The effects of rational-emotive education on academic performance and career perspectives of at-risk elementary students

The study investigated the effects of Rational-Emotive Education (REE) on work-related beliefs and actions of 124 at-risk elementary students from a rural county in East Tennessee. During a six-week program (three days a week in 30 minute sessions) students focused on career-based REE concepts and activities. The sessions involved watching video taped interviews with local role-models and discussing the role-models' career paths. The following REE concepts provided the framework for these career discussions: Feelings; Challenging Irrational Beliefs; Challenging Feelings of Inferiority; Learning and Mistake-making; Demanding and Catastrophizing; and Roles, Rules and Responsibility (Knaus, 1974). The effect of this treatment on academic achievement, perceived linkage between school and adult career opportunities, and rational beliefs was investigated by comparing differences in the adjusted posttest means of the treatment group and the control group on these dimensions. Statistical analyses involved computation of a MANCOVA for the dependent variables combined, ANCOVAs for the individual dependent variables, and Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients to determine relationships between the dependent variables. No significant difference was found between adjusted posttest means of the treatment and control groups (p=.42). Significant correlations were found between rational beliefs and the perceived linkage between school and careers in both the experimental (r=.39, p=.05) and control group (r=.48, p=.05). A significant correlation was also found between rational beliefs and academic achievement in the experimental group (r.37, p= .05).