Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of the Student Success Skills Program on Grade 5 Students’ Academic and Behavioral Outcomes

Abstract

A randomized controlled trial of Student Success Skills (SSS) was conducted to determine the effect of the classroom program on Grade 5 students’ (N = 4,305) standardized test scores and proximal socioemotional variables associated with academic achievement. The SSS program was delivered by school counselors and reinforced through cuing and coaching by classroom teachers, which reflects the advocating student‐within‐environment approach to school counseling (Lemberger‐Truelove & Bowers, 2018). Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed the SSS program affected the treatment students’ behavioral engagement, disruption, assertion, cooperation, and test anxiety but did not result in a statistically significant difference on the participants’ reading and mathematics test scores. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

Growth in Middle School Students’ Curiosity, Executive Functioning, and Academic Achievement: Results From a Theory-Informed SEL and MBI School Counseling Intervention

“…Findings from this study also add to the nascent empirical literature in support of the ASE theory for school counseling. Consistent with prior intervention studies inspired by ASE, results from the current study illustrate that school counselors can participate in practices that result in social and emotional and academic outcomes for students (see Bowers et al, 2020;Lemberger et al, 2015;Webb et al, 2019). Interventions that enrich attentional, relational, and expressive skills can contribute to learning outcomes including performance on standardized tests, as consistent with the findings in the current study, but might also galvanize subsequent learning and social opportunities.…”

“…For example, using multilevel modeling to illustrate growth longitudinally across four measures of mathematics and reading achievement in 193 ethnically diverse and economically challenged middle school students, researchers found not only intervention effects for academic growth in math and reading but also significant mediative relationships to students' changes in executive functioning and feelings of connectedness (Lemberger et al, 2015;. Similar outcomes were reported with elementary students exposed to ASE-inspired interventions (e.g., Bowers et al, 2020;Webb et al, 2019) and with students in high schools (e.g., Lemberger & Clemens, 2012).…”

Inclusion of Theory for Evidence-Based School Counseling Practice and Scholarship

“…A full description of ASE theory is beyond the scope of the current article, but we encourage readers to consider some of the related conceptual (e.g., Lemberger, 2010;Lemberger & Hutchison, 2014;Lemberger-Truelove & Bowers, 2019) and empirical (e.g., Bowers et al, in press;Lemberger et al, 2018;Webb et al, 2019) literature. For the current treatment, we introduce two concepts adopted by the developers of ASE theory, namely, how school counselors support students' executive functioning and how they help engender feelings of connectedness in the school environment.…”

“…More than outcomes deemed relevant for an evidence-based school counseling program, each of these concepts is actionable for the purposes of counseling practice and scholarship. For example, utilizing ASE as a theoretical base, school counselors implemented the Student Success Skills (SSS) curriculum in a series of randomized controlled trials, which resulted in positive effects on self-regulation, executive functioning, connectedness, and academic achievement in a diversity of student and school contexts (e.g., Lemberger & Clemens, 2012; Lemberger et al, 2018; Webb et al, 2019). In this way, a linear relationship exists between the qualities of students (e.g., across cultures and age, students who self-regulate exhibit strong social and learning outcomes), theory-informed practices (e.g., SSS trains self-regulatory skills), and school-centric outcomes (e.g., stakeholders prize self-regulated social and learning behaviors and outcomes).…”

Kindergartners Are Ready to Learn: Applying Student‐Within‐Environment Theory to a School Counseling Intervention

“…Ready to Learn (RTL; Brigman, Lane, & Lane, ), a manualized school counseling curriculum that is a part of the SSS suite of structured activities, is consonant with ASE theory (Villares, Lemberger, Brigman, & Webb, ; Webb et al, ). The activities within RTL are designed for the specific developmental abilities of students in prekindergarten through first grade, with a focus on three key areas for student and classroom development: (a) attending, (b) listening comprehension, and (c) social skills (Brigman, Lane, Switzer, Lane, & Lawrence, ).…”