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The Impact of a Cross Age Peer Mentoring Program INVESTIGATOR: James E. Henderson, Ed.D.
IDPEL Program Director School of Education
Department of Foundations and Leadership 412-396-4880
[email protected] STUDENT INVESTIGATOR; Kathleen Ann Sites
1928 Elmbrook Lane Pittsburgh, PA 15243 412-398-1843
Kathy.Sites@hotmail,com Wilson Elementary School 100 Bruno Lane
Imperial, PA 15216 724-695-5270 [email protected]
SOURCE OF SUPPORT: This study is being performed as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree in education at Duquesne University.
PURPOSE: You are being asked to give your permission for your child to participate in a study to be conducted during the final grading period of the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of the study will be to see if participation in a mentoring program between older and younger students, which is known as cross age peer mentoring, helps to improve report card grades, scores on standardized math and/or reading tests, (for example Scantron and DIBELS), or attendance at school. The review of records for which you had previously given permission, provides evidence that you child is encountering difficulty in one or more of these areas, and may benefit from participation in this program. We also want to see if student participation in the mentoring program makes a difference in how you feel about the school, the people in the school, and the learning that goes on in the school. Your answers
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to questions about the school will tell us about the school climate.
If you give your permission for your child to participate in this study, he or she will be paired with a first or second grade student and they will be given the chance to work together on math and reading skills, educational computer programs and games, board games, to read books together in the library and other similar activities that children do at school. He or she will do this two to three times a week for about 30 minutes with the help of an adult staff member. There will be a total of twelve sessions. Your child will not miss any academic instruction in his or her classroom as a result of participation in this program. The sessions will be scheduled to avoid academic instructional times. At the beginning and end of the mentoring program, we will look at your child’s report card grades, standardized test scores and attendance to see if participating in the mentoring program helped to improve any of these things.
We will also ask you to answer questions on a survey form that will tell us your feelings about the school, the people in the school and the learning program at the school. We will ask you to answer these survey questions before and after your child is in the mentoring program. We will use your
answers to these questions to see if there are any changes in your feelings about the school following your child’s participation in the mentoring program. If you give permission for your child to participate in this study, he or she will also be asked to agree to participate.
These are the only requests that will be made of you and your child at this time.
RISKS AND BENEFITS: There are no known risks beyond those of everyday life. While there may be no direct benefit to you, your child’s participation may help educators decide if mentoring programs help to improve student grades, test scores or attendance. It may also
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benefit educators by helping to find ways to improve parent feelings about school, people in schools and the learning that takes place there. COMPENSATION: There is no compensation for participation in this
project. However, participation in the project will require no monetary cost to you. A self-addressed, stamped envelope is provided for return of the signed permission/consent form to the investigator. CONFIDENTIALITY: All information obtained as a result of your child’s
participation in this study will be kept confidential. Your child’s name or any other identifying
information will not appear on any records, notes or within the final document. Instead of using a name, we will use a number to match grades, test scores and attendance to the correct student.
You will not be asked to write your name on the surveys. You will be assigned a number. The same number will be used for the survey you answer before your child is in the mentoring program and the survey you answer after they are in the program. Data collected for this research will be kept for five years in a locked filing cabinet in the student researcher’s home, after which it will be destroyed.
RIGHT TO WITHDRAW: You and/or your child are under no obligation to participate in this study. You are free to withdraw your permission for your child to participate at any time and you child’s information, participation and any data collected will be excluded from the study. Withdrawal from the study, as well as withdrawal of any data collected will not result in any negative consequences for you or your child. Please be certain that your child understands that he/she has the right to decline participation in this study. SUMMARY OF RESULTS: A summary of the results of this study will be
supplied to you, at no cost, upon request. VOLUNTARY PERMISSION/
CONSENT: I have read the above statements and understand what is being requested of me and my child. I also
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understand that my child’s participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw my permission at any time, for any reason. And that any information collected will also be withdrawn and not used in the study. On these terms, I certify that I am willing to have my child participate in this study, and am willing to complete the pre and post survey instruments that will be provided.
I understand that should I have any further questions about my child’s participation in this study, I may call Kathleen Ann Sites, 724-695- 5270, Dr. James Henderson,412-396-4880 or Dr. Joseph Kush, Chair of the Duquesne University Institutional Review Board 412-396-6326).
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Parent/Guardian Signature Date
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Researcher's Signature Date