Examining the Effectiveness of Capturing Kids’ Hearts Training for Teachers in a Ninth Grade Transition Program

The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a difference in the scores of students on the “What Helped Me to Become Successful in the Ninth Grade?” survey between the retained and promoted students who had been taught by teachers who had Capturing Kids’ Hearts (CKH) training during 2007-08 school year. The students in one Mid-Atlantic Virginia, urban school were the study population. Students who had completed the ninth grade on time with teachers who had CKH training were compared with students who had been retained with teachers who had the CKH training were asked to complete a student perception survey. A mean score on a 25-item Student Perception Survey for each item was computed for the two groups of students who were in this high school during the 2007-08 school year and remained during the 2008-09 school year. Particular attention was given to nine questions that focused on relationship issues. A t-test was utilized to determine if there was a significant difference between comparative data on the mean for the two groups of students. In all nine of the relationship questions, there was no statistical significant difference in the mean of the responses for the repeat ninth grade students and the on time tenth grade students. The responses to the relationship questions indicated that the training the teachers received had a similar effect on students whether they were on time tenth grade students or repeat ninth grade students. The percentage of repeat ninth grade students had a higher percentage than the tenth grade students of agree responses on five of the nine relationship questions. Additionally, the median for the repeat ninth grade participants was higher on six of the nine relationship questions; therefore, the repeat ninth grade students had a stronger response to the relationship questions than the on time tenth grade students. The CKH training was a three-day off site learning experience for ninth grade teachers that provided tools to build positive, productive, and trusting relationships among themselves and their students. The EXCEL Model utilized five distinctive training areas: (a) engaging, (b) exploring, (c) communicating, (d) empowering, and (e) launching. The focus for students included developing skills that could affect their school success.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department dc:contributor.department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Stealey, Marjorie Ann

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Earthman, Glen I.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Tripp, Norman Wayne
• Cash, Carol S.
• Twiford, Travis W.

• Transition
• Dropouts
• and Teacher Training

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-11192010-153947

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40354