Search

Teacher-directed violence, or violence found in a school setting that involves teacher victimization (Espelage et al. in "The American Psychologist," 68(2), 75-87, 2011), is a relatively new area of study in education. Teacher-directed violence or teacher victimization includes obscene gestures/remarks, harassment, verbal threats, and theft of personal property. Research on the topic began in the past decade, but still there is limited information about teacher-directed violence, particularly in the USA. Researchers need to understand how much and what types of violence teachers are subjected to in order to develop policy reform (Espelage et al. in "The American Psychologist," 68(2), 75-87, 2011). Additionally, research has not examined how teachers cope after experiencing violence, such as to whom teachers turn for social support after experiencing violence, and if social support is effective in helping them cope. The current study examined type and frequency of teacher-directed violence, to whom teachers go to for social support, and the frequency of support from different sources, as well as perceived social support of teachers who experience teacher-directed violence compared to teachers who do not experience violence. This study also examined stress related to teacher-directed violence. Results revealed that teachers experience verbal violence most often, teachers go to another teacher or spouse/significant other for support, and there were no significant differences in stress for teachers who did and did not experience teacher-directed violence.

Some evidence suggests that teachers may have a negative bias against and be less accurate in academic judgments of students with behavioral characteristics of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Thus, examining the accuracy of their judgments is an important area of investigation. The current study examined the accuracy of teachers' judgments on curriculum-based measures (CBM) of reading, math, and writing for students with and without characteristics of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Participants included 72 elementary students, 30 with characteristics of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity (IIH group) and 42 without these characteristics (comparison group). Overall, there were no major differences between groups in teachers' accuracy. Regarding indirect judgments (i.e., ratings of academic skills on a rating scale), teachers' ratings were positively related to reading- and math-CBM for both groups. There were few significant differences in teacher judgments between the groups of students with and without symptoms of IIH on indirect ratings of achievement, but when examining overestimation and accuracy of direct ratings, a different picture emerged. Teachers overestimated performance on reading for both groups (75 and 43 words, comparison and IIH, respectively); however, this difference was not statistically significant. For math, teachers overestimated for both groups (7.5 and 11.5 points, comparison and IIH, respectively) and they overestimated significantly more for the comparison group.

The current study further establishes the reliability and validity of the Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ), a self-report survey that allows for an examination of participation in various bullying participant role behaviors including bully, assistant to the bully, victim, defender of the victim, and outsider. The study included 801 sixth- through eighth-grade students. The results of the study confirmed a five-factor structure (Bully, Assistant, Victim, Defender, and Outsider). Internal consistency of the subscales was high and item-subscale correlations were all significant and moderate to high. Correlations among the BPBQ subscales and with additional measures, including the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Self-Report of Personality (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004), the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), and an unpublished victim measure (Demaray & Malecki, 2003), provided evidence of concordant, convergent, and divergent validity. Gender and grade level differences were also investigated among the bullying participant behaviors.

This study explored the relations among self-reported bully participant role behaviors (i.e., bullying, assisting, experiencing victimization, defending, and outsider behavior) and self-reported social skills (i.e., cooperation, assertion, empathy, and self-control) among boys and girls. The sample consisted of 636 middle school students (52% boys, 84% White). Results indicated several significant relations between bullying participant behaviors and social skills with some gender differences in those relations as well. Most notably, defenders have higher levels of multiple social skills. Future research should seek out additional information regarding inter- and intra-personal characteristics in order to be able to better understand bullying participant role behaviors.

The use of teacher praise in the classroom has been the subject of empirical research since the 1970s, but despite more than four decades of research on the use of teacher praise, large gaps continue to exist in the literature. Clarifying the role and benefit of teacher praise is particularly important because the use of positive, proactive strategies is promoted by large-scale behavior initiatives (e.g., Positive Behavior Interventions and Support). The goal of this review is to summarize the existing research on teacher praise, including rates of praise, types of praise, and the association between praise and student behavior. In addition to summarizing the extant literature, future directions for research are highlighted. This review reveals that there is a need for current, large-scale studies with consistent operational definitions that measure the rate of different types of praise across different grades and instructional activities, while simultaneously measuring student behavioral outcomes.

The current study examined the link between academic enablers and different types of reading achievement measures. Academic enablers are skills and behaviors that support, or enable, students to perform well academically, such as engagement, interpersonal skills, motivation, and study skills. The sample in this study consisted of 61 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students (54% male). Academic enablers were rated by classroom teachers via the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES; DiPerna & Elliott, 2000). Four different measures of reading achievement were included: classroom grades, global ratings of reading skills, standardized test scores, and Reading CBM scores. Results indicated that academic enablers were significantly related to each type of reading outcome. Academic enablers accounted for the greatest amount of variance for classroom grades (45%) and the least amount of variance in standardized test scores (11%). Results suggest that academic enablers are an important part of academic success in reading, particularly classroom grades, but when considering the variance accounted for by academic enablers, they alone are not likely to improve Reading CBM scores or standardized test scores.

Peer victimization is a concern because victimized youth are more likely to have social, emotional, and academic difficulties. The current study examined the link between peer victimization and academic achievement by exploring the indirect effect of academic self-concept on two variables. The sample consisted of 140 middle school students (40% male, 60% female). Using structural equation modeling, a mediation model revealed a significant indirect effect of victimization on academic achievement through academic self-concept; however, when tested for gender differences, the indirect effect was only significant for girls. Interpretation of these results and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

It is well established that teacher praise has a positive effect on student disruptive behavior. However, there is little research suggesting how often Kindergarten teachers praise students in the classroom. This study aimed to collect praise frequency data across four general education Kindergarten classrooms. The type of praise teachers used and how teachers delivered praise were specifically analyzed. Results indicated that Kindergarten teachers praised students frequently and the rate of total praise was similar across teachers. Kindergarten teachers also used more general praise and fewer behavior-specific praises. However, Kindergarten rates of behavior-specific praise were higher in this study compared with other research. Continued research on general education teachers' rate of praise may be useful to schoolwide behavior intervention planning and teacher consultation.

The goal of this paper was to critically review and evaluate five common social-emotional and behavioral screeners: Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (Kamphaus and Reynolds 2007), Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System (McDougal et al. 2011), Social Skills Improvement System Performance Screening Guide (Elliott and Gresham 2008), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman "Journal of Child Psychology, Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines," 38, 581-586, 1997), and Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (Walker and Severson 1992). School professionals are often involved in choosing universal screening assessments; therefore, this review was intended to inform the audience about important features such as use, standardization sample and norms, scores and interpretation, and psychometric properties of commonly used social-emotional universal screeners.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of frequency of peer victimization experiences on psychological and academic adjustment during early adolescence, with a focus on testing psychological adjustment as a mediator, as well as differences based on gender and type of victimization. The sample in this short-term longitudinal design study consists of 7th and 8th graders (n = 670, 50% male) from an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse middle school. Victimization was measured using 10 items that assessed frequency of verbal, physical, and relational victimization experiences, and outcomes were assessed with the Behavior Assessment System for Children (2nd ed.) and school records. There was support for gender differences in frequency of peer victimization experiences based on type of victimization. More specifically, boys reported higher levels of physical and verbal victimization, and girls reported higher levels of relational victimization. In addition, there were statistically significant differences between boys and girls on the relation between victimization and anxiety, attendance, and grades, with girls experiencing more maladjustment than boys in response to peer victimization. Finally, results demonstrated no gender differences in indirect effects of psychological adjustment on the relation between peer victimization and academic outcomes, whether victimization was physical, verbal, and relational. These findings highlight the importance of addressing social-emotional functioning as well as peer victimization in the schools for both boys and girls, as both affect students' academic functioning.

Peer victimization is an enduring problem in schools (Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). The current study focused on relations among two ecological variables that may be related to involvement in peer victimization: self-concept and social support. The main goal of this study was to investigate relations among social support, self-concept, and involvement in peer victimization (both as a victim and aggressor). The sample included 251 students in Grades 3-5. There was a significant negative relation between social support and peer victimization ([beta] = -0.22, p less than 0.05) as well as a significant, negative relation between self-concept and peer victimization ([beta] = -0.24, p less than 0.05). For peer aggression, there was a significant negative relation between social support and peer aggression ([beta] = -0.49, p less than 0.001) as well as a significant, positive relation between self-concept and peer aggression ([beta] = 0.23, p less than 0.05). (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

This study examined the relationships among academic enablers (i.e., engagement, interpersonal skills, motivation, study skills) and academic achievement in children with and without high levels of parent-rated symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity (Symptoms of IIH Group). The study included 69 participants (29 [42%] in the IIH Group and 40 [58%] in the Comparison Group), with 33 boys and 36 girls in the third through fifth grades. The researchers found significant differences on the measure of academic enablers, including engagement, interpersonal skills, motivation, and study skills, in which participants in the Comparison Group received higher scores. In addition, several academic enablers mediated the relationship between symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity and the academic outcomes of reading and teachers' ratings of total academic skills. (Contains 3 tables.)

School psychology faculty experience numerous challenges that may contribute to burnout, isolation, disengagement with the field, and ultimately leaving academia (Floyd & Ekert, 2021). Given the influences of the prolonged pandemic, reduced and pivoting career expectations, and social isolation, faculty have more opportunities for career dissatisfaction. These challenges occur at all points of the academic career, however, mid-career faculty report being the least satisfied group in academia (Baker, 2022). Their lack of satisfaction is, in part, due to poorly defined promotion expectations and confusion about structuring and achieving career milestones post-tenure. There is a growing literature suggesting that mid-career faculty experience burnout, disengagement, and stalled career progression (or what may be referred to as the “mid-career slump”; Baker, 2022). Rather than characterizing these challenges as faculty deficits, in this article, our intent is to demystify academia by casting light on the hidden norms that create roadblocks to faculty progression and satisfaction as well as highlight opportunities for mid-career faculty to thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the current study was to examine the association between personal characteristics and the steps of the bystander intervention model (i.e., notice, interpret as emergency, accept responsibility, know how to intervene, and act) applied to cyberbullying. Examining bystander intervention as discrete steps instead of the single act has advantages for training individuals to intervene when they observe these acts of interpersonal violence. The five-step bystander intervention model has been applied to examine bystander intervention in traditional bullying, sexual assault, and drinking behavior, but not cyberbullying. In this study, we examine how specific personal characteristics (social support, social-emotional wellness, cognitive empathy, and affective empathy) are related to each step of the model. Data on students' perceptions of these characteristics and their engagement in the five-step model were collected from 872 sixth-grade through twelfth-grade students ages 11 to 18 in the southeastern area of the United States. Using multi-group path analysis, associations between the characteristics and steps were examined for boys and girls separately. Results indicated that social support was significantly associated with step 2 (interpreting as an emergency), step 4 (know how to intervene), and step 5 (acting). Affective empathy was significantly associated with the first four steps of the model. Social-emotional wellness was only significantly associated with step 1 and cognitive empathy was not significantly associated with any of the steps. These results suggest that it may be important to emphasize positive relationships, affective empathy, and social support for interventions primarily directed at reducing cyberbullying. Training adolescents to intervene in cyberbullying and also to increase these characteristics is important to consider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]