Description
In this
chapter, Slavin discusses students who are considered “at risk,” and
educational programs that are available for schools who have a large percentage
of these students. Students are considered “at risk” if they “come from
impoverished or chaotic homes, have marked developmental delays, and exhibit aggressive
or withdrawn behavior…” (Slavin, 2018, p. 225). Because of this, these students
are more likely to experience problems in school than other students. The
educational programs that exist for students placed at risk are designed to
provide additional assistance to students who are essentially “at risk.”
Analysis
The most
predictive risk factors for students, before school starts, are related to
their socioeconomic status and family structure (Slavin, 2018, p. 225). However,
once school starts, other risk factors such as poor reading performance, grade
repetition, and poor behavior become predictors of later school problems rather
than family background factors (Hernandez, 2012; Slavin, 2018, p.225). Compensatory
education and early intervention programs are the two programs discussed in
this chapter in which educational programs for students who are at risk have
access to.
Compensatory education is
the term used for programs designed to prevent or remediate learning problems
among students who are from low-income families or who attend schools in
low-income communities (Slavin, 2018, p. 225). One common program known as Head
Start, gave preschool children from disadvantaged homes the skills they needed
for a good start in school. The largest compensatory education program is Title
I. Title I is “a federally funded program that gives schools money to provide
extra services for students from low-income families who are having trouble in
school” (Borman, Stringfield, & Slavin, 2001; Manna, 2008; Slavin, 2018, p.
225). The funds for Title I schools go directly toward improving the
achievement for these low achievers and/or disadvantaged students. For example,
Title I funds may be used to purchase technology, provide professional
development for teachers, and to hire paraprofessionals (Slavin, p. 226). These
schools may also use the funds to improve the school as a whole so long as it
is geared towards improving outcomes. According to Borman, D’Agostino, Wong,
and Hedges, the best outcomes of Title I were found when Title I services were
closely coordinated with other school services. Slavin (2018, p. 226) states, “schools
that closely integrated remedial or instructional Title I services with the
school’s main instructional program, and especially schools that used Title I
dollars to enhance instruction for all students in schoolwide projects,
obtained the best outcomes”.
One drawback of
compensatory education programs is that they typically provide services to
children only after they have fallen so far behind in school. Instead of focusing
on remediation, it may deem more beneficial to focus on prevention and early
intervention. Early intervention programs target infants and toddlers who are
at risk to prevent possible later need for remediation. According to Slavin (2018,
p. 226), “Programs that emphasize infant stimulation, parent training, and
other services for children from birth to age 5 have been found to have
long-term effects on the school success of students are at risk.” Some of these
programs include the following:
· Nurse-Family
Partnerships – trained nurses visit impoverished new mothers to help them learn
how to help their children develop physically, emotionally, and mentally
(Miller, 2015).
· Carolina
Abecedarian Program – found long-term achievement effects of an intensive
program for children from low-income homes who receive services from infancy
through school entry (Campbell & Ramey, 1994).
· Perry
Preschool Program – goal is to improve disadvantaged children’s capacity for
future success in school and in life. Seeks to break the link between childhood
poverty and school failure by promoting young children’s intellectual, social,
and physical development.
o
The results of this study conducted from
1962-1967 found that at age 40, the participants who experienced the preschool
program had fewer teenage pregnancies, were more likely to have graduated from
high school, were more likely to hold a job and have higher earnings, committed
fewer crimes, and owned their own home and car.
One major key to early intervention is identifying
students who do turn out to need long-term services early. It also ensures that
students whose problems can be solved early are not needlessly assigned to
special education (Vellutino et al., 1996; Slavin, 2018, p. 227).
Comprehensive
school reform programs are schoolwide approaches that introduce research-based strategies
into curriculum, instruction, assessment, grouping, accommodations for children
having difficulties, parent involvement, and other elements (Borman, Hewes,
Overman, & Brown 2003; Kidron & Darwin, 2007; Slavin, 2008a; Slavin.
2018, p. 227). Success for All is the most widely used comprehensive school
reform program today. This program focuses on prevention and early intervention
for elementary and middle schools serving disadvantaged communities. To ensure
that students do not fall behind in the early ages, Success for All provides
reading programs for preschool, kindergarten, and grades 1 through 8. These include
one-to-one or small-group computer-assisted tutoring for struggling readers,
family support services, and other changes in instruction, curriculum, and school
organization (Slavin, 2018, p. 227). Success for all studies have shown that
students in this program read better than students in matched control schools
and are far less likely to be assigned special education or fail a grade.
After-school
and summer school programs are becoming more and more common. These programs
are being funded by Title I and other federal, state, and local education
agencies. According to Cooper (2000), Friedman (2003), and Neuman (2010), after-school
programs typically combine some sort of academic activity, such as homework
help, with sports, drama, and cultural activities (Slavin, 2018, p. 227). Studies
have found that for after-school programs to make a difference in student achievement,
well-organized coursework to extend the academic day needs to be incorporated. Summer
school is typically used for students who have failed a subject/grade and need
one last chance to try and pass. It has also been advocated as a “solution to
the “summer loss” phenomenon, in which children from families that are low in
socioeconomic status tend to lose ground over the summer, whereas middle-class
students tend to gain” (Cooper, Borman, & Fairchild, 2010; Slavin, 2018,
p.227). Reviews for these programs found that struggling children can be helped
when instructional time is extended.
Overall,
this section of the chapter really focused on children who are considered at
risk, why these children are considered to be at risk, potential effects of at
risk children who do not have the adequate resources needed to help them
succeed, and programs used in schools of disadvantaged communities that provide
resources in order to improve academic achievement.
Reflection
What does this concept mean to you?
How do you feel about this concept?
How is this concept significant concerning the context
of your classroom?
How might you use what you learned to become a better
teacher?
After
reading this section of the chapter, I immediately thought about my best friend
from grade school. According to Boykin (2000), using the term placed at risk
instead of at risk emphasizes the fact that it is often an inadequate
response to a child’s needs by school, family, or community that places the
child at risk (Slavin, 2018, p. 225). My best friend would have been considered
“at risk” due to her family dynamics. She grew up living in many different
homes being raised by two parents who were in and out of jail. Her older
brother, who was also a child at the time, often took care of her. I was
actually with her this past week and while working on our master’s program, I asked
her if she thought her life could have turned out a lot differently had it not
been for the people who stepped in to raise her once she got older. She replied,
“The way I see it, you can let the situation hold you back and define you or
you can rise up, work hard, and decide that you do not want to be a part of
that cycle anymore.” She is now working on becoming a double-dawg at the
University of Georgia.
I immediately
took interest in learning about educational programs that exist for students at
risk because I teach a lot of these students. Not only do I teach these
students, but I also grew up with a lot of students who were considered to be at
risk. Every school I attended was a Title I school and I knew I wanted to teach
in one as well because I saw the difference my teachers made in the lives of so
many different students. It’s a challenging and exhausting, mentally and
physically, job. While I have had students defy the odds of being at risk,
majority of them do struggle in reading and they are usually my most
challenging behaviorally as well.
When reading
about the early intervention programs, the following stuck out to me: “Early
intervention also ensures that children who do turn out to need long term services
are identified early…” (Slavin, 2018, p. 227). I taught a student last year who
should have never made it to sixth grade without some sort of assistance or
services in place. When I found out how far behind he was, I was angry. I kept
thinking to myself, why did his teachers keep passing him along when he cannot
even read?! I felt like they were doing a huge disservice to him and I couldn’t
believe that he had not even been tested for special education. My administrators
couldn’t even believe it. They later found out that this student had been to
three different elementary schools and had missed over 120 days of schools within
three school years. I don’t know if that was part of the reason that he was
never tested but I do know that his inability to complete work contributed to
his frequent behavioral outbursts in class. Once I finally realized he was
working at about a first-grade level, all hands were on deck to get him the
help he so desperately needed and deserves.
One thing
I noticed myself doing while reading about the programs that exist for students
placed at risk, was wondering if any of these programs were in place at my
school. It had me questioning whether or not I knew all the services we have available
for students considered to be at risk. One thing I want to do in the future, is
to become aware of all the programs and services our school provides for these
students and their families as well. I think becoming aware of these programs
and services will help me become a better teacher because I will know every
thing that our school offers to students and how to help them in the best way possible
in order for them to succeed.
References
Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory
and Practice (12th
ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.
Perry Preschool Project.
(2018, November 27). Retrieved June 28, 2020, from
https://highscope.org/perry-preschool-project/
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