Innovating Study Hall for Grade 8 and 9 girls

SUPERVISEDSTUDY HALL

IS THIS FAMILIAR?

IS THIS POSSIBLE?

The Leysin American School’s mission is:to developing innovative, compassionate and responsible citizens of the world

First among the school’s Core Values is: Students First : Recognizing our responsibility to prepare our students for university, careers and life, we have based our organization, programs and policies on fulfi lling every student’s needs

Among the Guiding principles of the are:Academic Challenge : LAS off ers students an academically challenging setting, based on realistic goals, to prepare them for university study. To meet this challenge, students are expected to master the skills necessary to become lifelong learners

LAS MISSION, CORE VALUES, GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The current practice at the Leysin American School, a grade 8 through 12 International boarding school in Switzerland, is that all students attend Study Hall in their dorms from 20:00 through 21:30 fi ve nights a week on school nights. This youngest girls’ dorm has a 1 hour study hall.

All students are expected to study in their rooms, at their desks except the “bottom 8”, the eight students with the lowest GPAs each week, who have Supervised Study Hall (SSH) in the dorm lounge with additional teacher supervision.

Non-compliance is punishable with an infraction; and infraction is generally a minimum one hour early check in to be served on Friday night

The goal is individual, focused studying

THE STATUS QUO

The comparison group is historical: the SSH group from October 2013 (Year 1) is compared with the SSH group from October 2014 (Year 2)

The intervention group is the SSH group selected (by the same criteria as Year 1) for October 2014 (Year 2)

The intervention group experienced the following changes from Year 1: Students did long and short term goal setting exercise with

the Dorm Head’s coaching Students conferenced weekly with the Dorm Head regarding

their progress towards their personal goals The Dorm Head provided specific feedback regarding study

skills A more supportive, less punitive, SSH environment was

established

THE INTERVENTION

USING VISION BOARDS TO FOCUS ON LONG TERM GOAL SETTING

USING SMART GOALS FOR SPECIFIC SEMESTER GOALS

For example (from a student):

Specific: Only A’s and B’s – no Cs-Stay fit-Make friendsMeasurable: Check Powerschool, go to the gym and stay with my programAttainable: I can do this!

Relevant: These are my goals

Time Bound: Semester 1

A learning theory grounded in Albert Bandura’s(1977) Social Cognitive theory and his research on self-effi cacy beliefs

“Self regulated learning (or self regulation) refers to the process by which learners activate and sustain cognitions, aff ects, and behaviors that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of learning goals… Self regulated learning is seen as a mechanism to help explain achievement diff erences among students and as a means to improve achievement”

From the Preface to:Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning: Theory, Research, and

Applications (Zimmerman & Schunk Eds. 2008)

SELF-REGULATED LEARNING (SRL)

THE SRL LOOP

Using Vision Boards and SMART goals to check-in with a student’s progress instead of negative discipline consequences

Focusing on the students goals (rather than the teacher’s)

Creating a positive atmosphere in SSH More 1:1 teacher guidance and feedbackAcknowledging Success

THE INTERVENTION: WHAT WORKED?

The changes in GPA and math homework completion in Year 2, as compared with Year 1, were not statistically significant

There were encouraging changes in students’ statements about their own self regulation habits, self effi cacy beliefs, mastery orientation, and academic motivation

The attitude and specific answers expressed in the student interviews and surveys were very positive

Staff reports in surveys, meetings, and in the duty notes were very positive

EVIDENCE

100% of the SSH girls reported that the structure helps them, specifically:

They like the teacher support They like the structured environment and accountability They like having an ambassador or a friend to collaborate with

A majority of the SSH girls agreed with the following statements more strongly after 4 weeks of SSH: I expect to do well in school I have clear ideas about what kind of future I want after high

school It’s important to for me to really understand the subject that

I am learning I think about how I study and change things that aren’t

working for me so that I can be more successful I set up my study area so that I can be successful

STUDENTS FEEDBACK:

“[The] positive attitude of [the] girls towards SSH: it’s not perceived as a punishment”

“SSH is not a punishment. Some girls are even asking to be in SSH, probably because they like the work environment”

“I like that the other girls have joined in and seem to like collectively working in the same space. It feels welcoming”

“SSH seemed productive. Some girls who aren’t in SSH even asked if they could join. I helped some students with homework and while Andie was meeting with students to do their goal setting exercise, I was checking on the girls in SSH and in their rooms”

“SSH is becoming popular! There were 9 girls instead of 5, plus another group of 3 working on a project and X doing French at my desk. Y (Ambassador) was there as well. Overall that was almost half of the dorm studying in the lounge! From now on, girls who are not supposed to be on SSH and would like to attend should ask before 20.00”.

SPECIFIC STAFF FEEDBACK FROM SURVEYS AND THE DUTY NOTES

For Vermont, in Semester 2 we could do the following: Flag girls based on their S1 GPA who are <3.0 or failing a

subject Deliver the Goal setting program to these girls, this

involves the following intervention facilitated by the Dorm Head: Each girl creates a Vision Board (long term goal setting) Each girls sets SMART goals for the marking period These Vision boards and SMART goals are made available to the

duty team to reference A commitment to SSH for the marking period is established In exceptional cases, the Dorm Head will work with the Learning

Support department to negotiate an alternative plan if SSH is viewed by the student or the dorm head/staff as the wrong intervention

The Dorm Head will check in with each girl weekly regarding her goals and whether her study plan is effective

MOVING FORWARD

Support needed The Dorm Head or a mentor is needed in addition to the

teacher on duty, especially in single duty dorms, to effectively deliver the program

Limiting factors Dorm head time allocations Single duty dorms Mentor training

WOULD THIS WORK IN OTHER DORMS?