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Holding At-Risk Students
The Secret Is a One-on-One Approach
BY JANET TESTERMAN
Secondary schools can no longer ignore the affective domain,
Ms. Testerman argues. Especially for at-risk students,
schools must deal with head and heart. She tells the
story of one school's attempt to do so.
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1. For some adolescents, school is not a warm, friendly place. Some students who are unsuccessful academically and who receive insufficient positive attention from peers and adults start to act as though they were quietly invisible. Others in the same situation will act out until they receive the attention — albeit negative — that they crave.
2. In either event, unless the youngster is attended to, it will be only a matter of time before he or she drops out of high school. There are many approaches that high school officials can take to address the needs of these marginal students — approaches that require varying investments of personnel and funding and that solve the problem with varying degrees of success. What follows here is a description of one effective and easily administered program designed to keep marginal students in school. The program, which relies on volunteer teacher advisors, is simple in theory: an adult in school who shows individualized concern for an at-risk
student can have a significant positive effect on that student's attendance.
What Research Shows
3. Those educators who believe that students readily recognize the affection and concern that teachers have for them may be surprised to find out that student perceptions of teacher attitudes toward students are less than glowing. Gary Whelage and Robert Rutter used data from High School and Beyond, a longitudinal survey of approximately 30,000 sophomores from 1,105 public and private high schools nationwide, to study student alienation and rejection of school.[1]
4. One of the variables in their analysis was teacher interest in students. "When those who eventually became dropouts were asked to rate Teacher Interest in Students on a 4.0 scale, marks of fair to poor were given by 56% of the Hispanics, 50% of the blacks, and 59% of the whites," Whelage and Rutter reported. "Non- college-bound students were not much more positive, in view of the fair-to-poor ratings given by each racial group (Hispanics 49%, blacks 47%, and whites 49%)." [2]
5. Clearly, improving students' perceptions of the degree of concern that teachers feel for them would positively affect students' attitudes about school and increase the likelihood of their staying on to graduate. And in fact, poor student/teacher relations negatively influence students' self-concept.
6. Whelage and Rutter looked at the locus of control and self-esteem of students before and after they dropped out and compared these attributes with those of peers who continued on to graduation and beyond.[3] They found that dropouts began with slightly higher self-esteem than the non-college-bound who stayed in school and that the dropouts actually increased the
differential over time. The overall increase in self-esteem in dropouts matched that of the highest group, the college-bound. For at-risk students, it seems, school can actually inhibit personal growth. Dropping out of school apparently had beneficial effects on the self-images of these students. Almost certainly, such school-related contributors as lack of positive, cooperative relationships involving students, staff, parents and administrators affect students' school performance negatively and strengthens their decision to drop out.
The One-on-One Program
7. Teachers at Lely High School in Naples, Florida, decided to intervene by creating positive advisor/advisee relationships for a group of at-risk students whose grade-point averages were 1.5 or less on a four-point scale. The degree of involvement between teacher and student varied; some teachers even went so far as to meet with their advisees' other instructors or to contact the advisees' homes when they were absent from school. In order to be considered a member of the experimental group, however, the teacher advisors and their student advisees had to meet for at least 15 minutes each week to converse. Twenty-nine teachers and 29 students (the pairs were randomly assigned) participated for 21 weeks. At the end of that interval, the participating students' grade-point averages, self- concepts, self-assessments of intellectual status and school status, attendance rates, and dropout rates were compared to those of a randomly chosen control group of students whose grade-point averages also stood at 1.5 or less on a four-point scale.
8. During the 21 weeks of the experiment, students in the experimental group were absent from school significantly fewer days than were similar students who had no teacher advisor. Of the 29 students in the control group, 12 dropped out of school, but only five of the 29 students who had advisors did so. (This difference between the two groups was statistically significant.) The mean grade-point average of students with advisors was better (1.05) than that of students without advisors (0.66). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in self-concept or in self-assessment of intellectual status and school status — but students in the experimental group did score higher than students in the control group on the Piers-Harris self-concept scale.
9. The teacher advisors were interviewed at the start of, midway through, and at the end of the program. Meetings between advisors and advisees were observed and audiotaped.
The Results of the Program
10. All but two teacher advisors reported positive changes in their advisees. The most common changes were improved grades and friendlier, happier advisees. Other changes the advisors noted included more consistent attendance, increased studying, less sleeping in class, and more dedication to schoolwork. One teacher remarked that, after a few meetings, her advisee was "much more open, much more fun. I think he was genuinely starting to be concerned with being successful in school." Another advisor reported, "I have noticed a difference in my advisee's demeanor; she's more dedicated. She definitely has the ability to succeed, and having someone interested in her did make a difference in this case."
11. Teachers whose advisees made progress felt pride and a sense of efficacy. But they also expressed concern about whether the beneficial effects would endure once the advisement sessions ended. Many of their remarks were guardedly optimistic: “He knew somebody cared about him, and he was happy to tell that his grades were better—but I don't really know if I helped him or not. In the affective domain, it's hard to tell if you help."
12. Clearly, guidance counselors could help the teacher advisors by giving them academic data and teacher feedback to document the progress of their advisees. Advisors need the encouragement that comes from knowing that their efforts are having a tangible positive effect on their advisees' lives. Witnessing the success of advisees was the strongest motivator for advisors.
13. The teacher advisors also expressed a desire to learn techniques that would encourage their advisees to open up and feel comfortable talking about their goals and aspirations. Without such open discussion, there can be no meaningful talk about grades.
14. Once advisors broke through the uneasiness of their first encounters with advisees, 65% of them felt confident that the sessions would proceed as they had expected. Thirty-five percent of the advisors found the experience different from their expectations — but in a positive way. One advisor remarked, "It was easier than I had imagined, because the kind of person I got ... well, he had no serious personal problems." Another commented, "Three things made it easier for me: 1) he wasn't failing everything; 2) he doesn't seem to have social problems; and 3) he's not a rebel."
Future Implications
15. It is important to note that both the interviews with advisors and the observations and audiotapes of advisement sessions showed that teachers spent most of their time with advisees discussing grades and other school-related matters. A teacher advisor need not discuss a student's personal life in order to develop a caring relationship with that student; on the contrary, the academic nature of advisement should be emphasized to potential teacher participants, and avenues for psychological referral should be clearly spelled out before the advisement sessions ever begin.
16. Moreover, meetings of teacher advisors should be held periodically so that they can share strategies, challenges, and rewards with one another. By attending these meetings, school administrators can give powerful recognition to the efforts of teacher advisors.
17. Surprisingly, however, recognition — whether public or private — is not an essential component of advisement programs. Once teachers become committed to their advisees, the satisfaction they get from witnessing the students' progress is, in most cases, sufficient motivation to continue their efforts.
Conclusion
18. A program like the one at Lely High School can be implemented at little economic and personal cost and yet produce significant outcomes. Explaining the success of the program is really quite simple. All people need to know that they are valued and loved. Who wants to spend 180 days a year in a place where one does not feel successful or needed? A school may provide the best instruction in the world, but, if a segment of the school population is not present physically or is feeling alienated or absent mentally, of what value is excellent pedagogy? Secondary schools can no longer limit themselves to the cognitive realm and ignore the affective domain. They must attend to both head and heart, especially with those students who find school a less-than-appealing place to learn.
JANET TESTERMAN, a former high school teacher of science and mathematics, is now an assistant professor of education at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.
PHI DELTA KAPPAN, JANUARY 1996
[1]Gary G. Whelage and Robert A. Rutter, "Dropping Out: How Much Do
Schools Contribute to the Problem?," Teachers College Record, Spring 1986,
pp. 374-391.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.