A longitudinal study of school adjustment in urban, minority adolescents: Effects of a high school transition program

Abstract

Described an intervention program designed to prepare elementary school (K-8) eighth-grade students for their transition to high school the following year. Participants in the study were 145, predominantly Hispanic, inner-city public school adolescents. The experimental group received an augmented condition, consisting of Education and Peer Support Components. The control group received a minimal condition consisting of only the Education Component. While no group effects were observed, time effects indicated experimental and control students' improved perceptions of school readiness, but deteriorated perceptions of support from both home and school and diminished grade-point averages and attendance. Time effects also revealed variable changes in school perceptions. Findings are discussed in terms of a developmental perspective of the school transition process. Implications for high school transition programming with the target population and directions for future research are also addressed.

The impact of the transition to high school on the self‐system and perceived social context of poor urban youth

“…In addition, qualitative data suggest that urban students' increasing disengagement from school activities and personnel may be an adaptive response (Aneshensel & Gore, 1991;Fine, 1991). In the Reyes et al (1994Reyes et al ( , 1996 Chicago study, a variety of indices of disengagement and lack of support are found to co-occur with the transition to high school. Another study reported a significant correlation between school support and quality of school life after the transition (Barone et al, 1991).…”

High school transition-related changes in urban minority students' academic performance and perceptions of self and school environment

“…Students from the two participating elementary schools (referred to as West Elementary School and North Elementary School) entered 25 different high schools in metropolitan and suburban Chicago. See Reyes et al, 1994, for a complete description of this study and analyses of the larger sample.…”

“…However, the high schools that adolescents enter are typically characterized by greater teacher control and authority, more rigid discipline, and less personal attention from teachers (Eccles et al, 1993;Reyes, Gillock, & Kobus, 1994). In part, this is owed to the constraints imposed by the larger number of students that are taught at the high school level.…”

“…Increasingly, researchers have turned to the study of normative school transitions in an effort to understand why risk for school failure becomes especially heightened for adolescents during this time (Eccles et al, 1993;Reyes, Gillock, & Kobus, 1994). The transition to high school has been found to effect increased stress levels, decreased self-esteem, deteriorated academic performance, and heightened risk for maladjustment (Alvidrez & Weinstein, 1993;Reyes & Hedeker, 1993;Rutter, 1987).…”

Mexican origin Youth and the Gang Context: Social Identities and School Experiences

“…From the students who returned consent forms, 32 students were selected stratified by achievement and gender, with a goal of a minimum of 25 students entering each SLP high school in the Fall of 1995. The sample size of 25 students per high school was determined based on budgetary concerns, caseload limitations per interviewer, and a review of sample sizes in comparable studies (Fordham, 1996;Phelan, Yu and Davidson, 1994;Reyes, Gillock and Kobus, 1994). This number was selected to allow one primary interviewer to engage in the field and follow this group in depth over the course of the study as each student was interviewed nine times.…”