Adult Communication Practices Experienced by Students in a

Re-organized High School.

Eddie Reed EdD

Questions of Inquiry

RQ1: Did the student experience any of Mendes’ eight relationship building practices and how often?

RQ2. Did the adult’s use of Mendes’ relationship building practices vary according to any characteristics of the student?

Identified relationship building practices between adults and students that indicate a school culture that is interested in addressing the emotional needs of its students.

Ernest Mendes’ Framework for a caring school environment

Mendes’ 8 Relationship Building Practices Indicating a Supportive School Environment

Practice 1 - Adult acknowledges all responses and questions from student.

Practice 2 – Adult mentions student’s name, skill, ideas and knowledge, without mentioning weaknesses or confidential information.

Practice 3 – Adult uses self –disclosure, when appropriate.

Practice 4 – Adult responds to student attempts to participate with statements beginning with “I agree”, “I appreciate” and/or “I respect”.

Practice 5 – Adult asks student about his/her interests and pays attention to the student’s non-verbal responses and makes adjustments to capture their interest.

Practice 6 – Adult builds on what they hear from the student by sharing stories, interests, or worries.

Practice 7 – Adult displays empathy to the student and class by communicating what she/he thinks the student’s needs or feelings might be.

Practice 8- Adult listens actively by matching the student’s expressions and responds to their moods by paraphrasing their perceived message, when appropriate.

Population and Poverty - 712 total students of which 50.56% were on the free and reduced lunch program.

ELL numbers - 186 students were not native English speakers; they spoke one of 24 languages.

Mobility - Between October of 2001 and June of 2002, 127 students entered and 253 withdrew.

Student Ethnicity -In 2003, 45.6 % of the population was Caucasian, 21% was African or African American, 18.1% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 12% were Hispanic and 2.4% were Native American.

Profile of Study Site

Staff Ethnicity - In 2003, 56 adult staff members were Caucasian, 3 adult staff members are African American.

Staff longevity - 92% of the staff had never taught anywhere else than Southend High School and 53% of the staff had taught at Southend for more than 6 years.

*During the study period

School Reform Model Characteristics:3 Academies: Arts, Discovery, and Experience

Arts had the most students with 321, followed by Discovery with 226 and Experience with 139.

Students self-selected their academy preferences and then were placed in academies by lottery.

Adults were given an opportunity to prioritize their academy assignment and then were placed according to student population, courses needed and teacher certification.

Schedule changes included students spent their day in their assigned academy with a limited number of cross-overs.

Courses changed from 60 minute blocks to 90 minute blocks.

Adult to Student ratio ranged from 1:32 to 1:16, depending on the Academy. *During the study period 2003

Method for Inquiry

1. Three research assistants - recruited from the statistics classes at Highline Community College, Washington.

2. The research assistants used a data collection tally sheet for each student. The data collection worksheet was designed for this study by the primary researcher.

3. Each research assistant participated in 15 hours of training on

how to use the data collecting worksheet.

4. During the training, the primary researcher role played adult or teacher practices and the researchers tallied what they observed individually. To improve reliability, the researchers compared their data collection numbers and identified a set of common criteria upon which to refer to when determining if a practice should be counted.

Method of Inquiry continued..

5. The research assistant’s shadowed each of their 5 to 7 students from 7:45 am to 2:30 pm on 4 randomly selected days.

6. Ernest Mendes’ eight relationship building practices were noted by tally when observed in the classroom between teachers and students.

7. Relationship building practices experienced by students during transitions between classes were also observed and tallied.

Findings

1. All of the students involved in the study experienced at least one of Mendes’ eight relationship building practices during the observation period.

2. The practices most commonly observed were #1 (acknowledge all responses and questions), #2 (mention student’s names, skills and ideas), #5 (attend to student’s non-verbal responses and make adjustments), and #6 (respond to students with “I agree”; “I respect”, etc.).

3. Ninth graders were observed having the fewest relationship-building experiences with adults in the school.

4. GPA appeared to have the most influence on the number of relationship-building practices a student experienced.

5. The frequency by which adults in the school addressed their students by their names, and the frequency by which they used responses beginning with “I agree,” “I appreciate,” and “I respect,” underscores a common practice of universal

politeness.

Recommendations

•The philosophy and ideas driving teacher actions in the classroom must be examined as closely as we examine student test scores.

•More research about those behaviors that create a “caring learning community”.

•Building and sustaining a professional learning culture, where teachers become public with their instructional practices, reflect on their lessons, and invite collegial scrutiny. students.

•More research is needed to examine the link between the impact of “class” on teacher attitudes, communication practices and student achievement.

Findings continued…………

6. In terms of ethnicity, three broad ethnic groups were represented;

1) Caucasian, (European), 2) students of color (African and African American),

3) Hispanic (Mexican, Central American). The small number in each group (i.e.

seven students of colors, seven Caucasians and three Hispanics) does not lend

itself to broad statements and any comparisons must be treated with caution.

Still the data reveals that on average, Caucasian students received 132.8

positive interactions, students of color students received 103.4 (although if the

lowest outlier number is thrown out, the average increases to 115 per student)

and Hispanic students received 97 positive interactions per student. While both

the total number of students in these categories is relatively low and the average

difference is not statistically significant, it still is interesting to note that

Caucasian students experienced 17-35 more positive interactions than their non-

Caucasian counterparts regardless of grade.