Activity design: Embedded competency/knowledge building. Whereas some activities will ...... health care, music, and jou
MIDDLE SCHOOL
PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE
REBECCA CASCIANO ERICA CHUTUAPE
® ®
Acknowledgements This research project and report was made possible due to generous support from the Heckscher Foundation for Children, staff from Breakthrough New York (BTNY), Citizen Schools New York – New Jersey (CSNY-NJ) and The Opportunity Network (OppNet) and the research team at Glass Frog Solutions. Specifically, we would like to acknowledge the following key staff members for their contributions to this project:
BREAKTHROUGH NEW YORK
• Natalie Cox, Senior Director of Programs • Whitney Mufson, Site Manager • Angel Veza, Site Coordinator • Rhea Wong, Executive Director
CITIZEN SCHOOLS NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY
• Michael Kubiak, Chief Research & Evaluation Officer, Citizen Schools National • John Tamtelen, Research & Evaluation Associate, Citizen Schools National • Maria Vosberg, Deputy Director of Development, Citizen Schools New York – New Jersey
THE OPPORTUNITY NETWORK
• Petra Bebas, Development Manager • Sarah Donnelly, Associate Director of Partnerships and Training • AiLun Ku, Chief Operating and Programs Officer • Jessica Pliska, Founder and CEO • Jennifer Polish, OppNet Prep Instructor • Kadiatou Tubman, Program Coordinator, OppNet Prep • Katie Vogel, OppNet Prep Instructor
GLASS FROG SOLUTIONS
• Rebecca Casciano, Managing Director • Erica Chutuape, Research Associate
Glass Frog would like to acknowledge Justin Rivers at The Character Connection, who provided thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts. Jennifer Puma offered comments and editorial assistance.
Contents
Executive Summary
3
Introduction 4
Methodology 6
Designing Programs For Early Adolescents
Activities That Build Target Competencies Among Early Adolescents
7 11
Leadership 12
Perseverance/Grit 15
Verbal Communication
18
Collaboration 21
Problem Solving
23
Career Readiness
25
Academic Skills And Behaviors
27
Conclusion 28
RESOURCES 29
Executive Summary In designing effective programs, consider general developmental capabilities among early adolescents, as well as the unique needs of the students being served. Among the factors to consider are:
$
Socioeconomic status: Students from low-income families and underserved communities may have lower exposure to enrichment activities and professional socialization and therefore may require more intensive skill development than their more affluent peers. On the other hand, they may have had life experiences that required them to persist, problem solve, and lead in different settings, and the role of program leaders may be to help students translate these competencies into academic and career settings. Grade-by-grade development: There is variation in skills and experiences between early middle schoolers (sixth grade) and older middle schoolers (eighth grade). Younger students may lack foundational skills, knowledge, and mindsets that are prerequisites for more complex activities. Program developers should create activities that are appropriate for students at each stage of middle school and that are scaffolded both within and across grades. Individual-level differences: On any given skill, program leaders are likely to find that students vary more within grades than across grades. Programs can use assessment tools to measure baseline skills, to track competencies over time, and to differentiate the program intervention for students with different needs.
Given the complexity of adolescence, programs should not be conceived as one-size-fit-all designs. Rather, organizations that work with middle school students must take into account myriad factors that affect the transition from middle school to high school. Program leaders will want to consider students’ needs, the setting of the implementation, and the particular competencies they are looking to impact when selecting or designing programs for students.
3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction Many adolescents face challenges in the transition from middle school to high school. Students leave behind a familiar setting to enter a larger and more diverse school environment that presents challenges in the form of difficult coursework, a more demanding schedule, and myriad social pressures. For some students, these obstacles may feel insurmountable, leading to disengagement from school, delinquency, or school dropout.1 Given that students confront challenges that are social, emotional, and academic in nature, researchers and practitioners increasingly suggest that schools and youth programs take a more holistic approach to preparing students for the transition to high school. This holistic approach extends beyond giving students the required content knowledge for academic success to include programming that bolsters the social-emotional and “21st century” skills that are crucial for navigating the classroom and beyond.2 These skills and competencies include emotional regulation, perseverance, empathy, interpersonal skills, and goal setting.3 While research on the importance of these competencies has grown rapidly over the last two decades, our understanding of how schools and nonprofits can build programs to develop them has not kept pace.4 Researchers and practitioners are presently collaborating to build a body of knowledge of how teachers and youth leaders approach this challenge and how they tailor programming to
students’ developmental needs as they progress from middle school to high school.5 This report shares in that effort by drawing on case study data from three youth development organizations in New York City to highlight activities that promote the growth of social-emotional competencies and 21st century skills among sixth to ninth grade students. We offer specific examples of activities used by these organizations, as well as recommendations for how organizations can scaffold activities for students as they transition through middle school and into high school. The target audience for this report is school administrators, teachers, and youth development professionals who are tasked with educating, nurturing, and preparing students for success after middle school. We focus on seven competencies in this report: leadership, perseverance/grit, verbal communication, collaboration, problem solving skills, career-ready skills, and academic skills and behaviors. These competencies, which are defined in Table 1, represent the subset of skills, behaviors, and mindsets that all three case study organizations attempt to impact with their programming. Where possible, we provide data from the case study organizations as examples of how activities can be designed and implemented to impact student competencies.
MIDDLE SCHOOL PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS: A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE
4
Table 1. Competencies and skills included in this report. COMPETENCY/SKILL
DEFINITION
Leadership
Leveraging one’s personal skills and competencies to create a desired outcome in a group setting
Perseverance/Grit
Sustaining interest in and effort toward very long-term goalsa
Verbal communication
Articulating thoughts and ideas using oral communication methods, listening effectively, and communicating effectively for a range of different purposes in a range of settingsb
Collaboration
Working effectively and respectfully with diverse teams to accomplish a common goalb
Problem solving skills
Using a range of conventional and innovative methods to solve unfamiliar problemsb
Career-ready skills
Understanding career options, effective networking activities, as well as how to behave, communicate, and dress in professional settings
Academic skills and behaviors
Organizational, time management, and self-regulatory skills that are required for academic and career success
a Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., and Kelly, D.R. 2007. “Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6): 1087-1101. b See Partnerships for 21st Century Learning’s “P21 Framework Definitions.”
In this report, we describe the three case study organizations and our methods in greater detail. We provide an overview of the factors that schools and youth development organizations should consider when designing effective programs and activities for middle school students. We conclude with a description of concrete activities that these organizations use to build up these competencies among students in middle school and those who have recently transitioned to high school.
5
INTRODUCTION
Methodology This report was conceived of by The Opportunity Network and funded by the Heckscher Foundation for Children. The Opportunity Network identified and recommended three organizations for case study analysis: The Opportunity Network, Breakthrough New York, and Citizen Schools New York – New Jersey. The organizations were identified because they serve students in sixth to ninth grade and they each offer unique programming to address students’ social, emotional, and behavioral skills as a means of impacting longer-term academic and career outcomes.
®
The Opportunity Network: The Opportunity Network (OppNet) aims to increase college and career readiness among low-income students by bolstering their college and career readiness skills and creating access to career opportunities, professional networks, and competitive colleges. This report draws primarily on programming provided to ninth grade students via their OppNet Prep program. Breakthrough New York: Breakthrough New York (BTNY) is a 10-year, intensive program that prepares “high potential, low-income” students for entry into selective high schools and, eventually, selective colleges. The program recruits sixth grade students and provides academic training after school and during the summer for the duration of middle school. Citizen Schools New York – New Jersey (CSNY-NJ): Citizen Schools is a national nonprofit organization that partners with public middle schools to expand the learning day. The organization aims to close the opportunity gap for students in underserved communities by providing academic support and “apprenticeships:” hands-on, project-based courses led by volunteer professionals in a variety of fields.
The goals of this project were to identify the specific competencies that each organization aims to impact through their programming, and to identify the program activities that organizations have implemented to address these target competencies. In total, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 program directors and managers and 24 students. We also conducted 13 observations across the three organizations. We drew on the in-depth interview data to construct an account of the specific activities that are used to bolster the target competencies, as well as how programs adapt activities for students at varying developmental stages. The observational data provided additional context as we attempted to understand the design and delivery of the activities across the three organizations. MIDDLE SCHOOL PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS: A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE
6
Designing Programs For Early Adolescents Programs and activities designed to address these competencies should be tailored to the general developmental needs of early adolescents, as well as the specific needs and capabilities of the students being served. In middle school, students grow increasingly self-reliant and independent from their families and their peer relationships become increasingly important and more intimate.6 In general, their capacity for problem solving both autonomously and collaboratively are also improving.7
supported within this environment. It was clear during interviews with students that they appreciated having this type of support from caring adults and saw its value in helping them reach their potential.
“You always have someone to talk to at Breakthrough. You won’t ever be alone…The Breakthrough staff members encourage you, if you have a problem that’s academic or social, to come talk to them before it escalates into a higher, more severe situation. You feel comfort out of that.” - Breakthrough student
At the same time that they are developing a greater capacity for thinking and learning, students may also become more vulnerable during middle school, as they increasingly compare themselves to their peers and begin to realize their academic and extracurricular strengths and weaknesses. Thus, experts further agree that a necessary component of any program targeting early adolescents is a safe and nurturing environment where students feel supported by adults who are invested in their well-being. Program leaders and staff members at the case study organizations emphasized the importance of creating a safe space for students to take risks and reach their potential. Since middle school students are still learning how to interact with each other and what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior, teachers and program leaders must often take corrective action to nurture this safe haven. Staff members at all three organizations further stressed that it was important to make individual students feel
7
DESIGNING PROGRAMS FOR EARLY ADOLESCENTS
To summarize, activities aimed at middle school students should include opportunities for exploration, risk taking, and increased autonomy within a safe and supportive environment. Program leaders and staff members at the case study organizations also suggested that there are other factors that moderate student development and should therefore be considered when designing and implementing programs targeting middle school students. They pointed to three specific factors: students’ socioeconomic status, grade-by-grade variations in student development, and individual-level variations in student maturity and development.
Activities aimed at middle school students should include opportunities for exploration, risk taking, and increased autonomy within a safe and supportive environment.
Factor 1: Student socioeconomic status Students’ developmental trajectory may be moderated by socioeconomic status and exposure to life stressors. In addition to being more likely to attend poor quality schools, students from low-income families may have had fewer opportunities to participate in programs or enrichment activities that socialize them on how to behave in advanced academic or professional environments; they may face day-to-day hardships that undercut the amount of time and attention they can give to developing specific skills; and they may face ongoing economic deprivation that dampens long-term emotional well-being. These factors could combine to create barriers to the development of social-emotional and 21st century skills relative to their more affluent peers. At the same time, it is feasible that these challenging life experiences can actually bolster traits like persistence and problem solving among lower income students. In this situation, the youth leader’s job is to demonstrate for students how these competencies can translate to other areas of their lives. As a program coordinator at BTNY explained, “I think there are times where a student may be able to persevere in a home life situation but may not be able to show that same grit or apply it to something at school…With the right guidance, they can figure out how to apply this grit in all areas of their lives.” The program intervention does not necessarily need to instill a sense of grit in the students but rather help the students learn to apply some of their grittiness in new settings. An examination of
students’ prior academic performance, participation in other enrichment and extracurricular activities, as well as an examination of their community and home lives, will give program designers additional information on how they can tailor programming to the needs and capabilities of their student population. Factor 2: Grade in school Middle school students are typically lumped together in the category of “early adolescence,” which is sensible given that students are in a similar age range (11 to 14) and at a similar developmental stage. However, within this narrow age range, there may be variations in student development across grades that have implications for program design and implementation. The program leaders and staff members in our case study organizations suggested three developmental factors that have implications for program design.
Scaffold activities both within grades and across grades in order to meet the needs of students. First, younger students may lack the foundational skills, knowledge, and mindsets that are prerequisites for further growth. For example, some program managers suggested that their young students have a limited understanding of what it means to be a leader and have difficulty identifying themselves as leaders since they have yet to identify their personal strengths. Older students, on the other hand, can increasingly identify ways in which they act as a leader in various settings.
MIDDLE SCHOOL PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS: A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE
8
Second, in general, younger students are more comfortable working with their friends and peers and may find it challenging to collaborate and interact with students who are not their friends, older students, or adults. This progression has clear implications for program design. For example, if the goal of an activity is to help students learn to collaborate to solve a problem, then a program leader may decide to allow younger students to work with their friends, which will make them more emotionally comfortable and free them up to work on their collaboration skills. As students master the ability to collaborate in small group settings, the program leaders may decide to create more heterogeneous groupings to force them out of their comfort zones and help students develop their interpersonal skills. Third, school structure may also impact student development. Eighth grade students are typically the oldest students in their schools. Some programs take advantage of this by asking them to serve as role models and leaders for other students in a program or school. At the same time, ninth grade students are older and expected to be more mature, but are suddenly in a school environment that is more rigorous and anonymous and where they are the youngest group in the school. This may lead to self-doubt among some students who had previously demonstrated progress throughout middle school. To mitigate these temporary spikes in discouragement, school and program leaders should build programs that are grounded in strong, nurturing relationships between students and adults, where students feel safe to discuss these challenges and find resources to
9
DESIGNING PROGRAMS FOR EARLY ADOLESCENTS
help them successfully transition into a new setting. This type of encouragement helps students manage feelings of selfdoubt during the transition year. To summarize, program designers should carefully consider how they can scaffold activities both within grades and across grades in order to meet the needs of students. Across all grades, program leaders should aim to develop safe, nurturing spaces for students to explore and take risks. Within these settings, younger middle school students may require more explicit knowledge and skill building, as well as a more scaffolded approach to working and collaborating with students who are different from them. As students progress into eighth and ninth grade, they can be encouraged to work in more diverse settings, move more fluidly between independent and group work, take on additional leadership roles, and develop their skills in more applied settings.
Program leaders should differentiate programming to accommodate students with different backgrounds and competencies. Factor 3: Individual-level differences Lastly, though there are general patterns in student behavior and development across socioeconomic status and age, the program leaders at the case study organizations were all very clear that these competencies also vary considerably from student to student. On any given competency, we may expect to see more variation within a grade than across grades. For example, whereas most students will be able to
strengthen their verbal communication skills over the course of middle school, some shy students may struggle to talk with students outside of their peer group. Other students will be more prone to give up when faced with difficult challenges, while others face challenges with organization and time management. Exposure to professional environments and career-related competencies also differ from student to student. These competencies vary considerably depending on students’ individual characteristics, as well as how much previous coaching they have received from their family members and schools. Program leaders should differentiate programming to accommodate students with different backgrounds and competencies. To help track and manage student-by-student variation, program leaders may consider using ongoing reflection and assessment tools to determine which students are responding well to given interventions. Just as a school teacher may use an informal reading assessment to track students’ reading “levels,” program leaders can use ongoing assessments of students’ mindsets, behaviors, and skills to determine how to best serve individual students.
