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We investigate two research questions using a recent statewide transition from paper to computer-based testing: first, the extent to which test mode effects found in prior studies can be eliminated in large-scale administration; and second, the degree to which online and paper assessments offer different information about underlying student ability. In contrast to the first test transition in Massachusetts, we find very small mode effects for a more recent transition, which may be attributable to an additional step matching on observable characteristics in the equating process. Second, we investigate the predictive evidence of validity for paper and online tests for predictions of future test scores and grades. We generally find minimal differences for the extent to which scores on paper tests can differentially predict future online versus paper test scores. Finally, online and paper test scores are similarly predictive of future grade point average. We conclude that the online test penalty can vary substantially by test and that extreme care should be taken when administering online tests to some students and paper tests to others.

The purpose of this feasibility study was to examine the potential impact of reading digital interactive e-books, Word Knowledge e-books (WKe-Books), on essential skills that support reading comprehension with third-fifth grade students. Students (N= 425) read two WKe-Books, that taught word learning and comprehension monitoring strategies in the service of learning difficult vocabulary and targeted science concepts about hurricanes. We investigated whether specific comprehension strategies -- 1) word learning and strategies that supported general reading comprehension, 2) summarization, and 3) question generation, show promise of effectiveness in building vocabulary knowledge and comprehension skills in the WKe-Books. Students were assigned to read one of three versions of each of the two WKe-Books, each version implemented one strategy. The books employed a choose-your-adventure format with embedded comprehension questions that provided students with immediate feedback on their responses. Paired samples t-tests were run to examine pre-to-post differences in learning the targeted vocabulary and science concepts taught in both WKe-Books. For both WKe-Books, students demonstrated significant gains in word learning and on the targeted hurricane concepts. Additionally, Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) revealed that no one strategy was more associated with larger gains than the other. Performance on the embedded questions in the books was also associated with greater posttest outcomes for both WKe-Books. These findings suggest that the affordances offered by technology, which are unavailable in paper-based books, can effectively support students' development of reading-related skills, including strategy use. Further, this work discusses important considerations for implementation and future development of e-books that can enhance student engagement and improve reading comprehension. [This paper was published at "arXiv" 2024.]

Shifts in the visibility and recognition of LGBTQ+ identity have been accompanied by an evolution in understanding how educational policies, curricula, and environments impact well-being, health, and academic success. Since 2015, landmark decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court recognizing same-sex marriage and expansively defining sex under employment law have been joined by a retrenchment in public opinion as well as federal and state policy. This paradox of both increasing LGBTQ+ visibility and resistance toward LGBTQ+ acceptance has centered LGBTQ+ youth in political debates, with a particular focus on issues related to transgender and nonbinary youth. Historically, the literature on LGBTQ+ students in schools has focused on discrimination and poor social relationships, such as bullying, harassment, and victimization. While situated in a deficit-based framing, students' reports of negative school environments and their connection to poor academic and health outcomes provide the motivation for policymakers, educators, parents, and other educational stakeholders to invest in structural and social reform efforts. The law has played a prominent role in both the expansion and retrenchment of students' civil rights in schools, and this has been true for LGBTQ+ students. LGBTQ+ students have experienced many favorable but fluctuating rulings in many courts, so school officials would be wise to keep apprised of the evolving decisions in their jurisdictions. Educational stakeholders should familiarize themselves with the legal landscape, advocate for inclusive and protective state and local policies, ensure that local district practices protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and harassment in schools, leverage LGBTQ+-inclusive community organizations and resources, participate in trainings to improve inclusive school practices, and build LGBTQ+-inclusive facilities, teaching practices, and social supports for youth. [This paper was published.]

Purpose: A prior randomized trial found a school social intervention yielded significantly better outcomes (social and autism features) immediately following intervention compared to typical school programming (services-as-usual [SAU]) for children on the autism spectrum. In that study, children in the SAU condition subsequently completed a summer social intervention. This study tested longer-term maintenance of effects for children who completed both interventions. Methods: A total of 103 children (ages 6-12 years) on the autism spectrum enrolled and 102 completed the initial RCT. Following the summer social intervention, 90 children from the original RCT completed the longer-term follow-up study. In addition to baseline and posttest in the initial RCT, children from both groups were tested at three follow-up points (five total testing points). At the time of first longitudinal follow-up testing, the children were 1.25-4.25 years post-intervention (ages 8-15 years). Results: Longitudinal multilevel model analyses (and follow-up contrasts) revealed significant improvements for both groups post-intervention on measures of emotion recognition, autism features, and social skills, indicating maintenance of post-intervention improvements over the three follow-up testing points. No between-group differences were found for autism features or social skills over time; however, the school social intervention may have yielded somewhat better emotion recognition skills. Exploratory tests found that child IQ, language level, and length of time since completing the intervention did not moderate outcomes. Conclusion: Both social interventions yielded positive and durable longer-term improvements for children on the autism spectrum. [This paper will be published in "Journal of Autism and Development Disorders."]

Conditional process models, including moderated mediation models and mediated moderation models, are widely used in behavioral science research. However, few studies have examined approaches to conduct statistical power analysis for such models and there is also a lack of software packages that provide such power analysis functionalities. In this paper, we introduce new simulation-based methods for power analysis of conditional process models with a focus on moderated mediation models. These simulation-based methods provide intuitive ways for sample-size planning based on regression coefficients in a moderated mediation model as well as selected variance and covariance components. We demonstrate how the methods can be applied to five commonly used moderated mediation models using a simulation study, and we also assess the performance of the methods through the five models. We implement our approaches in the WebPower R package and also in Web apps to ease their application. [This is the online version of an article published in "Behavior Research Methods."]

Motivating today's adolescents to read is a challenge. This article discusses the kinds of literacy instructional practices that leverage what we know about adolescent motivation. It also reviews several evidence-based literacy interventions designed to engage and motivate adolescent readers that can potentially lead to improvements in student reading motivation and academic outcomes. [This paper will be published in "Phi Delta Kappan."]

Effective classroom management is critical to supporting student learning and success in school. However, little research has focused specifically on the impact of classroom management on student mathematics achievement, especially in the early elementary grades or in a small group (i.e., Tier 2) context. To address this need we investigated the relationship between classroom management and student mathematics achievement within the context of ROOTS, a validated Tier 2 kindergarten mathematics intervention taught by paraprofessionals (Clarke et al., 2012). Results show that the quality of classroom management within the ROOTS intervention predicted gains in student mathematics achievement from pretest to posttest. These findings have critical implications for practitioners, including the importance of integrating effective classroom management techniques into Tier 2 mathematics intervention groups and supporting paraprofessionals' knowledge and use of effective classroom management. [This paper will be published in "Psychology in the Schools."]

The goal of the current pilot study was to examine the effects of bystander intervention training on a sample of 27 high school students who were selected by their peers as opinion leaders. Measures of bystander intervention knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors were included in the within-subjects design. Sixteen of the students also participated in focus groups to provide feedback about their experiences with the training. Results showed that participating students reported increases in knowledge about bullying and sexual harassment, confidence in intervening, acceptance of responsibility, knowing what to do, and acting to intervene (including direct intervention, providing support, and reporting to an adult) from pre-to posttest. Themes from focus groups indicated that students found the training relevant and helpful, particularly for focusing on both bullying and sexual harassment and for providing opportunities to learn and practice multiple intervention strategies. Barriers to intervening based on the type of violence (e.g., physical vs. relational or verbal) and relationship with the people involved were also themes. Directions for future research and implications for practice, such as focusing on dissemination to the larger student body and implementing bystander intervention training within the context of a positive school climate that emphasizes social and emotional competencies, are discussed. [This paper will be published in "Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion."]

Objective: The study examined the effects of therapeutic alliance (TA; relational bond, task collaboration) on externalizing behavior outcomes, how TA can operate differently when children are seen in individual versus group sessions, and how therapist-child disagreement in perceptions of TA affects outcomes. Method: 360 children (ages 9.2 to 11.8; 65% male; 78.1% Black) identified as having high rates of aggressive behavior by 4th grade teachers, and their 20 elementary schools were randomized to group versus individual delivery of the cognitive-behavioral intervention, Coping Power. TA ratings were collected from children and therapists at mid and end of intervention using the Therapeutic Alliance Scale for Children. Teacher ratings of children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems were collected prior to intervention and at one-year follow-up after intervention using the Behavior Assessment System for Children. Results: Children receiving the intervention individually reported significantly higher trait-like levels of task-collaboration than did children seen in groups. Independent of intervention format, higher trait-like levels of therapist-rated bond and task-collaboration predicted reduced levels of externalizing problems, and higher trait-like levels of child- and therapist-rated task-collaboration and therapist-rated bond predicted reduced levels of internalizing problems. Differences between therapist and child reports of bond predicted weaker reductions in internalizing behavior for children seen in groups. Conclusions: It is essential to train therapists to develop and assess for TA by mid-intervention with children with aggressive behavior problems, especially if they are seen in small groups, and to determine if therapists may misperceive the strength of TA. [This paper was published in "Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology" v92 n1 p26-43 2024.]

Causal-formative indicators are often used in social science research. To achieve identification in causal-formative indicator modeling, constraints need to be applied. A conventional method is to constrain the weight of a formative indicator to be 1. The selection of which indicator to have the fixed weight, however, may influence statistical inferences of the structural path coefficients from the causal-formative construct to outcomes. Another conventional method is to use equal weights (e.g., 1) and assumes that all indicators equally contribute to the latent construct, which can be a strong assumption. To address the limitations of the conventional methods, we proposed an alternative constraint method, in which the sum of the weights is constrained to be a constant. We analytically studied the relations and interpretations of structural path coefficients from the constraint methods, and the results showed that the proposed method yields better interpretations of path coefficients. Simulation studies were conducted to compare the performance of the weight constraint methods in causal-formative indicator modeling with one or two outcomes. Results showed that higher biases in the path coefficient estimates were observed from the conventional methods compared to the proposed method. The proposed method had ignorable bias and satisfactory coverage rates in the studied conditions. This study emphasizes the importance of using an appropriate weight constraint method in causal-formative indicator modeling. [This paper will be published in "Behavioral Research Methods."]

The current research used the Proficient Academic Reader (PAR) framework to explore whether reading strategies, task awareness, and motivation predicted college students' literacy skills over and above foundational skills (e.g., decoding, vocabulary). Specifically, the current research investigated the unique contribution of the PAR constructs to literacy performance across two studies with two different samples of college students. In study one, college students completed assessments of bridging and elaborative reading strategies, task awareness, motivation (intrinsic motivation and competence beliefs), foundational skills, and literacy performance at the beginning of the semester. In study two, college students completed the same assessments at the beginning and end of a reading study and strategies course. Across both studies, students' task awareness and motivation were significantly predictive of their literacy performance over and above foundational skills. Results from study one indicated that elaborative reading strategies uniquely predicted college students' literacy performance. Results from study two indicated that elaborative strategies did not predict literacy performance at time one, however, they predicted literacy performance at time two. Exploratory analyses showed that the relation of motivation to literacy performance was moderated by students' enrollment in developmental education courses. Additionally, motivation, elaborative reading strategies, and task awareness partially mediated the relation of foundational skills to literacy performance, suggesting modifications to the original PAR model. These findings support using the PAR framework to understand college reading readiness. Additional randomized controlled trial intervention studies are warranted to explore if factors of the PAR framework are malleable to classroom instruction. [This paper was published in "Reading and Writing."]

Background: Research has been inconclusive as to whether stimulant treatment causes or exacerbates sleep problems in adolescents with ADHD. This study examined sleep differences in adolescents with ADHD as a function of stimulant use. Methods: Participants were adolescents with ADHD (N=159, ages 12-14). Parents reported on receipt of stimulant treatment (n=92, 57.86%; n=47 amphetamines, n=45 methylphenidate). Adolescents wore actigraphs and completed daily diaries assessing sleep and daily use of stimulants for two weeks. Sleep parameters included daily-reported bedtime, sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep duration, daytime sleepiness, and difficulty waking the following morning; and actigraphy-measured sleep onset time, total time in bed, and sleep efficiency. We estimated between- and within-individual associations between stimulant medication use and sleep indices with all stimulants, after removing adolescents using sleep aids and weekend days, and as a function of stimulant type. Results: Adolescent sleep did not differ between those receiving and not receiving stimulant treatment. Within individuals using stimulants, we largely observed no significant differences between medicated and unmedicated days, though findings were most often significant for school days only. Small effects were found indicating longer SOL, later sleep onset time, and more daytime sleepiness related to medication use. In contrast, there were slight improvements to sleep duration and sleep efficiency related to methylphenidate use, though methylphenidate was also associated with later sleep onset time and more daytime sleepiness. Conclusions: Given the inconsistent and small effects, findings suggest that stimulant medication may impact sleep, but does not appear to be a primary contributor to sleep problems in adolescents with ADHD. [This paper was published in "European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry" v33 n3 p821-832 2024.]

The current prospective longitudinal study evaluated brooding rumination as an intervening mechanism of the association between COVID-19-related stress and internalizing symptoms during the first year of the pandemic. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) status and adolescent sex were tested as moderators of the indirect effect. Adolescents with and without ADHD (N=238; Mage = 16.74) completed rating scales of COVID-19 stress and both adolescents and parents completed ratings scales of internalizing symptoms in May/June 2020 (T1). In October/November 2020 (T2), adolescents reported on their brooding rumination. Adolescents and parents reported on internalizing symptoms again in March/April 2021 (T3). Covariates included participant characteristics and baseline symptoms. T1 self-reported COVID-19-related stress was associated with increased T3 self-reported anxiety (ab = 0.10), self-reported depression (ab = 0.07), and parent-reported depression (ab = 0.09) via T2 brooding rumination. The indirect effect did not differ for adolescents with and without ADHD or for female and male adolescents. Brooding rumination may be one mechanism to target in order to promote the mental health adjustment of adolescents during periods of high stress of the COVID-19 pandemic. [This paper was published in "Child Psychiatry and Human Development" v55 n2 p531-540 2024.]

In the present study we examined the contributions of transcription and foundational oral language skills to written composition outcomes in a sample of kindergartners. Two hundred and eighty-two kindergarten students from 49 classrooms participated in this study. Children's writing-related skills were examined using various tasks. Latent structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that transcription moderates the relation between foundational oral language and compositional productivity and quality for kindergarten writers. This hypothesis is one possible manifestation of the Developmental Constraints Hypothesis (DCH). In support of the DCH, transcription had a strong constraining effect on both composition quality and productivity. Additionally, transcription moderated the relation between foundational oral language skills and composition quality, although the moderation was negative. There was no signification moderation of transcription on the foundational oral language-composition productivity relation. Implications of the findings and future directions are discussed including challenges assessing composition in young, beginning writers. [This paper was published in "Early Childhood Research Quarterly" v67 p227-238 2024.]

Exclusionary discipline practices differentially harm young children of color. As early childhood education systems seek to close these gaps to ensure all young children have access to high quality early learning experiences, the field requires more evidence-based approaches that can be scaled and replicated. Infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) has been associated with lower rates of preschool expulsion; but the field lacks clear guidance on the essential elements of high quality IECMHC. Without such guidance, researchers cannot build a credible evidence base for the causal link between IECMHC and exclusionary discipline. An interdisciplinary research team, with support from the national Center for Excellence in IECMHC, led a consensus-building process to identify the essential activities of IECMHC as implemented across settings. The three-stage Delphi Process resulted in a list of five essential elements and 26 activities that define IECMHC and make concrete its emphasis on relationships and equity. This greater clarity around the activities of IECMHC can help inform future research and evaluation, as well as workforce and professional development. [This paper was published in "Early Childhood Research Quarterly" v66 p24-33 2024.]

In this study, we identified the specific discipline decision situations (i.e., vulnerable decision points [VDPs]) that contribute most to racial discipline disparities from a sample of 2020 schools across the United States. We also examined how much VDPs contributed to overall discipline disparities and the extent which there was similarity among the strongest VDPs within each school. Last, we directly compared the VDP that contributed most to disparities in each school to situations with the highest rates of office discipline referrals (ODRs) to identify the extent of agreement with overall school discipline patterns. We found the most common VDPs within schools to be subjective behaviors (e.g., defiance, disruption) in classrooms throughout the day, with ODRs for physical aggression contributing notably to disparities among the top ten VDPs. The strongest single VDP accounted for an average of 17% of racial disparities across the school and the top three VDPs accounted for 37% of disparities. The strongest three VDPs within schools also were remarkably consistent across behavior and location. Finally, there was moderate agreement between situations with the most ODRs and those with the strongest racial disparities, with 63% of schools in the sample having VDPs identical to their situations with most ODRs. In the absence of prescriptive analysis of their own school data, the results of this study provide school leaders and intervention researchers with more precise, promising targets for intervention to increase educational equity. [This paper was published in "Journal of School Psychology" v102 Article 101259 2024.]

Following a randomized controlled trial that showed effectiveness of an equity-centered positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) professional development intervention on student discipline in elementary schools, we studied the extent to which the intervention had differential effects on individual teachers' use of exclusionary discipline. Using the sample of teachers from the randomized controlled trial (n = 348), we assessed whether (a) changes in teacher use of office discipline referrals over the course of 2 school years and (b) intervention acceptability were moderated by teacher demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, experience) or teacher attitudes (e.g., awareness of biases and commitment to equity). Results from multilevel models using two discipline outcomes (i.e., office discipline referrals issued to Black students and equity in office discipline referrals) did not show significant moderation effects for any demographic or attitude variables. Results of intervention acceptability found that teachers with pre-existing commitments to bias reduction found the intervention more acceptable, although means were consistently high across the sample. Findings indicate that the intervention was similarly effective on teacher discipline practices, regardless of teacher demographics or pre-existing attitudes, lending more support to the intervention's promise. [This paper will be published in "Journal of School Psychology."]

Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Islamophobia became increasingly visible across the U.S, impacting anyone perceived to be Muslim. Despite being named after a religion, Islamophobia is a racial ideology predominantly targeting people of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) descent. In this qualitative study, the author explores how MENASA students navigated their college campuses in the period shortly following the 2016 election through examining the ways in which MENASA-focused cultural centers provided spaces of inclusion and belonging. I find that processes of racial formation and panethnic identity formation influenced the experiences of MENASA students in this period. Students demonstrated both a clear sense of racialization outside of whiteness, and the beginnings of panethnic identity formation across groups. These findings are situated in the particular temporal context of college-aged adults who both experienced 9/11 as young children and the 2016 presidential election in early adulthood. [This paper will be published in "Innovative Higher Education."]

More research is needed to understand the effects of school-based mindfulness programs in the years before adolescence, which represent a critical juncture and transitional period of development. The present study investigated mindfulness with elementary school students using random assignment and objective measures. The sample included 292 5th graders from 21 classrooms randomly assigned to an 8-week mindfulness training or wait-list control group. Students were assessed at pre- and post-intervention on behavioral measures of executive functioning and teacher-rated social emotional competence, along with end of year social-emotional learning report card grades. Analyses using hierarchal linear modeling found that students in the intervention group demonstrated significant gains on a computerized task of cognitive flexibility, and end of year social-emotional learning grades controlling for prior year grades, but not teacher reported social emotional competence. Taken together these findings point to a simple, yet promising method for bolstering students' cognitive and social emotional skills. [This paper will be published in "Applied Developmental Science."]