evidence-based group mentoring that helps transform schools into safer and more supportive,...

24
Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments Sherry Barr, Psy.D. Vice President Margo Ross, Psy.D. Senior Director of Development National Mentoring Summit January 31, 2014 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Upload: taya

Post on 25-Feb-2016

31 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

DESCRIPTION

Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments. Sherry Barr, Psy.D . Vice President Margo Ross, Psy.D . Senior Director of Development. National Mentoring Summit January 31, 2014 2 :30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments Sherry Barr, Psy.D.

Vice President

Margo Ross, Psy.D.Senior Director of Development

National Mentoring SummitJanuary 31, 20142:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Page 2: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention

The Center for Supportive Schools (CSS) has a 35-year history of partnering with K-12 schools throughout the US to train and mobilize students to be lifelong leaders who make schools better for themselves, their peers, and younger students.

As a result, schools become safer, more supportive, engaging, and inspiring and students become:• strongly connected through caring relationships

with adults and one another; and

• highly capable of using the leadership, academic, social, and emotional skills that are proven to result in school and life success.

Center for Supportive Schools

1

Page 3: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention2

SESSION OVERVIEW• Welcome; Introductions • Examining the Challenges Associated with

Transitioning from Middle to High School:  A Think, Pair, Share Exercise

• Relevance of School Connectedness• Potential Benefits of a Peer-to-Peer

Approach • Overview of the Characteristics of Effective

Transition Programs • Case Study of Effective Peer Leadership &

High School Transition Program • Overview of Peer Group Connection (PGC)• Final Reflections • Adjourn

Page 4: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

TRANSITION & CHALLENGES: A THINK, PAIR, SHARE EXERCISE

From your experiences and observations, what are the most significant challenges facing students as they transition from middle school to high school?

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention3

Page 5: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention4

• Research has demonstrated that the stress often accompanying the transition from middle school to high school is associated with lowered achievement and school attendance (Akos & Galassi, 2004)

• By the time they reach high school, as many as 40 to 60 percent of all students – urban, suburban and rural – are “chronically disengaged” from school (Blum, 2005)

• Students are most vulnerable for dropping out during and immediately following their first year of high school (Cohen & Smerdon, 2009)

Transition to High School

Page 6: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention

Opportunity

By leveraging the power of school-based, group mentoring by older peers and focusing intensively on

the transition from middle to high school…

We can transform this period of heightened vulnerability into one of significant opportunity to

prevent the potentially devastating personal and societal consequences of high school disengagement and dropout.

5

Page 7: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention6

School connectedness

– the belief by students that people in the school care about their learning and about them as individuals –

is a powerful protective factor in the lives of young people and an important prerequisite to reduced bullying, greater academic achievement, lower dropout rates, improved grades, fewer discipline referrals, and fewer high-risk behaviors.

Blum & Libbey, 2004; http://www.casel.org/basics/climate.php

Getting Grounded

Page 8: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

MY TEENAGE SELFOnce upon a time, we were where our students are. Our experiences may have looked different from theirs, or our experiences may have looked similar. Almost across the board, though, adolescence wasn’t—and isn’t—easy.

To help establish context for considering programming that supports school connectedness and ensures that students make an effective transition into high school, let’s begin with a quick visit back to that time and place when we, too, were teenagers

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention7

Page 9: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention8

Working in groups of three, participants introduce themselves to one another and take turns sharing responses to any one of the following questions:• What is one memory you have about a time in

high school when you felt strongly connected to other students?

• What is one memory you have about a time in high school when you felt strongly disconnected from other students?

• Think back to one adult in your middle school or high school who threw you a lifeline – this adult knew you and cared about you, and this person’s caring made a positive difference in your life.

Directions

Page 10: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention9

• What patterns did we see emerge in our memories of school connectedness?

• What might make it even harder for today’s high school students to experience a sense of school connectedness?

Reflections

Page 11: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention10

Peer-to-peer group mentoring is a straightforward, cost-effective, and evidence-based model for:• Enhancing school connectedness• Easing the transition into high school

for 9th graders

Strategy

Page 12: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

STRATEGYWhat are the potential benefits of using a peer-to-peer approach?

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention11

Page 13: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention12

• Research demonstrated peer leadership is an effective approach for positively impacting student behaviors if implemented with key elements in place.

• Peer leaders can help shift social and group norms toward positive student behavior

• Peer leaders can have more credibility than adults• Learning and attitudes are reinforced on an on-

going informal basis• Beneficiaries include both the peer leaders and

recipients• Increases the number of youth that can be

reached• Cost effective

Benefits of a Peer-to-Peer Approach

Page 14: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention13

Programs that support students throughout the transition from middle to high school and extending throughout the freshman and sophomore years have the greatest impact on keeping students engaged and in school.• Have adequate support of school

leadership• Develop individual social skills• Are theory driven• Involve interactive teaching approaches

(e.g. small group activities and role plays)• Use properly selected and trained peer

leaders to facilitate delivery of the program

Effective Transition Programs

Page 15: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention14

• Integrate other segments of the community (e.g. family members)

• Are delivered over multiple structured sessions over multiple years

• Provide adequate training and support to program facilitators

• Are culturally and developmentally appropriate for the students they serve

• Integrate into the regular school day• Reach all students transitioning• Have adequate resources

Effective Transition Programs (continued)

Page 16: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CASE STUDY

A TRANSITION PROGRAM IN ACTION: VIDEO PRESENTATIONWhat did you see or hear that resonated with you most deeply?

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention15

Page 17: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention16

Capitalize on critical transition points with all students K-12 experience

– the transition from the elementary to middle grades and from middle to high school –by supporting schools in making relatively minor changes to the way they do business in order to leverage massive changes in students’ experiences and results.

Peer Group Connection (PGC)

Page 18: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention17

• Findings demonstrate that PGC improves students’ academic, social, and emotional skills, and results in: improved grades; better attendance; fewer discipline referrals; less fighting; and less substance use among participants.

• A four-year longitudinal, randomized control study conducted by Rutgers University found, among other major results, that PGC improves the graduation rates of high school student participants by ten percentage points and cuts by half the number of male students who would otherwise drop out.

PGC: Evaluation Results

Page 19: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention18

% of Ninth Grade Students who Graduated from High School

Results: Graduation Rates

All Students Male Students

81%

63%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Program Group Control Group

77%

67%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Program Group Control Group

Page 20: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention19

1.Collaboration with School Leadership: PCLT staff collaborates with school leadership to assemble and train a school-based Stakeholder Team.

2.Faculty Advisors: PCLT staff collaborates with the school-based Stakeholder Team to identify, select, train, and support Faculty Advisors.

3.Peer Leaders: Faculty Advisors select and train Peer Leaders through an out-of-school retreat and a daily, credit-bearing leadership class.

4.Weekly Outreach Sessions: Peer Leaders mentor and support younger peers in curriculum-driven weekly sessions, carefully planned special events, meaningful service learning projects and informally throughout the school day and year.

5.Family Nights: Parents/caregivers participate in special family events.

6.10th Grade Booster Sessions: Younger peers receive additional support for a second year.

PGC Model: Overview of Six Key Steps

Page 21: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention20

Peer Group Connection Structure

Two faculty advisors team-teach the daily peer leadership course

Stakeholder Team Coordinator

Stakeholder Team

(8-10 administrators, faculty, parents, students)

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

10-1

4 fr

eshm

en

16-18 peer leaders co-facilitate weekly activities for freshmen in small groups to discuss common issues facing high school students

Page 22: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention21

The PGC curriculum uses engaging, hands-on activities to address issues that have been shown to help reduce risk behaviors and produce positive student outcomes, including high school completion. Curriculum topics include:

PGC Curriculum

• Sense of School Belonging• Competence in

Interpersonal Relationships• Conflict Resolution, Anger

Management, & Violence Prevention

• Bullying & Bystander Behavior

• Achievement Orientation & Motivation

• Goal Setting• Coping Skills• Decision Making• Peer Acceptance &

Resisting Peer Pressure• Anger Management• Stress Management• Service Learning

Page 23: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

FINAL REFLECTIONSWhat is something you’ve heard or thought about today that will stay with you?

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention23

Page 24: Evidence-Based Group Mentoring that Helps Transform Schools into Safer and More Supportive, Engaging, and Inspiring Environments

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Margo Ross, Psy.D.Senior Director of DevelopmentCenter for Supportive Schools609.252.9300 x [email protected]

CENTER FOR SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS   School-Based Prevention24