| Description |
In 1973, the Granite School District began an elementary guidance program which included the addition of full-tirrie counselors in three elementary schools. This program was intended to be developmental in nature and was supported by funds appropriated by the Utah State Legislature specifically for guidance services to elementary school students 0 The problem of this study was to determine whether students' participation in the elementary guidance program resulted in any measurable changes in their attitudes, differences in their classroom behaviors, or differences in parents' perceptions of student attitudes and behaviors. Additionally, the study attempted to determine whether there was a relationship between the attitudes of the teachers and changes in student attitudes. A District supported evaluation program was carried out during the 1973 -1974 school year. Two hundred twenty third and fourth grade students, ten teachers, and three counselors from three schools within the Granite School District participated in the study. The students were randomly divided into five experimental and five control groups. Counselors worked with the experimental students for a five month period, following which the groups were compared: (1) on their pre and post test responses to the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis; (2) on their pre and post test responses to the Hart Sentence Completion Test; (3) on observations of their classroom behavior; and (4) on their parents' perceptions of the students Y attitudes and behaviors. Teachers' responses to the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory were compared to student change scores on the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis and the Hart Sentence Completion Test. It was hypothesized that no differences, as measured by the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis and the Hart Sentence Completion Test, would occur in the amount of change between experimental and control groups in student attitudes towards themselves, peers, and school. It was also hypothesized that there would be no differences in the amount of observed classroom off-task behavior between experimental and control groups 0 Further, it was hypothesized that parent questionnaire responses would not differ for experimental groups and control groups. A final hypothesis concerned the relationship between teacher attitudes and student growth , It was hypothesized that there would be no relationship between teacher scores on the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory and student change scores on the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis and the Hart Sentence Completion Test. Significant differences were obtained in one of the three schools on (1) the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis, (2) non-disruptive off -task classroom behaviors, and (3) disruptive off'-task classroom behaviors, favoring the experimental students 0 Further, significant differences in the amount of classroom disruptive off-task behavior were obtained between experimental and control groups in a second school, Data obtained from the Hart Sentence Completion Test and the parent questionnaire were insufficient to justify rejection of the null hypotheses. Measurement of teacher attitude with the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory was not significantly related to changes in student attitude, as measured by the Interpersonal Effectiveness Diagnosis and the Hart Sentence Completion Test. The present study was general in nature, and it was recommended that it be followed by more controlled studies, specifically those relating the counseling process to student outcome variables. Additional recommendations were for measures which more adequately reflect the attitudes of a non-handicapped school population and which require minimal reading and writing skills, along with the suggestion that research which explores solutions to difficulties in observing actual classroom behaviors of both students and teachers would be productive in the assessment of affective change. |
