SOS Program Research and Development

The Student Orientation to School (SOS) program originated from a research study initiated by the Alberta Department of Education with the Parkland School Division of Alberta (Nadirova, Burger & Mykula, 2008). A central belief for Parkland was that all students could experience success in learning and a key district objective was to improve its high school completion rate. The district determined that a comprehensive and coordinated approach would be instrumental to remove barriers to high school completion. Therefore, Parkland needed to better understand why students were dropping out before graduation, as well as to develop a systematic approach to remove barriers to high school completion. Within this context a formal research project was launched in 2003 and the following major objectives were established:

• Determine the primary factors contributing to high school completion
• Identify barriers to high school completion
• Identify plausible courses of action available to the jurisdiction in addressing barriers to high school completion
• Assess the effectiveness of the jurisdiction’s current cooperative educational opportunities, school career transition initiatives, and program choice at the secondary level

A key deliverable of this study was the design and validation of the Student Orientation to School questionnaire. This diagnostic instrument is designed to support the early identification of students who might demonstrate a predisposition to high school non-completion. The SOS questionnaire is suitable for using both in cohort applications (e.g., classroom, school and jurisdiction) and, individual student assessments. The key merit of the SOS questionnaire is its potential for uncovering latent issues, such as academic and social alienation and lack of confidence and control. These may “lie beneath” and predict students’ overt directly observable behaviours and outcomes, including a lack of academic achievement, discipline, school attendance and withdrawal from school (Brew, Beatty & Watt, 2004; Stiggins, 2001). Use of the SOS questionnaire makes it possible for school staff to better identify and address students’ needs and issues.

The Student Orientation to School questionnaire has passed five pilot tests from 2004 to 2010. The development of the initial conceptual framework and version of the instrument was followed by a series of construct validity and reliability tests and continual refinement. Table 1 illustrates the instrument design, piloting and revision process over the past six years.

 Table 1. SOS Development and Testing Process

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The SOS research study yielded the following results and conclusions.

1. All constructs in the questionnaire remained stable over time and demonstrated good internal consistency.
2. Cluster classifications of students revealed distinctive “top” (most positive SOS), “medium” and “bottom” (most negative SOS) student profiles, thereby supporting the diagnostic potential of the instrument to identify students at risk of high school non-completion.
3. A positive link was demonstrated between SOS and student achievement.
4. A positive link was demonstrated between SOS and student attendance.
5. A positive link was demonstrated between SOS and balancing work and school.

Research studies that support the Student Orientation to School program are available here . Alternatively, please contact ETS Canada at 1-800-615-8666 to receive a printed copy.