD Below 1 SD Above0
5
10
15
20
25
Control
Intervention
Number ofnominationsfor socialprominence
Academic Effort
1 SD Below 1 SD Above0
5
10
15
20
25
Control
Intervention
Number of nominationsfor social prominence
School Valuing
Conclusions• Correlated constraint approach of the SEALS intervention helps
teachers to reorganize classroom and school settings to provide greater support to early adolescents’ social, behavioral, and academic adaptation.
• Diverse aspects of early adolescents’ peer systems can be improved through the SEALS program. When aspects of the peer system are more supportive of positive adaptation, student academic success is enhanced.
• Enhanced capacities such as attunement to peer group affiliations and management of students in groups likely promotes teachers’ abilities to act as an “invisible hand” that guides positive social, behavioral, and academic adjustment.