Service Providers' Impact on Student Achievement: A Case Study

Introduction

A significant percentage of students in secondary public schools fail to maintain minimum academic standards, placing them in academic jeopardy and increasing the likelihood that they will drop out of the very institutions designed to prepare them to fully participate in an ever-increasing competitive world (Land & Legters, 2002; LeCompte & Dworkin, 1991; McPartland, Balfanz, Jordan, & Legters, 2002). In many instances, failure to meet academic standards has little to do with inherent abilities. Rather, there are a number of other factors outside the control of the student — and schools, for that matter — which negatively affect student academic performance.

Minority status, low socioeconomic conditions, lack of parental involvement, ineffective parenting skills, lowered expectations for academic performance, stressful home life, drug or alcohol abuse in the home, and low parental educational levels are just a few of the indicators that may place a student at risk of failing to meet minimum academic standards (DeBlois, 1989; Gibson, 1997; Goodlad, 1984). Understanding at-risk student populations and the factors that undermine their success is a foundational concern of this research.

The rationale of this study was to explore the role of ESL teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physical therapists among low-performing and high-performing students from a northwest Ohio high school, as well as teachers' perceptions of providing support to their students (Creswell, 1998). In doing so, this study attempts to lend empirical validity to Starratt's (2004) model of the ethics of responsibility, authenticity, and presence.

Classroom teachers are uniquely situated to provide the common thread of support that impacts student academic achievement (Scales, Benson, & Mannes, 2002). There is a paucity of literature, however, that explores the role of ESL teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physical therapists and the relationships those service providers may have with self-efficacy, motivation to support mastery and goal attainment, and ultimately on academic achievement and student success.

Rationale and Research Questions

This qualitative study addressed the following questions:

1. What is the role of ESL teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physical therapists in improving student achievement?

2. What are the service providers' perceptions of their role in supporting their students?

3. What strategies do service providers use for providing support to their students?

Research Background and Significance

Recalling Starratt (1991), the ethic of service requires educational service providers to acknowledge a professional responsibility to recognize the unique needs of individual students and to take action with respect to meeting those unique needs. To do so requires a commitment to others (Oster & Hamel, 2003), especially to those who are least like us. Mayeroff (1995) asserts that in serving we must be aware of the other person's needs and requirements and then act on his or her behalf.

The concept of service requires that an important distinction be made between serving for and serving about another human being. To serve about another person not only means making a commitment to one's own responsibility, but it also requires the service provider to step out of his or her comfort zone and be willing to make sacrifices; in short, it requires action (Beck, 1994; Oster & Hamel, 2003).

To help develop this sense of self, Starratt (2004) asserted that the service provider is fully present in the lives of those he or she purports to lead or teach. To be present implies a level of concentration and sensitivity to the signals others send. It means to be fully aware of that which is immediately in front of us — or of the individuals with whom we interact and on whose behalf we have a responsibility to act. Carter (1998) suggested that the ethic of presence requires educational service providers to come fully into the presence of another human being with a sense of awe and gratitude.

Starratt (2004) suggests that the ethics of responsibility, authenticity, and presence interpenetrate and enrich one another and that they need each other for their fullest exercise. It is within this framework of interacting ethics that educational service providers may find the key components of support for their students — support that will ultimately provide the foundation upon which students can more fully engage in the educational process.

In response to the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act — and the "No Child Left Behind" accountability requirements for adequate yearly progress contained within the legislation — state departments of education across the country began promulgating sweeping reform regulations requiring all students to meet rigorous standards of academic performance, including those students who are in a deficit position as a result of circumstances sometimes beyond their control. Districts failing to provide the educational opportunities for their students to meet those standards face the loss of state and federal funding, among other more invasive consequences. In short, the message is that all students can and will learn. Failure to follow through with this message not only results in higher dropout rates (McPartland et al., 2002), but also produces a citizenry less likely to vote, less likely to assume leadership positions, with less earning power, and less likely to be adequately trained for jobs of the 21st century (Stringfield & Land, 2002).

As a people, we have promised all children that their educational experiences in school will not be influenced by gender, race/ethnicity, or social class — that all will receive equal educational opportunity. We have not fulfilled that promise. If there was ever a more urgent time to explore opportunities to better engage our students, it has been dwarfed by the crisis that exists in many public schools today. And even for those schools that have managed to avoid crises in their classrooms, Wheatley (1994) reminds us that organizational equilibrium is a sure path to institutional death.

The current investigation seeks to reinforce relevant research with respect to the role of educational service providers as it relates to academic achievement. Additionally, the study hopes to expand current research by exploring possible disparities in the perceptions of that role between low and high academic performers. If a disparity is supported by this study, then educational service providers have an opportunity to explore causes and interventions — both within their immediate control. Teacher preparation and professional development opportunities for educational service providers can be explored in an attempt to reduce the disparity between student and teacher perceptions with respect to support. Initial training and ongoing professional development will ultimately benefit students by improving the delivery of support that is necessary for academic success.

Finally, attention is refocused on Gibson's (1997) assertion that the common denominator in students who have failed to experience success in school is the absence of a significant attachment to a serving adult who will give them the attention and direction needed to flourish. If nothing else, that situation can be corrected beginning today.

Conclusion and Limitations

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of ESL teachers, counselors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physical therapists among low-performing and high-performing students, and teachers' perceptions of providing support to their students. Important questions were whether high-performing students differ from low-performing students in their perceptions of service provider roles, and how teacher perceptions of delivering support compared to student perceptions. Of significance was whether students' perceptions of that role had any impact on their classroom performance and subsequent academic achievement. The data collected throughout this study were used to assess the impact of service providers on student engagement in the curriculum, motivation, persistence, and ultimately on student academic achievement.