Hope for the Future: Building Hope via Project-Based Learning and Advisory Groupings

1. Hope for the Future: Building Hope via Project-Based Learning and Advisory Groupings EdVisions Schools 2005

2. Issues in Today’s High Schools • Student passage through high school is accompanied by gradual decreases in: • Student engagement • Intrinsic motivation • Attention and effort in school • Interest in learning • Achievement • Drop-out rates remain basically the same despite the constant churn of reform initiatives • 347,000 - 544,000 per year in the decade preceding the year 2000 • Drop-outs have reduced chance of success as adults

3. A Critical Transition • Adolescence marks the emergence of psychological disturbances, such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders • Increase in high-risk behaviors, such as substance abuse, delinquency • These psychological and behavioral problems can inhibit intellectual growth and emotional maturation and impede the transition to adulthood • Experiences in adolescence can impact a person’s life trajectory (educational attainment, employment opportunities, relationships) in significant ways

4. Stage-Fit Environment Theory • Mismatch between emerging adolescent needs and the developmental context is causally related to negative outcomes like disengagement, drop-out and emotional problems (emphasis: educational context) • What are the key developmental needs for adolescents? • Autonomy: personal causation; making choices according to your own personal interests and desires; being the “origin” of your own behavior • Belongingness: the depth and quality of the interpersonal relationships in an individual’s life (both peer-to-peer and student-teacher)

5. Implications of Stage-Fit Environment Theory • A typical high-school environment (large and impersonal, rigid curriculum, competitive ethos) may not be supportive of adolescent needs • A better match in terms of adolescent needs and the educational context should result in higher levels of motivation and engagement • Sizable research literature to support this claim • Placing students in a more developmentally appropriate environment should have a positive effect on student psychological health • There is relatively little research that directly addresses this claim

6. Appropriate Environment: EdVisions • Self-directed, project-based learning gives students high levels of choice in directing their own process of learning • Should lead to greater perceptions of autonomy • Evaluation done through live performance • Long-term advisory groups pair each student with an adult and a group of peers for an extended period • Should support the formation of solid teacher and peer relationships, which should lead to greater perceptions of belongingness • Instead of seeing 7 or 8 teachers a day for 50 minutes, and a new group of teachers every semester, a student has a single adult advisor for their entire educational career

7. Research Questions • Are autonomy and belongingness associated with greater engagement and psychological health? • Cross-sectional sample with many demographics • Do project-based learning and advisory grouping support greater levels of autonomy and belongingness when compared to traditional school environments? And, if so: • Do students in these schools demonstrate greater engagement in learning and healthy psychological development? • Targeted comparison, controlling for differences

8. Measuring Psychological Health • Hope: a generalized expectancy for achieving goals • Correlated with dispositional optimism, positive outcome expectations, self-esteem, happiness • Lower rates of depression, anxiety • In a longitudinal study of college students, hope scores predicted GPA even after controlling for entrance examination scores on the ACT • In the same study, 57% of the higher-hope individuals had graduated from college after six years, while only 40% of the lower-hope individuals had graduated • Stable component of a person’s disposition that does not change over time without targeted therapy

9. Data Point 1 • Measurements taken in Nov/Dec 2004 • Measuring autonomy, belongingness, engagement in school, and hope • Belongingness composed of: • Teacher academic and personal support • Peer academic and personal support • 804 students surveyed at 8 EdVisions schools (urban, suburban, medium-sized town, rural) • 140 students surveyed at two traditional schools (rural and suburban)

10. Cross-Sectional Growth in Hope

11. Data Point 2 • Measurements taken in April/May 2005 • Measuring autonomy, belongingness, engagement in school, and hope • Data collected from 3 closely-matched schools • Two EdVisions schools (Schools A and B) and one traditional school (School C); 231 students in total • Located in rural area southwest of Minneapolis within 50 miles of each other • Similar demographics and school/teacher qualities • School A uses project-based learning full-time • School B uses project-based learning part-time • Schools A and B use advisory grouping

12. Q1: Are autonomy and belongingness associated with greater engagement and psychological health? • Autonomy and belongingness are critical for engagement in school • Encourage positive change in engagement over time • Peer academic support did not predict engagement • Academic support likely to be important when coming from friends rather than larger peer group • Engagement in school mediates the effects of autonomy and belongingness on hope • Feeling of being liked/accepted by peers has direct impact on hope that is not mediated by engagement • Both engagement and peer personal support encourage positive change in hope over time

13. Q2: Comparing Environments Estimated Marginal Means from ANCOVA Comparisons Between Schools Variable School N A B C Autonomy 227 1.75a .62b -.91c Teacher Personal Support 229 4.16a 4.09a 3.27b Teacher Academic Support 229 4.47a 4.44a 3.80b Peer Personal Support 229 3.37a,b 3.58a 3.19b Engagement 228 9.94a 8.14a,b 4.32b Hope 230 50.24a 49.97a 47.50a Note. Means in the same row that do not share the same subscript differ at p < .05 in post-hoc comparison w/a Bonferroni adjustment. Student-level differences in age, gender, race, SES, previous educational experience & number of years in current school are controlled.

14. Q 2: Discussion • Project-based learning encourages significantly higher levels of autonomy • School A > School B > School C • Advisory grouping enables the creation of significantly better teacher/student relationships • Schools A and B > School C on teacher relationships • Effects on peer relations somewhat ambiguous • Students in the project-based learning environment exhibit greater engagement in learning • Schools A and B* > School C • No significant differences in hope

15. Change in Hope over Time School Time Point A (n = 54) B (n = 117) C (n = 54) Hope 2 50.69 49.45 48.35 Hope 1 48.87 47.47 48.59 Difference - 1.82* 1.98*** -.24 Q3: Change Over Time Note. *p < .05. *** p < .001.

16. Comparison of Environments Growth in Hope

17. Conclusions • Project-based learning and advisory grouping are effective pedagogical techniques for meeting adolescent needs for autonomy and belongingness • Together, these techniques can provide an environment in which adolescents can flourish • This sort of positive growth can help to buffer students from the turbulences of adolescence and provide a stronger platform for future success • These results also point out the necessity of continuous improvement through measurement

18. Continuous Improvement Through the Hope Study • Creation of documents to support school improvement • School-wide Assessment Rubric • Assessment Rubric establishes continuum of development of Design Essentials in: • A self-directed project-based program • A democratic school culture • A culture of constant assessment • A culture of teacher ownership

19. Strategic Planning • By utilizing the assessment rubric, learning community teams develop plans for improvement via: • Data collection and analysis • Professional Development Plans • Long-range strategies to meet the mission of No Child Left Unknown

20. Hope for the Future • Hope can be grown by creating a stage-fit environment for adolescents that: • Increases adolescent decision-making (autonomy) • Increases significant relationships and support between peers and teachers (belongingness) • Increases interest in learning (engagement) • Project-based settings with full-time advisories are proper stage-fit environments for adolescent psychological health!