Empowering Youth With School Discipline Referrals as Peer Coaches

Empowering Youth With School Discipline Referrals as Peer Coaches

The study will examine the effects of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a strengths-based behavioral intervention for discipline-referred middle-school youth who might benefit when trained to act as change agents for their peers. Successful completion of this study will provide support for implementing PCT in school communities to empower youth in prosocial peer engagement.

In this proposal, the investigators evaluate the effects of PCT, an approach that deemphasizes existing problems and focuses instead on training youth to help their peers.

In urban public school districts across the US, exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspension and expulsion) disproportionally affects Black and Latinx youth. Although many school-based interventions are promising, they overlook the motivational potential of helping others and fail to build on the culturally grounded prosocial orientation of Black and Latinx students. This study evaluates the effectiveness of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a strengths-based intervention that deemphasizes existing problems and focuses instead on empowering youth to help their peers. A cluster randomized trial will be conducted across ten middle schools (n=150 youth), with schools randomized to either PCT or control (i.e., delayed treatment). Youth referred for disruptive behavior at intervention schools will receive PCT immediately, whereas youth at control schools will receive PCT nine months later. Outcomes related to disruptive and prosocial behavior, school engagement, and empowerment will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up. Successful completion of this trial will not only provide support for implementing PCT in school communities to empower youth prosocially, but also potentially validate an approach to reducing discipline disparities within school contexts.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth who have received at least one disciplinary referral between the first day of school and recruitment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Youth who have not received any disciplinary referrals between the first day of school and recruitment