The effects of check-in check-out on the academic planning and behavior of African American males

Abstract

Purpose-The Check-in Check-out (CICO) program is a Tier II behavioral intervention that has received empirical support as an effective way to reduce problem behaviors (Hawken and amp; Horner, 2003; March and amp; Horner, 2002). The purpose of this study is to use an intervention that combined CICO with social skill instruction and academic planning with three African-American ninth-grade males identified with emotional and behavioral disorders. A concurrent baseline across participants design was used to evaluate participants' performance on academic planning and behavior. Results indicate that the combination of social skill instruction and academic planning with the CICO mentoring program improved participants' academic planning and behavior. Design/methodology/approach-This study used a concurrent multiple baseline across participants design to determine the effect of the CICO mentoring program. CICO was combined with academic planning and social skills training to determine the effect on the DRC scores and the student's educational success skills. This study included three phases: baseline, intervention (which included academic planning, social skills training and CICO) and maintenance. Findings-All of the participants were below 50 per cent during baseline for points earned on the daily report card and the execution of steps for academic planning. During intervention, all of the participants had an increase in level and trend for both skills. Participants were able to maintain the skills two weeks after intervention. Research limitations/implications-This study has several limitations. First, the study was conducted in an urban setting; therefore, it cannot be generalized to other geographical populations, such as rural or suburban students. Second, the study is not generalizable to self-contained settings, resource rooms or other school environments. Third, the use of DRC data, as opposed to direct observations of behavior, is a strong limitation. Consequently, it is possible that improvements in DRC scores were because of changes in teacher perceptions rather than actual changes in student behavior. Practical implications-The study presents several implications for future studies. First, researchers could investigate different service-level settings (e.g. self-contained or resource) and different settings (e.g. suburban or rural). Second, researchers could focus on varied populations that are targeted for inappropriate behavior or academic difficulties such as English Language Learners. Researchers could also examine the effects of tutoring with CICO and investigate if mentoring is generalizable to community settings.

A meta‐analytic review of the evidence for check‐in check‐out

“…For preliminary and influence analyses as well as investigating publication bias we averaged effect sizes and their associated standard errors within studies ( k = 32). During preliminary analyses, a Grubbs’ test revealed the effect size for Toms () was an outlier ( G = 4.53, p < 0.001). This effect size, g = 7.18, was more than two times the next highest effect size and included one dependent variable unique to the included studies (essentially a measure of how accurately students carried out steps of the intervention which is not consistent with aims of CICO).…”

“…For these two reasons, this study was dropped from further analyses. As Zelinsky and Shadish () noted, excluding a study such as Toms () necessarily reduces the overall effect. An additional Grubbs’ test revealed that the effect size for Stuart () was an outlier ( G = 2.95, p < 0.01); however, there did not appear to be justification for its removal.…”

The Effectiveness of Training and Supervising Urban Elementary School Teachers in Child–Teacher Relationship Training: A Trauma-Informed Approach

“…Therefore, teachers may struggle to recognize and understand students' social/emotional needs and this can lead to punitive approaches toward student behaviors (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Teachers are 2-3 times more likely to use behavioral approaches and suspensions to control inappropriate behaviors with children from marginalized communities (Monroe, 2006;Siwatu et al, 2015;Toms, 2013). When teachers resort to repetitive administrative discipline, their students fall further behind in class and are more likely to continue behaviors leading to poor long-term academic outcomes.…”

Social-Emotional and Behavioral Support for First- and Second-Grade Black Learners at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Problems

“…Prior research has shown increased academic engagement and decreased levels of disruptive behavior with elementary-age Black learners (Miller et al, 2015). More specifically related to the hypothesis in the present investigation, Toms et al (2018) combined CICO with social-skills instruction and found improvements in academic planning and externalizing behavior at the high-school level for Black learners with an EBD classification from the school system (Toms et al, 2018).…”