A comparison of student and adult perceptions of the needs of junior high school students

by Kemeny, Karin

Failure to address adolescent ne& can have adverse effa on school perfarmance and ultimately impact on long term Iif'e success The sîudy descrii in this thesis expiored the ne& of adoltscatsin ajuniorhigh schml in Calgary and comparedthe needs perceptions of students with those ofparents and school personnel. The students and adults differed substantially in mpct to the most pressingneeds area for students, school building and grounds. There was an area of agreed upon priority among students,parents, and school personnel: interaction with students. However, a comparison of the 15 highest ranked needs ovedl for the three gmups yielded -ment on only two needs. In respect to responses to specific needs items, the thrw groups agreed ody on 40.0% of the items. There was no adult agreement for 41.3% of the student responses. These discrepancies were substantiated by the infmntial analyses, with significant differiences appearingbetween the perceptions of studentsand both adult groups. School personnel were found to be siightiy closer to midents in their views of adolescent nds than the parents. However, both adult groups had more in common with one another than with students. Overall, these results suggest that the expresseci needs of thejuniorhigh shool students in this study wae not accurately reflected by the perceptions of adults. 1would like fintofalî to thankDr. Brym Hiebat His encouragement, valuable input, and patience, throughout aiï stages of the writing process, were much appreciated. His humor and smiie were especiaily important dining some of the more stressfiil times. I was extremely fortunate to have had such a wonderfiil role mode1 as rny supervisor. 1 am a h thanldui to the memh ofthe schd community who contniuted to this study, and especially to Wendy Kurchak, the counseiiorat the schml, whose coordination greaty facilitatecl the gathering of responses fkom the participants during the needs assessrnent phase. Special thanks also go to my good fiiend, Carol Malec, who spent many hours providing help and support, and keeping me focused. Finally, 1 would iike to thank my husband, Carlos Tesler-Mabe, who was a tremendous sourceof encouragement and inspiration at every step of this process.