Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
James Ann Lynch
Committee Member
Michael Griffin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
academic achievement, after school education, after school hours, afterschool programs, at-risk middle school students, attendance, career options, community service, competency-building units, CRCT, disciplinary incidents, educational intervention, field outings, Forest Park Middle School, Georgia, Georgia State Building Level Criterion-Referenced Competence Test, guest lecturers, health and safety, higher education, language arts, mathematics, media arts, middle school students, parental involvement, personal growth, physical fitness, reading achievement, resiliency, school attendance, school safety, social relations, student development, student resiliency, technology education, volunteers, youth development afterschool program
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide a quality youth development afterschool program (YDAP) to at-risk middle school children who were otherwise unsupervised after school hours. An increase in Level 1 performance for students on the Georgia State Building Level Criterion-Referenced Competence Test (CRCT) for 2002 at Forest Park Middle School (FPMS) translated to high-risk students not meeting Georgia state-mandated minimum performance standards. Disciplinary issues at FPMS were problematic with 597 disciplinary incidents with the severest being possession of weapons and sexual battery. In addition, problems with attendance, a desire to form and retain student resiliency, and a survey showing parental interest in a YDAP at FPMS served as the program’s main impetus. School staff and the community at large found no existing comprehensive program to deal with the complex socioeconomic and developmental needs of FPMS students.
The researcher developed an all-inclusive YDAP that encompassed various competency-building units with scheduled daily activities. The units were covered from January 2003 through September 2003 and examined (a) physical fitness, (b) language and media arts, (c) technology and mathematics, (d) personal growth and social relations, (e) health and safety, (f) career options and higher education, and (g) community service. FPMS teachers, community participators, and volunteers staffed the YDAP. Guest lecturers and field outings were a part of the program as well.
At program’s end, qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted to determine if the YDAP students had improved academic performance, higher school attendance, increased feelings of safety, and a more developed sense of resiliency.
The data analysis presents the findings after 9 months of the intervention of the YDAP. An analysis of the results revealed that the intervention of this study did not improve overall academic achievement for 6th-grade students in reading and math as measured by the CRCT. The analysis also revealed a positive finding for 8th-grade students in reading and a negative finding in math for 8th-grade participant students. Moreover, school attendance also did not improve by 10% for all participant students. Conversely, analysis of the results revealed a 10% improvement in the overall feeling of safety and in resiliency for participant students across all 3 grades.