Promoting social competence in school-aged children: The effects of the open circle program

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Abstract

One hundred fifty-four fourth graders took part in an investigation of the Open Circle Program (OCP), an intervention model that encourages students, teachers and administrators to learn and practice communication, self-control and social problem-solving skills. Eight classrooms, two in each of four schools, were sampled. Two of these schools were located in middle to upper-middle class suburban areas and two served more diverse populations. Half the classrooms were headed by teachers well versed in OCP curriculum. The other half was not implementing a social competence program. Participants completed the student version of the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) once in the fall and again in the spring. Teachers also rated the social competence of students at these same two points in the school year. Doubly-repeated measures mixed-design MANOVA analyses revealed that across the school year, OCP participants showed significantly greater teacher-reported improvements in both social skills and problem behaviors than did control group members. Although the largest gains were made by OCP children in urban areas, significant positive effects of program participation were shown by all students, regardless of school setting.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 154 fourth graders (86 boys and 68 girls, mean age = 9.24 years at the fall administration). Parental consent to take part in the study was first obtained, and it was made clear to the children themselves that they were free to terminate their participation at any time if they so wished. (None did.) A total of eight classrooms were sampled: Two OCP classrooms in an urban school, two classrooms in a second urban school which was not part of the OCP program, two OCP classrooms in

Overview

As explained previously, the SSRS generates a large number of outcome measures. In the interest of clarity and because, as might be expected, all subscale scores were found to be highly intercorrelated in both the fall and in the spring (all p's < .001), the results reported here relied on standardized composite scale scores for Social Skills and Problem Behaviors. Students' self-ratings of Empathy and teachers' ratings of Academic Competence, which did not involve subscales, were also considered.

Discussion

The investigation described here provides modest support that children who had been exposed to the Open Circle Program for a full academic year were perceived by their classroom teachers to be more socially skilled and less apt to demonstrate problem behaviors than were their non-OCP counterparts. This Program effect appeared most true for urban children who, as a group, made significant gains in teacher-reported social skills. Although the teacher form of the SSRS revealed a number of

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Pamela Seigle, former Executive Director of the Open Circle Program and developer of the Open Circle Curriculum at the Stone Center, at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College. Pamela's guidance and support were invaluable in the construction and execution of this study.

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