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Middle school brings rapid developmental changes for adolescents, and parent engagement is as essential as ever. However, what worked for parent-teacher partnerships in elementary school doesn't fit so well in middle school. Adolescents are building their autonomy, and teachers must help empower parents' efforts to bolster students as independent learners through academic socialization. The authors explore how a brief texting intervention might build trust between teachers and parents, empower parents to support their children, and contribute to students' confidence and belonging in school. Results indicate that brief communications sent by text may bolster parent engagement efforts in middle school.

Academic cheating occurs frequently in schools. Cheating is a deliberative act, in that students make a conscious decision to engage in academic dishonesty. Students' achievement goals, which are malleable, often guide the ways that students make such decisions. Educators can incorporate various instructional practices and support academic policies that enhance positive motivational beliefs (e.g., mastery goals), potentially reducing academic dishonesty.

Background: There is much interest in assessing growth in student learning. Assessments of growth have important implications and affect many policy decisions at many levels. Aims: In the present article, we review some of the different approaches to measuring growth and examine the implications of their usage. Sample: Samples used in research on growth models typically include students enrolled in public schools that primarily serve kindergarten through the 12th grade. Method: Definitions of growth and gain are reviewed, and five types of growth models are examined: (1) Student Gain Score Model, (2) The Covariate Adjustment Model, (3) The Student Percentile Gain Model--referred to as single-wave value-added models, (4) Univariate Value-Added Response Models, and (5) Multivariate Value-Added Response Models. Results: Modelling approaches are vastly different, whereas Student Gain Models are mathematically and conceptually simple, Multivariate Models are highly complex. Conclusion: Educators assessing growth must make critical decisions about measurement. The type of instrument that is selected and the type of analytic techniques selected are of great importance. Growth must be considered from technical, pedagogical, and policy perspectives.

"Mastery is a term that all educators use and believe they understand well. But when pressed to describe precisely what it means to 'master' a concept, skill, or subject, everyone has a different definition," assert Thomas R. Guskey and Eric M. Anderson. The father of the mastery learning approach, Benjamin S. Bloom, left the definition of mastery to individual teachers and schools, believing that decisions about what level of student performance represents true mastery involve value judgments and are best made at the local level. Although in many contexts mastery is defined as attainment of a specific percentage correct, in practice it's not that simple: a more important consideration is the cognitive complexity of the assessment questions students are required to answer or the difficulty of the tasks they are required to perform. Therefore, setting the level of mastery should always involve the thoughtful and informed professional judgment of educators, ideally working collaboratively.

Violence directed against K-12 teachers is a serious problem that demands the immediate attention of researchers, providers of teacher pre-service and in-service training, school administrators, community leaders, and policymakers. Surprisingly, little research has been conducted on this growing problem despite the broad impact teacher victimization can have on schooling, recruitment, and retention of highly effective teachers and on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Psychologists should play a leadership role in mitigating school violence, including violence directed toward teachers. There is a need for psychologists to conduct research accurately assessing the types and scope of violence that teachers experience; to comprehensively evaluate the individual, classroom, school, community, institutional, and cultural contextual factors that might predict and/or explain types of teacher violence; and to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of classroom, school, and district-wide prevention and intervention strategies that target teacher violence in school systems. Collectively, the work of psychologists in this area could have a substantial impact on schooling, teacher experience and retention, and overall student performance.

In this article, we examine the relations of value-added models of measuring academic achievement to student motivation. Using an achievement goal orientation theory perspective, we argue that value-added models, which focus on the progress of individual students over time, are more closely aligned with research on student motivation than are more traditional approaches to measuring achievement in a high-stakes testing environment. Although differing approaches to value-added assessment have been proposed, the core elements of the models are similar. We propose that the assessment data provided by value-added models has the potential to positively affect academic motivation, particularly when viewed through the lens of goal orientation theory.

Using cluster analysis to combine specific adaptive measures related to mastery motivation (intrinsic motivation, self-adequacy, and locus of control), a total of 654 high school students were placed into distinct adaptive motivation groups. Mean scores on a variety of self-reported and peer-reported measures of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and academic functioning were compared across the groups. Results found that youth in the "high adaptive" motivation group reported significantly higher global and family satisfaction, self-esteem, interpersonal relations, grade-point average and school belonging, and significantly lower depression, anxiety and social stress than youth in the other two motivation groups. Peer-reported prosocial and academic behaviors were significantly related to higher levels of adaptive motivation. Collectively, these findings suggest a number of psychological, social, and academic benefits that are associated with incremental levels of adaptive motivation. The implications of these findings for research and practice conclude the paper.

Two surveys examined role of present and possible future academic selves in sixth through eighth graders. Results indicated that positive present and future academic self-concepts related to positive changes in grade point average from sixth to seventh grade. A present good-student self-concept related positively to performance and mastery goals. A future good-student self-concept related positively only to performance goals. (Author/KB)

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study and applying hierarchical linear modeling, this study found a strong gap in achievement in math and science between adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD). The gap was reduced for LD adolescents who did not make a school transition until at least ninth grade. (DB)

Background: Adolescents who begin high school with a poor record of academic performance are often at risk for developing maladaptive academic behaviors, which can impede academic success in the long run. Objective: Guided by the substantial literature on the academic and motivational benefits of adolescents' conversations, this study examined the differential effects of having conversations with different socializers. This study aims to identify consolidated and generalizable effects of various sources of support in adolescent lives and contribute to educational practice for adolescent academic adaptation by examining multiple types of socializers using a large nationally representative sample. Methods: Adolescents' conversations about course-taking and personal issues with mothers, fathers, teachers, friends, and school counselors were examined for their potential buffering roles in the relationship between GPA and maladaptive academic behaviors. Data from 22,940 students (49.22% female, 9th through 11th-grade) in 690 U.S. schools from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) were analyzed using multiple regression analyses that incorporated longitudinal sampling weights and adjusted for clustering within schools. Results: Conversations with friends about personal issues during the 9th-grade year predicted greater subsequent maladaptive academic behavior. Students with lower 9th-grade GPAs were more likely to utilize maladaptive academic behaviors during the 11th-grade. This association, however, was less strong when students had conversations about either course-taking or personal issues with their teachers. Conclusion: Adolescent-teacher conversations about academic and personal issues can buffer against the development of maladaptive academic behaviors during high school, particularly for students who are experiencing academic challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses theoretical concepts from self-efficacy theory, goal theory, expectancy value, and intrinsic motivation theory as a way to organize the vast and largely atheoretical literature on academic cheating. Specifically, it draws on 3 particular questions that students encounter when deciding whether to cheat: (a) What is my purpose?, (b) Can I do this task?, and (c) What are the costs associated with cheating? This article reviews both experimental and nonexperimental evidence related to each of these questions and offers suggestions for future research and instructional practices that will lessen the likelihood of cheating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in students' achievement values in mathematics and reading were examined in a sample of children and early adolescents. Hierarchical linear modeling techniques were used to account for both classroom- and student-level effects. At the student level, positive changes in students achievement values were associated positively with self-concept of ability and the previous year's achievement values in both reading and oath. Measures of teachers' mastery- and performance-oriented instructional practices were included in the full HLM model. Students experienced decrements in achievement values, after controlling for other student and classroom-level variables, in classrooms where performance-oriented instructional practices were used. In the full model, self-concept of ability was related positively to increases in achievement values, whereas gender was unrelated to changes in achievement values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggression and violence against educators and school personnel have raised public health concerns that require attention from researchers, policymakers, and training providers in U.S. schools. School aggression and violence have negative effects on school personnel health and retention and on student achievement and development. In partnership with several national organizations, the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on Violence Against Educators and School Personnel administered two national, multi-informant, cross-sectional surveys. Time 1 data were collected in 2020–2021 from 14,966 respondents; participants reflected on their experiences of violence and aggression before COVID-19 and during COVID-19 restrictions in this survey. One year later, in 2022, 11,814 respondents completed the Time 2 survey after COVID-19 restrictions ended. Participants included teachers, school psychologists, social workers, counselors, staff members, and administrators from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Rates of violence and aggression directed against educators by students, parents, colleagues, and administrators were substantial before COVID-19, were lower during COVID-19 restrictions, and returned to prepandemic levels or higher after COVID-19 restrictions. After COVID-19 restrictions, 22%–80% of respondents reported verbal or threatening aggression, and 2%–56% of respondents reported physical violence at least once during the year, varying by stakeholder role and aggressor. Rates of intentions to quit the profession ranged from 21% to 43% during COVID-19 restrictions (2020–2021) and from 23% to 57% after COVID-19 restrictions (2021–2022), varying by stakeholder role. Participants across roles reported substantial rates of anxiety and stress, especially during and after COVID-19 restrictions, and identified specific training needs. Implications for theory, research, training, and policy are presented. Public Significance Statement: Aggression and violence against educators and school personnel and educator shortages are public health and educational issues that require attention, particularly in the context of recent trends surrounding COVID-19. This study describes new results that highlight violence and aggression before the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–2020), during COVID-19 restrictions (2020–2021), and after COVID-19 restrictions (2021–2022) for teachers, school psychologists, school social workers, counselors, school staff members, and administrators. Recommendations are provided to promote school safety and advance the field in theory, research, training, and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declines in students' achievement motivation across the transition to middle school may be explained by characteristics of both the academic and social environment of the new school. This study proposes that students' sense of belonging in middle school and their endorsement of social responsibility, relationship, and status goals in that setting should explain, in part, changes in their achievement goal orientations between 5th and 6th grades. Longitudinal survey data from 660 students indicated that, on average, endorsement of personal task goals declined, whereas endorsement of ability goals increased across the transition. Increases in task goal orientation were associated with perceiving both a task and an ability goal structure in 6th grade classes, along with sense of school belonging. and endorsing responsibility goals. Increases in ability goal orientation were associated positively with perceiving an ability goal structure in classes, with relationship and status goals, and negatively with school belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of the present study was to identify different subgroups of perfectionists and how perfectionism group-membership is related to achievement goals and to five educational outcomes (i.e., school satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, school burnout and academic achievement). The sample comprised 667 undergraduate students (63.3% female, 36.6% male, and 0.1% gender unidentified). Results of a latent profile analysis indicated that a four-group model of perfectionists provided the best fitting model; the four groups represented: adaptive perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists, mixed perfectionists, and non-perfectionists. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relations between membership in the subgroups of perfectionism and achievement goals, in predicting educational outcomes. Interactions of perfectionism group-membership by achievement goals also were examined. The findings showed that the interaction of membership in the mixed perfectionist group with mastery-avoidance goals predicted compensation, and the interaction of membership in the mixed perfectionist group with performance-approach goals predicted exhaustion. This study highlights the importance of considering both students' perfectionism and achievement goals when designing programs to increase their well-being and academic success during their time at college. • Four subgroups of perfectionists are identified: adaptive, maladaptive, mixed, and non-perfectionists • Membership in perfectionism classifications and achievement goals are associated with various educational outcomes • One third of the students belonging to maladaptive and mixed perfectionist group might be at risk of low school well-being [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of achievement goal theory research reveal that a perceived mastery goal structure is consistently associated with positive student outcomes. Yet relatively little research has examined the conditional effects of mastery goal structure. Within the context of health education, we investigated whether the relations of mastery goal structure to a student's motivation to learn would be moderated by individual differences in the enjoyment and engagement of effortful cognitive activity—the need for cognition (NC). Data were collected from 660 high school students at two time points during semester-long health education courses. Consistent with our predictions, results indicate that the relation between mastery goal structure and increases in students' academic self-concept and values over time is stronger for low NC students and weaker for high NC students. The present study bridges applied research on classroom motivation with basic attitudes research—demonstrating that students' motivation to learn is a joint function of their perceptions of achievement-related messages provided by teachers and preferences for engaging in cognitively demanding activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]