STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program) (OJJDP Model Program Guide)

Office of Justice Programs, Innovation - Partnerships – Safer Neighborhoods

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Serving Children, Families and Communities

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STEP (School Transitional Environmental Program)

Intervention:

STEP (School Transitional Environment Program) is a school organizational change initiative that seeks to decrease student anonymity, increase accountability, and enhance students’ abilities to learn school rules and expectations. The program proposes that improving the transitional learning environment will provide a better educational foundation for students’ middle school and junior high school years. The program’s goals are to reduce barriers to students’ access of formal support, increase availability and accessibility of support, help students access information about school rules and expectations, and increase their sense of belonging and familiarity with teachers.

The program targets students in transition from elementary and middle schools to large urban junior high and high schools with multiple feeder schools, serving predominantly nonwhite lower-income youths. Its two major components involve restructuring the physical and social environment of the middle school and restructuring the role of the homeroom teacher.

The school’s social system is reorganized by creating smaller learning environments within larger schools, which results in a stable set of classmates for transitioning students. This reduces the degree of complexity and change facing young students entering a new learning environment. Students remain in small groups for their homeroom periods and academic subjects (the classrooms are physically close).

Homeroom teachers act as administrators and guidance counselors, providing class schedule assistance, academic counseling, and counseling for personal problems. Teachers also explain the project to parents and notify them of student absences. Project students are assigned to homerooms in which all classmates are STEP participants. They are enrolled in the same core classes to help develop stable peer groups and enhance participants’ familiarity with the school.

Evaluation Methodology:

Study 1
The Felner et al. (1993) study used a two-group quasi-experiment design comparing four schools that implemented STEP (School Transitional Environment Program) with four control schools. The sample consisted of 1,204 STEP students and 761 students in non-STEP comparison schools. The overall sample included 17 percent minority populations, with 44 percent of participants from households in which high school completion was the highest level of parental education attained. Participants included all non-special education students in treatment and control schools and were statistically similar in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Expenditure per pupil was also statistically similar in both treatment and control schools. The researchers noted the principal difference was in school size: on average, treatment schools were larger than control schools (880 pupils for treatment schools and 434 for comparison schools) and had more feeder schools. Since larger schools likely have greater peer group flux and complexity, the differences in school sizes between treatment and control groups were likely to work against any findings of positive effects for STEP.

The authors used a series of standardized measures and teacher observations to assess school transition stress; psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem; behavior problems; academic expectations; and classroom behavior adaptation. The measurements were conducted at the end of the students’ second year from the time of their transition.

Evaluation Outcome:

Study 1
Classroom and Problem Behavior
The STEP (School Transitional Environment Program) group demonstrated significantly less problem behavior compared with the control group. In another measure, teacher classroom observations, STEP students also exhibited significantly better classroom behavior relative to the comparison group.

Academics
There was a significant association with improved grade point average among students who participated in STEP compared with control students. In addition, the measures for academic expectations were significantly better for the STEP intervention group relative to comparison group children.

School Transition Stress
The treatment group in the Felner et al. (1993) study of STEP reported significantly less transition-related stress than the comparison group.

Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Esteem
Study authors assessed student depression, anxiety, and self-esteem using an aggregate measure of “psychological distress.” STEP students had significantly lower levels of psychological distress compared with the control group at the follow-up measurement.

Other Information:

References:

Felner, Robert D., and Angela M. Adan. 1988. “The School Transitional Environment Project: An Ecological Intervention and Evaluation.” In Richard H. Price and Raymond P. Lorion (eds.). 14 Ounces of Prevention: A Casebook for Practitioners. Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.

Felner, Robert D., Stephen Brand, Angela M. Adan, P.F. Mulhall, N. Flowers, B. Sartain, and David L. DuBois. 1993. “Restructuring the Ecology of the School as an Approach to Prevention During School Transitions: Longitudinal Follow-Ups and Extensions of the School Transitional Environment Project. Prevention in Human Services 10(2):103–36.

Felner, Robert D., Melanie Ginter, and Judith Primavera. 1982. “Primary Prevention During School Transition: Social Support and Environmental Structure.” American Journal of Community Psychology 10(3):277–90.

Reyes, Olga, and Leonard A. Jason. 1991. “An Evaluation of a High School Dropout Prevention Program.” Journal of Community Psychology 19:221–30.

Program Specification:

New Rating:

Promising

Re-reviewed Date:

February 2013

Program Type:

Academic Skills Enhancement

Classroom Curricula

School/Classroom Environment

Truancy Prevention

Ethnicity:

African American

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)

White

Other Ethnicity

Gender:

Both

Age:

10 - 15

Special Populations:

Truant/Dropout

Target Settings:

Urban

Problem Behaviors:

Academic Problems

Risk & Protective Factors:

Risk

School

Inadequate school climate / Poorly organized and functioning schools / Negative labeling by teachers

Negative attitude toward school / Low bonding / Low school attachment / Commitment to school

Protective

School

High quality schools / Clear standards and rules

Presence and involvement of caring, supportive adults in school

Student bonding (attachment to teachers, belief, commitment)

Additional Information:

Promising Practices Network "Programs That Work"

Status:

Program is NOT in operation at this time.

Performance Measures:

Suggested OJJDP Performance Measures for the Program Types(s):

Delinquency Prevention
Academic Skills Enhancement
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
Academic Skills Enhancement
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
Delinquency Prevention
Classroom Curricula
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
Classroom Curricula
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
Truancy Prevention
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF
School Programs
School/Classroom Environment
Logic Model: PDF
Performance Matrix:PDF

Contact Information: