Academic and behavioral characteristics of students at a secondary residential school.

This study examined academic and behavioral characteristics of 423 adolescents who had attended a residential school over a seven-year period. Students represented diverse demographic backgrounds. Student academic achievement was examined at admissions and over time in reading, mathematics, written language, and fluency. Findings are discussed with respect to present and future programming for youth enrolled in residential schools. This study's purpose was to describe the academic achievement of adolescent students attending a secondary residential school. The study examined characteristics and behaviors as well as academic achievement in reading, mathematics, written language, and fluency at admission and over time. During the 1990s, there was a growing pessimism toward residential placements for troubled youth (Friman, Osgood, Smith, Shanahan, Thompson, Larzelere, & Daly, 1996; Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, Barth, & Plotnick, 2000; Wells, 1991) and an increased call for family preservation. This argument has recently intensified following continued critical reviews of residential care (Burns & Hoagwood, 2002; Lyons & McCulloch, 2006). Many believe there are insufficient standards for evidence-based practices within residential settings to justify its continuation (Hair, 2005). Other concerns by social science researchers indicate that placing troubled youth together is likely to increase problem behavior (Dishion & Dodge, 2005; Farmer, Dorsey, & Mustillo, 2004). Nevertheless, residential care remains quite common, with some states placing more than 50% of their older foster care adolescents in group care (Baker, Archer, & Curtis, 2005; Barth & Chintapalli, 2007; Wulczyn & Zimmerman, 2005). In the United States, it can be assumed that on any given day between 20,000 and 40,000 children reside in residential facilities and that between 140,000 and 210,000 children are admitted to these programs annually (Center for Mental Health Services, 2004; National Advisory Mental Health Council's Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention Development and Deployment, 2001). Since 3% of all school children exhibit problems serious enough to warrant residential care, further attention needs to be given to residential programs (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1994). Despite the growing numbers of adolescents being placed in residential facilities, little information has been available regarding these young people's academic characteristics. Recently, some attention has been paid to the educational progress of children residing in foster care and residential group homes (Barth & Lee, 2009; Gagnon & McLaughlin, 2004; Jones & Landsverk, 2008; Trout, Hagaman, Casey, Reid, & Epstein, 2008). Much of this research supports the fact that adolescents entering residential care have significant learning problems (Jackson, 1994; Jones & Landsverk, 2008; Trout, Hagaman, Casey, et al., 2008). Jackson reviewed 20 years of research to show that children in residential and foster care were falling progressively behind academically, especially when compared to children living with their own families. Jackson concluded that the poor performance of children in outof-home care could mainly, though not entirely, be explained by their extremely deprived social backgrounds or by preexisting behavior disorders that contributed to the likelihood that the children would be placed in care. Researchers reviewing the literature describing the academic functioning of children and youth in out-of-home care between 1940 and 2006 determined that one- third of participants reported academic performances below their grade level, and many were performing in the low-average range (Trout, Hagaman, Casey, et al., 2008). Two recent studies of Girls and Boys Town of Nebraska residential programs revealed that a majority of the youth entered the program with significant academic delays (e. …