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RESULTS
Palm Springs Middle School, Dade County, Florida
Observed
Lorie Russell, the school Trust Counselor, observed that many students were distracted at school by various social pressure, anxiety and depression, which diverted their attention from focused academic learning, even among students with high ability.
1995/1996
Teachers and counselors participated in Inner Quality Management® (IQM) training at the school to learn the tools first for themselves. This was followed by teacher certification at the Institute of HeartMath for classroom facilitation by 3 teachers.
The school then conducted a research study of 3 groups of 7th graders: 35 gifted students, 20 at risk (with another 20 control group), and 20 ESL students (English as a Second Language). In the fall of 1996, all students participated in a 16 hour/8 session program, taking pre and post psychometric assessments, using the 19 scale, 189 question Achievement Inventory Measurement (AIM), evaluated by Dr. Melinda Leaseberg of Houston, TX. Highly significant changes (p<.000) occurred in the following 5 categories: locus of control, peer empathy, work motivation, parent compliance, and decrease in at-risk behaviors. Work focus skills scale: 38.71% to 61.32%; Peer empathy scale: 41.53% to 69.74%; Locus of control scale: 30.97% to 66.97%; School attitude scale: 42.74% to 65.94%.
Under Lorie Russell's guidance, a second phase was launched whereby a cross-age mentoring program with 15 middle school students tutored 55 second and third graders at nearby DuPois Elementary School. The third phase began in the fall of 1997 with two full-year elective courses called HeartSmarts® being offered to 62 middle grade students. This included another cross-age mentoring program in the spring of 1998 directed at approximately 150 elementary students from 3 nearby "feeder" schools. In addition, a clinical research study was undertaken by Miami Heart Research Institute to investigate how stress affects the health of the heart with two groups of middle school students. In the fall of 1998 the HeartSmarts course continued again with 2 full-year electives being offered along with the cross-age mentoring program for younger children.
HeartSmarts Training - Middle School Students
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