EDSP 513
AFP Culminating Report
Introduction
The purpose of this applied field project is to learn more about the specific factors that affect students’ attendance at school, and overall school success. School success is measured by calculating attendance rates, grades, work completion, and credits earned. This applied field project has been completed on a small, non-public school campus. The school is part of a non-profit agency that provides special education and intense therapeutic services to students with emotional and behavioral disorders. The intervention used for this applied field project is including students in goal-setting for consistent attendance, and to have students select the appropriate reinforcers for meeting those goals.
This author chose the described topic for the applied field project because when students do not attend school they do not receive the services to be provided for them on school campus. This researcher sees a positive correlation between attendance rates and school success. Because the students in this author’s class are considered to be at-risk for substance abuse, self-harm, gang involvement, etc., this author felt that teaching students self-determination skills may increase attendance rates and overall school success for these students.
The literature reviewed by this author contained several pieces of important information related to teaching self-determination skills in the classroom. Eisenman stated in 2007 that students with higher levels of self-determination skills were more likely to complete high school and find employment in their post-secondary lives. There are two areas in which this author hopes teaching self-determination skills can contribute to their success. Positive attendance rates at school mirror dependable work record in the vocational world. Joviette et al., in 2002 said that providing students with opportunities to choose reinforcers for meeting their goals. This applied field project set out to include students in goal-setting as well as using self-determination skills related to choice to choose an appropriate reinforcer for achieving the goals that they set or themselves.
Student monitoring if individual progress toward attendance goals has been an integral part of this applied field project. Mithaug (2002) discussed the importance of teaching students skills related to self-monitoring in order to prepare students for experiences after high school. This applied field project set out to increase student’s levels of self-determination, part of which involves accountability for one’s performance. Sands and Doll in 1996 stated that most self-determination instruction occurs in transitional programs that not all students gain access to. The authors go on to argue that self-determination instruction should begin long before students leave school. Sands and Doll even state that seventh grade is far too late to begin teaching these skills to students, as metacognitive development starts at a much younger age. Field, et al., in 2003 explored the positive correlation between levels of self-determination skills and academic success among college students with learning disabilities. Self-goal and limit setting are two major skills of self-determination identified as helping college students manage their time outside of class.
This author is concerned that the students in her class do not receive the services that they are entitled to when they do not attend school. Many of the students at this school are severely deficient in their credits earned toward a high school diploma, and poor attendance only exemplifies this problem. To address this growing problem among students, this author set out to determine:
1) If students practice self-determination by choosing reinforcers ad reinforcement schedules for attendance, will students attend school more consistently?
2) If student attendance rates increase, will overall school success for those students improve? (School success will be measured by collecting data on on-task grades, homework completion, and credits earned)
Results
Data Collection
Data for this applied field project was collected on a daily basis for attendance, grades, and homework completion. Credits earned were determined in two-week intervals pre, during, and post intervention. In order to collect data for student attendance, Super Data was used. Super Data is a data collection tool already used everyday to track student progress in a number of areas. The researcher also transcribed the attendance data onto a separate spreadsheet used to compare student attendance for the intervention period with attendance records from the pre-intervention (baseline) period.
Student grades were also tracked using Super Data. In each of the four academic periods of the day (group therapy and vocational training are not included), an on-task and a work completion grade are recorded. After the two-week intervention period, grade point averages from the baseline and intervention periods were compared. Data was also collected for a two-week post-intervention period in all areas to see to what extent generalization was taking place. Student rates of homework completion were also recorded using Super Data, as well as on a separate spreadsheet specifically for homework. Credits earned were calculated at the end of each two-week interval by adding all of the seat hours each student earned in each class.
Data was analyzed in a few different ways. First, each student’s data for the three two-week intervals were compared to one another. For example, Student One’s attendance data for the pre-intervention period was compared to his data for the intervention period and to the post-intervention period. The data for the intervention period was also compared side by side to the post-intervention data. Overall class results were compared, as well. Total class-wide credits earned for each period earned were compared with one another, as were attendance percentages, grade point averages, and homework completion percentages.
Findings
Overall, the data collected for this applied field project suggested that engaging students in setting their own goals in terms of attendance, grades (on-task behavior, work completion), earning credits, and homework completion will improve student participation and buy-in to classroom programs. Generalization did not occur as this researcher had hoped, perhaps due in part to the appeal of student selected reinforcers. The student-selected reinforcers went above any beyond any reinforcer already present in the school setting. Once those reinforcers were no longer available, the appeal of meeting their self-set goals seemed significantly lower for these students
Students ended up choosing a class-wide goal of attending school for ten days straight. The reinforcer they chose was a trip to Scandia to play video games. As enticing as this reiforcer was to the students, still only three achieved their goal! This was definitely an improvement, as there were not any students in the class who attended for the two-week (ten school day) pre-intervention period. Only one student attended school for the ten school days following the intervention period. The student who did continue to meet this goal after the Scandia trip was in fact one of the students who went on this trip. He ended up attending school for 27 days straight-a definite record for him…and for the class.
Since overall attendance improved during the intervention period, so did credits earned. On-task and work completion rates also improved in the classroom. Since students were attending school more during the intervention period, they also completed more homework assignments. Asking students to track their own progress on attendance, homework, and daily grade sheets seemed to emphasize student accountability for this exercise. This was a very useful tool. However, as previously stated, the reinforcer chosen was not something that is always available as a reward for positive attendance. The reinforcement schedules that already exist do not seem to evoke as much enthusiasm from students, and are thus less effective than a field trip to Scandia.
Attendance Data
Student Pre-Intervention Intervention Post-Intervention
Student One | Attended 2 of 10 days | Attended 10 of 10 days | Attended 10 of 10 days |
Student Two | Attended 9 of 10 days | Attended 8 of 10 days | Attended 8 of 10 days |
Student Three | Attended 4 of 10 days | Attended 8 of 10 days | Attended 5 of 10 days |
Student Four | Attended 9 of 10 days | Attended 10 of 10 days | Attended 9 of 10 days |
Student Five | Attended 9 of 10 days | Attended 9 of 10 days | Attended 4 of 10 days |
Student Six | Attended 9 of 10 days | Attended 10 of 10 days | Attended 8 of 10 days |
Overall Class Attendance Percentages | 41 of 60=70% | 55 of 60=92% | 44 of 60=73% |
Grade Point Averages
Student Pre-Intervention Intervention Post-Intervention
Student One | 1.67 | 3.17 | 3.67 |
Student Two | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.83 |
Student Three | 2.0 | 3.0 | 2.50 |
Student Four | 3.50 | 3.67 | 3.67 |
Student Five | 3.0 | 3.17 | 1.67 |
Student Six | 3.83 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Overall Class Grade Point Averages | 3.0 | 3.50 | 3.22 |
Total Credits Earned
Student Pre-Intervention Intervention Post-Intervention
Student One | 1 | 7 | 7 |
Student Two | 6.5 | 6.5 | 6 |
Student Three | 1.5 | 6.5 | 1.5 |
Student Four | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Student Five | 6.5 | 7 | 1.5 |
Student Six | 6.5 | 7 | 6.5 |
Overall Class Credit Totals | 29 | 41 | 29.5 |
Discussion/Reflection
As shown in the above tables, Student One definitely made the most gains during this applied field project process. However, similar gains were not noted among the other students during the post-intervention phase. It seems as though the field trip was much stronger a motivational tool than increased academic success. The researcher learned that teaching students about reasonable goal setting and asking students to set their own reasonable goals was a valuable process in which all students in the class were engaged. Perhaps in the end the students chose a goal that was not reasonable n order to earn a more valuable reward. Regardless, while the intervention was in place, students achieved overall higher levels of academic success than in the pre-intervention period, so in an environment where these types of reinforcers are always available, this plan could work wonders. This author also recognizes that such extensive rewards for showing up do not mirror students’ likely experiences in the adult, vocational world.
There may be other factors contributing to levels of success the students achieved or did not achieve. First of all, there was a huge transition in progress just as the intervention period came to a close and beginning at the post-intervention period. The students in this class were just moved into another class, along with their teacher. The paraprofessional who worked in this classroom for two years had been let go, and these six students merged with a class of nine to form one large class of 15, with two teachers and one paraprofessional. This transition caused a great deal of stress and anxiety for some students. Many students from this class did not attend school for the first few days of the transition, which were also the first few days of the post-intervention period. The researcher wonders if generalization might have been more successful without this outside factor.
Through data collection and literature review, this author believes that allowing students to make choices and holding them accountable for meeting goals that they set for themselves increases buy-in and participation, which leads inevitably to increases in overall school success. The articled reviewed by this author emphasized as a whole the importance of teaching self-determination skills in the classroom. A few important points resonate with this author, one of which being that students should be taught skills related to self-determination starting much younger than junior high and high school. It is unfortunate that most of this training seems to happen in transition programs that many students never have access to. Also important in teaching students to self-monitor and self-reward to foster the skills needed for post-secondary schooling, as well as in vocational settings.
This research is valuable to educators because it shows that we have a responsibility to teach self-determination skills. It is also necessary to provide students with many opportunities to practice these skills. Preferably, future research opportunities in this researcher’s classroom would provide a longer time period for data collection, and to find a suitable way for students to select reinforcers or self-reward within the classroom setting. This was the first applied field project of this nature to be done in this particular classroom, and the results are not definite. However, this process definitely provides useful insight and new ideas for future projects.
