Improving elementary school quality through the use of a social-emotional and character development program: a matched-pair, cluster-randomized, controlled trial in Hawai'i

BACKGROUND: School safety and quality affect student learning and success. This study examined the effects of a comprehensive elementary school‐wide social‐emotional and character education program, Positive Action, on teacher, parent, and student perceptions of school safety and quality utilizing a matched‐pair, cluster‐randomized, controlled design. The Positive Action Hawai'i trial included 20 racially/ethnically diverse schools and was conducted from 2002‐2003 through 2005‐2006. METHODS: School‐level archival data, collected by the Hawai'i Department of Education, were used to examine program effects at 1‐year post‐trial. Teacher, parent, and student data were analyzed to examine indicators of school quality such as student safety and well‐being, involvement, and satisfaction, as well as overall school quality. Matched‐paired t‐tests were used for the primary analysis, and sensitivity analyses included permutation tests and random‐intercept growth curve models. RESULTS: Analyses comparing change from baseline to 1‐year post‐trial revealed that intervention schools demonstrated significantly improved school quality compared to control schools, with 21%, 13%, and 16% better overall school quality scores as reported by teachers, parents, and students, respectively. Teacher, parent, and student reports on individual school‐quality indicators showed improvement in student safety and well‐being, involvement, satisfaction, quality student support, focused and sustained action, standards‐based learning, professionalism and system capacity, and coordinated team work. Teacher reports also showed an improvement in the responsiveness of the system. CONCLUSIONS: School quality was substantially improved, providing evidence that a school‐wide social‐emotional and character education program can enhance school quality and facilitate whole‐school change.     

The Relationship Between School-Based Health Centers and the Learning Environment

BACKGROUND: School-based health centers (SBHCs) have improved access to primary and preventive health care for underserved children and youth by bringing comprehensive health services into the schools while addressing critical health problems that make it difficult for students to learn. Despite the findings on the positive effects of SBHCs on health outcomes, the literature investigating the relationship between SBHCs and the learning environment is scant. This purpose of this study is to add to the literature by investigating the correlation between SBHCs and perceptions of the overall school learning environment. METHODS: This study investigates the relationship between SBHCs and the learning environment utilizing a retrospective quasi-experimental design. Researchers used secondary data from the 2007 Board of Education Learning Environment Survey (LES) of a large northeastern city to compare schools with SBHCs and schools without SBHCs. RESULTS: The findings demonstrate that the presence of a SBHC is associated with greater satisfaction in 3 out of 4 learning environment domains. CONCLUSIONS: Perhaps by helping to eliminate the barriers that affect lower-performing students' readiness to learn, while improving student and parent engagement, SBHCs can partner with schools to reach their performance and accountability goals.     

Evidence-based research on the value of school nurses in an urban school system

BACKGROUND: With the increasing acuity of student health problems, growing rates of poverty among urban families, and widening racial/ethnic health disparities in child and adolescent health indicators, the contributions of school nurses are of increasing interest to policymakers. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of school nurses on promoting a healthy school environment and healthy, resilient learners. METHODS: A mixed‐methods approach was used for this study. Using a cross‐sectional design, surveys captured the level of satisfaction that school staff had with the nurse in their school, as well as their perceptions of the impact of the nurse on the efficient management of student health concerns. Using a quasi‐experimental design, data from electronic school records were used to compare rates of immunization and completeness of health records in schools with nurses. RESULTS: This study provides evidence that school nurses positively influenced immunization rates, the accuracy of student health records, and management of student health concerns. This research demonstrates that teachers and other staff consider nurse interventions vital to eliminating barriers to student learning and improving overall school health. A cost analysis revealed the estimated annual cost per school for the time staff spent managing health concerns. CONCLUSIONS: In an environment of scarce resources, school boards need quality evaluation data to justify hiring and retaining school nurses to support improved school health environments.     

The role of physical environment on student health and education in green schools

The role of physical school environment on student health and education is becoming better understood. A growing body of literature indicates that improved physical environments in schools (e.g., indoor air quality, lighting, and acoustic conditions) can enhance student health outcomes. In parallel, the green building movement centers around designing buildings, including schools, that are more sustainable to decrease energy consumption, minimize environmental impact, and create healthier spaces for occupants. This paper synthesizes the findings from both green design studies and school outcomes studies to provide a systematic evaluation of the potential impacts of green school design features on student health outcomes. Three inter-related topics are covered in detail: (i) overview of the "green" concept, including existing guidelines for "greening" schools, attitudes toward green schools, and condition of the physical environments in non-green schools; (ii) potential effects of the physical environment on school children, including documentation of national statistics and summary of findings from school research studies; (iii) synthesis of findings, including a discussion of the knowledge gaps in the field of green school research and conclusions.     

Building capacity for system-level change in schools: lessons from the Gatehouse Project.

The Gatehouse Project is an innovative, comprehensive approach to mental health promotion in secondary schools. It sets out to promote student engagement and school connectedness as the way to improve emotional well-being and learning outcomes. The key elements of the whole-school intervention are the establishment and support of a school-based adolescent health team; the identification of risk and protective factors in each school's social and leaning environment from student surveys; and, through the use of these data, the identification and implementation of effective strategies to address these issues. The project evaluation used a cluster-randomized controlled trial design involving 26 schools with initial results demonstrating considerable success in reducing smoking rates among Year 8 children. This article describes and accounts for how system-level changes have been made in schools through a process of capacity building. This encourages teachers, parents, and students to view the core business of education differently.     

How School Volunteers can Help to Raise Standards and Enthusiasm for Literacy

This article discusses findings from an evaluation of a national 'School Friends' project set up by British Telecom (BT) in the UK in response to the 'Year of Reading' (1998) backed by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In this project employees, with the support of the company, volunteered to help with literacy learning in a number of primary schools throughout the UK. Factors to emerge included the significant part which role models from industry, both male and female, can have in raising confidence and enthusiasm for reading amongst school pupils, particularly boys. The evaluation findings are analysed as a means of drawing some conclusions about what constitutes 'good practice' in terms of voluntary support for literacy learning in schools.     

A Process Evaluation of Condom Availability in the Seattle, Washington Public Schools

ABSTRACT: In 1993, Seattle began making condoms available in all of its 15 high schools. As part of an evaluation of this program, 16 focus groups with students from 13 high schools were conducted to explore students' perceptions of the school environment, program effectiveness, and suggestions for program improvement. The study also included data from a student survey conducted in 10 high schools. The focus group results revealed that students support school condom availability but have concerns about privacy when obtaining condoms. Students prefer obtaining condoms from baskets in private areas of school-based clinics to obtaining them from vending machines. Students do not believe that having condoms available has affected sexual activity or condom use among students. Recommendations for improving school condom availability include access to free condoms in private locations.U Sch Health. 1997;67(8):336–340)     

Free School Meal Improves Educational Health and the Learning Environment in a Small Municipality in Norway

It has been suggested that school meals could have an impact on students’ learning environments; however, existing research in this field is scarce and inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ and school administrators’ experiences with the introduction of a free school meal and whether this influenced the learning environment. The study was conducted in upper primary and lower secondary schools in a small municipality in Norway. In this qualitative study, 17 informants participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded using NVivo. Thematic analysis was conducted using systematic text condensation (STC). The main findings are that in the informants’ experience, a free school meal led to reduced absenteeism during lunchtime and positive social interactions among students, social equalization, and a more peaceful atmosphere during lunchtime. In conclusion, the introduction of a free school meal had a positive impact on the students’ educational health and the learning environment, and contributed to social equalization as all the students shared the same healthy school meal.     

A creative drama prevention program for easing early adolescents' adjustment to school transitions

Described is a drama prevention program in a rural Grade 6–8 junior high school, designed to facilitate incoming students' transition to their new school environment by developing social skills. Extensive pilot work with a social skills curriculum based on creative drama in small groups suggested that it could be successful in strengthening peer relations. A subsequent intervention demonstrated positive findings according to student and teacher interviews, student and parent satisfaction measures, and comparison data from teacher and parent ratings. School staff implemented the curriculum independently in following years but with some modifications. The results indicate that creative drama groups have some usefulness for individual-centered primary prevention.     

Improving the School Environment to Reduce School Violence: A Review of the Literature*

BACKGROUND: School violence can impact the social, psychological, and physical well‐being of both students and teachers and disrupt the learning process. This review focuses on a new area of research, the mechanisms by which the school environment determines the likelihood of school violence. METHODS: A search for peer‐reviewed articles was made in six databases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's report on school‐violence interventions. Twenty‐five articles that attempted to understand the influence of either the school social or physical environment in determining teacher and student perceptions of safety and experiences of violence were included. RESULTS: Most of the included articles were cross‐sectional surveys of junior high or high school students and staff. As articles used different measures of the school physical and social environment, a classification system was created. Using this system, studies show that schools with less violence tend to have students who are aware of school rules and believe they are fair, have positive relationships with their teachers, feel that they have ownership in their school, feel that they are in a classroom and school environment that is positive and focused on learning, and in an environment that is orderly. CONCLUSION: The school social and physical environment appears to offer intervention opportunities to reduce school violence. However, the lack of consistency in school environment variables as well as the lack of longitudinal and experimental research designs limits the applicability of these findings.     

How School Volunteers can Help to Raise Standards and Enthusiasm for Literacy

This article discusses findings from an evaluation of a national 'School Friends' project set up by British Telecom (BT) in the UK in response to the 'Year of Reading' (1998) backed by the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In this project employees, with the support of the company, volunteered to help with literacy learning in a number of primary schools throughout the UK. Factors to emerge included the significant part which role models from industry, both male and female, can have in raising confidence and enthusiasm for reading amongst school pupils, particularly boys. The evaluation findings are analysed as a means of drawing some conclusions about what constitutes 'good practice' in terms of voluntary support for literacy learning in schools.     

School climate factors contributing to student and faculty perceptions of safety in select Arizona schools

BACKGROUND: To ensure that schools are safe places where students can learn, researchers and educators must understand student and faculty safety concerns. This study examines student and teacher perceptions of school safety. METHODS: Twenty‐two focus groups with students and faculty were conducted in 11 secondary schools. Schools were selected from a stratified sample to vary in location, proximity to Indian reservations, size, and type. The data analysis was based on grounded theory. RESULTS: In 9 of 11 schools, neither faculty nor students voiced overwhelming concerns about safety. When asked what makes school safe, students tended to report physical security features. School climate and staff actions also increased feelings of safety. Faculty reported that relationships and climate are key factors in making schools safe. High student performance on standardized tests does not buffer students from unsafe behavior, nor does living in a dangerous neighborhood necessarily lead to more drug use or violence within school walls. School climate seemed to explain the difference between schools in which students and faculty reported higher versus lower levels of violence and alcohol and other drug use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings raise provocative questions about school safety and provide insight into elements that lead to perceptions of safety. Some schools have transcended issues of location and neighborhood to provide an environment perceived as safe. Further study of those schools could provide insights for policy makers, program planners, and educational leaders.     

Evaluation of a school climate instrument for assessing affective objectives in health professional education

A conceptual framework for the study of school climate and development of professional caring ability is proposed that is compatible with research on learning environment and socialization. Student input characteristics were measured demographically and through use of previously validated scales from the Parental Bonding Instrument; student outcome characteristics were measured on the Caring Ability Inventory for which considerable empirical validity evidence exists. The primary focus of this evaluation addressed reliability and validity of an instrument designed to assess learning environment that had not previously been used in postsecondary education. Four abbreviated School Climate scales were studied: Respect, Trust, Morale, and Caring. Source data were obtained from the initial phase of a longitudinal study of baccalaureate nursing students throughout the United States. Factor analysis, score reliability, and item-total correlation results indicate the School Climate instrument has indicate the School Climate instrument has theoretical and practical utility for program evaluation and improvement in health professional education.     

A new measure of unhealthy school environments and its implications for critical assessments of health promotion in schools

The theory of human functioning and school organisation informed by Basil Bernstein’s sociology of education suggests that to gain the commitment and promote the health of students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, schools require radical transformations eroding various ‘boundaries’: between and among staff and students; between students’ academic learning and broader social development and welfare; and between schools and their local communities. Existing research examining this theory has reported associations between school-level proxy measures of student commitment and lower rates of student smoking, drinking alcohol, use of drugs and violence. But this research has not directly assessed whether reduced school boundaries explain this. We piloted a new scale derived from teacher reports to measure unhealthy school boundaries and examined its inter-item reliability and its criterion validity in terms of associations with various measures of school commitment and smoking. Data on boundaries came from 101 teachers across 40 schools. Data on student commitment and smoking came from 6667 students. We assessed reliability by examining correlations between scale-items and criterion validity in terms of associations with student-reported commitment and smoking. Inter-item reliability was sub-optimal but better within the subscales about boundaries between academic/broader learning and schools/local communities. The scale had good criterion validity, strongly associated with reduced student-reported school commitment and increased student-reported smoking. We reflect on the implications of these findings in terms of critical perspectives on health promotion in schools and the strengths and limitations of quantitative research in examining health behaviours as opposed to practices.     

Effects of the Positive Action Program on Achievement and Discipline: Two Matched-Control Comparisons

This paper reports on the effectiveness of an integrated comprehensive school model for character development, problem behavior prevention, and academic achievement enhancement. The Positive Action program consists of a school curriculum, together with schoolwide climate, family, and community components. As evaluated here, the yearly K-6 curriculum consists of over 140 fifteen-to-twenty-minute lessons per year delivered in school classrooms on an almost daily basis. The program is based on theories of self-concept, learning, behavior, and school ecology. We use a matched control design and school-level achievement and disciplinary data to evaluate program effects on student performance and behavior in two separate school districts. The program improved achievement by 16% in one district and 52% in another, and reduced disciplinary referrals by 78% in one district and 85% in the other. We discuss implications of these replicated findings for the prevention of substance abuse and violence, the improvement of school performance, and the reform of American schools.     

Modifying the snack food consumption patterns of inner city high school students: the Great Sensations Study

The Great Sensations Program is a nutrition-education project developed for high school students. It was designed to (a) decrease students' consumption of salty snacks and (b) increase students' consumption of fresh fruit snacks. The overall programs were designed following principles of social learning: informative instruction, participatory classroom activities, personal goal setting, feedback, and reinforcement. The program was delivered in six lessons during regular health-education classes. A parental involvement program consisted of mailers and telephone calls to parents to teach them to encourage changes in student snacking habits. A schoolwide program was designed to provide out-of-class peer support for student modifications in salty snack foods. The program was evaluated in one high school using a 2 X 2 design. A second high school served as a no-treatment control. Program assessments were made at both schools before and after the classes, at the end of the school year, and the following fall the next school year following summer vacation. The schoolwide media program was effective in decreasing consumption of salty snack foods and in increasing consumption of target snack foods. However, only those students receiving classroom instruction maintained those changes until the end of the school year. No changes were maintained across summer vacation. These outcomes suggest that school programs developed using principles of social learning may be effective in facilitating important behavior changes at home and at school.     

Development and evaluation of an occupational therapy program for refugee high school students

Background: Adolescents from refugee backgrounds experience challenges participating in their new school environments. This study aimed to describe and discuss the development of an occupational therapy program to facilitate school participation of high school students from refugee backgrounds. Methods: Three cycles of action research were used to develop a program over 18 months in collaboration with two high schools. Data were collected from four occupational therapists, seven school staff members and two school principals using in‐depth interviews, questionnaires and review of documents. Results: The program changed significantly over the three cycles from a focus on individual task mastery in the classroom environment to development of social competence through an activity‐based group program. Conclusions: Building capacity for social competence helped create better alignment between the roles of occupational therapist and teacher within the school context and was perceived to contribute to refugee students’ overall availability for learning in their new environments. Action research is useful in collaboratively developing programs in emerging areas of practice.     

Does the School Nurse‐to‐Student Ratio Make a Difference?

Public schools must provide an appropriate education for students with complex health needs. Chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes, social morbidities, injuries, and conditions that limit learning such as poor vision commonly affect school-aged children. School nurses often assume a leadership role in providing services for these children. However, although a national standard for school nurse/student ratio has been proposed, little research has examined the relationship between different school nurse-to-student ratios, level of health services provided in schools, and student outcomes. This study examined data in a 21-county region in eastern North Carolina served by a regional school nurse consultant. The school nurse-to-student ratio in these counties ranged from 1:451 to 1:7,440 based on full-time equivalencies. Two systems offered no school nursing services. Data from school years ending in 2000-2002 were considered in the analysis. A significant correlation was found between the increased presence of school nurses and services provided to children with diabetes (r = -.52, p = .000) and asthma (r = -.43, p = .002). Schools with better ratios provided more counseling services to children for social conditions such as depression and unintended pregnancy (r = -.38, p = .006), and more follow-up for school-related injuries (r = -.43, p = .003), and a higher percentage of children with vision problems received follow-up care (r = -.37, p = .007). A case analysis of one school district that experienced a significant improvement in nurse/student ratio over the study period provides further evidence that school nurses make a difference.     

Perceived smoking prevalence at school-level and children's smoking initiation: a multi-level analysis of a cross-sectional data in Taiwan

OBJECTIVES: Literature on the influence of smoking prevalence at school-level on the smoking initiation among elementary school children is scarce. The aim of the current study was to explore this in school clusters stratified according to student's perceived smoking prevalence in the school while adjusting for social impact of individual students. METHOD: The data was obtained from a survey administered to 13 elementary schools in Taoyuan County, a final sample of 1585 3rd and 4th grade students. Multi-level logistic regression analysis (MLRA) was used to examine the influence variable at school-level as well as individual socio-environment level had on smoking status of elementary schools students. RESULTS: Attending a school where the students reported a perception of high smoking prevalence had a greater effect on smoking behavior in boys than girls when compared with students attending a lower smoking prevalence school, after adjustment for student-level characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Our study confirmed that a broader school environment with a high student perception of smoking prevalence is associated with children's smoking behavior in boys. The findings further indicate the need for enforcement of anti-smoking policies within schools with higher smoking rates to reduce visibility of smoking among school children.     

Building Relationships and Capacity in Rural Lunchrooms: Lessons from a Process Evaluation of a Pilot Behavioral Economics-Based Intervention

We aimed to describe the successes and challenges of implementing a pilot program by working with students and food service staff in four rural high schools to encourage healthy eating among rural adolescents. The pilot program engaged students and school food service directors (FSDs) in identifying and making changes to the school lunchroom environment based on behavioral economics. As part of a multi-method evaluation, we conducted interviews with FSDs and staff, held focus groups with students, and recorded our observations as researchers. The lessons learned highlighted the importance of (1) the FSD’s role in the school, (2) a faculty partner involved in the project, (3) the characteristics of the student group, and (4) setting realistic goals for the students. Our findings can guide future interventions designed to improve food choices in school lunchrooms and increase adolescents’ fruit and vegetable consumption.