5.4 Develop appropriate intervention(s) related to students' experiences and meanings as they relate to the puzzling situation

In addition to reading the general suggestions about interventions presented on the CIP Step 5 page, consider the suggestions below if you found students' meanings and experiences to be influencing your puzzling situation.

If you found divisions and tensions among ethnic or racial groups to be relevant to your puzzlement, Leading for Diversity by Henze, Katz, Norte, Sather, and Walker (2002) provided a useful framework for developing and implementing interventions to create positive interethnic communities in schools. Tolerance.org, a website of the Southern Poverty Law Center, offers many resources for creating communities that value diversity, including online access to Teaching Tolerance Magazine.

If you found the "street kid/school kid" distinction useful in understanding your puzzlement, Flores-González (2002) identified the following recommendations for helping students become "school kids":

• Schools should set clear and consistent standards and expectations and apply the standards and expectations equally to all students.
• The curriculum should be challenging and meaningful to the students, and it should prepare students for college or the job market.
• Schools should treat students with respect and dignity, and make all students feel like they are "somebody."
• Schools should foster deep and caring relationships between students and faculty.
• Schools should minimize competition in all areas of school life.
• Schools should help students develop multiple identities related to school, especially through extracurricular programs.
• Schools should help students formulate ambitious yet realistic goals for the future, and schools should provide students with practical information about how to achieve their goals.

If your study indicated that students' lack of access to social capital (i.e., networks that facilitate one's ability to secure benefits) is contributing to your puzzlement, there are multiple avenues possible. Access to social capital can be provided by teachers (Croninger & Lee, 2001), by community-based after school programs, and by projects such as the "I have a dream" programs (Kahne & Bailey, 1999). Stanton-Salazar (1997) outlined six types of support that would facilitate students' access to social capital. These include: (1) providing knowledge needed to succeed in the educational system, (2) acting as a "bridge" to gatekeepers, to social networks, and to opportunities for exploring other mainstream institutions such as colleges, (3) advocating and directly intervening on students' behalf, (4) role modeling, (4) providing emotional and moral support, and (6) offering evaluative feedback and advice.

The following links provide some suggestions for interventions related to influences on students from outside school:

• 5.4.1 Influences from outside school.
• 5.4.2 Imbalances in power or economic opportunities and peer group response to those imbalances.

Success Stories & CIP studies Related to Students' Experiences and Meanings from Outside School

Reconsider question: 3.4 
Gather more information: 4.4 
Step 6-Monitor Intervention(s) 
Guide for Reading Step 4 and Step 5 Pages