Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine school performance benefits of training elementary students, within the regular school setting, to deal with stressful change. The independent variable was the STAGES program, an intervention designed to teach students to deal with traumatic life events. Dependent variables included grade-point average and citizenship scores, as well as reading, language, mathematics, and total test scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. Methodology. The causal-comparative study utilized an ex post facto format for data gathering. It involved 429 students in seventh and eighth grades at Rancho San Joaquin Junior High School in the Irvine Unified School District in Southern California. Three groups were compared: (1) students with experience in the STAGES program in the classroom only, (2) students with small-group counseling with STAGES, and (3) students with no STAGES experience. One-way ANOVA was used to compare difference scores at the third- and fourth- to sixth-grade, and at the sixth- to seventh-grade interval. A follow-up Scheffe test was applied to determine specific group differences. Two-way ANOVA was used to compare students on the basis of gender and STAGES experience. Findings. The most consistent influence of STAGES was upon citizenship score changes at the transition from elementary to junior high school. Each variation--type of exposure, recency and duration of exposure, and aggregate experience--was significant to citizenship score changes. In each case the group with STAGES experience in the classroom only, showed greatest positive growth. Grade-point average differences at the sixth- to seventh-grade interval were found to be significantly affected by duration and aggregate experience with STAGES. Achievement test differences in reading at the third- to sixth-grade, and language at the sixth- to seventh-grade interval were also significant.