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London Education and Inclusion Project (LEIP): Results from a Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention to Reduce School Exclusion and Antisocial Behavior.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Obsuth, Ingrid 
Sutherland, Alex 
Cope, Aiden 
Pilbeam, Liv 
Murray, Aja Louise 

Abstract

School exclusion as a disciplinary measure remains a controversial issue. In spite of numerous attempts to reduce this practice, no solutions with documented effectiveness exist. This article reports results of a cluster-randomized controlled field trial carried out in 36 schools across London. The trial is an independent evaluation of a 12-week-long intervention, Engage in Education-London (EiE-L), delivered by Catch22. The intervention was aimed at students in secondary school who are most at risk of school exclusion. It targeted their social communication and broader social skills with the aim of reducing school exclusions and problem behaviors. The study employed a multi-informant design that included students and teacher reports as well as official records for exclusions and arrests. Data were analyzed through intent-to-treat analyses based on self-reports from 644 students and 685 teacher reports for students who were nominated for the study and for whom data was available at baseline or post-intervention. At baseline data collection the students ranged in age from 12.85 to 15.03, with M = 14.03; 71 % were male and included a number of ethnic minorities, the largest of which was black African/black Caribbean comprising 40 % of the sample. The results suggested a small but statistically significant negative effect on the primary outcome of exclusion and null effects for the secondary outcomes that measured behavioral and socio-emotional outcomes. The study's findings are discussed in terms of the possible reasons for the null effects and negative (iatrogenic) effect.

Description

Keywords

Adolescence, Cluster-randomized controlled trial, School exclusion, School-based intervention, Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Female, Humans, Juvenile Delinquency, London, Male, Schools, Social Skills, Students

Journal Title

J Youth Adolesc

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0047-2891
1573-6601

Volume Title

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
We acknowledge and express our gratitude to Catch22, our intervention partner on the LEIP project. We acknowledge the generosity of the European Commission, which funded this project via a Social Experimentation Grant (VS/2012/0345) awarded to the Greater London Authority for collaboration on this project with Professor Manuel Eisner, Principal Investigator. We are thankful to the Education Endowment Foundation who provided financial support for the implementation of the Catch22 intervention. Further, we thank our advisory committee members – Professors Anna Vignoles, Frances Gardner and Stephen Scott, and all the LEIP fieldworkers. And last but by far not least our deepest gratitude goes to the 36 LEIP schools, the teachers and students who participated in this project and shared their time and experiences with us. Without them this project would not have been possible.