Abstract
Community-based after-school programs have spread widely, but with varying results. No longer devoted primarily to child care or recreation, many of these programs address children’s academic, social, and interpersonal needs. Prior research has established a relationship among academic skills, particularly reading, and mental health. Children who learn to read can function more effectively in school and develop a stronger sense of self-efficacy. Prevention groups can aid this process by using group process to develop cohesive groups in which children can improve their reading skills.
The Reading Orienteering Club employed group process to address children’s needs to belong to a positive group, to learn to practice prosocial skills, and to improve reading ability by using the intrinsic rewards of reading. Positive group process to facilitate skill building was fundamental to the program’s design. Participants in the program, who consisted mostly of students at-risk for academic failure, demonstrated significant improvement in their reading skills during the academic year.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ablon, J., & Jones, E. (2002). Validity of controlled clinical trials of psychotherapy: Findings from the NIMH treatment of depression collaborative research program. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 775–783.
Brigman, G., & Webb, L. (2007). Student success skills: Impacting achievement through large and small group work. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 11, 283–292. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.11.4.283
Buhs, E. S., Ladd, G. W., & Herald, S. (2006). Peer exclusion and victimization: Processes that mediate the relation between peer group rejection and children’s classroom engagement and achievement? Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.1
Clanton Harpine, E. (2008). Group interventions in schools: Promoting mental health for at-risk children and youth. New York: Springer.
Clanton Harpine, E. (2013a). After-school prevention programs for at-risk students: Promoting engagement and academic success. New York: Springer.
Clanton Harpine, E. (2013b). Erasing failure in the classroom, vol. 3: The Reading Orienteering Club, using vowel clustering in an after-school program. North Augusta, SC: Group-Centered Learning.
Clanton Harpine, E. (2015). Group-centered prevention in mental health: Theory, training, and practice. New York: Springer.
Clanton Harpine, E., Nitza, A., & Conyne, R. (2010). Prevention groups: Today and tomorrow. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 14, 268–280. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020579
Clanton Harpine, E., & Reid, T. (2009). Enhancing academic achievement in a Hispanic immigrant community: The role of reading in academic failure and mental health. School Mental Health, 1, 159–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-009-9011-z
Cleary, T., & Zimmerman, B. J. (2004). Self-regulation empowerment program: A school-based program to enhance self-regulated and self-motivated cycles of student learning. Psychology in the Schools, 41, 537–550.
Cross, A. B., Gottfredson, D. C., Wilson, D. M., Rorie, M., & Connell, N. (2010). Implementation quality and positive experiences in after-school programs. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 370–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9295-z
Durlak, J. A., Mahoney, J. L., Bohnert, A. M., & Parente, M. E. (2010). Developing and improving after-school programs to enhance youth’s personal growth and adjustment: A special issue. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 285–293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9298-9
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., & Pachan, M. (2010). A meta-analysis of after-school programs that seek to promote personal and social skills in children and adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 294–309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9300-6
Fleming, C. B., Harachi, T. W., Cortes, R. C., Abbott, R. D., & Catalano, R. F. (2004). Level and change in reading scores and attention problems during elementary school as predictors of problem behavior in middle school. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 12, 130–144.
Farber, A. E. (2007). Out-of-school-time programs that promote academic and behavioral achievement for children ages six to eight. In C. J. Groark, K. E. Mehaffie, R. B. McCall, & M. T. Greenberg (Eds.), Evidence-based practices and programs for early childhood care and education (pp. 135–155). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Goldschmidt, L., Richardson, G. A., Cornelius, M. D., & Day, N. L. (2004). Prenatal marijuana and alcohol exposure and academic achievement at age 10. Neurotoxicology & Teratology, 26, 521–532.
Gottfredson, D. C., Gerstenblith, S. A., Soule, D. A., Womer, S. C., & Lu, S. (2004). Do ASP’s reduce delinquency? Prevention Science, 5, 253–266.
Granger, R. C. (2010). Understanding and improving the effectiveness of after-school practice. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 441–446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9301-5
Granger, R. C., Durlak, J., Yohalem, N., & Reisner, E. (2007). Improving after-school program quality. New York: William T. Grant Foundation.
Greene, J. P., & Winters, M. (2006). Leaving boys behind: Public high school graduation rates. New York: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
Hill, S. (Ed.). (2008). Afterschool matters: Creative programs that connect youth development and student achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Holtz, R. (2004). Group cohesion, attitude projection, and opinion certainty: Beyond interaction. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 8, 112–125.
Horne, A. M., Stoddard, J. L., & Bell, C. D. (2007). Group approaches to reducing aggression and bullying in school. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 11, 262–271. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.11.4.262
Kazdin, A. E. (2010). Single-case research designs: Methods for clinical and applied settings. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mahoney, J. L., Lord, H., & Carryl, E. (2005). An ecological analysis of after-school program participation and the development of academic performance and motivational attributes for disadvantaged children. Child Development, 76, 811–825.
Marmarosh, C., Holtz, A., & Schottenbauer, M. (2005). Group cohesiveness, group-derived collective self-esteem, group-derived hope, and the well-being of group therapy members. Group Dynamics: Theory Research and Practice, 9, 32–44.
Morris, D. (2005). The Howard street tutoring manual: Teaching at-risk readers in the primary grades (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.
Morris, D., Tyner, B., & Perney, J. (2000). Early steps: Replicating the effects of a first-grade reading intervention program. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92, 681–693.
Perney, J., Morris, D., & Carter, S. (1997). Factorial and predictive validity of first graders’ scores on the early Reading screening instrument. Psychological Reports, 81, 207–210.
Pierce, K. M., Bolt, D. M., & Vandell, D. L. (2010). Specific features of after-school program quality: Associations with Children’s functioning in middle childhood. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 381–393. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9304-2
Polloway, E. A., Patton, J. R., Serna, L., & Bailey, J. W. (2018). Strategies for teaching learners with special needs. New York: Pearson.
Rayner, K., Foorman, B. R., Perfetti, C. A., Pesetsky, D., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2001). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2, 31–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-10006.00004
Richardson, G. A., Goldschmidt, L., & Willford, J. (2008). The effects of prenatal cocaine use on infant development. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 30, 96–106.
Rudolph, K. D., Kurlakowsky, K. D., & Conley, C. S. (2001). Developmental and social-contextual origins of depressive control-related beliefs and behavior. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 447–475.
Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2001). The science of training: A decade of progress. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 471–499.
Sheldon, J., Arbreton, A., Hopkins, L., & Grossman, J. B. (2010). Investing in success: Key strategies for building quality in after-school programs. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 394–404. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9296-y
Shernoff, D. J. (2010). Engagement in after-school programs as a predictor of social competence and academic performance. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45, 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9314-0
Singer, L. T., Arendt, R., Minnes, S., Farkas, K., Salvator, A., Kirchner, L., et al. (2002). Cognitive and motor outcomes of cocaine-exposed infants. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 287, 1952–1960. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.287.15.1952
Slavin, R. L. (2002). Operative group dynamics in school settings: Structuring to enhance educational, social, and emotional progress. Group, 26, 297–308.
Tyner, B. (2009). Small-group reading instruction: A differentiated teaching model for beginning and struggling readers (2nd ed.). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Vaughn, S., Linan-Thompson, S., Kouzekanani, K., Pedrotty Bryant, D., Dickson, S., & Blozis, S. A. (2003). Reading instruction grouping for students with reading difficulties. Remedial and Special Education, 24, 301–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/07419325030240050501
Ward, S., Sylva, J., & Gresham, F. M. (2010). School-based predictors of early adolescent depression. School Mental Health, 2, 125–131. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-010-9028-3
Weiss, H. B., Little, P. M. D., & Bouffard, S. M. (2005). More than just being there: Balancing the participation equation. New Directions for Youth Development, 2005(105), 15–31.
Weissberg, R., Kumpfer, K., & Seligman, M. (2003). Prevention that works for children and youth: An introduction. American Psychologist, 58, 425–432.
Wilson, T., Nabors, D., Berg, H., Simpson, C., & Timme, K. (2012). Small group reading instruction: Lessons from the field. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 40(3), 30–39.
Yalom, I. D., & Leszcz, M. (2005). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (5th ed.). New York: Basic Books.
Zuckerman, B., Frank, D. A., & Mays, L. (2002). Cocaine-exposed infants and developmental outcomes: “Crack-kids” revisited. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 287, 1990–1991. https://doi.org/10.1001/dama.287.15.1990
Acknowledgments
-
1.
A special thank-you to St. John’s United Methodist Church in Aiken for providing community volunteers and financial sponsorship, and for allowing us to use their classroom space for this project. Thank-you also to the Rotary of Aiken and other community sponsors for their financial support.
-
2.
We also wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. Sarah Stevens and Sarah Wach from the University of South Carolina Aiken for their work on this project.
-
3.
Special appreciation to Keri Weed, Ph.D. and Bridget Coleman, Ph.D., University of South Carolina Aiken, for allowing their students to work on the project.
-
4.
A special thank-you also to all University of South Carolina Aiken students who worked as tutors and with testing.
-
5.
Portions of this research presented at the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association at Washington, D.C. August 6, 2011.
-
6.
Tom Reid is in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of South Carolina Aiken. Bridget Coleman is in the School of Education at the University of South Carolina Aiken. William Harpine is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of South Carolina Aiken.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Coleman, B., Reid, T., Harpine, W.D. (2019). How Many Students Work Best in an After-School Program? Are Small Groups Better than Large After-School Programs? What Ages? The 2010–2011 Group Report. In: Clanton Harpine, E. (eds) After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22845-3_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22845-3_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22844-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22845-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)