Currently in education, there is an epidemic of African American males being over-represented in referrals for — and diagnoses of — emotional and behavioral disorders, as well as frequent suspensions and expulsions for conduct problems. In spite of this, there is a dearth of preventative research in this area.
A 2016 study by Scott L. Graves, Jr. et al. (PDF, 96KB)opens in new window, recently published in School Psychology Quarterly, examined the impact of a culturally relevant intervention on this group. The study took place in a predominantly African American elementary school in an urban setting in the Mid-Atlantic.
A school-based social-emotional learning curriculum was modified to increase cultural relevance for a group of 61 kindergarten to second-grade boys. Modifications were made primarily to the literature recommended by the curriculum, including a focus on storybooks with African American central characters.
Additionally, changes were made to the language, content examples and scripts used by the curriculum. The goal of these modifications was to provoke discussions regarding issues relevant to the students and their urban community.
Students involved in the study were identified as being at-risk for referrals to the student assistance team for emotional support due to "acting out" behaviors in the classroom. Pretests were conducted prior to the intervention to assess children's knowledge of emotions and social problem solving skills. Information from each child's teacher regarding their positive social-emotional attributes and externalizing behaviors was also collected using the SEARS and BASC-2, respectively.
Using the Strong Start curriculum as a basis for the sessions, groups of five students and two leaders met 10 times over the course of 14 weeks. One intervention was taught per week, occurring in a smaller room setting and utilizing the same table throughout each session.
Analyzing pretest and posttest data, students demonstrated an increase in their social-emotional content knowledge, self-regulation skills and self-competence. However, there was no significant effect on teacher reports of externalizing behavior.
The significant and practically meaningful gains in students' self-regulation and self-competence were promising. These gains offer assurance to school practitioners that short-term manualized treatments can be utilized effectively in urban schools.
Future research should attempt to utilize more change-sensitive measures and direct observations to document changes in aggression. Additionally, continued and concentrated intervention research with African American males, with a cultural specific focus, should be undertaken in schools.
Given the persistent overrepresentation of African Americans in the emotional and behavioral disorders special education category, intervention projects that focus specifically on targeted groups who are at risk for negative outcomes should be a focus of public policy.
Citation:
- Graves, S. L., Jr., Herndon-Sobalvarro, A., Nichols, K., Aston, C., Ryan, A., Blefari, A., Schutte, K., Schachner, A., Vicoria, L., & Prier, D. (2017). Examining the effectiveness of a culturally adapted social-emotional intervention for African American males in an urban setting. School Psychology Quarterly, 32(1), 62–74. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000145
Note: This article is in the Educational Psychology, School Psychology & Training. View more articles in the Educational Psychology, School Psychology & Training topic area.