Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity: School Based Counseling and Social Work Services in Catholic Schools

Mercs, Rhonda Helen
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8551-9527
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton165806391570113

Abstract Details

2022, Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, Educational Leadership.
The Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity (ECHO) program has collected data for 20 years. The ECHO staff has fallen short in using this data to clearly demonstrate any impacts and to engage in continuous improvement of the ECHO organization. Thus, the purpose of the current research project is to demonstrate how effective the counseling, social work, or social and emotional curriculum components are in the ECHO program. An embedded mixed method design was used to explore the impact ECHO counseling services has on student behavior and academic achievement, the effect the ECHO Family Advocacy program has on family stabilization, and if students are applying the skills learned from the social-emotional curriculum, Second Step®. The ECHO counseling services assisted in improving the teaching and learning climate and addressing the increase in student mental health needs. The interviews with the principals and parents demonstrated the success of students by sharing improvement with academics and behavior. The ECHO Family Advocacy program demonstrated a positive relationship with family stabilization by providing families with the resources needed or assisting them in making goals for themselves. The social and emotional learning curriculum, Second Step® data demonstrated no change from the pre and post assessment. There was no significant change in Skills for Learning, Empathy and Emotional Management, and Problem Solving. The findings of this study demonstrate the need for a school-wide initiative for mental health education, a parent education program, and a data driven social and emotional learning curriculum to improve the impact of ECHO’s services.
Meredith Wronowski (Committee Chair)
Andrea Twonsend (Committee Member)
Elana Bernstein (Committee Member)
142 p.
Counseling Education; Education; Mental Health; School Counseling; Social Work
Mental Health, Social Emotional Learning, Data Informed, Education, Marianist Education, Schools, School-Wide Initiative, Parent Program, Curriculum

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Mercs, R. H. (2022). Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity: School Based Counseling and Social Work Services in Catholic Schools [Doctoral dissertation, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton165806391570113

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Mercs, Rhonda. Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity: School Based Counseling and Social Work Services in Catholic Schools. 2022. University of Dayton, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton165806391570113.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Mercs, Rhonda. "Empowering Children with Hope and Opportunity: School Based Counseling and Social Work Services in Catholic Schools." Doctoral dissertation, University of Dayton, 2022. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton165806391570113

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton165806391570113
144
© 2022, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.