Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Gloria Wolfson
Committee Member
Paul Terry
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
adolescents, adventure-based schooling, behavioral disabilities, calculation, communication skills, communities, course content, curriculum evaluation, daily living skills, discharge, educational treatment facility, emotional disabilities, emotional growth, families, grade increase, integrated curriculum, interview data, life after discharge, life skills curriculum, math achievement, mental disabilities, New Direction, parents, personal development, practicality, reading fluency, relevance, standardized tests, survey data, teachers, transitional programs, verbal communication, workforce, Woodcock-Johnson III, written communication skills
Abstract
This applied dissertation sought to evaluate a real-life Life Skills Curriculum for adolescent males with behavioral, emotional, and mental disabilities. The previous Life Skills curricula had not been revised since 1996. Survey and interview data obtained from counselors, current and past adolescents, teachers, and parents indicated that the previous Life Skills curricula failed to meet the adolescent’s needs, and was impractical and irrelevant.
Planned strategies included (a) evaluating the Life Skills curriculum for relevance and practicality to “here and now” issues of adolescents in an educational treatment facility, (b) evaluating the Life Skills curriculum for enhancement of adolescent’s verbal and written communication skills, and (c) evaluating the Life Skills curriculum’s ability to prepare adolescents to re-enter their families and communities.
The new curriculum was designed to assist the adolescents function in their families, communities, and the workforce by focusing on emotional growth, personal development, and adventure-based schooling.
An analysis of the data revealed that utilization of the “here and now” approach of the curriculum prepared the adolescent for life after discharge from New Direction. Additionally, the Woodcock-Johnson III standardized test data indicated a 2.85 increase in reading fluency in addition to a 0.8 grade increase in calculation and 1.4 grades increase in math.