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.

Rationale and Research Questions

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.

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.

A teacher's perceived possession of supporting traits does not necessarily translate into students' recognition of them. Inextricably linked to the components of service provider roles is the manner in which teachers deliver or provide support to their students.

Starratt's (2004) model of the ethics of responsibility, authenticity, and presence provided the framework that allowed the researcher to explore the components of service provider roles more thoroughly, as well as the associated traits that emerged. More important, the presence of these traits in student–teacher interactions provides valuable insight into how teachers might provide support to their students as they pursue academic goals. Taken in the context of their interdependent relationship — the service provider roles as identified in this study, the associated teacher traits that emerged, and the sense of responsibility, authenticity, and presence — a clear paradigm emerges that provides meaningful support for students and, ultimately, enhanced academic performance.

There are factors in students' personal lives that negatively impact student learning (DeBlois, 1989; Gibson, 1997). Some personal life factors are so severe as to be difficult to confront directly, and many of those negative factors remain outside the immediate control of service providers. Some students are going to fail, either from lack of effort or from personal problems they cannot overcome or resolve (Goodlad & Keating, 1994). Accordingly, some service providers' interactions with students are transactional in nature, with less emphasis placed on relational components — operating on the premise that if students do the assigned work, they will be successful.

A closely related concept to pedagogical practices that enhance student learning is the presence of strong motivational strategies to improve student performance. Recalling Stipek (2002), a strong interpersonal relationship between a student and teacher is a significant motivational strategy that enhances student learning. Brophy (2004) added that the most useful motivational strategy teachers can employ is building close, serving relationships with students. This practice is consistent with a responsibility of service upon which the ethics of responsibility, authenticity, and presence are built — and it is the constant interplay and weaving of these ethics that creates a blanket of support for students.

Just as the word "service" can be interpreted in many ways, so too are there many ways in which service can be applied. The mere presence of high academic standards — with teacher expectations that those standards will be met — suggests that teachers want what is best for their students and that teachers themselves are made more whole when their students succeed. Consider, additionally, that the teachers observed commit significant personal time without additional financial compensation to assist students who are struggling to meet academic standards. But serving about an individual is not the equivalent of serving for an individual — an important distinction when evaluating the students' perspective of what it means to have a serving teacher (Beck, 1994). From the students' perspective, serving teachers do specific things for them and take positive action on their behalf. Service meant that teachers have sufficient knowledge of students and their unique circumstances to meaningfully intervene on their behalf, whether the matter is personal or academic in nature.

Truly knowing their students drives the measure and manner in which teachers provide service and support. To be an effective steward, a teacher recognizes the need to know as much about his or her students as possible. Service requires more than fulfilling a contractual requirement. It starts with knowing the realities of the other person in the relationship and continues with turning one's self over to that person's reality, remaining committed to that person's well-being and self-actualization.

Both low-performing students and their teachers believe academic performance could be better if students were the beneficiaries of a more serving and supportive relationship. For achievement-oriented teachers, this perception has significant practical implications. If teachers were made aware of data-driven strategies that could increase the number of students who meet high expectations and achieve academic success, they would likely embrace those strategies, especially in an era of strong teacher accountability for student success — and, more important, out of a genuine sense of responsibility to take proactive steps on behalf of their students.

This study focused on the case studies of six students and three teachers in a qualitative design. The sample was chosen on a non-random, purposive basis, and was convenient for the researcher. The ability to generalize the results of this study is limited by the nature of qualitative inquiry (Creswell, 1998). Confounding variables such as socioeconomic status, race, and parental support may also limit the generalizability of this study. While these confounding variables are recognized and discussed in the students' interviews, the study limits its inquiry to the perceptions of service provider roles.

The data in this study are delimited to the northwest Ohio high school in which the interviews were conducted. The study is further delimited to a specific building principal, to three teachers identified through his recommendation, and to the specific students selected from each teacher's classroom. Further research should expand the sample size, include additional school sites, and incorporate quantitative measures to assess the broader impact of educational support practices on student achievement across diverse school populations.