Resilient Classrooms:
Impacting the Academic, Emotional, and Social Success of Students
The Resilient Classrooms project supports school psychologists in promoting the
overarching mission of schools by utilizing data to identify and address school
classrooms as resilient communities that provide support and guidance so that all children can learn and be successful.
According to Doll, et al (2004), resilient classrooms are places where all children can be academically, emotionally, and socially
successful. Specifically, the five areas of classroom resilience addressed through the program include: Academic Efficacy,
Behavioral Self-Control, Academic Determination, Teacher-Student Relationship, Peer Relationships, and Home-School
Relationships. The project considers children as individuals within the integrated ecological classroom system and seeks to
address the “goodness of fit” of students within this ecology.
The Intervention: Are You Ready?
Students will…


complete a list of seven required morning
responsibilities upon entering the
classroom at 8:45a.m., prior to the onset
of Instructional Block I at 9:00 a.m.,
including preparation tasks and learning
assignments.
prepare their materials for the transition
from Instructional Block I to Instructional
Block II prior to 9:00 a.m.
…with the support of a self-monitoring
checklist placed at each student’s seat.
This Resilient Classroom project was implemented in a general education
fifth grade classroom. The project was implemented with the teacher’s
homeroom class, although three teachers collaboratively teach the fifth
grade curriculum. The teacher involved in this project teaches the content
areas of Social Studies and Science to each of the three fifth grade classes
daily for a ninety minute block.
Baseline data regarding classroom resilience was collected at the onset of
the program through the Class Maps Survey (Doll, et al, 2004). Based on
the data, teacher input, and student input, the area of classroom resilience
selected for intervention was Behavioral Self-Control. Both the teacher
and the students identified the first thirty minutes of the day and the
transition time between Instructional Blocks I and II to be the targeted
times for intervention. This area of classroom resilience was selected as a
result of its overall impact on the class and learning, as well as the transfer
of skills during the time spent with the other two fifth grade teachers.
Further, as fifth graders, students are preparing for the independence they
will encounter as future middle school learners.
Percentage of Students Ready
to Transition
Are You Ready? Data
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Are You Ready? Intervention Data
Transition I
”Most kids in this class follow the
rules in this class.”
Transition II
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Transition I 70 95 75 70 85
95 95 95 95 95 80 75 95 95 10
Transition II 0 5 5 25 35
95 95 90 85 80 90 90 90 95 95
Baseline
Intervention
Katrina Dolak, M.Ed.
School Psychology Intern
York County School Division