Analyzing the article, “Academic and Behavioral Characteristics of Students at a Secondary Residential School.”

The article, “Academic and Behavioral Characteristics of Students at a Secondary Residential School” by Courtney Gaskins and Margo Mastropieri presents the research and findings of the behavioral and academic characteristics of adolescents attending residential schools. After examining students’ academic achievement at admissions and over a period in mathematics, written language as well as fluency, the authors conclude the students attending residential schools are degrading in performance both in behavior and academics.

The authors’ argument points out that the students attending residential schools and the ones placed in foster care are lagging behind academically in comparison to the ones living with their families. The authors state that various reasons lead to these students recording poor performance, including highly underprivileged social upbringings as well as preexisting behavior disorders contributing to the probability these children would end in foster care. The article goes further to mention other studies and research relating to the same that shows similar findings. Among these mentioned studies, one claims that one-third of youth in out of home care reports academic performances less to their grade level, and the majority’s performance is below the average level (Mastropieri).  Another study that is mentioned in the article looks at the performance of Girls and Boys Town of Nebraska residential programs. The research shows that most youths joined the program with alarming academic delays in at least one basic subject.

Apart from sourcing information and data from previous researchers, the authors went ahead to carry out their own study to clearly identify the reasons for under-performance by children attending residential schools. However, rather than focusing on instructional practices and institutional reasons determining academic performance, the authors’ study aims to define the academic abilities of residential school participants. It also seeks to identify the behavioral concerns that are linked to the population. Different issues addressed by the research include behaviors and characteristics linked to the members of secondary residential schools, the levels of academic achievement that these students attain as well as if they are progressing over-time.

Following the study, the authors realized academic difficulties existed on admission. A higher population of the members attending the school under study recorded elements of academic shortfalls in mathematics, fluency, written language as well as reading. Furthermore, the research points out that a huge population of residential school members are using illicit drugs and have a history of committing juvenile crimes. Fifty-seven percent of the population confessed to using illicit drugs, while over 60 percent had juvenile records (Mastropieri). Also, 25 percent of the research population was identified as having psychological conditions.

The analysis carried out overtime pertaining to these students’ academic abilities shows that they made notable improvements in math, fluency, writing as well as reading. These improvements are realized due to the small class sizes and seen as most of these students are going to school often for the initial time (Mastropieri). Overall support from house parents, as well as the availability of counseling services, can be attributed to student success.

Through the article, we learn that the residential schools are a viable option for continuing to serve youths’ emotional, behavioral, and psychological challenges.  However, as more agencies gradually realize the services needed to look into the needs of adolescents in residential schools, boosting academic abilities requires to contribute a more substantial role when developing effective services. These agencies require to be conversant about the benefits of sufficiently analyzing and reporting the academic progress of the children admitted in residential schools. In addition, the article’s study suggests additional factors that require more attention to have an effect on the academic performance of adolescents beyond emotional, behavioral, and family issues.

Notably, one of the article’s strengths is its use of standard grades from the Woodcock Johnson-III Test of Achievement. The study sources the scores attained by students in the test to find out their academic prowess during admission and over time. The Woodcock-Johnson- III Test of Achievement is a nationally normed test, hence using it in the study gives the research results more credibility and makes the finding sound[1]. However, the article is also lacking in various aspects. Despite providing findings that explain preexisting factors that lead to youth ending up in residential schools, it does not dig deep into the institutional factors that lead to the academic benefits that they undergo over time.  Also, it fails to provide a comparison of how residential schools ensure academic improvement to public schools. Assessing how public schools lead to adolescents gaining academically is an effective way of benchmarking the performance of residential schools.

References

Mastropieri, C. G. (n.d.). Academic and Behavioral Characteristics of Students at a Secondary Residential School. Child Welfare, 189-200.

[1] The Woodcock Johnson-III Test of Achievement has a reliability of 80 and above. A standard score shows how a student performs on the basis of the average performance of the comparison group