Fund to Support At risk Communities in Panama

• In 2024, 446 studentes ages 5 to 12, from kindergarten to sixth grade at CEBG MARÍA LA TORRE, in rural Chilibre of Panama Province in Panamá, received the Second Step Program. 91%  of the boys and girls participating in the Second Step Program were evaluated pre and post intervention to measure the results of the Program, according to the teachers; or 406 students, a sample of boys and girls was selected to evaluate whether the difficulties observed by teachers before the intervention improved after the implementation of the first year of the Step Forward Program and whether prosocial behavior improved.
• Of the sample, 211 (52%) are girls and 195 ( 48% ) are boysParticipants in the Paso Adelante Program have been evaluated pre- and post-intervention to measure the results of the Program, by the teachers of each grade using the Skills and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ in English).

• The Theory of Changeaims to increase students' social and academic success and reduce behavioral problems by promoting social-emotional competence and self-regulation skills. The Paso Adelante Program is a universal, research-based program designed for classroom use to: Increase students' academic success, Reduce problem behaviors and to promote socio-emotional competence and self-regulation

• " 375 CHILDREN (92%) HAVE A NORMAL SCORE ON THE EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS SCALE, 15 CHILDREN (3.7%) HAVE SCORES ON THE BORDERLINE AND 16 CHILDREN (3.9%) OBTAINED AN ABNORMAL SCORE OR HAD EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS" POST IMPLEMENTATION.

• "328 CHILDREN (81%) HAVE A NORMAL SCORE ON THE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS SCALE, 27 CHILDREN (7%) HAVE BORDERLINE SCORES AND 51 CHILDREN (12%) HAVE AN ABNORMAL SCORE OR HAVE BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS" POST IMPLEMENTATION.

• " 330 CHILDREN (81%) HAVE A NORMAL SCORE ON THE HYPERACTIVITY SCALE, 31 CHILDREN (8%) HAVE BORDERLINE SCORES AND 45 CHILDREN (11%) HAVE AN ABNORMAL SCORE OR HAVE HYPERACTIVITY PROBLEMS" IN THE FIRST YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION.

• " 363 CHILDREN (89%) HAVE A NORMAL SCORE ON THE PROBLEMS WITH PEERS SCALE, 17 CHILDREN (4%) HAVE SCORES ON THE BORDERLINE AND 26 CHILDREN (6%) HAVE AN ABNORMAL SCORE OR PROBLEMS WITH PEERS" IN THE FIRST YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION.

• Before the Program 302 Children (74%) had a Normal Difficulty Score , after the intervention 326 children (80%) had a Normal Score (a 6% improvement)
• 49 Children (12%) had a Borderline Score at the beginning of the Program and now 35 children (9%) have a Borderline score (3% improvement)
• Before the Program, 55 children (13%) had an abnormal score; now, 45 children (11%) have an abnormal score, which gives us an early warning to treat or refer them separately. (2% improvement)

  After establishing the Population Profile in the Year 2024 of the Program, 11% of the children evaluated require differentiated attention to improve Difficulties in the Alert Level and 9% of the children are at the Borderline Level.

Links:

• Teacher Training on Second Step Program
• New Teachers Trained on Second Step Program

• March 28th, 2025 Report (English Versiion) (PDF)