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INTRODUCTION: Longitudinal research examining the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) school closures on the mental health of adolescents is scarce. Prolonged periods of physical and social isolation because of such restrictions may have impacted heavily on adolescents' mental health and loneliness. METHODS: The current study addresses a major gap by examining the impact of school closures on the mental health and loneliness of 785, 10- to 17-year-old Western Australian adolescents (mean age = 14.1, SD = 1.31), who were surveyed across four time points: twice before COVID-19, once as schools closed, and once post reopening of schools. Pre- and post-COVID-19 changes in mental health and loneliness were compared using linear mixed models. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) assessed temporal associations between loneliness, depression symptoms, and positive mental wellbeing. RESULTS: Compared with pre-COVID-19 symptom levels, there were significant increases in depression symptoms, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and a significant decrease in positive mental wellbeing at different points over time. Symptom change over time differed according to gender and pre-COVID-19 symptom severity. Significant increases in positive attitudes towards being alone and feelings of isolation occurred at different points over time. Gender differences were evident. RI-CLPMs highlighted the predictive significance of friendship quality and having a negative attitude towards being alone over time in relation to depression symptoms. A positive or negative attitude towards being alone was predictive of positive mental wellbeing over time. CONCLUSION: Findings provide evidence that COVID-19-related school closures adversely affected adolescents' mental health and feelings of loneliness.

BACKGROUND: The impact of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic school lockdowns on the mental health problems and feelings of loneliness of adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) is hypothesized to be greater than that of their non-NDD peers. This two and a half year longitudinal study compared changes in the mental health and loneliness of Western Australian adolescents pre-COVID-19 (November 2018 and April 2019), immediately prior to COVID-19 school lockdowns (March 2020), and post schools reopening (July/August 2020). METHODS: An age-and-gender matched sample of 476 adolescents with-or-without NDDs completed online assessments for mental health and loneliness. RESULTS: Adolescents with NDDs reported elevated levels of adverse mental health across all four waves of data collection. These young people experienced little change in mental health problems and feelings of loneliness over time, and any increase during school lockdowns returned to, or fell below pre-COVID-19 levels once schools reopened. In comparison, adolescents without NDDs experienced significant increases from a low baseline in depression symptoms, externalizing symptoms, feelings of isolation, and having a positive attitude to being alone, and evidenced a significant decline in positive mental wellbeing. Quality of friendships were unaffected by COVID-19 school lockdowns for all adolescents regardless of NDD status. Of the adolescents with NDDs, those with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder reported a significant increase in positive mental wellbeing following school lockdowns. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with NDDs emerged relatively unscathed from COVID-19 school lockdowns and the short term impacts associated with these were not maintained over time. These findings should be considered in the context of this study's geographical location and the unpredictability of school lockdowns. Learning to live with school lockdowns into the future may be a critical element for further investigati

This article provides an organizational review of content literacy instructional strategies to forward a claim that some strategies work better for surface learning, whereas others are more effective for deep learning and still others for transfer learning. The authors argue that the failure to adopt content literacy strategies by disciplinary teachers may be due, in part, to the mismatch between the approach and the level of learning expected.

Success in tertiary studies is often measured using quality indicators (e.g. grade point average) and completion rates. These measures are particularly difficult to use in many non‐degree programmes where completion can be very low (often due to high levels of mobility across institutions and in and out of the workforce). This study uses student achievement and demographic data from a large New Zealand polytechnic to provide an alternative method for determining success, which then allows comparisons across programmes and institutions regardless of differences in grading scales and completion rates. Furthermore, by instituting this new method it is possible to identify more precisely the groups of students who are at the greatest risk of failure while identifying programmes that require further investigation regarding low achievement and/or low completion rates. It is suggested that this model is widely applicable across different educational systems. Implications for educational policy makers are discussed.