Student Achievement through an Interdisciplinary Lens

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Student Achievement through an Interdisciplinary
Lens

• Valerie R. Gue
• University of Illinois, Chicago
• SPED 595

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Personal Goals

• To understand the connections between research
  and community service
• To learn about and be involved in various data
  collection methods
• To gain an understanding of the interdisciplinary
  approach to supporting student learning

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UIC Institute for Juvenile Research

• Research, Training, Service for Childrens
  Mental Health
• Mental health service provider for children,
  adolescents and their families
• Clinical training site for child psychiatry and
  child psychology
• Prevention and intervention researchers
• (http//www.psych.uic.edu/news/ijr.htm)

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Links to Learning Background Info.

• School-based mental health service model focused
  on enhancing students learning
• Comparison of school-based service with
  clinic-based services
• Based in high poverty urban schools, with K-4th
  grade students with disruptive behavior disorders
  (ODD, CD, ADHD)
• (Atkins et al, 2006-2008)

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Links to Learning Project Goals

• Unite key adults in childrens lives around the
  goal of learning
• Respond to the need for accessible, effective,
  sustainable mental health services in
  impoverished under-served communities
• Compare a classroom-based model focused on
  childrens learning with mental health services
  as usual
• (Atkins et al, 2006-2008)

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Links to Learning Service Model

• (Atkins et al, 2006-2008)

Leader Teachers
School Behavior
Teachers Effective Instruction Classroom
Management Family Outreach
Mental Health Providers
Academic Performance
Parents Communication Home Routines
Academic Support
Home Behavior
Family Advocates
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Links to Learning My Mission

• Focus on strategies that teachers used to
  improve academic performance, to improve student
  behavior to reach out to families
• Interview teachers on the extent to which they
  used the following classroom strategies or
  variations of them
• Peer Assisted Learning Strategies
• Good Behavior Game
• Good News Note
• Daily Report Card

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1 Building a Knowledge Base

• Review the literature (articles, research
  studies, textbook chapters, training manuals)
• Attend on-site off-site meetings
• Visit treatment schools
• Engage in one-on-one conversations with project
  staff

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2 Collecting Data

• Input pre-measure data on DatStat
• Communicate with research participants through
  email telephone
• Conduct interviews at a site convenient for
  research participants (schools, coffee shops,
  summer employment sites)
• Problem solve with project staff members
  strategies to accurately efficiently collect
  data

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3 Reviewing Data

• Install digital recorder software
• Sync interview data to computer
• Transcribe interview data
• Identify trends/themes among data
• Report findings (at a later date with project
  staff)

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Reflections

• Focus on student achievement through
  interdisciplinary lenses
• Bonding therapeutic nature of the teacher
  interviews
• Meaningful research that leaves a lasting
  potentially generative effect on school family
  communities

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Social Validity

• Emphasize indigenous resources
• Develop capacity in families and schools to
  sustain positive change
• Plan for services that can be implemented with
  existing funding sources
• (Atkins et al, 2003)

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References

• Institute for Juvenile Research Website
  http//www.psych.uic.edu/news/ijr.htm
• Atkins, M. S., Graczyk, P. A., Frazier, S. L.,
  Abdul-Adil, J. (2003). Toward a new model for
  promoting urban childrens mental health
  Accessible, effective, and sustainable
  school-based mental health services. School
  Psychology Review 32(4), 503-514.
• Atkins, M., Cappella, E., Frazier, S.,
  Marinez-Lora, A., Shernoff, E., Watling-Neal, J.
  (2006-2008). Project Team Documents. UIC
  Institute for Juvenile Research.