ERIC Number: EJ980178
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 11
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Don't You Want to Do Better? Implementing a Goal-Setting Intervention in an Afterschool Program
Hallenbeck, Amy; Fleming, David
Afterschool Matters, n13 p38-48 Spr 2011
Goal setting is not an innate skill. Adults who are successful at reaching their goals have learned to set realistic goals and to plan to attain them. Afterschool programs, because they have latitude in their curricular offerings and program elements, can provide strong backdrops for goal-setting initiatives. While studies have shown that goal setting is a behavior elementary-age children can accomplish, they do not examine goal-setting initiatives in afterschool programs. This article describes a goal-setting intervention implemented in a 21st Century Community Learning Centers afterschool program serving students in grades 1-5 at two school sites. The authors structured the goal-setting intervention using the Transtheoretical Model, which depicts behavior change as a process that evolves through a series of stages. They believed that use of the Transtheoretical Model, and specifically its Stages of Change construct, could provide elementary afterschool students with a method of setting and achieving goals. With the assistance of afterschool teachers as the goal-setting facilitators, the authors wanted to discern: (1) Is there a difference in the pre-intervention and post-intervention scores of the Stages of Change among students participating in the afterschool intervention?; (2) How does an afterschool goal-setting intervention affect students' goal-setting behaviors?; and (3) How does an afterschool goal-setting intervention affect intervention facilitators? The results show that the intervention offered benefits for both students and teacher-facilitators. The authors used their data to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the goal-setting intervention in order to improve its implementation. (Contains 4 figures and 1 table.)
Descriptors: Goal Orientation, Intervention, After School Programs, Behavior Change, Grade 1, Elementary School Students, Models, Change Strategies, Elementary School Teachers, Program Effectiveness, Rural Schools, Homework, Enrichment Activities, Student Development, Teacher Attitudes, At Risk Students, Teacher Role, Faculty Development
National Institute on Out-of-School Time. Wellesley Centers for Women, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, MA 02481. Tel: 781-283-2547; Fax: 781-283-3657; e-mail: niost@wellesley.edu; Web site: http://www.niost.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A