Bringing Comprehensive Indicators of Risk into Work at Elementary Schools: Practical Instrument for Mapping Children’s Needs Dr. Sima Zalcberg, Miriam Cohen-Navot, Iman Awadyeh June 2007 The Engelberg Center for Children and Youth MYERS- JDC – Brookdale Institute

At Risk Children and Youth Children who exhibit severe or multiple problems in school, emotional, or social functioning Children who live in situations that endanger them and impede their ability to exercise their rights: To life, health, and physical development To belong to a family To learn and acquire skills To wellbeing and emotional health To social belonging and integration To protection from other people and from their own dangerous behavior.

Situation in Israel Estimated 330,000 children and youth at risk in Israel 15% of the population under 18 are at risk

It is Essential to Gather Information on Children at Risk To identify children at risk and monitor their progress in order to respond to their needs To evaluate school programs to advance the children: To examine to what extent implementation of the program responds to needs To examine to what extent the program achieves its goals To provide a foundation, on which to base decisions about development and dissemination of the program in the future

The Need for a Class Mapping Tool Why? To consider the students on an individual level and at the same time provide a picture of the class as a whole To consider a broad range of meaningful aspects of the children's adjustment at school It needs to be: User-friendly and quick to complete Inexpensive. Accordingly, the research staff at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute and Dr. Flora Mor of Ashalim have together developed the Classroom Mapping Tool (CMT)

CMT: Description of the Instrument Designed to be completed by homeroom teacher Data collected about every child in the following areas: Family background Performance at school (attendance and learning behavior) Scholastic achievement Social and emotional problems Inputs provided to children Frequency of personal talks with children Frequency of discussions with children's parents Consultations about the children Referrals for diagnosis and treatment

Utilization of the CMT in Evaluation of the ADAM Program ADAM focused on training staff members to work more effectively with children at risk Data gathered at five schools, twice a year, regarding all students The evaluation of the program used the CMT: To learn about implementation of the program and school activities To learn about the children's needs and changes in their performance * Two schools in 2004/2005

Risk Indicators among Children ( in %)

Comprehensive Index of Risk (in %) Comprehensive Index of Risk (in %) The children were examined by various levels of "risk aspects" (%) School ASchool BTotal No indicators of risk One indicator of risk 2120 Two indicators of risk 1415 Three or more indicators of risk

Children with Appropriate School Functioning at End of Year – % from among those who started the year with inappropriate functioning Per classroom mapping tool N=583. Data for 2004/5

Conclusions The CMT was found to be an effective tool in identifying and monitoring children at risk. User-friendly, quick and easy to complete, and inexpensive Provides information on individual level of every child and overall picture of all children in the class Makes it possible to: Identify children's needs Examine how the inputs match the needs Examine changes in the children’s functioning and problems over time