Running head: METHODOLOGY 1

Methodology: Mindfulness in K-12 Settings

Jessie Byrd, Kara McNamara, and Nicole Simpson

Monday, March 19, 2018

EDUC709.001 - Dr. Bolton

Method
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Participants

Elementary school.

Participants at this grade level attended a suburban elementary school in central North

Carolina. This population had a relatively low free and reduced lunch, as well as a high level of

parent involvement. Students who participated in this program attended the before school care

program, where their parents or guardians have registered and paid for their attendance. The

demographics of student participants varied for each session based on student interest and the

day of the week, as some students did not attend the before school care program every day.

Students ranged from Kindergarten through 5th grade and represented both genders.

All students in the before school care program had the choice of either attending their

regularly scheduled activity, which was based on grade level, or participating in the mindfulness

intervention. At the time of transition to these activities, the school’s counselor intern verbally

asked for student interest and students self-elected to follow the counselor to the library where

the intervention took place. The counselor intern led the intervention for a half hour before

having the students rejoin their peers at the end of the activity period.

Middle school.

Participants at the middle school level consisted of (X number of) students who attend a

suburban independent K-12 school in central North Carolina, specializing in teaching students

who struggle academically. This sample of participants represented (X percentage) of all middle

school students at the school. Participants were comprised of students from grades 6 - 8, both

males and females, as well as (describe other demographics and include respective percentages).

Students were selected to participate in the mindfulness intervention based on teacher referral.

Reasons for referral included anxiety, self-regulation, and academic stress. All referred students
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were called to the counseling intern’s office twice during the week for two weeks during

students’ 20-minute break. Student participation was voluntary and students could opt out at any

time.

High school.

High school-level participants attended a rural high school (grades 9 through 12) in

central North Carolina. The makeup of students at the 900-student high school included 57%

Latino students, 14% African-American students, 24% Caucasian, 4% Multiracial students, and

1% Asian. 71% of students received free or reduced lunch.

Participants in the group were self-selected from a pool of students who have received a

discipline referral from administration or teachers at the school and were placed in in-school

suspension (ISS) during the school day.The demographics of students varied day to day.

Students in ISS had the option to elect to complete academic work (homework or class projects)

or another project assigned to them by the ISS coordinator. For the purposes of this project,

students had a third option to participate in a mindfulness intervention as part of their day.

Students filled out an interest form at the beginning of the school day, which was then approved

by the ISS coordinator, as some students are obligated to only work on academics if they’re

behind in school. Students were escorted to a classroom for the mindfulness intervention, which

took place before students’ lunch break.

Procedure

For each of the designated elementary, middle, and high schools, students from

previously identified groups self-elected to participate in the mindfulness interventions based on

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interest. There were 4 open classroom guidance lessons, led by the school’s counseling intern,

and participants were not be required to attend all lessons. Each lesson was pre-planned, clearly

understood by the counselor intern, and each lasted approximately 20 minutes.

All students in the identified groups (before school program, ISS, and teacher referral)

were administered a pretest before the intervention took place. Attendance was taken at each

lesson to keep track of participants and contribute to process data. Perception data was collected

throughout the lessons via activities and questions that required participants to show what they

know, can do, or had just learned. Each student in the identified groups was also administered a

posttest at the conclusion of the four lessons, regardless of their level of involvement in the

intervention. Pretest and posttest results were reviewed, and there was a comparison between

students involved in the intervention and students who opted out. Outcome data was collected

after the intervention terminated by analyzing behavioral results of the posttest.

Measures/Materials

The Mindful Student Questionnaire (MSQ) was given to students as a pre-test prior to the

mindfulness intervention as well as a post-test following the mindfulness intervention to assess

the effectiveness of the intervention (Appendix A). The MSQ is a 15-item self-report behavior

rating scale for measuring students’ school-specific mindfulness. It was designed for use as an

outcome and progress-monitoring measure for mindfulness-based interventions in schools.

Scoring responses to the MSQ reveals students’ Mindful Attention and Mindful Acceptance, the

combination of which indicates a Mindful Student Composite Score. Items on the MSQ also

yield a score for Approach and Persistence, behavior changes facilitated by mindfulness.

Research had demonstrated that the MSQ is internally reliable as well as convergently valid with

other measures of student well-being (Renshaw, 2016).

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Lesson plans for the four mindfulness classroom guidance interventions are included in

the appendices, outlining activities involving breathing, art, yoga, meditation, and other

mindfulness psychoeducational topics.