Ensemble, on persvre encore plus!

1) Category:

Specific program

2) Issues Behind the Program:

In 2010, Thrse-Martin secondary school was looking for an alternative to its support
program for at-risk students. It could no longer offer the program because it was the
only school in the region that was not covered by the Agir autrement strategy (SIAA)
and its funding.

Alongside this, the people who work with young drop-outs who go to the Carrefour
jeunesse-emploi de DAutray-Joliette found that a particular drop-out profile was
emerging: the silent drop-out, a category of potential non-graduate for whom there are
very few programs to counter the dropping out phenomenon.

3) Objectives:

Intervene with students who show signs of academic disengagement.

Help the students develop new knowledge and aptitudes, as well as personal and social
skills, through workshops adapted to their reality and transferable to the school
context.

Enable the students to identify what makes them feel good about themselves and
motivates them at school.

Help the students develop self-esteem and self-reliance.

Maximize the students chances of success.

Increase the graduation rate in the RCM of Joliette.

4) Environment:

Secondary school

Families

Community (volunteering within the community)

5) Target Group:

Students whose profile corresponds to the following criteria:

o

Sec. III or IV students who have an academic delay of one year or more;

Students with repeat failures in core subjects such as mathematics and French;

Students who do not do their assignments;

Students with increasing absenteeism;

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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Silent, disengaged and under-performing students who do not necessarily have

access to the right services for them;

Students who do not have behavioural, mental health or substance abuse problems
and who do not use one of the schools special services (e.g. special education);

The students parents are open to and willing to collaborate in their childs
participation in the project.

6) Key Words:

Ensemble, on persvre encore plus!, coeuraction, school-family-community

partnership, school dropout, student engagement, learning support, volunteering

7) Description:

The purpose of the Ensemble, on persvre encore plus! program is to counter

academic disengagement and dropping out by providing both individual and group
support to silent at-risk students in Sec. III and IV. A team, including the parents,
teachers, the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi worker and members of the community,
mobilize around the students concerned in order to, together, make a difference.
Everyone contributes throughout the program.

Silent students at risk are invited to participate in the school and community
involvement program for a two-year period. The students meet regularly with the
project worker and, through an action plan, set academic, personal and social goals and
establish concrete means of achieving them. The students meet as a group every
Monday morning during the first period (Petits-Matins) and are given the opportunity to
experience group, lunchtime and volunteer activities during the year.

The parents of participating students also have the opportunity to meet to talk about
their role as parents and to give each other mutual support and encouragement.
External resources handle themes likely to help the parents with their role. Individual
communication also occurs in order to give parents the tools they need and to support
them in their crucial role with their children.

Teachers are informed about how the students are doing and the means decided by
them to achieve the goals they have set. This way, the teachers can validate whether
the students efforts are paying off in class.

There is follow-up with the students after they have done the two-year project. The
project worker can continue to provide support as needed and refer them to the
resources developed during the project or to external resources likely to be able to help
them.

8) Steps:
I.

Work in conjunction with Joliettes PAS committee.

II.

Hiring (external resource or internal assignment) and training of the worker.

III.

Appropriation of the framework and understanding of the objectives.

IV.

Programming the activities and planning of actions regarding the slate of services
specific to each CJE.

V.

Inventory of prospective partners.

VI.

Contact with the partners and beginning of collaboration.

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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VII.

Formation of a student selection committee.

VIII.

Recruitment of the students.

IX.

Meeting with the young person and production of an action plan. Same process with the
parents.

X.

Support for the young person and the parents throughout the project.

XI.

Involvement of the teachers and school staff.

9) Activities/Actions:

A systemic approach and motivational support are the basis for project action.

Les Petits-Matins: Every Monday, first period, the students have breakfast together
(often muffins made by the young people) to get the week off to a good start. These
breakfasts are an opportunity for them to fill each other in on what they did over the
weekend, talk about subjects likely to provide them with tools, or think about a given
topic with the project worker or an external resource. The time can be spent on an
interactive exercise about work-study balance, or a presentation by the various adults
involved or about school services, etc.

Group activities: The group is an important aspect of the project. It enables the young
people to create a network of allies, be mentored by their peers and improve their selfconfidence. The school provides a place for the group to meet. The young people can go
there before class, during breaks, or at lunchtime for help with homework or just to
chat among themselves.
Some group activities (e.g. pizza lunch) are organized for key times during the year. The
purpose of these activities is to enable the students to form meaningful ties, but also to
give them a time when they can unwind during a stressful period, such as during exams.

Homework assistance: These homework assistance periods, offered before morning class
and at noontime, are supervised by the project worker, who can provide the students
with effective study and memorization strategies tailored to their personalities.

Action plan: An action plan is put together with every student so he or she can set clear
academic, social and personal goals, and means for achieving them. There is a more
informal action plan for the parents in order to determine the concrete actions to take
for them to support their child. The students and the parents sign a commitment form
in which the students, aware of their difficulties, pledge to work to overcome them,
and the parents, aware of their childs problems, commit to investing in supporting the
steps their child is undertaking.

Individual and group volunteering: In committing to the project, students agree to do

ten-or-so hours of volunteer work in their community or in school. Group volunteer
activities are also suggested throughout the year to enable them to get to know
themselves better, discover their strengths and venture out of their comfort zone. For
these activities, the group meets with a representative of the community organization
beforehand, who describes the organization and the activity to carry out. There is
follow-up at the next Petit-Matin gathering to enable the volunteers to give their
feedback about the experience. Individual volunteer involvement by the students is part
of the students action plan.

Workshops for the parents: The program coordinator schedules meetings to be held
every six weeks. The meetings are intended as a place for the parents to discuss and
share. A guest speaker talks about a subject related to the theme of parenthood
(parent-teenager relationships, addiction, parental authority, etc.).

Follow-up with the teachers: Teachers are provided follow-up so they can intervene
with students who have a silent profile. These briefings help the teachers see the

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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students strengths and the efforts they are making. Mediation meetings also take place
as needed to make the teacher-student relationship more harmonious and thereby
enable the students to focus on learning. This makes it easier for teachers to become
allies to whom the students can turn for solutions if need be.

Follow-up with peers (satellites): The students friends are also called on to contribute
because they greatly influence the participating students. They are invited to interact
with the participants and the project worker during group activities (pizza lunch).
Interventions, informal for the most part, involve helping the participants adopt a
positive attitude about school. This way the participants peers become their allies. It
may also happen that more formal individual interventions occur.

10) Resources Required:

Human resources:
o

CJE worker

Community partners and their teams (workshops, talks, volunteer opportunities)

School staff

Parents

Infrastructure
o

Space in the school for the project worker to meet with the students

Financial resources:
o

Financial contribution from the school

Financial contribution from the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi de DAutray-Joliette

Financial contribution from Runir Russir (R2)

11) Roles of the Participants:

CJE worker

Recruits eligible students;

Establishes an action plan with the student;

Ensures attentive and regular follow-up with each student and the students
parents;

Plans and moderates individual or group meetings with the students;

Plans and moderates individual or group meetings with the parents;

Ensures follow-up with school staff and the principal;

Invites community partners to luncheon events (Petit-Matin) and workshops for

parents;

Establishes group volunteer activities (make contacts with the partners, prepares
the young people, feedback).

Community partners
o

Participate in drafting the project;

Make their people available to moderate a talk or workshop for the students or
parents;

Provide the students with opportunities to volunteer;

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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Participate in the program financially.

School staff
o

Collaborate with the project worker to harmonize the action taken with the
students;

Keep the project worker informed so he/she can intervene quickly if need be.

Parents
o

Participate actively in the meetings with the project worker;

Commit to enhancing their relationship with their child;

Participate in group parent meetings and parent-themed workshops;

Commit to implementing the strategies that the worker has suggested for their
child.

Students
o

Commit to developing learning strategies and using the appropriate tools for being
effective students;

Work with the project worker to put together their customized action plan;

Attend and contribute to group meetings and Petits-Matins;

Do 10 hours of individual volunteer work and group volunteer work.

12) Scientific Basis or Validity:

Ensemble, on persvre encore plus! is an adaptation of the Check and Connect

program referred to in the Rapport du Groupe daction sur la persvrance et la
russite scolaires au Qubec (2009). According to this report, the program has proven
effective.

A few program statistics:

From 2010 to 2013, 31 young people participated in Ensemble, on persvre encore
plus!. Note that 84% of them were failing most subjects when they entered the
program. In the summer of 2014, 87% of the student participants graduated and 94%
achieved or surpassed their goals. If satellite students are considered, 74 students
met with the project worker during the above period.

13) Protective Factors or Determinants of Success:

There is a detailed description of protective factors in the Coffre outils (pp. 23-31) for
the Guide dlaboration dun plan daction de partenariat -F-C selon une approche
cosystmique, two documents available free of charge in the Guide et Coffre section of
the Coeuraction website.

Child/Student system:
o

Perception of abilities

Relationships with peers

Literacy skills

Family system:
o

Parents school participation

Importance of education within the family

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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Classroom system:
o

Teachers perceptions and attitudes

Community system:
o

Mobilization around the school and success in school

Extracurricular services

14) Project Material:

CREVALE website: intervention tools to use with the parents and the young people
http://www.crevale.org/

All prof website: learning strategies for the young people

www.alloprof.qc.ca

Bank of intervention tools of the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi de DAutray-Joliette (selfesteem, management of emotions, social skills, work-study balance, forms of
intelligence, etc.)

15) Additional Information:

The information in this factsheet was taken mainly from a phone interview with AnneMarie Lapointe, coordinator of the Ensemble, on persvre encore plus! program at
the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi de DAutray-Joliette.

Website: http://carrefourjeunesseemploi.org/2012/09/ensemble-on-persevere/

16) Contact:

Anne-Marie Lapointe
Coordinator, Ensemble, on persvre encore plus!
Carrefour jeunesse-emploi de DAutray-Joliette
580, rue Richard,
Joliette (Qubec) J6E 2T4 Tel. (CJE): (450) 755-2226, ext. 130
Tel. (School): (450) 758-3620, ext. 25368
Email: anne-marie.lapointe@cjeaj.qc.ca
http://carrefourjeunesseemploi.org/2012/09/lapointe-anne-marie/

This factsheet was taken from the following website: www.coeureaction.qc.ca.

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