Project Activities
Critical to this project was developing measures for accurately assessing school supports for military-connected students and parents. Using an iterative process of scale construction, the research team developed inventories of school support for both students and parents. They then gathered data on two cohorts of military students and parents to test associations between student mobility and educational outcomes. It was posited that the association between student mobility and educational outcomes would be mediated by students’ level of school connectedness. The researchers also integrated analyses of qualitative data gathered via semi-structured interviews with students and parents about their experiences with school mobility and school supports into their quantitative work.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The primary setting for this research was the North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) in Washington, which serves children of service members at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
Sample
The study examined 2 cohorts of 3rd and 5th grade military-connected students (N=526) and their parents in NTPS. Military-connected students are defined as students who have at least one parent/ or guardian who is on active (full-time) duty in the U.S. military. NTPS elementary and middle school principals, counselors, and teachers, and select military base personnel also participated.
The research team explored school supports available to military students and parents. These included formal support programs that are not military specific (e.g., school counselor, after-school programs), military-specific supports fashioned exclusively for military students and parents, and informal supports commonly found within the social ecology of elementary schools (e.g., teacher-student relationships, supportive peer networks).
Research design and methods
This was a mixed-methods study in which the researchers conducted structured interviews with school principals, counselors, base personnel, and military parents and students to inventory existing school supports. They also administered student and parent surveys and conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of participants. In addition, the research team conducted a series of analyses that test the associations among student mobility, access to school supports, school-connectedness, and educational outcomes. Then they tested an omnibus model in which student mobility, family strain, access to school supports, and school connectedness are used to predict student outcomes.
Control condition
Due to the exploratory nature of the research design, there was no control condition.
Key measures
The team developed new self-report measures of mobility and school supports for this study. In addition, the research team measured family strain, parental health, school connectedness, and educational outcomes (academic and psychosocial). Academic outcomes included student grades, attendance, and standardized tests (English language arts, math) from NTPS. Because the study foucsses on student mobiluty, researchers continued to collect academic outcome data even if students transferred out of the NTPS. To ensure comparability across different school districts (within or outside the state of Washington), the research team standardized all student test scores relative to the state average.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers used correlational and regression analyses to examine associations among parent and youth reports of access to school supports, school connectedness, and educational outcomes. They used multilevel modeling to evaluate the effects of residential moves on academic performance and moderators and mediators of this association. They also conducted thematic analyses of the transcripts of the family, teacher, and counselor interviews.
Key outcomes
The main findings of this project that have been published to date are as follows:
- Two measures of school supports were constructed by this team: Inventory of School Supports – Parent Report (ISS-PR; Steggerda et al., 2024b) and Inventory of School Supports - Youth Report (ISS-YR; Steggerda et al., 2024a).
- Based on analyses using the ISS-PR, parents who reported receiving school supports they viewed as important were more likely to report higher quality parent-teacher relationships, (stronger perceptions that schools were welcoming of military families, less parenting stress, and fewer child internalizing symptoms compared to parents who reported they received fewer school supports that were important to them (Steggerda et al., 2024b).
- Youth who indicated on the ISS-YR that they had received school supports they viewed as important reported feeling more connected to school, higher academic efficacy, higher school engagement, and greater family support than students who reported receiving fewer school supports of import (Steggerda et al., 2024a).
- Supports for future transitions, while rated as important by military families, were not always offered by schools (Steggerda et al., 2024b).
- The COVID-19 pandemic added an additional layer of stress for most military families, with heightened levels of pre-pandemic parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms predictive of youth’s COVID-related stress (Drew et al., 2023).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Project website:
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Select Publications:
Cavell, T. and Spencer, R. (2022, May 26) Active-Duty Military Families and School Supports. Inside IES Research.
Drew, A. L., Gregus, S. J., Steggerda, J. C., Slep, A. M. S., Herrera, C., Cavell, T. A., & Spencer, R. (2023). Pre-existing parental stress and youth internalizing symptoms predict parent-reported COVID-related stress in military families. Military Psychology, 1-9.
Steggerda, J. C., Cavell, T. A., Drew, A. L., Nicholson, J. H., Herrera, C., Gaffney, D., Slep, A. M. S., & Spencer, R. (2024). Inventory of School Supports-Youth Report (ISS-YR): Development and validation with military-connected students. School Mental Health, 16, 225-238.
Steggerda, J. C., Cavell, T. A., Nicholson, J. H., Drew, A. L., Herrera, C., Gaffney, D., Slep, A. M. S., Lorber, M. F. & Spencer, R. (2024). Inventory of School Supports-Parent Report (ISS-PR): Development and Validation with Military-Connected Families. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-12.
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Cavell, Timothy; Slep, Amy; Herrera, Carla
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
