Paper
Design and recruitment phase of a randomized controlled trial to improve the educational outcomes of young people in out-of-home care
- issue: Issue 4 / 2009
- authors: Robert J. Flynn, Marie-Pierre Paquet, and Robyn Marquis
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abstract
Introduction
International research consistently indicates that many young people in out-of-home care have relatively poor educational outcomes, compared with their age peers in the general population. The reasons for this gap, found across a broad range of criteria, including grade retention, suspension, school dropout, and secondary and postsecondary graduation, are not hard to identify. Before being placed, young people in care have typically experienced many adversities, including abuse, neglect, family conflict, frequent family moves, and poor mental health. Upon entering care, they often experience further difficulties: stigma; abrupt changes in placements; discontinuities in schools, teachers, and friends; the loss of transcripts or other school records, which hinders the accumulation of academic credits needed for high school graduation or application to postsecondary programs; ineffective help with homework and study habits; and little financial support for eventual postsecondary study. Such experiences often result in a level of educational attainment lower than the young person's aspirations and ability would permit.
Although the problem of low educational attainment among young people in care is widely acknowledged, few validated interventions seem to be available. We are aware of only 21 studies in which educational interventions for young people in care have been evaluated: 12 were reviewed by Barth and Ferguson (2004), and another 9 by Trout, Hagaman, Casey, Reid, and Epstein (2008). Unfortunately, few of these interventions appear to be immediately applicable to local efforts to improve key aspects of educational performance, such as reading or reading comprehension, with which many young people in care need effective assistance.
Purpose
The present project, Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) for Kids in Care, is intended to address the problem of poor educational outcomes among young people in care. The project is a three-year partnership (2007-2010) between the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa and the funder, the federal department of Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). The project will allow us to test the hypothesis that adding an educational intervention (specifically, well organized and tightly structured academic tutoring by foster parents) to a baseline financial intervention (i.e., an RESP) will be considerably more effective than the financial intervention alone in improving short-term educational outcomes and social behaviour among young people in care. We see such short-term improvements as the first step towards the long-term goal of the federal RESP program, namely, to increase the rate of postsecondary education in Canada, especially among at-risk groups in the population such as young people in care.
Methodology
Participants. Currently, during the project-design year (November 1, 2007-October 31, 2008), we are finalizing the financial and educational interventions and their associated training, consultation, and data-collection procedures. We are also planning the enrollment of some 150 young people in care as participants who, in 2008-2009, will be 9-12 years of age and in grades 4-7 of primary school. We are currently seeking ethics approval of the project. During years 1 and 2 of the field phase of the project (November 1, 2008-October 31, 2010), we will implement the two interventions and test the study hypothesis.
Random assignment to interventions. Before the field phase begins, we will enroll and randomly assign 75 young people in care to each of the two interventions. The first (baseline) intervention will consist of a Registered Educational Savings Plan (RESP) for each young person randomly assigned to this condition. The RESP will be composed of an annual $500 deposit in the young person's RESP account, arranged by the local Children's Aid Society, and an annual $200 federal matching grant, in project years 1 and 2. The young person will also receive repeated messages from the foster parents and child welfare and family resource workers that the RESP is a tangible sign of the young person's value and an important investment in his or her future. The second intervention will consist of the baseline (RESP) condition, plus training in structured educational tutoring for foster parents, supplemented by an orientation for the child welfare and family resource workers that will allow them to support the efforts of the foster parents. In year 2 (2009-2010), the children who received the financial (RESP) intervention only in year 1 will be offered the educational intervention.
Content of academic tutoring. In the educational intervention, the foster-parent tutors will receive training in the use of the Teach Your Children to Read Well learning model developed by Maloney, Brearly, and Preece (2003). This educational approach, based on the well established principles of direct instruction, precision teaching, and behaviour management, has yielded promising results in a pilot application with young people in care in Ontario. The results of the project, in terms of hoped-for improvements in educational outcomes and concomitant gains in social behaviour, will be widely disseminated.
References
Maloney, M., Brearley, L., and Preece, J. (2003) Teach your children to read well. Belleville, ON: Teach Your Children Well Press.
Barth, R., and Ferguson, C. (2004) Educational risks and interventions for children in foster care. Stockholm, Sweden: Institute for Evidence-Based Social Work Practice, National Board of Health and Welfare.
Trout, A. L., Hagaman, J., Casey, K., Reid, R., and Epstein, M. H. (2008) 'The academic status of children and youth in out-of-home care: A review of the literature.' Children and Youth Services Review (in press).
Acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the RESPs for Kids in Care Project (2007-2010) by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC). The project is being conducted by the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa, in partnership with Strategic Partnerships, Canada Education Savings Program, HRSDC.
Contact details
Professor Robert Flynn, School of Psychology and Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services, University of Ottawa, 34 Stewart Street, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5
Tel: (613) 562-5800, ext. 8860
Marie-Pierre Paquet, address as above. Email: mppaquet@uottawa.ca
Robyn Marquis, address as above. Email: robyn_marquis@hotmail.com