Effects of SWPBS Undetectable in the Long-Term

By Claire Chuter, Johns Hopkins University

Interventions that focus on the reduction of problem behaviors and support of emotional well-being and social relationships have become increasingly popular around the globe over the past two decades. One such program, School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) has a solid base of evidence for improving social, emotional, and academic outcomes in the short-term. However, there is still little evidence regarding the long-term effects of this popular intervention.

Borgen and colleagues examined the long-term effects of SWPBS on students’ academic failure and marginalization. Specifically, they examined short-term test scores and long-term academic grades, high school dropout, school behavior, and youth crime using population-wide Norwegian register data (N = 964,924). All Norwegian primary schools (grades 1–7) were included in the study (N = 2,366), where 216 of the schools in our sample (9%) had implemented SWPBS. The authors compared these individual-level variables between students who had attended SWPBS schools with those who had not, using a difference-in-difference (DiD) design. They also examined whether program effects were more substantial for students at risk of academic failure and behavioral problems.

The study found no evidence of long-term effects for at-risk students or the larger population. However, even the most effective interventions tend to see diminishing returns over time. The lack of positive long-term effects of SWPBS here does not negate past evidence of positive short-term outcomes, but points to a need for further research clarifying this finding.

Helping youth transition to adulthood

A new report by Cynthia Miller and colleagues at MDRC examines four-year results from a national evaluation of YouthBuild. The report describes YouthBuild as a program that attempts to improve prospects for less-educated young people, serving over 10,000 individuals each year at over 250 organizations nationwide. Each organization provides hands-on, construction-related or other vocational training, educational services, case management, counseling, service to the community, and leadership-development opportunities, to low-income young people ages 16 to 24 who did not complete high school.

MDRC evaluated the YouthBuild program using a randomized controlled trial. Study participants were either invited to enroll in YouthBuild (the intervention group) or referred to other services in the community (the control group). A total of 75 programs across the country were included, with a sample of nearly 4,000 young people who enrolled in the study between 2011 and 2013. Data included in-person observations, survey data, and administrative records.

Key findings of the evaluation included:

• YouthBuild increased the receipt of high school equivalency credentials.
• YouthBuild increased enrollment in college, largely during the first two years. Very few young people had earned a degree after four years, and the program had a very small effect on degree receipt.
• YouthBuild increased survey-reported employment rates, wages, and earnings, but did not increase employment as measured with employer-provided administrative records, which might not include certain kinds of employment and other types of informal work.
• YouthBuild increased civic engagement, largely via participation in YouthBuild services. It had no effects on other measures of positive youth development.

Overall, the authors say the effects observed through four years indicate that the program provides a starting point for redirecting otherwise disconnected young people.

Supporting students in elementary school may help keep students in school

Elementary students who participated in a comprehensive support intervention in the Boston public school district are less likely to drop out of high school than students not in the intervention, according to a new study (published in AERA Open.

Terrence K. Lee-St. John and colleagues examined the impact of City Connects – a schoolwide systemic student support program which provides extra academic and social support for students in poverty – on high school drop-out rates. Their study tracked students from six elementary schools who participated in the intervention from kindergarten until fifth grade. These students were compared to students who were enrolled in the school district at the same time who didn’t use the intervention program.

In each participating school, a full-time coordinator, who is a master’s degree-level licensed school counselor or social worker, meets with every classroom teacher and other school staff to review every student, every year. The coordinator and staff discuss each child’s strengths and needs for academic, social/emotional/behavioral development, health, and family support. Since not every factor that may influence later drop-out presents itself as a “red flag,” this approach allows the less obvious factors to be identified and addressed early.

They found that students who participated in the intervention had a 9.2% drop-out rate in high school, compared to 16.6% for the non-intervention students.

Two behaviors linked to dropout rates in high school

A study published in the Journal of School Health examines how two behaviors – aggression and poor study skills – may be a factor in why some students do not finish high school.

Pamela Orpinas and colleagues randomly selected 620 sixth-grade students from northeast Georgia schools. Teachers completed a behavior rating scale for these students every year from sixth to twelfth grade. Based on teacher ratings, the students were categorized into low, medium, and high aggression trajectories from middle to high school and into five study-skills groups (low, average-low, decreasing, increasing, and high). Examples of behaviors considered to be aggressive were threatening to hurt, hitting, bullying, and teasing others. Examples of study skills were doing extra credit work, being well-organized, completing homework, working hard, and reading assigned chapters. Participants in the study were classified as a dropout if they were not enrolled in school and had not obtained a high school diploma by the end of the spring term in twelfth grade.

Students who were identified in the high-aggression/low-study-skills group had a 50% dropout rate compared to students with low aggression and high study skills who had a dropout rate of less than 2%. The results highlight the importance of early interventions that combine academic enhancement and behavioral management for reducing school dropout rates.