Impact of the Positive Action program on school-level indicators of academic achievement, absenteeism, and disciplinary outcomes: A matched-pair, cluster randomized, controlled trial

• Published in: Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness
• Main Authors: Snyder, Frank, Vuchinich, Samuel, Acock, Alan, Washburn, Isaac, Beets, Michael, Li, Kin-Kit
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Article; Terranova
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2857737; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20414477; https://doi.org/10.1080/19345740903353436

This paper reports the effects of a comprehensive elementary school-based social-emotional and character education program on school-level achievement, absenteeism, and disciplinary outcomes utilizing a matched-pair, cluster randomized, controlled design. The Positive Action Hawai‘i trial included 20 racially/ethnically diverse schools (mean enrollment = 544) and was conducted from the 2002-03 through the 2005-06 academic years. Using school-level archival data, analyses comparing change from baseline (2002) to one-year post trial (2007) revealed that intervention schools scored 9.8% better on the TerraNova (2nd ed.) test for reading and 8.8% on math; 20.7% better in Hawai‘i Content and Performance Standards scores for reading and 51.4% better in math; and that intervention schools reported 15.2% lower absenteeism and fewer suspensions (72.6%) and retentions (72.7%). Overall, effect sizes were moderate to large (range 0.5-1.1) for all of the examined outcomes. Sensitivity analyses using permutation models and random-intercept growth curve models substantiated results. The results provide evidence that a comprehensive school-based program, specifically developed to target student behavior and character, can positively influence school-level achievement, attendance, and disciplinary outcomes concurrently.