Families

The students and their parents participating in the project were contacted by telephone.Once they gave their consent, the questionnaires were mailed to them. The population recruited is described, according to the cohort they belong to, in this section.

First Cohort

Second Cohort

Third Cohort

Summary Table of the Characteristics of Participating Students and Parents

School Staff

The school and the school administrators participating in the project were contacted by telephone, by e-mail or by mail and asked to fill out an online questionnaire between April 2008 and August 2009. The description of these participants is given below.

Summary Table of the Total Number of Participants 

Description of the First Cohort (students not exposed to Education Reform)

1st Measurement Time

 The 1,180 students who filled out the questionnaires in spring 2008 have the following characteristics:

• 93.3% were born in Québec
• 82.4% speak French at home
• 52.8% are girls
• 63.5% are in a regular program¹
• 47.5% spend from 1 to 5 hours on homework per week
• 63.6% plan to go to university
• 44.3% of these students have a job and work on average 14.3 hours a week.

The 1,247 parents who filled out the questionnaire describe themselves as follows:

• 89.5% were born in Québec and speak French at home (81.8%)
• 67.1% of respondents are mothers
• The parents are generally married or common-law union (80.5%)
• The average age of respondents is 45.8 years
• 36.9% have taken or completed university studies
• 69.7% work full time
• 34.3% earn $50,000.00 or more per year

2^nd Measurement Time 

In all longitudinal studies, there is generally some loss of participants between measurement times. The sample of the first cohort in the ERES Project is no exception. Of the 1,180 students who filled out the questionnaires in Grade 10, 398 did not take part in the Grade 11 collection. This gives an attrition rate of 34%. As for the parents, 436 parents did not take part in the 2^nd measurement time, for a 35% loss of participants.

A series of analyses was conducted to detect differences between certain individual and contextual characteristics of those students who dropped out of the project at one point and of those students who took part in both measurement times. Overall, these analyses show that students who dropped out come in proportionally greater numbers from disadvantaged and less educated milieus and from public schools. They report lower academic achievement in high school, less positive behavioural attitudes and more motivational and adjustment problems at school. These attrition effects will be taken into consideration when the results of the project are analyzed.    

¹ The regular program is comprised of students who are not in an enriched program, a specific program (sports-studies, arts-studies…), job-oriented program or a program designed to meet individual needs.

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Description of the Second Cohort (students exposed to Education Reform)

1st Measurement Time 

The 1,315 students who filled out the questionnaires in spring 2008 have the following characteristics:

• 93.6% were born in Québec
• 80.1% speak French at home
• 55.3% are girls
• 54.6% are in a regular program
• 49.5% spend from 1 to 5 hours on homework per week
• 67.3% plan to go to university
• 24.3% of these students have a job and work on average 9.6 hours a week.

The 1396 parents who filled out the questionnaire describe themselves as follows: 

• 86.5% were born in Québec and speak French at home (79.2%)
• 67.5% of respondents are mothers
• The parents are generally married or common-law union (79.9%)
• The average age of respondents is 43.7 years
• 40.3% have taken or completed university studies
• 72.7% work full time
• 34.9% earn $50,000.00 or more per year

2^nd Measurement Time  

Of the 1315 students who completed a questionnaire in Secondary 2, 433 did not participate to the second data collection, for an attrition of 33%. Regarding the parents, 408 of them did not participate in the second measurement time for a 36% attrition.

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3^rd Measurement Time 

Low attrition among participants in the second cohort is observed between the second and third data collection. Of the 882 students who completed a questionnaire at the second data collection, 77 have not filled their questionnaire during the third collection for a 9% attrition. For the parents, the attrition is also of 9%, with 814 parents who participated.

Description of Third Cohort (students exposed to Education Reform)

1st Measurement Time 

The 1,229 students who filled out the questionnaires in spring 2009 have the following characteristics:

• 92% were born in Québec
• 79.4% speak French at home
• 50.6% are girls
• 53.8% are in a regular program
• 49.1% spend from 1 to 5 hours on homework per week
• 69.9% plan to go to university
• 23% of these students have a job and work on average 9.3 hours a week

The 1,270 parents who filled out the questionnaire describe themselves as follows: 

• 85.6% were born in Québec and speak French at home (79.8%)
• 78% of respondents are mothers
• The parents are generally married or common-law union (78.1%)
• The average age of respondents is 43.6 years
• 41.8% have taken or completed university studies
• 69.8% work full time
• 37.6% earn $50,000.00 or more per year

2^nd Measurement Time

The attrition observed in the first two cohorts is also present in the third cohort. For example, of the 1229 students who participated in the first measurement time, 488 did not complete the questionnaire during the second data collection, which equates to a 37% attrition. Regarding the parents, the attrition rate is of 42%, corresponding to 537 parents who did not complete the second questionnaire.

 

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3^rd Measurement Time 

Of the 741 students who completed their questionnaire at the second data collection, 86 have not completed their questionnaire during the third data collection, which translates into a 12% attrition. As for the parents, 684 questionnaires were collected during the third data collection, 49 participants less than the 733 participants from the second data collection, for a attrition of 7%.

Summary Table of the Characteristics of Students Participating in the ERES Project

Summary Table of the Characteristics of Parents Participating in the ERES Project

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Description of School Staff

The 204 school counsellors participating in the projectdescribe themselves as follows:

• 62.7% of respondentsare women 
• The average age of respondents is 42.5 years 
• 63% have a bachelor’s degree in high school education 
  • 50.2% have earned a bachelor’s degree, 14.4% a graduate studies certificate and 33.3% a master’s degree 
  • 69% hold a full-time position as a school counsellor and average 4.2 years of experience

The 360 school administrators who filled out the questionnaire have the following characteristics:

• 59% of respondentsare men
• The average age of respondents is 45.6 years
• 90.3% have already held a teaching position
• 25.5% have earned a bachelor’s degree, 31.1% a graduate studies certificate and 41.7% a master’s degree 
• The respondents hold an administrative (68.6%) or assistant administrative position (24.7%) and 89.7% work in high schools that offer both teaching cycles.

Summary Table of the Number of Participants per Cohort and per Measurement Time