What Elements Within A Sixth Grade Transition Program Is Successful At Smithville High School

Life is full of changes and every child and young person will go through many transitions. Some of them may have a positive effect (such as an increased level of motivation or improved self–esteem); others may have the opposite effect.

Through out our lives we are confronted by changes. People, places and even our own bodies change. We are faced by ongoing periods of transition as things alter from how they were to how they are now. Transitions can positively or negatively impact on children and young people’s development depending on how they are supported and the change is managed.

As an incoming EOF (Educational Opportunity Found) freshmen attending Rutgers University this fall, I had the mindset that if I did well academically, the transition from high school to college would go by smoothly. Unfortunately, college isn 't that simple. The transition to college is much more complex than people perceive it to be, in my case, it’s the most difficult obstacle I’ve ever encountered. Therefore, my aspiration is to conquer this transitional period as quickly and fluently as possible. When I had to changeover from middle school to high school, I was terrified. I didn 't know what awaited me and how much different things were going to be. It turned out high school was exactly the same, with the exception of the grades being ninth through Twelfth. There was nothing to be worried about. On the other hand, that wouldn 't be the case in college.

Youth and their families benefit from engaging in transition assessments as early as the middle school in part due

I have learned that the same transitions can be hard for some children to tackle while other children might not be affected too much by the transition. By undertaking research on this theme I was able to identify that some children may need an individual transition plan to follow when going through transitions while other children will follow the general plan. By knowing this in the future I will be aware that some children may need an individual transition plan and I will be able to accommodate a plan for the children who needs one. This will have an impact on the children I will be working with because I will be able to accommodate for their needs and identify children who may be more in need than others.

Carolina Flores has had an extraordinary experience at Casco Bay High School. She had a passionate smile as she said, “I would redo my four years here again.” Her journey before a CBHS was different. Her 8th grade year everyone kept telling her only weird go to CBHS or it's a hard school. But her mother didn't wanted her to go to Deering High school because her older sister had a horrible experience at DHS. “My older sister didn't want me to same experience as she did in high school,” Carolina said. But right now she is so grateful and thankful for mother forcing her to go Casco. She learned how to come out of her comfort zone, for example, her biggest millstone was being a dj at her 10th grade year for the Halloween dance.

The Morningside center is an afterschool program designed for at-risk youth. The Department of Human Services is requiring an evaluation component for all future contracts. Marian is in search of an evaluation program to show that Morningside center is achieving the right goals for the adolescents that attend the program. As a staff member, I suggested in the meeting that the best evaluation program to use would be the target-problem scaling. As I mentioned above, the target-problem scaling is a method of evaluating changes that take place over time. (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015) It is also a process where the problem is identified, a plan takes place, and changes in the target problem are measured. (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015) First off, I think this method would work best because the Department of Human Services is requiring a evaluation, which means a evaluation of the program has to take place to see if there is a problem. The second reason why I would use this method, I think this method would work best because in this method it evaluates change over time. The method will be able to determine if this program at Morningside has helped and made improvements in the adolescent’s lives. The third reason why I think this method is best because, it uses a target-problem change scale. This scale is implemented to view

The faculty developed a system of support to advocate the academic and personal success for each student by utilizing the academy theme. The incoming freshman has a personal transition plan, which sets the foundation for their high school career. The personal transition plan also enable students to develop passion and deepen their purpose for life. To increase college and career readiness for economically disadvantaged and underrepresented students, the Early College program is an example of tweaking the personalized learning pathway to change the trajectory of the

Transition within early years education is a major life event that a child and family go through together. Currently, educational transition is defined as the process of change that children make from one place or phase of education to overtime, Fabian and Dunlop (2002). Starting school is a huge step in a child’s life. For some

Imagine a student transferring to a new school. His family has been relocated to a new state for a better job opportunity. With no say in the matter, he has left behind everyone he has known for the past 5 years of his life, all his friends, classmates, and teachers. For many students, starting at a new school is a difficult change in their life. These changes can adversely affect their academic performance and lead to worse problems down the road if left undealt with.

During my high school career, I was extremely fortunate to have access to countless opportunities that allowed me to explore my interests and passions as well as discovering my strengths and weaknesses. Most of these opportunities stemmed from my acceptance into the esteemed Virginia Commonwealth Governors School (CGS) program at my high school. This program consisted not only of a rigorous curriculum made up entirely of honors, advanced placement, and dual enrollment classes, but also allowed me to challenge myself by being surrounded by twenty-nine other high performing classmates who never failed to push the limits and think outside the box. During this time, I experienced tremendous personal growth as I was thriving academically. I emerged

Teachers, other licensed staff members and especially counselors are aware of the concerns of their students and the anxieties of moving into middle schools. But, sometimes this transition is more complicated for some students. A month and a half after the school started, teachers were able to identify students who were having difficulties adjusting to the school. It was important to support these student with open discussions and find out what were their fears or understand what they be worrying about. So The Soft Landing Group started and met for four session following an agenda, parents granted permissions to the participants, teachers were also partners allowing students to attend the group session during classes..

The agency where I am interning is Partnership with Children. “Partnership” as it is called, works to strengthen the emotional, social and academic skills of at-risk children to prepare them for success--academically, socially, and in life. “Partnership’s” programs aim to bridge the gap between those who have a vested interest in working within New York City’s highest-need public schools, and those in need. “Partnership’s” goal is to transform the overall culture of many of the city’s struggling schools by helping students cope with the extreme stress of living in poverty. Helping students thrive in safe and supportive schools that encourage

Transitions from one thing to another are always hard and take time to settle down and live with it. Having a student go from elementary school, to middle school, to high school, and afterward into college or right to a career is a complicated thing. Aside the emotions of seeing a student grow, they are going through struggles of keeping up with anything that will benefit their future, and they cannot do it alone. Students’ futures benefit from having different types of support, like family, social, and school support.

In an effort to ensure the program has a positive impact on the students’ mental health, the model, paradigm and needs assessment results must drive any program modifications and services. According to Erford (2014), a perception-based needs assessment allows counselors to address the needs of individuals in a community. A college community needs assessment, using secondary data sources, is an example of how assessment results can assist with the initial design of the program, while also serving as data indicators for program modification. For example, if the desired outcome is to increase Black/African American student usage of health and wellness center services, the intake and sign-in sheets can serve as a secondary source of student usage. Another example is using a pre-post wellness inventory to assess if students have an increase in their knowledge and usage of demonstrated and discussed wellness strategies. Also, retention rates and graduation rates can also serve as indicators of program impact.