Analysis of the Articles about the Motivation of At-Risk Students - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated Bibliography Annotated Bibliography Annemaree, C., Gordon, K., Haynes, M., and Houghton, S. . Goal setting and self- efficacy among delinquent, at-risk, and not at-risk students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 42(3), 431-443. This twelve page study focuses on the need to motivate at-risk students by helping them to set goals for their future. The premise is that we often focus on the reasons why young people become at-risk, but we fail to help them shed that label altogether. At-risk kids may see now way out of their present life condition, so they become unmotivated to stay in school. Hence the cycle continues. By sitting them down with a mentor that can identify with them, the authors have found some success in at-risk students staying in school as the result of setting realistic and attainable goals. This is a worthy addition to current research in the field and will certainly be included in the final paper. Brown, E., Bendett, B., and Armistead, E. (2010). Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(1), 112-124. With the reality that many children are at-risk simply because they do not enjoy school, programs have been implemented to use the Arts as a way of motivating them. Once such program is described in this article. Many children in the early grades have no outlet to express their creativity, so arts enrichment programs are being introduced to at-risk children and, as a result, attendance is up and kids in the program are motivated to attend. This is an example of a program that is showing success from the outset at catching at-risk kids when they are young and helping them to see the value in school. Chalker, C. and Stelsel, K. (2009). A fresh approach to alternative education: Using malls to reach at-risk youth. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 45(2), 74-77. This article details a new initiative to bring schools to at-risk youth. Many young people in this population do not attend traditional school, so alternative educational options are being presented in an attempt to attract them to come and finish their degree. One such way to accomplish this is by locating schools inside of malls where young people frequent. Some promise has been shown, but more research is needed to determine the viability of implementing this concept nationwide in various urban areas. Coverse, N. and Lignugaris/Kraft, B. (2009). Evaluation of a school-based mentoring program for at-risk middle school youth. Remedial and Special Education, 30(1), 33-46. This is a highly useful study in which mentoring programs were examined. A strategy long used to work with at-risk youth is to pair each individual student with a mentor. The theory is to have someone be a life coach that can help the student stay motivated, set goals, and achieve academic success. The reality is, however, that the success of these initiatives has been hard to realize. This study looks at mentoring programs in middle schools to determine if having a mentor reduces the number of office referrals and unexcused absences, in addition to realizing an improvement in the student’s overall attitude towards school. This is groundbreaking as it could provide solid options for working with adolescent at-risk youth. Galotti, K., Kozberg, S., and Gustafon, M. (2009). Goal setting and decision making by at-risk youth. Prevention Researcher, 16(2), 17-20. These three authors’ present a different perspective on the importance of goal setting for at-risk youth. They examine the various risk factors determining the behavior of at-risk youth. By realizing what young people are doing to make them at-risk in the first place, educators and mentors can help them focus on minimizing those risk factors, setting goals, and moving towards a path that will gain them a high school diploma. The critical aspect of this article focuses on first gathering information before any plans or goals are set. This seems promising and worthy of inclusion in a paper focused on at-risk youth. Guerra, S. (2012). (2012). Using urban fiction to engage at-risk and incarcerated youth in literacy instruction. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(5), 385. We must not forget juveniles that are housed in correctional facilities. Their time spent there can be focused on getting their life back together, resume their education, and look toward the future. This article looks at ways to help at-risk youth in juvenile detention centers focus on ways to avoid coming back and how to improve their lives from this point on. To do that, urban fiction has been implemented in some areas as a model of improving literacy and moving towards academic success. This study examines the efficacy of such programs and seeks to determine if that strategy is effective or not. Lampley, J. and Johnson, K. (2010). Mentoring at-risk youth: Improving academic achievement in middle school student. Nonpartisan Education Review, 6(1), 1-12. This is another article that focuses on mentoring programs, once again at the middle school level. This study takes a slightly different approach by looking specifically at the academic achievement of students who work with a mentor, as opposed to at-risk students who do not. This can enable educators to determine what types of mentoring programs are working, and which are not serving the best interests of their at-risk student population. Middle-school students are especially integral to this study because many at-risk students will drop out prior to making it through to high school. By enabling to set goals that move them towards an eventual high school diploma, the initiative can prove itself a success. Montague, M., Enders, C., Cavendish, W., and Castro, M. (2011). Academic and behavioral trajectories for at-risk adolescents in urban schools. Behavioral Disorders, 36(2), 141-156. There was more than one purpose to this most useful study. The author’s first examined academic, behavioral, and emotion outcome of at-risk youth and followed them from middle through to high school. They subsequently sought to determine if an early understand of their at-risk tendencies and behavioral issues had an eventual impact in their school performance. This study is useful in that it looks at at-risk youth over a period of years to determine which strategies seemed to have a positive impact on their educational progress. In determining this, schools can then better identify issues that lead to at-risk behavior and understand to better deal with them. Nelson, C., Jolivette, K., Leone, P., and Mathur, S. (2010). Meeting the needs of at-risk and adjudicated youth with behavioral challenges: The promise of juvenile justice. Behavioral Disorders, 36(1), 70-80. Many youth in correctional institutions are there because they have severe behavioral disorders that currently inhibit their ability to function well in mainstream society. This study looks at the various needs of this population of at-risk youth and aims to determine how to effectively educate them. Behavioral modification strategies are examined and their effectiveness investigated. Again, it is important to better understand the underlying issues behind the behavioral disorders and the effects that these actions have an individual’s ability to function well in school. In order for these students to be successful in an academic setting, they must first learn how to better control their behaviors, interact appropriately with their peers, and develop a more positive outlook towards life. Powell, N. and Marshall, A. The relationship factor: Making or breaking successful transitions for youth at risk. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 20(2), 13-16. Alternative education programs have cropped up in many areas as a means to keep at-risk youth in school. This article examines some of these programs be focusing on relationship that are built with students. Such programs are highly touted because there are more adults to work with a smaller student population, thereby giving this at-risk population more attention. The theory is that this attention will enable them to gain the skills necessary to successfully transition to life after high school. The study looks at various areas and uses interviews to gain insight into the life and emotion of the at-risk student. It is noted, for example, that there are 22,000 at-risk students in Kentucky alone who are currently in alternative education programs. It is important to determine if these strategies are effective or not moving forward. The ones that are effective could serve as models for the rest of the country. Saine, N., Lerkkanen, M., Ahonen, T., Tovanen, A., and Lyytinen, H. (2011). Computer- assisted remedial reading intervention for school beginners at risk for reading disability, Child Development, 82(3), 1013-1028. Many at-risk youth struggle with reading. It is often difficult for educators to find effective way of motivating an adolescent to learn how to read in the face of peer pressure and a lack of overall interest in school. Computer-assisted remedies have arisen as a possible solution to this problem, and this article focuses on some of these programs. By utilizing modern technology, educators are able to use the computer to motive young students to learn how to read and catch up to their classmates academically. In the long run, this will increase the possibility that they will remain in school and motivated to excel. Read More