The major purpose of this study was to develop and implement a transition program designed to facilitate smooth physical movement and social adjustment through the organization break between elementary and middle schools in Escambia County, Florida. This study has identified specific transitional elements and synthesized unique characteristics of early adolescents that should be included in a transition program designed to facilitate the move from elementary to middle school. The systematic model developed in this study incorporates the following procedures: (1) Assess the transitional concerns and needs of the target students and parents. (2) Solicit recommendations from professional educators directly or indirectly involved with the transition process. (3) Synthesize established transitional concerns and input from the needs assessment. (4) Design and implement a comprehensive program structured to satisfy established and assessed concerns of both students and parents. (5) Evaluate the program. / Design and Procedures. This research study was developmental in nature. Elements that should be included in a transition program and unique characteristics of early adolescents that should be considered in the design of a transition program were identified from the review of the literature. Additional information was obtained through the administration of questionnaires to students experiencing the move from elementary to middle school, the parents of those students, and the professional educators involved in the transition process. The design of the transition program was based on data collected from the questionnaires and on recommendations found in the review of the literature. Students were divided into two comparison groups. Students and parents in one comparison group (C1) were exposed to the developed program during a six week period of time. Students and parents in the second comparison group (C2) were not exposed to the program. The program was evaluated at the end of the first six weeks of school. The evaluation employed both subjective and objective measures. The subjective evaluation was composed of the administration of questionnaires to students and parents of both C1 and C2. A chi-square test of significance was used to compare the responses of the two groups. The objective evaluation of the transition program consisted of the comparison between students in C1 and C2 using the data collected in the following six areas: (1) grade point average; (2) attendance; (3) number of disciplinary referrals; (4) number of visits to clinic; (5) number of visits to guidance for social adjustment problems; and (6) number of students involved in extracurricular activities. / Conclusions and Implications. The findings based on both the subjective and objective evaluation of the transition program suggest the following conclusions and implications: (1) Twenty-three items on the student input questionnaire are appropriate considerations in the planning, development, and implementation of a transition program between elementary school and middle school. (2) The subjective evaluation of the student portion of the transition program indicated improved physical and social adjustment on the part of C1 students. However, the resulting chi-square of 3.51 indicates this improvement is not significant at the .05 level. (3) All nineteen of the items on the parent input questionnaire are high interest areas to parents of students experiencing the transition process. (4) In the subjective evaluation, C1 parents reported significantly greater satisfaction than did C2 parents. This indicates that more and better communication between school and parent is desirable. (5) In five of the six objective evaluation areas, C1 students displayed more positive adjustment than did C2 students. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-01, Section: A, page: 0049. / Thesis (Educat.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74029 |
| Contributors | PAYTON, CECIL FRANK., The Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 141 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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