Closing the Achievement Gap of Latina/Latino Students

Abstract

This article addresses the achievement gap of Latina/Latino students and evaluates the impact of a Spanish culturally translated classroom program, delivered by bilingual/bicultural school counselors in five 45-min lessons and three booster lessons. Latina/o limited English proficient (LEP) students in Grades 4 and 5 from three schools were assigned to treatment (n ¼ 62) and comparison (n ¼ 94) groups. A quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group design was used. Significant improvement in reading and math, as measured by standardized tests, were found for students who received the treatment as compared to those who did not. This resulted in a reading and math effect size (ES) of .37.

The Role of Social–Emotional Mediators on Middle School Students’ Academic Growth as Fostered by an Evidence‐Based Intervention

“…With regard to students at all pretest academic achievement levels (i.e., Levels I–IV), the students who participated in the SSS intervention experienced a greater conditional rate of growth in math and reading compared with the students in the control classrooms. This result is similar to previous SSS outcome studies using standard measures of achievement (e.g., Brigman & Campbell, ; Brigman, Webb, & Campbell, ; Campbell & Brigman, ; Lemberger et al, ; León et al, ; Webb et al, ); however, the current study extends beyond the pre‐ and posttest analyses of those previous works and illustrates continuous growth after the initial SSS intervention period. It should be noted the intervention and control groups were different at the pretest data, and in this way it might be inferred that the intervention effects were a function of the intervention group students starting off as higher achievers and thus were more likely to grow at a greater rate during the academic year.…”

“…Using classroom‐wide or small‐group structured activities, trained school counselors facilitate activities designed to advance students’ memory and learning strategies, attitudinal skills (e.g., building healthy optimism and self‐efficacy), self‐regulatory and metacognitive skills (e.g., managing attention and anxiety, goal setting and progress monitoring, and employing emotional control), and social skills. Results of SSS studies have yielded positive student outcomes related to SEL (e.g., Bowers, Lemberger, Jones, & Rogers, ; Lemberger & Clemens, ; Lemberger, Selig, Bowers, & Rogers, ; Ohrt, Webster, & De La Garza, ) and academic achievement outcomes (e.g., Brigman & Campbell, ; León, Villares, Brigman, Webb, & Peluso, ; Webb, Brigman, & Campbell, ), including a meta‐analysis indicating overall effect sizes of .41 for math achievement and .17 for reading achievement (Villares, Frain, Brigman, Webb, & Peluso, ).…”

Effects of the Student Success Skills Program on Executive Functioning Skills, Feelings of Connectedness, and Academic Achievement in a Predominantly Hispanic, Low‐Income Middle School District

“…Our findings lend further support to the SSS program as an effective educational supplement for student performance on standardized academic tests. Although the current findings are similar to past SSS studies (e.g., Brigman & Campbell, ; Brigman et al, ; Campbell & Brigman, ; León et al, ; Webb et al, ), the effect sizes for academic achievement in the current study exceed each of the former studies. Furthermore, we tested two student self‐report constructs related to the theory implicit to the SSS program.…”

“…Corresponding to service delivery, SSS researchers have performed five efficacy studies, involving 1,279 students Student Success Skills Program in a Predominantly Hispanic School District in Grades 4 through 9, 50 school counselors, and 39 schools . These researchers have consistently found significant increases in mathematics and reading scores on standardized achievement tests (Brigman & Campbell, 2003;Brigman, Webb, & Campbell, 2007;León, Villares, Brigman, Webb, & Peluso, 2011;Webb et al, 2005). Across these studies, Villares, Frain, Brigman, Webb, and Peluso (2012) calculated an overall effect size to demonstrate the practical value of SSS that resulted in .41 for math and .17 for reading, which are generally considered large effects in the context of K-12 academic achievement (Hill, Bloom, Black, & Lipsey, 2008).…”

Effects of the Student Success Skills Program With Exceptional Students: Influences and Outcomes

“…The SSS program has an empirical research foundation that demonstrates the program's extensive impact on students’ success (Bowers, Lemberger, Jones, & Rogers, ; Brigman & Campbell, ; Campbell & Brigman, ; Lemberger & Clemens, ; Lemberger, Selig, Bowers, & Rogers, ; León, Villares, Brigman, Webb, & Peluso, ; Villares, Frain, Brigman, Webb, & Peluso, ; Webb, Brigman, & Campbell, ). Findings from SSS program research have yielded such outstanding results that supplemental interventions have been developed to further promote skill retention and practice among groups of parents (Brigman & Peluso, ) and small groups of students who may struggle with the original material (Brigman, Campbell, & Webb, ).…”