High school transition-related changes in urban minority students' academic performance and perceptions of self and school environment
Corresponding Author
Karen L. Gillock
Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137
Psychology Department (M/C 285), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137Search for more papers by this authorOlga Reyes
Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Karen L. Gillock
Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137
Psychology Department (M/C 285), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137Search for more papers by this authorOlga Reyes
Psychology Department, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1007 West Harrison, Chicago, IL 60607-7137
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The current study documents the magnitude and direction of change in relationships between the school perceptions, self-perceptions, and academic performance of a group of urban, predominantly minority eighth-graders during the normative transition to high school. Of the sets of person and environment variables examined, a greater number of inter-relationships was observed at the high school level relative to the elementary school level. In addition, the overall pattern of change in relationships over the course of the transition suggests the importance of teacher variables in the self-perceptions and academic performance of students. Findings further suggest that elementary school attended and specific characteristics of that setting play a role in students' adjustment during the transition to high school. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
References
-
Alvidrez, J., &
Weinstein, R. S.,
(1993).
The nature of „schooling”︁ in school transitions: A critical re-examination.
Prevention in Human Services,
10,
7–26.
10.1300/J293v10n02_02 Google Scholar
- Brofenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Bryk, A. S., Lee, V. E., & Smith, J. B. (1990). High school organization and its effects on teachers and students: An interpretive summary of the research. In W. J. Clune & J. F. Witte (Eds.), Choice and control in American Education, Vol. 1: The theory of choice and control in American education (pp. 135–226). Philadelphia, PA: The Falmer Press.
- Bryk, A. S., & Thum, Y. M. (1989). The effects of high school organization on dropping out: An exploratory investigation. American Educational Research Journal, 26, 353–383.
-
Causey, D. L., &
Dubow, E. F.
(1993).
Negotiating the transition to junior high school: The contributions of coping strategies and perceptions of the school environment.
Prevention in Human Services,
10,
59–81.
10.1300/J293v10n02_05 Google Scholar
- Chicago Panel on Public School Policy and Finance (1991). Chicago Public Schools Data Book. School Year 1989-90.
- Children's Defense Fund. (1987). A children's defense budget. Washington, DC: Children's Defense Fund.
- Connell, J. P., & Hardi, B. C. (1987). Self-system concomitant of discrepancies between children's and teachers' evaluations of academic competence. Child Development, 58, 1297–1307.
-
Cotterell, J. L.
(1992).
School size as a factor in adolescents' adjustment to the transition to secondary school.
Journal of Early Adolescence,
12,
28–45.
10.1177/0272431692012001002 Google Scholar
- Cowen, E. L., & Work, W. C. (1988). Resilient children, psychological wellness, and primary prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 16, 591–607.
- Dieskova, V. (1984). Reflectivity-impulsivity and social orientation in six-year-olds. Psychologia a Patopsychologia Dietata, 19, 387–396.
- Eccles, J. S., & Midgley, C. (1989). Stage-Environment fit: Developmentally appropriate classrooms for young adolescents. In R. E. Ames and C. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education, Vol. 3 New York: Academic Press.
- Eccles, J., Midgley, C., & Adler, T. F. (1984). Grade-related changes in the school environment: Effects on achievement motivation. In J. G. Nicholls (Ed.), The development of achievement motivation, Vol. 3 (pp. 283–331. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
- Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigfield, W. D., Buchanan, C. M., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C., & MacIver, D. (1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage environment fit on young adolescents' experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48 (2), 90–101.
- Elias, M. J., Ubriaco, M., Reese, A. M., Gara, M. A., Rothbaum, P. A., & Haviland, M. (1992). A measure of adaptation to problematic academic and interpersonal tasks of middle school. Journal of School Psychology, 30, 41–57.
- Epstein, J. L., & McPartland, J. M. (1976). The concept and measurement of the quality of school life. American Educational Research Journal, 18, 15–30.
-
Felner, R. D., &
Adan, A. M.
(1988).
The school transitional environment project: An ecological intervention and evaluation.
In
R. H. Price,
E. L. Cowen,
R. P. Lorion, &
J. Ramos-McKay (Eds.),
Fourteen ounces of prevention: A casebook for practitioners
(pp. 111–137).
Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
10.1037/10064-009 Google Scholar
- Felner, R. D., Farber, S. S., & Primavera, J. (1983). Transitions and stressful life events: A model for primary prevention. In R. D. Felner, L. A. Jason, J. N. Moritsugu, & S. S. Farber (Eds.), Preventive psychology: Theory, research and action (pp. 199–215). New York: Pergamon Press.
- Felner, R. D., Ginter, M. A., & Primavera, J. (1982). Primary prevention during school transitions: Social support and environmental structure. American Journal of Community Psychology, 10, 227–240.
- Fine, M., & Rosenberg, P. (1983). Dropping out of high school: The ideology of school and work. Journal of Education, 165, 257–272.
- Frith, S., & Narikawa, O. (1970). Attitude toward school: Grades K-12. Los Angeles: Instructional Objectives Exchange
- Goodlad, J. I. (1984). A place called school. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Harter, S. (1988). Self-esteem and self-concept. In T. D. Yawkey and J. E. Johnson (Eds.), Integrative processes and socialization: Early to middle childhood. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Hieronymus, A. N., Hoover, H. D., & Lindquist, E. L. (1978). Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Chicago, IL: Riverside Publishing.
- Jason, L. A., Weine, A. M., Johnson, J. H., Warren-Sohlberg, L., Filippelli, L. A., Turner, E. Y., & Lardon, C. (1992). Helping transfer students: Strategies for educational and social readjustment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
- Kelly, J. G. (1968). Towards an ecological conception of preventive interventions. In J. W. Carter (Ed.), Research contributions from psychology to community mental health (pp. 75–99). New York: Behavioral.
- Kelly, J. G., Ryan, A. M., Altman, B. E., & Stelzner, S. P. (1993). Understanding and changing social systems: An ecological view. In Seidman & Rappaport (Eds.), Handbook of Community Psychology. New York: Plenum Press.
- Kyle, C. L., Lane, J., Sween, J. A., Triana, A., & Reyes, O. (1986). We have a choice: Students at risk of leaving Chicago Public Schools ( Technical Report). Chicago, IL: DePaul University, Chicago Area Studies Center, Center for Research on Hispanics.
- Lee, V. E., Bryk, A. S., & Smith, J. B. (1993). The organization of effective secondary schools. In L. Darling-Hammond, (Ed.), Review of Research in Education, Vol. 19 (pp. 171–267). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
- Levine & Perkins (1987). The ecological analogy. In Principles of community psychology: Perspectives and applications, (pp. 77–99). New York: Oxford University Press.
- Lloyd, D. N. (1978). Prediction of school failure from third grade data. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 38, 1193–1200.
- Midgley, C., Eccles, J., & Feldhaufer, H. (1991). Classroom environment and the transition to junior high school. In B. J. Fraser, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Educational environments: Evaluation, antecedents and consequences New York: Pergamon Press.
- Mincy, R. B., Sawhill, I. V., & Wolf, D. A. (1990). The underclass: Definition and measurement. Science, 248, 450–452.
-
Pittman, R. B., &
Haughwout, P.
(1987).
Influence of high school size on dropout rate.
Educational evaluation and policy analysis,
9,
337–343.
10.3102/01623737009004337 Google Scholar
- Reyes, O. (1993). Follow-Up Study on Low- and High-Risk Hispanic High School Students. Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 218–226.
- Reyes, O., Gillock, K., & Kobus, K. (1996). The process of school adjustment during the transition to senior high school for adolescents from urban minority backgrounds. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Reyes, O., Gillock, K., & Kobus, K. (1994). A longitudinal study of school adjustment in urban, minority adolescents: Effects of a high school transition program. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 341–369.
-
Reyes, O., &
Hedeker, D.
(1993).
Identifying high-risk students in a high school dropout prevention program.
Prevention in Human Services,
10,
137–150.
10.1300/J293v10n02_08 Google Scholar
- Reyes, O., & Jason, L. A. (1993). Pilot study examining factors associated with academic success for Hispanic high school students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 22 (1), 57–71.
- Roderick, M. (in press). School transitions and school dropout. In K. Wong (Ed.) Advances in Educational Policy Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
- Rutter, M. D. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57 (3), 316–331.
- Ryan, R. M., & Grolnick, W. S. (1986). Origins and pawns in the classroom: Self-report and projective assessments of individual differences in children's perceptions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 550–558.
- Simmons, G., Black, A., & Zhou, Y. (1991). African-American versus White children and the transition into junior high school. American Journal of Education, 99, 481–520.
- Simmons, R. G., & Blyth, D. A. (1987). Moving into adolescence: The impact of pubertal change and school context. Hawthorne, New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
- Tolan, P. H., & Loeber, R. (1992). Antisocial behavior. In P. H. Tolan & B. Cohler (Eds.), Handbook of Clinical Research and Practice with Adolescents (pp. 307–331). New York: Wiley.
- Trickett, E. J., Kelly, J. G., & Todd, D. M. (1972). The social environment of the high school: Guidelines for individual change and organizational redevelopment. In S. E. Golann & C. Eisdorfer (Eds.), Handbook of Community Mental Health (pp. 331–406). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
- Turnure, J. E., & Thurlow, M. L. (1973). Verbal elaboration and the promotion of transfer of training in educable mentally retarded children. Journal of experimental Child Psychology, 15, 137–148.
- Velez, W. (1989). High school attrition among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic white youths. Sociology of Education, 62, 119–133.
- Wehlage, G., Rutter, R. A., Smith, G. A., Lesko, N., & Fernandez, R. R. (1989). Reducing the risk: Schools as communities of support. Philadelphia, PA: The Falmer Press.