Student Assets and Commitment to Learning in an Afterschool Leadership Development Program

The present study is the first reported analysis of participant data from an afterschool leadership development program targeting the elementary to middle school transition for fifth-grade students. Data were collected from 2012 to 2015 from 261 adolescents who self-selected to participate in the afterschool program and provided parental consent/assent; 60% of the sample were female, 24% lived in rural areas, and 33% attended schools in low socioeconomic status (SES) areas. Participants completed the Developmental Assets Profile (Search Institute, 2005) and a demographic questionnaire. Outcomes of interest for the analysis included relationships between sample characteristics (SES; rural vs. nonrural), support and empowerment (external assets), and positive values and commitment to learning (internal assets). Cluster analyses identified 3 distinct groups of high-, average-, and low-asset students. ANOVA found that contrary to what was hypothesized, it is not only high-asset students who self-select to participate in a leadership development program. Moreover, students from high SES schools and urban areas were just as likely to be represented in low-asset subgroups as students from low SES and rural schools.