Behavioural programs can improve grades

School-based programs that target students' emotional, social and decision-making skills are likely to boost their academic achievement. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Social Work found that social skills, bonding to school, and early behavioural problems such as -substance use, relational aggression, and other forms of disruptive or antisocial behaviour, predict academic achievement. These findings provide evidence that school-based programs that target these variables, and are aimed at preventing drug use and other types of problem behaviour are likely to have positive effects on academic achievement. Researchers analysed data collected from 576 students in 10 schools in the Pacific Northwest, who were participating in the long-term Raising Healthy Children project. They looked at the children's social and behavioural skills in seventh grade, as indicated by survey responses from the students, their parents and teachers and the student's academic achievement in tenth grade. The students' social, emotional, and decision-making skills predicted their test scores and grades in tenth grade. For example, students with higher levels of school bonding, who thought of school as fun and said they tried to do well in school, as well as those with better social, emotional, and decision-making skills tended to receive higher test scores and earn higher grades than their peers. In contrast, those with attention problems, those whose friends exhibited negative behaviours, like alcohol drinking and fighting, and those with disruptive and aggressive behaviour tended to get lower test scores and lower grades. Students with early discipline problems are likely to experience negative reactions from teachers and their peers and fewer opportunities to be engaged productively in school. Students who thus feel less connected or bonded to school are likely to learn less and perform poorly. The findings support the argument that interventions that boost the social and emotional skills of children, increase their ability to stay focused in the classroom, and improve school bonding, are likely to increase academic performance.