Fresh Starts and False Starts: Young People in Transition from Elementary to Secondary School Dr. Kate Tilleczek; Dr. Simon Laflamme; Dr. Bruce Ferguson; Dara Roth Edney; Mélanie Girard; Dana Cudney; Siobhan Cardoso1 For the Ontario Ministry of Education Student Success/Learning to 18 Implementation, Training and Evaluation Branch Toronto, Canada September 2010 1 The complete research team and collaborators are named in the acknowledgements TABLE OF CONTENTS Listing of Tables ..........................................................................................................3 Listing of Figures .........................................................................................................5 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................7 PART 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 15 PART 2: RESEARCH PROCESSES AND METHODS .......................................................... 20 Research Tools ................................................................................................ 20 Operational Definitions .................................................................................... 20 Family of Schools ............................................................................................ 20 Transitioning Youth ......................................................................................... 21 At-Risk Youth/Youth in Risk Situations............................................................... 21 Visible Minority Status ...................................................................................... 24 Educator ......................................................................................................... 24 Parent/Guardian .............................................................................................. 24 Rural/Urban .................................................................................................... 25 Sampling Rationale .......................................................................................... 25 Sampling Strategy ........................................................................................... 26 Ethics/Consent ................................................................................................ 27 Research Rigor ................................................................................................ 28 PART 3: YOUTH FOCUS GROUP METHODS .................................................................. 30 Recruiting: Background .................................................................................... 30 Recruiting: Process .......................................................................................... 31 Recruiting: Outcomes ...................................................................................... 35 PART 4: EDUCATOR FOCUS GROUP METHODS ........................................................... 36 Recruiting: Background .................................................................................... 36 Recruiting: Process .......................................................................................... 37 Recruiting: Outcomes ...................................................................................... 37 PART 5: PARENT FOCUS GROUP METHODS ................................................................. 37 Recruiting: Background .................................................................................... 37 Recruiting: Process .......................................................................................... 38 Recruiting: Outcomes ...................................................................................... 38 PART 6: INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW METHODS ............................................................... 39 Recruiting: Background .................................................................................... 39 Recruiting: Process .......................................................................................... 40 Recruiting: Outcomes ...................................................................................... 41 PART 7: INTERVIEWING PROCESSES .......................................................................... 42 PART 8: TRANSCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS .................................................................... 43 PART 9: RESULTS AND MAIN MESSAGES .................................................................... 47 Describing the Samples: Youth Face Sheet Data................................................... 50 Describing the Samples: Educator Face Sheet Data ............................................ 103 Describing the Samples: Parent Face Sheet Data ................................................ 118 Textual Analysis of Focus Groups and Interviews ................................................ 125 Lexical and Syntactical Analysis with Lexico ..................................................... 164 Main Messages and Themes in Focus Group Data ................................................ 171 1 Youth Focus Groups .......................................................................................... 173 Phase III: Most Frequent Focus Group Themes for Youth ................................ 173 Comparison of Youth Focus Groups across Three Phases .................................. 181 Educator Focus Groups ..................................................................................... 188 Phase III: Most Frequent Focus Group Themes for Educators ........................... 188 Comparison of Educator Groups across Three Phases ....................................... 200 Parent Focus Groups ......................................................................................... 206 Phase III: Most Frequent Focus Group Themes for Parents ............................... 206 Comparison of Parent Groups across Three Phases .......................................... 216 Interviews with Youth: Narratives, Themes and Continuities ................................ 223 Barriers and Enablers to Transition: A Youth Perspective...................................... 259 Barriers to Transition ..................................................................................... 259 Enablers to Transition .................................................................................... 268 Suggestions from Youth .................................................................................... 279 Suggestions to other youth ............................................................................ 279 Suggestions to schools ................................................................................... 285 Suggestions to parents .................................................................................. 297 French-Language Specific Issues in Transition .................................................... 302 PART 10: SUMMARY, IMPLICATIONS AND DIRECTIONS ............................................ 331 Summary ...................................................................................................... 331 Recommendations ......................................................................................... 339 Study Limitations and Research Directions ....................................................... 346 References .............................................................................................................. 349 Listing of Project Appendices .................................................................................... 353 2 Listing of Tables Table 1: Focus Group and Participant Numbers by Phase and Type ..................................... 12 Table 2: Cross-sequencing of Phase I & Phase II Individual Youth Interviews ........................ 42 Table 3: Focus Group and Interview Totals by Site: Phase I, II & III ....................................... 48 Table 4: Youth Participants per Phase by Language ............................................................ 50 Table 5: Youth participants per Phase by Family of School .................................................. 51 Table 6: Youth Participants per Phase by Gender ............................................................... 51 Table 7: Youth Participants per Phase by Place of Birth ...................................................... 51 Table 8: Youth Participants per Phase by Age .................................................................... 52 Table 9: Phase II (Grade 9) percentages of students in programs......................................... 55 Table 10: Phase III (Grade 10) percentages of students in programs .................................... 55 Table 11: Student grades in school across three Phases ..................................................... 56 Table 12: Phase I Means for variables relating to importance of high school education ........... 61 Table 13: Phase II Means for variables relating to importance of high school education .......... 62 Table 14: Phase III Means for variables relating to importance of high school education .......... 62 Table 15: Descriptive statistics for “my friends encourage me to do well at school” ................ 63 Table 16: Main reasons for missing or cutting class by Phase .............................................. 65 Table 17: Means for variables relating to perception of personal characteristics compared to classmates ........................................................................................................