2. Weymouth is a city located on the South Shore of Massachusetts, with a population of
55,419 it is the 23rd most populous city in the state. Weymouth is a working class community
that ranks 183rd in the state in income per capita. According to data offered by the Massachusetts
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the town of Weymouth Public School
system currently enlists 6,721 students. 3,021 are situated in grades 7-12 and are eligible for
allocation to the Decisions Program, an alternative educational setting, dependent upon a number
of circumstances.
The Decisions Program is a temporary alternative educational setting operated through
the Weymouth Public School system. It receives students who have violated educational law
37h1/2 which refers to those who are pending felony charges for a number of infractions. Such
infractions include possession of weapons or drugs on school property, felony theft, destruction
of property, and assault. Court-involved students present with learning disabilities and mental
health concerns at a rate much higher than their mainstream counterparts. Because the Decisions
Program is located off-site, it needs to be able to accommodate the needs of any student who is
assigned there with the same effectiveness as they were present in their original setting.
A troubling scenario for any educator includes the mention of suicidal thoughts and
feelings by a student. This is where student services needs to act immediately. When this
situation arises at the Decisions Program counselors are unable to break away from their daily
routine and drive 3 miles to the off-site location in order to address the student in person.
Another common scenario involves students having a tumultuous day after leaving
school, perhaps a hectic weekend or a fight with their caregiver. They carry their emotional
baggage with them in perpetuity. These students rarely possess the skillset or maturity in order to
3. focus on their school work under these circumstances. Time is critical for a successful student
service protocol. Students need to be addressed at the earliest juncture possible to give them the
best chance at a successful school day. Given this, the need to streamline the existing
infrastructure will be explored.
Due to financial and cultural shifts in the district, the last three years have seen a decline
in the quality of student services offered at the Decisions Program. With 29.8% of the total
student population qualifying as “low-income” and 17.1% being classified as having a disability,
the district must have a significant portion of the budget allocated to address these needs. The
Decisions Program has seen its resources decrease from 2012-present. Over 90% of the students
placed in the Program in the last three years (130 students) have qualified as one or both, low
income and/or as having a disability.
Whereas the Decisions Program gets the most troubled students in a higher concentration
than in a mainstream setting, the need for an increase of resources and improvement of the
student service protocol at the Program will be explored. A needs assessment concentrating on
the quality of student services at the Decisions Program will be conducted.
A survey consisting of 20 questions was disseminated to the student support and
administrative staff at the Mary Weston Chapman Middle School and Weymouth High School,
approximately 40 staff members. There were 19 respondents.
4. Vision
Our most troubled students must receive the greatest attention. We need to have the best
planning, efforts, attitudes and resources at the ready.
Data and Analysis
Mental Health and Behavior Management Services
In order to improve the mental health services for students at the Decisions Program an
analysis of survey data was conducted. Administrators, school psychologists and counselors
were surveyed.
Table 1.1
Nearly 58% of those surveyed indicated that they did not perform regular check-ins with
their students during a typical 45 day placement at the Decisions Program. A 42% minority
claims to visit 1-2 times during that span. There were no respondents that visited their students
more than twice.
5. The data from the question pertaining to the number of non-crisis related check-
ins with students will form the base of which most analysis is formed. The hypothesis is: if we
can improve the time students spend in counseling then a decrease in mental health and behavior
related distractions will occur. The students’ academic performance will be enhanced.
Table 1.2
Of students who have completed 45 days in the Decisions Program, 73% are considered
to “often” have issues related to mental health with the next highest category being “always.”
This would indicate that students are not having their issues addressed while at the Decisions
Program and they are continuing to carry them back into their mainstream setting.
Table 1.3
6. There seems to be a better track record of students curbing behavioral distractions
because of a stint at the Decisions Program. 57.89% of students are perceived as “sometimes”
continuing to have behavioral concerns that interfere with academic progress with the remaining
percentage falling into the “often” category. This concentrated response may leave room for
systemic improvement in this category.
Figure 1.1
The data labeled ‘ContinuedMentalHealth’ and ‘ContinuedBehavioral’ are based on a
Likert scale with corresponding numbers, 1=never, 2=rarely, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5=always.
A mean score of 4.16 means that most respondents have noticed that they often see a
continuation of mental health related issues. A mean score of 3.4 for the behavioral component
7. reveals that sometimes-often behavioral issues remain after students spend 45 days at the
Decisions Program.
Figure 1.2
A paired sample t-test was conducted on the mean of non-crisis check-ins and continued
mental health related issues for students who leave the Decisions Program. The working
hypothesis to justify this test was that there would be a negative correlation between the number
of visits counselors make with students and the existence of mental health and behavioral issues
facing student upon their return to their mainstream school setting (WHS or Chapman Middle
School).
With a two tailed significance of .000 the null hypothesis is rejected and trusts that the
results of the analysis are not due to error.
To fully prove the working hypothesis has proven to be difficult given the heavily
skewed nature of the data set. As there were no respondents who signified as having visited their
students more than twice during a 45 day placement, a correlation between an increased number
of counselor visits and a reduction in mental health and behavior related concerns for our
students was impossible to make. However, what we can learn from this data is highlighted in
the following figure 1.3.
8. Figure 1.3
An analysis of a paired sample correlation shows that there are slight correlative
relationship between the amount of visits students have with a counselor and their continued
mental health and behavioral distractions. When visits remain in the 0-2 range students will most
always have continued mental health related distractions upon returning to WHS or Chapman
Middle School. However the 0-2 range of counseling sessions seems to correlate negatively,
meaning that behavior related concerns will decrease.
Academic Services
To explore potential avenues for the Decisions Program to improve its academic
servicing, data from the needs assessment survey was analyzed.
Table 1.4
9. As shown in table 1.4, students who attend the Decisions Program typically leave with
better grades than when they entered. Of the student service professionals surveyed, most
indicated that “often” students will leave with improved academics. The 7th, 9th and 11th grades
however returned some saying that students “always” leave the program with better academic
scores. The 7th grade had the widest range of responses with one expressing an observation of
“sometimes.”
Markedly absent from any denotation is “never” or “rarely.” This would indicate that
according to student service practitioners in the district that the Decisions program is doing an
adequate job with the academic portion of its services. This statement is corroborated in table 1.5
which combines responses from all grade levels.
Table 1.5
The data from tables 1.4 and 1.5 is overarching, they do not imply struggles students may
have that are subject specific. To analyze differences in subjects in which students struggle, a t-
test was performed.
10. Figure 1.4
A mean score of “1” indicates that students typically struggle in a selected area, a mean
score of “2” means that students are not struggling in that area. While overall students are
performing well at the Decisions Program there does seem to be some limitations. The t-test
reveals that when students do struggle academically it will be in math, foreign language or
science. Technology based courses and vocational courses demonstrate as areas of note as well.
ELA and history present as areas of strength as students don’t seem to be generally
underperforming in those content areas.
The next analysis to consider when evaluating the academic performance of students
leaving the Decisions Program is whether students can maintain their enhanced capabilities upon
reentering their mainstream setting.
Table 1.6
11. Table 1.6 displays the majority of respondents indicate that students “sometimes”
maintain their grades after leaving the program. Some of those surveyed would say that their
students “often” maintain their grades but none signaled “always.”
The disparity between the data of tables 1.4 and 1.6 implies that students perform well
while at the Decisions Program but lose some of that performance when they return to their
mainstream setting. Specific reasons as to why this is occurring should be explored.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Mental Health Services
The data shows that during a typical 45 day placement at the Decisions Program students
are not receiving regular visits from their counselors (see table 1.1). Table 1.2 shows that most
often have recurring issues regarding their mental health that interferes with academic progress.
While figure 1.3 does not show a strong correlation between counselor visits and continued
mental health concerns, there is still evidence that an interrelationship exists.
12. A recommendation to improve the mental health services offered by the Decisions
Program would be to assign a part time counselor. This will allow for more regular visits by
counselors. Increased exposure to counseling services will better serve our students and support
their difficulties in a nonacademic capacity.
Behavior Management Services
The Decisions Program has had greater success in the realm of behavior management.
According to table 1.3, 57.89% of respondents selected “sometimes” in reference to students
continuing behaviors that are detrimental to their academic progress with the remainder marking
“often.” In order to drive these numbers down further, a follow-up protocol is recommended.
Students who complete a 45 day placement at the Decisions Program should be subjected
to periodical check-ins with their housemaster and Decisions Program director. Also, these
students should be eligible to be placed back into the program at any time for issues regarding
antisocial behavior. Maintaining a connection to the program in tandem with a “suspended re-
allocation” will serve as a deterrent for future behavioral outbursts.
Academic Services
Table 1.5 indicates that the Decisions Program excels in its academic servicing. Very
little should be done in regards to their practices for students who are current enrolled. Students
tend to have better grades than before they were placed but only some maintain that
performance.
For students who are struggling academically after their placement, a tutoring style
service could be offered. These students can return to the Decisions Program facility for one day
13. a week, or one day every other week to focus strictly on academics. This will allow for maximal
time on learning. Students would collect their uncompleted assignments for the week and bring
these materials to the program. The students would receive small group instruction in a setting
without distraction.
