Building Decision Skills plus service learning significantly improved twelfth-graders' ethical perspective relative to a no-character-education comparison¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r? · q2 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2006 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i3 The intervention group scored significantly higher than the comparison group on ethical perspective (effect size 0.84, improvement index +30), as calculated by the WWC. → Building Decision Skills 2006 q2 i3 At the item level, Ethical Perspective Dilemma 1 showed an effect size of 1.16 (statistically significant, improvement index +38) and Dilemma 3 an effect size of 0.82 (statistically significant, +29). → Building Decision Skills 2006 (2)

Evidence¶

Building Decision Skills 2006¶

Building Decision Skills. (2006). WWC Intervention Report, What Works Clearinghouse. https://www.globalethics.org/services/edu/bds.htm

q2 · i3 · causal · r?

WWC recalculation of the Leming (2001) quasi-experiment (283 Grade 12 students, six classrooms). Appendix A3 reports ethical perspective means of 1.84 (intervention) versus 1.31 (comparison), effect size 0.84, statistically significant at α = 0.05 after corrections for clustering and multiple comparisons.

"Leming reported statistically sig- nificant differences favoring the Building Decision Skills group on four student outcomes (ethical awareness, ethical responsibility, ethical perspective, and social responsibility-school), and one of these outcomes, ethical perspective, was found to be statistically significant (as calculated by the WWC)."

Building Decision Skills 2006 (2)¶

Building Decision Skills. (2006). WWC Intervention Report, What Works Clearinghouse. https://www.globalethics.org/services/edu/bds.htm

q2 · i3 · causal · r?

Item-level WWC calculations in Appendix A4 for the ethical perspective scale: Dilemma 1 effect size 1.16 statistically significant; Dilemma 3 effect size 0.82 statistically significant; Dilemma 2 effect size 0.54 not significant.

"Dilemma 1 Grade 12 6/283 2.17 ( 0.76) 1.41 ( 0.57) 0.75 1.16 S tatistically significant +38"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• All three instructional groups began at comparable, mostly low decision-making levels and all improved over the intervention — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• SEL programs improve social emotional skills — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Effects favoring the curriculum-plus-service-learning condition over service-learning alone appeared only for ethical awareness and ethical perspective — related
• Building Decision Skills combined with service learning has potentially positive effects on high school students' knowledge, attitudes, and values — a broader claim this one bears on
• Building Decision Skills plus service learning showed no statistically significant effects on self-esteem, general social responsibility, or anticipated community participation — related
• Participating youth appeared to develop perspective-taking skills, with 84% of students reporting greater openness to others' perspectives — related