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Research suggest that attention skills play distinct roles in children's acquisition of mathematics. Despite a growing number of mathematics interventions in general, little research has been devoted to mathematics interventions for students with attention/hyperactivity problems (ADHD). Extant literature suggests lower benefits of mathematics interventions for students with ADHD symptoms. This study aimed at investigating the influence of ADHD on the effectiveness of a mathematics intervention. In a single-case research design, a total of N = 10 students in Grades 2 and 4 with varying ADHD profiles were observed and trained in an ABAB-design with a computer-cased mathematics intervention. Intervention and progress monitoring were administered twice a week. The intervention showed heterogenous effects ranging from no to substantial learning progress during the intervention phases. Hierarchical piecewise regression models revealed lower learning progress for students with all ADHD symptoms as well as isolated attention difficulties. However, students with isolated hyperactivity but no attention difficulties did not respond less to the intervention. As a conclusion, mathematics interventions are supposed to address students with attention deficits more explicitly.

Children and adolescents with a refugee background are at high risk for traumatization. Once they arrive in safe countries, schools are the institutions where teachers are responsible for caring for them sensitively and competently. Furthermore, schools are organized in learning groups consisting of multiple peers of the same age, which provides excellent opportunities for social learning and experiences of social support. In this respect, schools are the appropriate places where preventive concepts can be applied to students with a refugee background. This systematic review summarizes studies that examine or evaluate existing international concepts of trauma-sensitive schools for supporting traumatized students with a refugee background. Based on N = 41 selected articles, 17 relevant concepts of trauma-sensitive schools were identified. In 35.3% of the concepts, traumatized students with a refugee background are explicitly included in the target group of the concept, while 47.1% of the concepts refer to groups of students with trauma as a result of various adverse childhood experiences, which also occur more frequently within the population of refugee children and adolescents 17.6% of the concepts contain specific adaptations for pupils with a refugee background. The majority of these concepts were developed in the United States. Additional concepts can be reported for Australia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Cambodia. Based on available empirical data, no significant effectiveness regarding the researched concepts’ effects on academic and other school-related data can be determined. Although some studies indicate positive effects concerning school-related target variables, most of the studies have only limited significance due to inadequate research designs and methodological deficiencies. Therefore, there is a great need for further development, careful implementation, and evaluation of trauma-sensitive concepts in schools, especially for the growing group of refugee students.

Abstract This study presents a novel standardized rating instrument for observing and measuring effective classroom management (ECM) as part of the teaching and learning environments in primary school. The instrument comprises eight high-inferent items on organizational aspects (lack of disruptions/discipline problems, withitness, effective time use, clear rules, clear routines, appreciation) and instructional aspects (structuring, goal clarity). It was applied in second grade classrooms of German primary school teachers (n = 35) providing early reading and writing instruction. Pairs of trained raters (student teachers) observed one to three lessons in each classroom over 3–4 months, reaching acceptable interrater agreement. The instrument showed acceptable internal consistency. Factor analyses revealed structures with good to acceptable fit indices, with confirming the differentiation into organizational and instructional ECM aspects. Correlations between observed ECM and facets of teacher knowledge (that were directly assessed by using paper–pencil tests) provide divergent and convergent validity evidence: Whereas no significant correlations could be found between pedagogical content knowledge for early reading and writing instruction and ECM, findings show significant correlations between general pedagogical knowledge and the ECM. The added value of the study is therefore to provide a novel instrument that can be applied in future empirical research on primary school classroom management.

Self-regulation plays a crucial role in the overall well-being of students, including those with learning disabilities (LD) and social, emotional, and behavioral disorders (SEBD). Conceptually, digital learning offers great potential for supporting students with special educational needs (SEN) in learning and social-emotional development at inclusive schools and can effectively promote self-regulation processes. This systematic review aims to shed light on the potential of digital learning to promote the self-regulation of students with SEN in inclusive contexts. A systematic literature search was conducted on selected databases. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed regarding the empirical evidence, characteristics of digital learning methods, and factors influencing their effectiveness. The results showed that digital learning methods can foster improvements in academic outcomes, e.g., students’ persuasive writing skills, and in enhancing emotion regulation in students. The effectiveness of the digital learning methods depends mostly on their implementation by teachers.

The current study examined the impact of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on the academic engagement (AE) and disruptive behavior (DB) of at-risk students’ in a German inclusive primary school sample using behavioral progress monitoring. A multiple baseline design across participants was employed to evaluate the effects of the GBG on 35 primary school students in seven classrooms from grade 1 to 3 (Mage = 8.01 years, SDage = 0.81 years). The implementation of the GBG was randomly staggered by 2 weeks across classrooms. Teacher-completed Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) was applied to measure AE and DB. We used piecewise regression and a multilevel extension to estimate the individual case-specific treatment effects as well as the generalized effects across cases. Piecewise regressions for each case showed significant immediate treatment effects for the majority of participants (82.86%) for one or both outcome measures. The multilevel approach revealed that the GBG improved at-risk students’ classroom behaviors generally with a significant immediate treatment effect across cases (for AE, B = 0.74, p < 0.001; for DB, B = –1.29, p < 0.001). The moderation between intervention effectiveness and teacher ratings of students’ risks for externalizing psychosocial problems was significant for DB (B = –0.07, p = 0.047) but not for AE. Findings are consistent with previous studies indicating that the GBG is an appropriate classroom-based intervention for at-risk students and expand the literature regarding differential effects for affected students. In addition, the study supports the relevance of behavioral progress monitoring and data-based decision-making in inclusive schools in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the GBG and, if necessary, to modify the intervention for individual students or the whole group.

Teacher rating scales are broadly used for psycho-educational assessment in schools. In particular, they play an important role in screening students for social, emotional, and behavioral problems. In order to optimize the efficiency of these measures, it is important to minimize the number of items comprising them while maintaining sound psychometric characteristics. This study examines the measurement efficiency of a teacher rating scale for student social, emotional, and behavioral risk. The goal was to shorten an existing behavior screening tool. A total of 139 classroom teachers and 2566 students from Grades 1–6 (Mage = 8.96 years, SD = 1.61) participated in the study. In sum, 35 items assessing internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were analyzed applying the item response theory (generalized partial credit model). The results show that social, emotional, and behavioral risks can be captured with a total of 12 items. This reduction of almost 66% of the initial item pool would take teachers about 90 s to fill out for one student. Thus, the rating scale can be used by teachers in an efficient yet psychometrically sound manner.

Many students show symptoms of social anxiety. Cognitive behavioral training (CBT) has been shown to be effective in reducing symptom behavior in therapeutic and school contexts, but there are hardly any single-case studies that examine the individual effectiveness in school settings. Furthermore, the extent to which differential responsivity effects are exhibited by students has not been examined yet. This single-case study with AB design investigates the effects of a CBT on the socially anxious classroom behavior of students with severe symptoms of social anxiety. Two female and two male students (9–10 years old) of an inclusive primary school in Germany participated in the CBT over a period of twelve weeks. Socially anxious behaviors were measured daily with Direct Behavior Rating-Multi Item Scales. Visual analyses, overlap indices, and regression models show a substantial behavioral improvement for all students during the intervention. However, there are differences between the students in terms of which specific behaviors were improved and whether the behavioral improvements took place immediately after the implementation of the intervention or continuously from measurement to measurement in the B phase. The results highlight the relevance of specific and individualized behavioral goals for CBT in school, although the effects should be replicated in experimental studies.

Schüler*innen mit externalisierenden Verhaltensproblemen im inklusiven Unterricht stellen ihre Lehrkräfte und Mitschüler*innen vor große Herausforderungen. Damit Lehrkräfte diesen Herausforderungen adaptiv begegnen können, benötigen sie umfassendes und spezifisches pädagogisches Wissen. Bislang existiert jedoch kein spezifisches Testinstrument zur standardisierten Erfassung. Im Beitrag präsentieren wir daher die Konstruktion und psychometrische Güte eines Tests zur Erfassung des pädagogischen Wissens zu inklusivem Unterricht mit Fokus auf emotionale und soziale Entwicklung (General Pedagogical Knowledge for Inclusive Teaching focusing Social and Emotional Learning, GPK-IT-SEL). Auf Basis einer Stichprobe von n = 355 Lehrkräften aus Grundschulen analysieren wir die Reliabilität und Kriteriumsvalidität des Instruments. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Test eine reliable Messung erlaubt. Erwartungsgemäß verfügen Förderschullehrkräfte über umfangreicheres Wissen als Regelschullehrkräfte, was auf die Kriteriumsvalidität des Instruments hinweist.

Das Wissen über aktuelle bildungswissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse stellt einen zentralen Aspekt der professionellen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften dar. Die Vermittlung von bildungswissenschaftlicher Evidenz an Lehramtsstudierende ist somit eine wesentliche Herausforderung für die Lehrer*innenbildung. Adaptierte wissenschaftliche Artikel sind eine Möglichkeit, dieser Herausforderung zu begegnen. Die vorliegende explorative Studie analysiert das Potenzial adaptierter wissenschaftlicher Artikel zur Vermittlung von Evidenz aus den Bildungswissenschaften, indem die Leseprozesse von Studierenden des Lehramts (n = 5) und Lehrerbildner*innen (n = 5) mittels Eye Tracking verglichen werden. So soll geprüft werden, ob sich Studierende in ihrem Leseprozess von den Lehrerbilder*innen unterscheiden, um ausgehend davon hochschuldidaktische Implikationen für ein verbessertes Verständnis des Rezeptionsprozesses ableiten zu können. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass der Leseprozess bei beiden Gruppen ähnlich verläuft, aber unterschiedliche Schwerpunkte aufweist. Lehrerbildner*innen lesen eher szientifisch, der Leseprozess von Studierenden kann als eher praxeologisch bezeichnet werden; allerdings bedürfen diese ersten explorativen Befunde weiterer empirischer Fundierung. Zukünftige Studien sollten ebenfalls prüfen, welcher Leseprozess zu einem effektiveren Wissensaufbau führt und durch welche hochschuldidaktischen Methoden sich effizientere Leseprozesse bei Lehramtsstudierenden fördern ließen.

In recent decades, much international research has been carried out on school climate and its relationship with learning, socioemotional, and health outcomes (Berkowitz et al., 2017; La Salle, Rocha-Neves, et al., 2021; Pizmony-Levy et al., 2019). Limited research has been carried out to investigate the relationship between school climate and educational inequalities, with particular reference to the results obtained by minoritized students. This contribution focuses on this issue, and it is organized as follows. First, The International School Climate Collaborative, which led to the cross-cultural adaptation of the Georgia School Climate Survey, is presented with normative data for the use of the survey with secondary school students in four countries: Germany, Italy, Latvia, and the United States (La Salle, Rocha-Neves, et al., 2021). Second, the theme of the relationship between School Climate and Educational Equity is focused on the basis of the most recent scientific literature. Third, the theme of the relationship between School Climate and Educational Equity is focused on comparing four countries: the United States, Germany, Italy, and Latvia. Fourth, the practical implications are investigated, focusing on three possible interventions that could be useful for improving the school climate while promoting equity and valuing cultural differences.

This study investigates 14 digitally enhanced learning methods, shedding light on students with special educational needs (SEN) in inclusive digital learning environments. We seek to fill the gap in the literature by specifically investigating methods suitable for students with SEN. A survey among experts has been carried out to assess learning methods that are effectively applicable in inclusive digital learning environments. A mixed method: quantitative and qualitative data analysis with the use of a constant comparative method has been applied to synthesise and compare experts' answers. Quantitative data analysis showed that cooperative learning, digital problem/project-based learning, and virtual exchange are the most suitable methods for all students, whereas digital problem/project-based learning, cooperative learning, and service-learning were agreed upon as the most appropriate for students with SEN. Answers to open questions, evaluated using a qualitative approach, showed that the effectiveness of digital approaches is heavily reliant on the skills, experience, willingness, confidence, and knowledge of teachers implementing them. Employing cooperative learning and digital problem/project-based learning, particularly by experienced and highly skilled teachers, has the potential to effectively support all students, including those with SEN, in digital learning environments.

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) as a behavioral progress monitoring tool can be designed as longitudinal assessment with only short intervals between measurement points. The reliability of these instruments has been mostly evaluated in observational studies with small samples based on generalizability theory. However, for a standardized use in the pedagogical field, a larger and broader sample is required in order to assess measurement invariance between different participant groups and over time. Therefore, we constructed a DBR, the Questionnaire for Monitoring Behavior in Schools (QMBS) with multiple items to measure the occurrence of specific externalizing and internalizing student classroom behaviors on a Likert scale (1 = never to 7 = always). In a pilot study, two trained raters observed 16 primary education students and rated the student behavior over all items with a satisfactory reliability. In the main study, 108 regular primary school students, 97 regular secondary students, and 14 students in a clinical setting were rated daily over one week (five measurement points). Item response theory (IRT) analyses confirmed the technical adequacy of the instrument and latent growth models demonstrated the instrument’s stability over time. Further development of the instrument and study designs to implement DBRs is discussed.

This study presents a novel standardized rating instrument for observing and measuring effective classroom management (ECM) as part of the teaching and learning environments in primary school. The instrument comprises eight high-inferent items on organizational aspects (lack of disruptions/discipline problems, withitness, effective time use, clear rules, clear routines, appreciation) and instructional aspects (structuring, goal clarity). It was applied in second grade classrooms of German primary school teachers (n = 35) providing early reading and writing instruction. Pairs of trained raters (student teachers) observed one to three lessons in each classroom over 3-4 months, reaching acceptable interrater agreement. The instrument showed acceptable internal consistency. Factor analyses revealed structures with good to acceptable fit indices, with confirming the differentiation into organizational and instructional ECM aspects. Correlations between observed ECM and facets of teacher knowledge (that were directly assessed by using paper-pencil tests) provide divergent and convergent validity evidence: Whereas no significant correlations could be found between pedagogical content knowledge for early reading and writing instruction and ECM, findings show significant correlations between general pedagogical knowledge and the ECM. The added value of the study is therefore to provide a novel instrument that can be applied in future empirical research on primary school classroom management.