More Background Information

High School Transition Study

What is an intervention?

 

An intervention is an action that is taken to try to make things turn out better.  Half of students participating in the High School Transition Study will be enrolled in the HSTS Intervention.  The HSTS Intervention is a series of actions (classes, home visits, booster sessions) that the 8th graders can take that we hope will improve their chances of having a successful transition to high school.

 

 

What is research?

 

“Research” means to study something to learn more about it.  The High School Transition Study is a research study because the goal of the study is to learn how well the HSTS Intervention works.  Interventions need to be studied so that we can understand if and how they work.  Only if the research shows that interventions work well to produce the desired results should their broader use be recommended.

 

 

What is an experiment?

 

An experiment is a controlled test or trial.  Using this definition, HSTS is an experiment to test the effectiveness of the HSTS Intervention.  In the High School Transition Study, students are randomly assigned to participate in the intervention or not.  That way we can study how well students who participate in the intervention do, compared to how other students like them do when they make the transition to high school.

 

 

 

                     

 

 

« Back to the Study Information Menu

Not all students who participate in the High School Transition Study will be enrolled in the intervention.  We will randomly assign students to either the HSTS Intervention Group or the “Control” Group. 

 

The students who are enrolled in the “NO HSTS” Control Group will give us valuable information about what it is like to be an 8th grader transitioning to high school with only the usual support available from their schools and families. 

 

We will learn from the students in the “HSTS Intervention Group” what it is like to be an 8th grader transitioning to high school with the additional support and skills provided by the intervention. 

 

We will follow the progress of all the students participating in the High School Transition Study so that we can compare the progress of the two groups of students.  This “experiment” will help us understand how well the intervention works and how we as a community can better support our teens in this challenging time.  All students, whether assigned to the HSTS intervention group or the NO HSTS group, will receive an initial follow-up evaluation with a UW Mental Health Professional.

 

Other experiments have been carried out by the UW to test the success of programs like HSTS in helping older high school students.  These experiments have shown that compared to students who don't participate, students who do participate experience reduced depression, substance use, and suicidal behavior, and improved school performance.