Grade Book Game Evaluation Among 6th Grade Students (GG)

October 26, 2017 updated by: Mitchell Wong, MD, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Improving School Engagement Among Early Adolescents: Evaluation of a Team-based Social Network Intervention

School engagement is associated with children's long-term health and success. Students who are engaged in school have better academic outcomes and lower rates of risky health behaviors. The investigators partnered with Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy 12 (Alliance 12), a charter school in Los Angeles, to develop the "gradebook game", an intervention that aims to improve academic achievement, peer support, and school engagement. The game involves frequent feedback on students' school performance, team-based competition aligned with the school mission, and peer mentorship by team captains. For the 2016-2017 academic year, the investigators will assist Alliance 12 in implementing the gradebook game in two of its five 6th grade homerooms. The investigators plan to evaluate whether the game, as hypothesized, is effective in increasing school engagement, including academic performance and positive behavior.

In order to conduct this evaluation, the investigators plan to enroll 6th grade students by obtaining parental consent and student assent at the beginning of the school year. Students will be enrolled for the entire 2016-2017 academic year. All study procedures except for parental recruitment will occur during the school day. Participation in the study involves completing 2 student surveys and permitting the collection and analysis of student data from the online gradebook and behavior system. The investigators plan to use an interrupted time series design that will analyze student gradebook and behavior data at multiple time points before and after the game starts. The surveys will be completed at the beginning and end of the study period. Surveys will include measures of self-reported school engagement, age, gender, race/ethnicity, primary language at home, social and emotional well-being, social status, and peer support. Surveys will be administered via iPad.

If the pilot study demonstrates that the gradebook game is effective in promoting school engagement and academic achievement, it is anticipated that it could be widely adopted and more rigorously evaluated in a larger study. Because the gradebook game is a low-resource intervention, it could easily and sustainably be replicated, providing a much-needed tool for schools with low engagement.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

School engagement is critical to students' long-term success and appears to be strongly influenced by peer relationships. School engagement results from the interaction of the individual with the school context and is a multi-dimensional concept involving behavioral, emotional, and cognitive components. These include attendance, conduct, effort, participation, emotions towards school, identification with school, interest, and psychological investment in learning. Children who are engaged in school have higher levels of academic achievement and increased likelihood of occupational success as adults, even beyond that predicted by achievement. Children who are successful in school are also healthier adults, which is due in part to health risk behaviors that begin in adolescence. School engagement appears to protect against substance use and delinquency. Factors that have been associated with low levels of engagement (or disengagement) include trauma, stress, discrimination, and bullying, whereas supportive relationships with parents, peers, and teachers promote school engagement. Because school engagement is modifiable, it is an obvious target for school-based intervention.

Prior studies have documented interventions that improve school engagement, but effect sizes are generally small and they are resource-intensive and therefore difficult to implement widely. As far as the investigators know, none have used a social network or team-based behavioral economics approach. A partnership between UCLA and Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy #12 (Alliance 12), a charter middle school in Los Angeles led to the development of the novel Gradebook Game. This intervention aims to induce supportive social pressure aligned with a school's mission in order to promote school engagement and achievement. Sixth grade students are organized into teams by Advisory period and mentored by 8th grade team captains. Throughout the regular school day, students are assigned points for effort, achievement, and citizenship (as captured by the online gradebook and behavior tracker), which then get repackaged into weekly team scorecards for the Game. Teams compete against each other for total points in bi-weekly match-ups, and wins are rewarded with incentives tailored to the school's needs. This intervention is unique in bringing a team-based behavioral economics approach to impact school engagement. It is grounded in principles from two successful interventions: the Good Behavior Game and Peer Connection. The Gradebook Game Intervention has been piloted for feasibility in one Advisory group of 6th grade students at Alliance 12 during the Spring of 2016. If effective, it could feasibly be implemented widely and has the potential to transform social norms and school culture, providing a much-needed tool among schools with low student engagement.

The investigators plan to study the effectiveness of the Gradebook Game in promoting school engagement and achievement. This study would likely be the first to evaluate an intervention that utilizes team competition to generate social pressure and peer support around behaviors that promote success in school. This study has the potential to inform whether the Gradebook Game intervention should be adopted by other schools struggling with low student engagement; and depending on the results, it could lead to a larger, more rigorous study that would evaluate whether the Gradebook Game is effective in promoting school engagement and achievement among a diverse study population, which could be beneficial to schools and families across the nation.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095
        • UCLA

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

7 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants must be 6th grade students at Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy. They need to assent and have signed parental consent to participate.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Student must be attending 6th grade at Alliance College-Ready Middle Academy.
  • Must assent and have signed parental consent to participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Students whose parents are not able to provide informed consent in English or Spanish.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Intervention
The middle school selected 2 advisory classrooms to participate in the Gradebook game during 6th grade. Students in these 2 classrooms were block randomized to teams by baseline grade book and student engagement scores. These small student teams stay together for an entire year and meet once or twice a week. Teams are led by 8th grade student team captains, picked by school staff for their positive leadership skills. Every 2 weeks throughout the year, teams are randomly matched in head-to-head competition. In each 2-week-long game (i.e. Gradebook Game), individual team members accrue points from teachers and administrators for academic performance, effort, and school behavior. Team wins are announced and public scoreboards are updated frequently. The investigators will collect student survey data at baseline and after the intervention, approximately 5-6 months apart.
Other: Gradebook Game
Students in the intervention group will spend time meeting as teams to review their scorecards, and do team-building activities, all of which will occur during non-content periods at school (Advisory and Enrichment).
Control
The middle school has chosen three 6th grade classrooms that will not play the Gradebook game. The investigators will collect school gradebook and behavior information weekly for 8 to 10 time points before and after the intervention is implemented. Students will complete a survey at baseline and after the intervention, approximately 5-6 months apart.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Academic and Behavior Information
Time Frame: up to 20 times during 6 month period
collect school grade book and behavior information weekly for 8 to 10 time points before and after the intervention is implemented.
up to 20 times during 6 month period

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Social Emotional well being, social status and peer support
Time Frame: baseline and at 6 months
Survey data will be collected via iPad using a study ID during non-content periods at school (Advisory and Enrichment). Surveys will include measures of self-reported school engagement, social-emotional well-being, and peer support.
baseline and at 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of California, Los Angeles

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Study Chair: Mitchell D Wong, MD, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
October 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
June 30, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
June 30, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 30, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 30, 2017

First Posted (Estimate)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 1, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
October 30, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
October 26, 2017

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
October 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • IRB#16-001059

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Participants have been assigned a study ID number to link their name, address, phone number, grade book and behavior data, and survey responses. This ID will be used for all survey data collection and to identify all grade book and behavior data.

The computer file linking the personal identifiers and the study ID number will be kept separate from the survey, grade book, and behavior data. Personally identifying information pertaining to individual participants will not be shared or made available to other researchers. Any data request will be made to the Faculty Sponsor (Mitchell Wong, MD PhD) or to the principle investigator (Ashley Lewis-Hunter, MD) and any data shared will be encrypted and will not include any personal identifying information.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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