Abstract
The student dropout rate in the secondary schools in the United States continues to be a concern for educators. The national rate is estimated to be 25 percent. The Kern High School District's (KHSD) dropout rate (1978-1988) was 42 percent and South High School's (SHS) was 50 percent. Low self-esteem and lack of school success play major roles in an adolescent's failure to succeed in the secondary school setting. The question of how to build self-esteen and insure school success has been the focus of various programs in the KHSD. This study addresses one current program of interest, the Affective Skill Development for Adolescents (ASDA), a one-semester curriculum package. The purpose of this study was to determine if ninth grade students at SHS, who received ASDA instruction, showed improvements in self-esteem and school success. For purposes of this study, a pretest-post test, true-experimental design was chosen. The results of this study found that the program's effectiveness, without the use of the parent component made no significant differences in self-esteen or school success. The treatment group, without the eighteen members of the treatment/parent sub-group showed no significant differences. The treatment/parent sub-group showed significant differences at the.01 level in the Home/Parent sub-area and at the.05 level in Total Self-Esteem. When comparisons were made the treatment/parent group participants showed greater gains in the Home/Parent sub-area at the.05 level. When comparing the factors relating to school success the changes were not in the desired direction. The participants in the treatment and control groups showed increases in the number of Period of Absents and Referrals and a decrease in GPA and Credits Earned. The treatment/parent sub-group participants had greater improvement in five of the six school success factors than the treatment/non-parent group. Research into educational programs aimed at the affective needs of adolescent students must continue as we look for better ways to meet the needs of the student population. The need to involve parents and/or significant others in the education of their children is imperative. Teachers should be encouraged to play a direct role in this research.