Teacher training paid off, UW research says

But the program that Allan and Romero participated in nearly 20 years ago wasn't really about them: It was designed to measure the worth of certain elementary-school teaching strategies in steering students away from the pitfalls of adolescence and toward success in school and on the job.

According to a report published this year by University of Washington researchers, it worked.

"We put together a theory that said, from what we know so far, we believe that you could prevent such things as drug abuse and other delinquent behaviors if you could help kids develop a strong bond to school -- a commitment to succeeding as a student and an attachment to school," said sociology professor J. David Hawkins, the study's lead author and a consultant for the company that distributes the program..

Underwritten initially by a grant from the Justice Department, the study began in 1981 with first-graders in eight public schools in high-crime areas of Seattle. Those students continued in the program and in 1985 were joined by other fifth-graders in 10 other schools from a variety of Seattle neighborhoods.

The program lasted for another year, through sixth grade for the students. It included 156 students in the full six-year program and 267 in the shorter fifth- and sixth-grade program.

Researchers kept tabs on those students after elementary school and also on 220 students at the same grade level who did not participate in the program. At 21 years old, 94 percent of them were interviewed for the study.

Students in the longer-term program were significantly more likely to graduate from high school, attend two years of college or hold a job, the study found.

And those involved in the program the longest were also much less likely to be lured into crime. Effects on drug, alcohol or tobacco use by the participants were not as pronounced.

The program included voluntary sessions for parents seeking child-rearing advice, work with students on impulse and behavioral control, and training for teachers.

Nicole Bonora participated in the program while a student at Coe Elementary on Queen Anne and has since been interviewed by the researchers.

"I had some great teachers at Coe, and I think my education there set me up well for middle school," she said recently. "I can't say that I specifically remember anything different about the way the classes were taught."

Allan remembers the program clearly. In fact, she said, it "revolutionized" her teaching.

Allan had graduated from the UW with a degree in education in 1970, but she didn't start teaching full time until she took over a fifth-grade class at Viewlands Elementary 15 years later. She moved into administration in 1992 and now is principal at Montlake Elementary.

"I would have been a good teacher without the program, but I think it really honed my skills," she said.

The training emphasizes continual monitoring of how well students are learning so that teaching techniques can be fine-tuned.

For example, Hawkins said, instead of asking the class what 6 times 9 is, taking the answer from the one student who raises a hand and moving on, a teacher might say, "If you know what 6 times 9 is, write it on your Thinkpad, and when I count to 3, show it to me."

That way a teacher can assess how well all students understand the material, he said.

A key element of the program focused on cooperative learning. That means assigning projects so that each group includes students at different levels of achievement, and rewarding the group as a whole for good work to motivate more successful students to help classmates.

"Prior to that, I could get frustrated when I asked kids to work in groups, because I was putting out fires," Romero said.

The training emphasized the value of students giving feedback to one another on their schoolwork.

"At the time, there was just nothing like it," Romero said. "It changed my role. It was like this coming together of theory and practice."

But when the federal support, and the private grants that succeeded it, finally dried up, the program expired, Hawkins said.

"I would suggest that we still aren't doing a good job of training teachers in pro-active classroom management," said Hawkins.

"I'm not optimistic that our teachers are still creating the conditions that create bonding in the classroom for all kids," he said. "When we do, we're going to have a lot less disproportionality in achievement."

P-I reporter Gregory Roberts can be reached at 206-448-8022 or gregoryroberts@seattlepi.com

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