The present study evaluated the impact of a work-related interpersonal skills curriculum on the classroom behavior of 114 ninth-graders at a charter school affiliated with a large southeastern university. This seven-week curriculum taught the work-related interpersonal communication skills of self-awareness and corrective feedback, empathic support, assertive responding, and conflict management. The evaluation component of this study addressed the curriculum in terms of three standards: (a) improvement in performance on critical incidents; (b) degree to which participants report having achieved the learning competencies; and (c) participant satisfaction with instruction. The result was a direct relationship between students who completed the curriculum assignments and significant (p < 0.01, B = 0.23) improvement from the pretest to the posttest on the quality of written responses to critical incidents. Seventy percent (70%) of the participants also reported achieving at least thirteen out of the fifteen learning goals and seventy-three percent (73%) reported that they felt satisfied with the instruction. The research component of this study measured changes of the in-class collegial workgroup peer ratings and out-of-class collegial socializing peer ratings over time (baseline, pretest, posttest, and follow-up periods). The changes in means of both peer ratings over time were measured with a within-subjects repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results revealed that both peer ratings declined over time. Post-hoc analyses indicated a significant (p < 0.001; d = 0.4) mean change between the pretest and the posttest for in-class collegial workgroup peer ratings. There was also a significant (p < 0.01; d = 0.27) mean change between the baseline and the pretest, as well as a significant (p < 0.001; d = 0.26) mean change between pretest and posttest. In terms of transfer of learning into interpersonal relationships, 63% of the participants reported that the curriculum helped them improve their relationships with their friends; however, less than half reported that the curriculum helped them improve other relationships. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of the participants endorsed the whole intervention as having been worth their time. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of directions for future research and improving and implementing the curriculum. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2004. / July 12, 2004. / Evaluation, Interpersonal Skills, Curriculum / Includes bibliographical references. / Gary Peterson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce Menchetti, Outside Committee Member; Briley Proctor, Committee Member; James Sampson, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_182334 |
| Contributors | Gomez-Estefan, Carlos Camilo (authoraut), Peterson, Gary (professor directing dissertation), Menchetti, Bruce (outside committee member), Proctor, Briley (committee member), Sampson, James (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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