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Moderation and subgroup analyses are well-established statistical tools to evaluate whether intervention effects vary across subpopulations defined by participants' demographic and contextual factors. Moderation effects themselves, however, can be subject to heterogeneity and can manifest in various outcome parameters that go beyond group-specific averages (i.e., means) that are typically the focus of main and moderation effect analyses. The present study introduces distributional moderation analysis using the framework of inflated Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS) that allows researchers to holistically characterize intervention effect modifiers through simultaneously modeling conditional mean-, variance-, skewness-, and kurtosis-based intervention effects, as well as moderated treatment effects located at the endpoints of the response scale (i.e., floor/ceiling effects). Data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of a teacher classroom management program on students' disruptive classroom behavior are used to provide a step-by-step guide for applying distributional moderation analysis in school-based intervention research. Although a traditional mean-focused analysis suggests that the intervention reduced students' average disruptive behavior only for students receiving special education, an evaluation of distributional treatment effects reveals a general decrease in the average disruptive behavior for at-risk students. In addition, distributional moderation analysis suggests that this average decrease is moderated by students' race and that the moderation effect of special education status initially seen in the traditional analysis is not located in the means, but in the chance to show no disruptive behavior patterns at all. Thus, we conclude that distributional moderation analysis constitutes a valuable complementary tool to provide a fine-grained characterization of treatment effect modifiers., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This study utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine patterns of principal stress and coping and its relations with principal (n = 125), teacher (n = 3671), and student (n = 19,390) outcomes. LPA analysis of school principals based on their reports of stress and coping showed that most principals were classified as having high stress and high coping (74%) whereas 19% of principals were classified as high stress and low coping. Only a small percentage of principals (7%) were characterized by low stress and high coping. We also examined whether stress and coping profiles of school principals predicted concurrent and prospective measures of principal and teacher well-being and efficacy, principal and teacher perceptions of school climate, and measures of student behavior and dispositions. The principal latent profiles significantly predicted concurrent and prospective measures of principal and teacher well-being, with large effect sizes for prospective principal health (Cohen's d = 1.93) and satisfaction (d = 0.94), and a medium effect size for prospective teacher health (d = 0.68). Changes in principal health (d = 1.30) and satisfaction (d = 0.49) over time were also significant. However, the latent profiles did not predict prospective measures of principal and teacher efficacy, perceptions of school climate, and student classroom behaviors. The results of this study show that examining patterns of principal stress and coping together is important to understand and improve principal and teacher well-being., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Teacher-student relationships are beneficial for students and especially important in the middle school context. Suspensions are critical to reduce as it can be detrimental to the educational trajectory of students, particularly for marginalized students in underfunded schools. This study looked at the relations between teacher-student relationships and suspensions across the academic year in a sample of students (N = 541) and teachers (N = 51) in two urban school districts in the Midwest. A brief measure of teachers' perceptions of relationships with students completed in the fall of the academic year predicted the odds of receiving in-school suspension (ISS; odds ratio [OR] = 0.65) and out-of-school suspension (OSS; OR = 0.72) by the end of the school year. Student reports of the relationships were also associated with ISS (OR = 0.94), but not OSS. On average, teachers' report on the scale improved over the course of the school year (d = 0.11); however, student report of the relationships worsened (d = 0.30). The difference in the student report of the relationships from fall to spring was also associated with the odds of receiving ISS and OSS (ORs = 0.94). These findings suggest that student and teacher perceptions together are associated with harsh discipline practices that can negatively impact students' developmental trajectories. Relationships can change but direct action is necessary to develop, maintain, and repair relationships during the academic year., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Scholars have developed culturally responsive frameworks and interventions to support educators as they aim to create inclusive and equitable classroom environments. Despite the number of frameworks on the topic, research on culturally responsive practices (CRPs) is limited by the lack of clear definitions or evidence on the effectiveness of in-classroom culturally responsive interventions. With the aim to understand which characteristics are important for in-classroom CRPs, this qualitative study explored students' perceptions of practices teachers use to respond to students' learning and cultural identities. We conducted 23 focus groups with 103 Black, Latine, and White students in middle and high school from two midwestern schools. After analyzing the data, we identified four overarching themes: (a) inclusive classroom instruction, (b) emotional safety in the classroom, (c) relational quality with the teachers, and (d) racism and other "isms" in the classroom. Students consistently commented on the importance of teacher support for students' emotional and academic well-being while also describing teachers that demeaned them or their peers, in turn, obstructing their learning. The findings hold promise to clarify and strengthen professional development CRP interventions as students offer insight about teacher cultural responsiveness and non-responsiveness., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The increase in social media mental health (MH) campaigns provides an opportunity to improve awareness and attitudes toward MH. However, racial disparities remain in these social media campaigns. Black youth who participated in MH social media campaigns reported lower levels of improvement in stigma and help-seeking than their White peers. We employed a youth participatory action research (YPAR) process to expand on a previous community-wide MH social media campaign (A. Thompson et al., 2021), focusing on a Central Midwest community. We studied Black adolescents' perceptions of MH stigma and help-seeking to determine essential features of a culturally responsive MH social media campaign for Black youth. With a lead youth-research collaborator, the research team designed the following two-staged study. The first stage consisted of four semistructured focus group interviews (FGIs) ( N = 20), analyzed by using a rapid analysis strategy to obtain results for the development of the campaign. In the second stage, using YPAR's iterative and action-based process, five youth researchers collaborated with the research team on the campaign's design. Following the two stages, the researcher's thematic analysis resulted in three themes: (a) broadening horizons for campaign designers and MH professionals; (b) considering mistrust of schools and school personnel; and (c) diverse experiences, sustainability, and accessibility in a campaign. Findings indicated that while culturally responsive social media campaigns to promote MH can be designed, mistrust of adults in schools is likely to hinder the impact of such campaigns. Implications for school psychology practice and research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study analyzed concurrent and predictive validity of single-item scales for assessing principal stress and coping. We examined concurrent and prospective relations among stress and coping single-items with principal job satisfaction, overall health, perceptions of school safety, and principal leadership self-efficacy. We also compared principals and teachers on their stress and coping levels using the same single-item scales. Consistent with the literature on teacher stress and coping, the correlations of principal coping with different outcomes-job satisfaction, overall health, leadership efficacy, and safety perceptions-were stronger in comparison to the correlations between principal stress and those same outcomes. In regression models with both stress and coping, only principal coping predicted concurrent and future principal job satisfaction and overall health, as well as change in those outcomes. Coping also predicted concurrent but not future perceptions of school safety. Stress and coping did not consistently predict concurrent or future measures of leadership self-efficacy. Last, we found that principals reported even higher levels of stress than the well-documented high levels reported by teachers. We discuss areas for further research and potential use of these measures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

A growing evidence base demonstrates the effectiveness of teacher training and coaching interventions to improve teacher- and child-level outcomes in high-income countries. However, more information is needed to show the benefits of these interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To provide an evidence base for LMICs, we conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a teacher training and coaching intervention for promoting children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, Reaching Educators and Children (REACH) Classroom Check-Up (CCU), on teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social competence and problem behaviors. Participants included 20 early childhood teachers and 175 children (4-6 year olds) in Turkey. Findings indicate that REACH CCU increased teachers' positive behaviors and teacher behaviors that support social, emotional, and behavioral competence of children, while reducing teachers' negative behaviors. Teachers in REACH CCU demonstrated an increased level of closeness and reduced levels of conflict with children in their classrooms. Furthermore, REACH CCU improved teacher-reported social competence and reduced problem behaviors of children. Results provide evidence that REACH CCU is a promising approach for improving teachers' behaviors, teacher-child relationship quality, and children's social, emotional, and behavioral competence, especially in LMICs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite decades of concern about disparities in educational outcomes for low SES students and students of color, there has been limited rigorous study of programmatic approaches for reducing these disparities in elementary or middle schools. We conducted integrative data analysis (IDA) of the combined data from eight Institute of Education Sciences funded cluster randomized trials to address the research gaps on social and behavioral outcome disparities. The final analytic sample includes 90,880 students in varying grade levels from kindergarten to grade 8 in 387 schools in 4 states (Maryland, Missouri, Virginia, and Texas). Two-level hierarchical linear modeling was used for multilevel moderation analysis. This study provided empirical evidence that there were significant gender, racial, and socioeconomic disparities on social and behavioral outcome measures for elementary and middle school students, the disparities significantly varied across schools, and the disparities could be reduced by interventions. We discussed our findings, implications for interpreting effect sizes of interventions using disparities as empirical benchmarks, and study limitations. We concluded with suggestions for future research., (© 2022. Society for Prevention Research.)

Background and Objectives: As a well-known phenomenon with significant social, biological, and psychological impacts, burnout syndrome has been viewed and treated from different therapeutic perspectives. However, few studies have evaluated interventions to prevent and alleviate teacher burnout., Design: This study comprised a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a group-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program for teacher burnout, with assessments at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 6-month follow-up., Methods: The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) was administered to 242 English language teachers with diverse professional profiles in Iran. Of these, 62 teachers with burnout symptoms were randomly assigned to either a group-based eight-week CBT treatment program or a waiting list control condition., Results: The results of a series of mixed factorial ANOVAs demonstrated significantly greater improvements for the treatment compared to the control condition on the total score and three subscales of the MBI-ES (teachers' emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) at post-treatment, with treatment effects maintained at 6-month follow-up., Conclusions: This CBT intervention has promise for supporting teachers in stressful occupational conditions and reducing their burnout.

The Early Identification System (EIS) was developed to overcome many of the usability challenges of school-based behavior screeners. Several prior studies have documented the technical adequacy of the EIS. The present study expanded this work by examining the use, relevance, values implications, and social consequence of EIS implementation in a sample of 54 K-12 schools and 23,104 students in the Midwestern United States. We found that nearly all schools, teachers, and students completed the EIS as planned. Schools used the data to provide universal, selective, and indicated services to a high percentage of students identified with risks as well as to plan professional development for educators based on the screening data. Seventy-nine percent of schools implemented the EIS system with high fidelity, and fidelity was unrelated to student demographic composition within schools. These findings suggest that the EIS may overcome many of the usability barriers that plague common behavior screeners. Limitations and implications for advancing the science of social consequence evaluation are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

This is the first study of US adults to examine change in the prevalence of psychological burden (i.e., self-reported poor mental health days in the past 30 days, and ACEs recollections) before compared to after COVID-19 started. We analyzed the prevalence of self-reported poor mental health days, and ACEs recollections from 17 states using the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Adjusted models identified an increase in prevalence from before compared to after COVID-19 onset in those married or partnered reporting 48% more poor mental health days in the past 30 days; persons of color reporting living with anyone with mental illness during childhood by 73% and reporting more ACEs by 35%; those employed or self-employed reporting childhood sexual abuse by 45%. This ecological-level analysis revealed population-level changes in psychological well-being reporting of U.S. adults from before compared to after the pandemic onset., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

As the frontline of our education system, teachers endure greater job-related stress than other professionals, even under the best of circumstances. While they were already exposed to certain stressors affecting their emotional health, the pandemic outbreak introduced new challenges putting teachers at risk of experiencing higher rates of emotional distress. This longitudinal study aimed to identify changes in teaching stressors and teachers' coping strategies in the period before the pandemic to the immediate outbreaks of COVID-19 in Fall 2020. In addition, we examined the correlation of teachers' coping approaches with stress, anxiety, and depression to understand if coping strategies correlate and predict such emotional distress. To this end, 376 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in Iran in the first wave and 351 in the second wave completed a battery of validated inventories capturing their emotional distress, teaching stressors, and coping approaches. The mean scores of the stressors and coping strategies across two waves indicated significant shifts toward using functional coping strategies upon experiencing new demands. Furthermore, we found that novice teachers experienced higher rates of stress and anxiety, which were positively associated with dysfunctional coping strategies. The results of the stepwise regression analysis with (dys)functional coping strategies indicated that coping mechanisms significantly account for 25% of variances in stress, anxiety, and depression. The implications of the study regarding promoting teacher mental health through identifying the risk factors associated with dysfunctional coping strategies have been discussed., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestWe wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication, and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

As many as 1 in 5 youth in the United States experience social, emotional, and behavioral problems. However, many students with mental health concerns are unidentified and do not receive adequate care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure, measurement invariance, and the concurrent and predictive validity of the Early Identification System-Student Report (EIS-SR), a screener for social, emotional, and behavioral problems, using a sample of over 5000 students from Grades 3 to 5. The EIS-SR was developed by using extant literature on the risk indicators that lead to social, emotional, and behavioral challenges among children and youth. As expected, seven subscales were identified as having adequate factor loadings. Furthermore, the measure was determined to be invariant across grade level (n = 5005), gender (n = 5005), and between Black and White students (n = 1582). The concurrent validity of the Internalizing Behavior, Attention and Academic Issues, Emotion Dysregulation, and School Disengagement subscales was supported by correlations with comparable subscales of the Behavior Assessment System for Children-3rd Edition (BASC-3; n = 382). Additionally, the EIS-SR subscales administered in the fall of the school year were predictive of important outcomes in spring, including attendance (n = 4780), disciplinary referrals (n = 4938), bully victimization (n = 4670), math academic achievement scores (n = 4736), and reading (n = 4772) academic achievement scores. The EIS-SR holds promise as a feasible and technically adequate screening tool for use in elementary schools., (Copyright © 2021 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created unprecedented challenges for the U.S. education system and for teachers. The present study examined correlates and predictors of teacher well-being in the immediate aftermath of school closures related to the pandemic. Data were collected as part of a larger group randomized trial. Six hundred and thirty-nine teachers completed surveys about their stress, coping, health, job satisfaction, and internalizing symptoms in Fall 2019, before the pandemic, and May 2020, during the pandemic. Teachers also provided ratings during COVID-19 of their teaching, student attendance and engagement, and concern about students and families. Teachers reported lower levels of work-related stress after the pandemic's onset compared to their prepandemic levels. Multilevel regression analyses revealed teacher confidence in their ability to manage student behaviors as a consistent and robust predictor of teacher well-being outcomes. Additionally, pre-COVID-19 school-level factors measured in Fall 2019, including collegial school leadership and fair and equitable school discipline structures, also predicted aspects of teacher well-being at the onset of COVID-19. Findings suggest the importance of teacher competence and perceived efficacy in managing student behavior and engaging them in learning to help them adapt to the stressors of a pandemic. Additionally, aspects of organizational health and climate may also help facilitate or hinder teacher adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Prevention scientists recognize that implementing effective prevention practices and programs responsive to the needs of individuals but based solely upon the findings from variable-centered methods presents several limitations due to numerous risk factors, pathways, and unobserved influences. One such understudied influence that is masked by variable-centered methods, motivation, is a person-level characteristic that influences treatment outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of an alternative person-centered approach, group iterative multiple model estimation (GIMME), to model change over time that focuses on the interdependence of daily student motivation levels and teacher feedback and their relations to student outcomes over time. Specifically, we used GIMME to model person level responses to negative teacher feedback regarding students' next day motivational ratings using data from 58 5th grade students participating in a study of the impact of the self-monitoring and regulation training strategy (SMARTS). Results identified a set of SMARTS students whose daily readiness aligned with high rates of self and teacher agreement regarding ongoing performance ratings. However, results identified a group of students whose daily motivation and readiness for change was adversely impacted by negative teacher feedback the day before. For these students, they were more likely than their peers to experience high levels of depression and internalization scores. Motivationally oriented practice suggestions for providing feedback to students who may be sensitive to this type of feedback and research implications of these findings are discussed., (© 2020. Society for Prevention Research.)

As leaders in the school, principals play an important role in fostering family engagement. Unfortunately, little is known about specific aspects of leadership that promote family engagement. Collegial leadership, an aspect of principal leadership that promotes organizational health via trusting relationships and a sense of community, may be particularly useful to understanding how principals influence family engagement. Drawing on data from two randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of teacher training in universal classroom management practices, the current study explores the relationship between teacher reports of family engagement and principal collegial leadership. Participants included 3208 students and 207 teachers across 18 elementary and middle schools in the Midwest United States. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, results revealed a significant positive relationship between family engagement and overall collegial leadership in addition to specific collegial leadership practices/characteristics. Further, baseline collegial leadership predicted increased end-of-year family engagement when controlling for baseline family engagement, developmental context, intervention status, and student-level characteristics. Overall, results provide empirical evidence for an important link between principal leadership practices and family engagement. Albeit promising, more research is needed to identify and explain the particular mechanisms by which principal collegial leadership may promote family engagement., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Early adolescence represents a critical developmental period for the identification, prevention, and early intervention of mental health concerns. The Early Identification System-Student Report (EIS-SR) was developed as a user-friendly, accessible, and cost-efficient method for identifying youth at risk for mental health concerns. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the EIS-SR in a sample of middle school students in the Midwest. Two confirmatory factor analyses ( N₁ = 2,404, N₂ = 2,404) supported the hypothesized seven correlated factor model showing adequate model fit and subscale reliability (range = .68-.90). Subsequent analyses found that many of the EIS-SR subscales predicted office discipline referrals, suspensions, and standardized academic achievement performance. Additionally, the subscales correlated in expected ways with subscales of the Behavior Assessment Scales for Children (3rd edition). These findings suggest that the EIS-SR is promising for identifying youth in early adolescence who are at risk for mental health concerns in addition to being a free and efficient universal screening tool. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The purpose of this paper is to confirm the factor structure, examine the invariance, and investigate the predictive validity using disciplinary data for 5262 high school students who completed the Early Identification System-Student Response (EIS-SR). The development and theory of the EIS-SR is discussed along with prior work. Building off of prior factor analytic work with a separate sample, it was hypothesized the items of the EIS-SR would coalesce into seven factors representing Externalizing Behavior, Internalizing Behavior, Peer Relationship Problems, School Disengagement, Emotional Dysregulation, Attention and Academic Issues, and Relational Aggression. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that EIS-SR scores would be invariant with regard to gender and grade level. Lastly, it was hypothesized that students with high EIS-SR subscale scores would be predictive of school discipline events. Our analyses indicated the EIS-SR did fit the previously observed factor structure with the items loading on seven distinct scales. Tests for measurement invariance indicated support that the EIS-SR measured the seven factors equally well regardless of both gender and grade level. Lastly, EIS-SR subscale scores predicted spring office disciplinary referrals, both in and out of school suspensions, and attendance., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020.)

Direction dependence analysis (DDA) is a recently developed method that addresses the need for more sophisticated tools to evaluate causal mechanisms of developmental processes and interventions. The present study applied DDA to evaluate the hypothesized mediators of a classroom behavior management training program on student academic competence. The study involved a group randomized controlled trial with 105 teachers and 1,818 students (K-3rd grade) in a large urban school district in the United States. Analyses revealed only student prosocial skill development causally mediated the intervention's effects on student academic competence. The findings support the importance of explicit instruction and coaching of student social skills as part of classroom behavior management programs and confirm the causal link between prosocial skills and academic success. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for future applications of DDA in developmental research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment effects of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM), a universal classroom management intervention, on the outcomes of children with aggressive behavior in elementary school. Classroom management has been demonstrated as a factor in either escalating children's aggressive behavior or decreasing those problematic behaviors. Participants included 1,817 students (Grade K to 3) and 105 teachers from nine elementary schools in a large urban Midwestern school district. Teachers were randomly assigned to receive IY TCM or to a wait-list comparison group. The hypotheses were that baseline levels of aggression would moderate the relationship between intervention status and outcomes. Findings indicated the hypothesized moderation effect on several outcome variables; specifically, children with baseline aggression problems who were in IY TCM classrooms had significantly improved math achievement, emotional regulation, prosocial behaviors, and observed aggression in comparison to similar peers in the control classrooms. Implications for practice and future research based on the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study investigated the role of teacher-rated likeability as a mediator of the relation between low academic competence and depressive symptoms in elementary-aged children. Analyses focused on a sample of children at risk for child maltreatment living in Hawaii (n = 380). Structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized negative relations between academic competence in first grade and depressive symptoms in third grade controlling for correlated constructs (e.g., baseline social avoidance, parenting stress, externalizing problems, and internalizing symptoms). Teacher-rated likeability in second grade negatively mediated the effect of academic competence on depressive symptoms. Implications for understanding the role of early academic skill deficits and social judgments on risk for depressive symptoms as well as recommendations for interventions and prevention strategies are discussed., (© 2019 Society for Research in Child Development.)

This study examined the stress and coping patterns of middle school teachers. A final teacher sample of 102 and student sample of 1450 agreed to participate in the study. We conducted a latent profile analysis of the teachers' self-reported levels of stress and coping at the beginning of the school year and used the resulting profiles to predict teacher practices and student outcomes over time. Nearly all teachers were characterized by high stress and high coping (66%) or high stress and low coping (28%). Based on concurrent ratings and observations, the High Stress/Low Coping profile had higher burnout and lower self-efficacy, higher rates of observed reprimands, and higher student-reported depression in comparison to the other classes. The most adaptive profile, Low Stress/High Coping (6% of sample), had lower burnout, greater parent involvement and higher student prosocial skills in comparison to the other groups. Profiles also predicted the maintenance of most of these effects and the increase of some effects over the school year. Examining stress and coping in combination can inform efforts to improve teacher well-being and have a positive influence on student learning environments., (Copyright © 2019 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Teacher stress and burnout are associated with many adverse outcomes for teachers, students, and the educational system. This paper describes the Coping-Competence-Context (3C) Theory of Teacher Stress. The theory is based on empirical research on teacher stress and coping highlighted within this special issue and attempts to more explicitly highlight three critical interconnected pathways to teacher stress development and intervention. The 3C model also highlights why teacher stress is important and should be the topic of future inquiry by showing clear links between teacher stress and adverse student and teacher outcomes. Lastly, this paper provides guidance for leverage points to intervene and describes a future research agenda in three domains: measurement, conceptual, and intervention issues and challenges., (Copyright © 2020 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of a brief and feasible universal screener for kindergarten readiness for predicting follow-up outcomes in first grade. Participants included kindergarten and first-grade teachers and students from 6 urban elementary schools. Students included slightly more males than females (54%; 46%), the race/ethnicity of the students was predominantly African American (74%) or White (23%), and 36% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch. Data included in this study were collected for children in the fall (October) of their kindergarten year and the Spring (April) of their first-grade year. Kindergarten teachers completed single-item ratings of student readiness as well as full-scale ratings of student behaviors and academic competence. Students also completed a standardized academic achievement test. Main findings from this study include that the single-item screener continued to predict negative academic and social behavior outcomes at a follow-up 18 months later. The percentage of unique variance explained by the readiness items was significant and, in the majority of cases, remained significant even after the baseline variables were entered into the analyses. Children rated poor in their academic readiness were over 9-10 times as likely to have low reading performance at the end of their first-grade year. Furthermore, children rated as poor in their behavior readiness were at over 6 times greater risk for low prosocial and high disruptive behavior teacher ratings in first grade. The screener could be used to screen for children low in readiness in order to provide supports and monitoring for early intervention. Kindergarten entry is a critical time to screen children and support them in developing skills to ameliorate deficits and build essential early academic and social behavior skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examined the concurrent and predictive validity of single-item scales for assessing teacher stress and coping. Correlations between the stress and coping items and present and end-of-year teacher-reported burnout and self-efficacy generally aligned with hypotheses, with stronger associations between coping and burnout and self-efficacy in comparison to the associations between stress and burnout and self-efficacy. Stress and coping items also predicted concurrent and future emotional exhaustion controlling for covariates; however, only coping consistently predicted additional variance in future emotional exhaustion with both stress and coping items in the model. Further, the coping item, not the stress item, demonstrated sensitivity to detect intervention effects; that is, teachers randomly assigned to receive a classroom management intervention (the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program) had significantly higher coping scores compared to a wait-list comparison group. The results of this study provide support for the continued use of single-item stress and coping measures of teacher well-being, and areas for further research and potential use of these measures are discussed., (Copyright © 2019 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although family-school engagement is important across child and adolescent development, most research, programs, and policies have focused primarily on elementary students and contexts. The current study extends beyond elementary settings by exploring the unique and shared contributions of developmental context on family-school engagement (i.e., across and within elementary- and middle-school settings). Data were drawn from two randomized controlled trials that evaluated the efficacy of teacher training in universal classroom-management practices. Participants included 3,174 students and 207 teachers across 21 elementary and middle schools in the Midwest. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results revealed that family-school engagement was significantly higher in elementary than in middle schools. Student-level characteristics (i.e., identifying as White, participation in the free/reduced-price lunch program, and having lower levels of disruptive behavior) were also associated with higher levels of family-school engagement. In addition, student characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity and level of disruptive behavior) moderated the relations between family-school engagement and developmental context. Regardless of developmental context, family-school engagement predicted positive end-of-year behavioral outcomes (i.e., increases in youth prosocial skills and decreases in youth concentration problems, disruptive behaviors, and emotional dysregulation). Last, moderation analyses revealed that these effects of family-school engagement were especially pronounced in middle school for concentration problems and emotional dysregulation. Overall, findings provide further support for the value of family-school engagement across development in fostering positive youth outcomes. However, it is evident that more steps must be taken to ensure family-school engagement practices are developed to support the unique needs of middle-school students and contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Family school engagement practices (e.g., family school partnerships and parental involvement) are empirically supported across academic and social-behavioral domains. Despite family school engagement and parent involvement being deemed important across elementary and secondary schooling, much of the research has focused on early childhood and elementary students. Understanding family school engagement across all stages of development is important, as aspects of family school engagement practices often become more challenging as children grow into middle- and high-school students. This special series works to build our knowledge of family school engagement across development. The series presents a set of studies which confer current knowledge on the association between family school engagement and child outcomes in elementary, middle, and high school while offering important implications for school personnel. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The challenges presented by the growing prevalence, burden, and unmet service needs of youth mental health problems are formidable. During the past decade, scholars and other stakeholders of the Missouri Prevention Center (MPC) have been using a prevention and implementation science approach to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate recommended practices in promoting youth mental health in real world contexts. The purpose of this article is to describe the multidisciplinary contributions of MPC to improve the social, emotional, and behavioral health of youth, locally and nationally. We briefly summarize MPC scholarship that has addressed the individual and social-contextual risk and protective factors of youth mental health at home, school, and community. The article concludes with a description of two large-scale community projects, funded by an innovative local sales tax, that represent the systematic application of MPC scholarship and outreach. Together these projects provide mental health screening for every youth in our county three times per year and a single point of entry into the mental health service system where any family in our county can access an evaluation and referral for their child at no cost to them. The projects serve as model demonstrations for how communities can address the challenges of youth mental health concerns through multidisciplinary collaborations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Although there is a growing evidence base about effective classroom management practices, teacher implementation of these practices varies due to a number of factors. A school's organizational health is one aspect of the broader social environment that has been hypothesized to influence implementation of interventions. Yet, empirical evidence is limited on whether organizational contexts can influence teacher implementation of effective interventions and subsequently, classroom environments and student outcomes. In the present study, teachers in an urban school district were randomly assigned to receive training in the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program (IY TCM), a classroom management intervention. We examined how teacher perceptions of their school environment moderated intervention effects for previously established treatment outcomes - implementation of effective classroom methods, students' social behaviors, emotional regulation, and social competence. Results showed that treatment effects on teacher implementation and student outcomes were moderated by teachers' sense of affiliation to their school. Specifically, main effects on implementation of effective classroom management strategies were only observed among teachers whose perceptions of initial teacher affiliation was low or average; whereas main effects on student outcomes were only found for teachers with initial high levels of affiliation., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

This group randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the efficacy of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management Program (IY TCM) on student social behavioral and academic outcomes among a large diverse sample of students within an urban context. Participants included 105 teachers and 1817 students in kindergarten to third grade. Three-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) were conducted to examine the overall treatment effects on teacher-reported student behavior and academic outcomes. In addition, multi-level moderation analyses were conducted to examine whether the treatment effects on student outcomes differed by demographic variables and pretest measures of social emotional and disruptive behavior and academics. Findings indicate that IY TCM reduced student emotional dysregulation (d = - 0.14) and increased prosocial behavior (d = 0.13) and social competence (d = 0.13). In addition, students initially lower on measures of social and academic competence demonstrated significant improvements on the same measure at outcome in comparison to similar peers in control classrooms. Practical significance of the findings and implications for schools and policy makers are discussed.

The present study examined the latent profiles of child, parent, and teacher ratings of child depressive symptoms in a developmental sample of children from Hawaii at two time points (2nd and 3rd grade). The study attempted to identify patterns of agreement and discrepancy among raters and correlates of these patterns to test a new theory for understanding rating disagreements as Divergent Operations. Three profiles best described the ratings at both time points: Child-Only High Depression, Child-Only Mild Depression, and Normative (non-depressed). Second and third grade measures of child social skills, externalizing symptoms, attention problems, and language and academic competence confirmed the distinctiveness of these classes which provides support for a Divergent Operations perspective. Latent transition analyses suggested that depressive symptoms were relatively transient for each class. Implications regarding the measurement and identification of child depressive symptoms across development and the meaning and use of discrepant ratings are discussed., (Copyright © 2018 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study examined the benefit of utilizing one-item academic and one-item behavior readiness teacher-rated screeners at the beginning of the school year to predict end-of-school year outcomes for middle school students. The Middle School Academic and Behavior Readiness (M-ABR) screeners were developed to provide an efficient and effective way to assess readiness in students. Participants included 889 students in 62 middle school classrooms in an urban Missouri school district. Concurrent validity with the M-ABR items and other indicators of readiness in the fall were evaluated using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, with the academic readiness item having medium to strong correlations with other baseline academic indicators (r=±0.56 to 0.91) and the behavior readiness item having low to strong correlations with baseline behavior items (r=±0.20 to 0.79). Next, the predictive validity of the M-ABR items was analyzed with hierarchical linear regressions using end-of-year outcomes as the dependent variable. The academic and behavior readiness items demonstrated adequate validity for all outcomes with moderate effects (β=±0.31 to 0.73 for academic outcomes and β=±0.24 to 0.59 for behavioral outcomes) after controlling for baseline demographics. Even after controlling for baseline scores, the M-ABR items predicted unique variance in almost all outcome variables. Four conditional probability indices were calculated to obtain an optimal cut score, to determine ready vs. not ready, for both single-item M-ABR scales. The cut point of "fair" yielded the most acceptable values for the indices. The odd ratios (OR) of experiencing negative outcomes given a "fair" or lower readiness rating (2 or below on the M-ABR screeners) at the beginning of the year were significant and strong for all outcomes (OR=2.29 to OR=14.46), except for internalizing problems. These findings suggest promise for using single readiness items to screen for varying negative end-of-year student outcomes., (Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of the Incredible Years® Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) training on teacher perceptions of parental involvement. A cluster randomized design was used to assign 42 classroom teachers to either an IY TCM training (n=19) or a control condition (n=23). Teachers rated parental involvement (i.e., bonding with teacher, parental involvement at school) for the families of 805 low income students (IY TCM=504, control=301). A latent profile transition analysis framework was used to model the effect of IY TCM on teacher perceptions of parental involvement from pre to posttest. Four profiles consisting of various patterns of high, medium, and low teacher perceptions of bonding with and involvement of parents emerged. Analyses of teacher profiles at baseline revealed teachers who felt parental involvement and bonding was low were also likely to rate students as having more externalizing behaviors, fewer social competencies, more attention deficit symptoms, and disruptive behaviors towards adults and peers compared to teachers with more adaptive profiles. Further analysis revealed that parents of teachers randomly assigned to IY TCM were more likely to transition to a more adaptive view of parental involvement at follow-up compared to teachers in the control condition. Because teacher perceptions of parental involvement may adversely impact teacher attitudes towards difficult students, findings from the present study support the promise of teacher training as an avenue for conferring protections for struggling students., (Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

For children with the most serious and persistent academic and behavior problems, parent involvement in education, particularly teacher perceptions of involvement, is essential to avert their expected long-term negative outcomes. Despite the widespread interest in and perceived importance of parent involvement in education, however, few experimental studies have evaluated programs and practices to promote it. In this group randomized trial, we examined the effects of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management program (IY TCM) on teacher perceptions of contact and comfort with parents. One hundred five classrooms with 1818 students were randomly assigned to an IY TCM or to a control, business as usual condition. Measures of key constructs included teacher ratings of parent and student behaviors, direct observations in the classroom, and a standardized academic achievement test. Latent transition analysis (LTA) was used to identify patterns of involvement over time and to determine if intervention condition predicted postintervention patterns and transitions. Four patterns of involvement were identified at baseline and at follow-up; parents of students with academic and behavior problems were most likely to be in classes with the least adaptive involvement patterns. Intervention status predicted group membership at follow-up. Specifically, intervention classroom parents were significantly more likely to transition to more adaptive teacher-rated parenting profiles at follow-up compared to control classroom parents. This is the first randomized trial we are aware of that has found that teacher training can alter teacher perceptions of parent involvement patterns. Clinical implications for students with behavior and academic problems are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Background: There is a need for greater guidance regarding design parameters and empirical benchmarks for social and behavioral outcomes to inform assumptions in the design and interpretation of cluster randomized trials (CRTs)., Objectives: We calculated the empirical reference values on critical research design parameters associated with statistical power for children's social and behavioral outcomes, including effect sizes, intraclass correlations (ICCs), and proportions of variance explained by a covariate at different levels (R 2 )., Subjects: Children from kindergarten to Grade 5 in the samples from four large CRTs evaluating the effectiveness of two classroom- and two school-level preventive interventions., Measures: Teacher ratings of students' social and behavioral outcomes using the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation-Checklist and the Social Competence Scale-Teacher., Research Design: Two types of effect size benchmarks were calculated: (1) normative expectations for change and (2) policy-relevant demographic performance gaps. The ICCs and R 2 were calculated using two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), where students are nested within schools, and three-level HLM, where students were nested within classrooms, and classrooms were nested within schools., Results and Conclusions: Comprehensive tables of benchmarks and ICC values are provided to inform prevention researchers in interpreting the effect size of interventions and conduct power analyses for designing CRTs of children's social and behavioral outcomes. The discussion also provides a demonstration for how to use the parameter reference values provided in this article to calculate the sample size for two- and three-level CRTs designs., (© The Author(s) 2016.)

The present study investigated the role of early stimulation in the home and child language delays in the emergence of depressive symptoms. Data were from a longitudinal study of at-risk children in Hawaii (n = 587). Low learning stimulation in the home at age 3 and language delays in first grade both significantly increased risk for child depressive symptoms in third grade. Structural equation modeling supported the hypothesized path models from home learning environment at age 3 to depressive symptoms in third grade controlling for a host of correlated constructs (maternal depression, child temperament, and child internalizing symptoms). Total language skills in the first grade mediated the effect of home learning environment on depressive symptoms. The study and findings fit well with a nurturing environment perspective. Implications for understanding the etiology of child depression and for designing interventions and prevention strategies are discussed.

Identifying classes of children on the basis of academic and behavior risk may have important implications for the allocation of intervention resources within Response to Intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) models. Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted with a sample of 517 third grade students. Fall screening scores in the areas of reading, mathematics, and behavior were used as indicators of success on an end of year statewide achievement test. Results identified 3 subclasses of children, including a class with minimal academic and behavioral concerns (Tier 1; 32% of the sample), a class at-risk for academic problems and somewhat at-risk for behavior problems (Tier 2; 37% of the sample), and a class with significant academic and behavior problems (Tier 3; 31%). Each class was predictive of end of year performance on the statewide achievement test, with the Tier 1 class performing significantly higher on the test than the Tier 2 class, which in turn scored significantly higher than the Tier 3 class. The results of this study indicated that distinct classes of children can be determined through brief screening measures and are predictive of later academic success. Further implications are discussed for prevention and intervention for students at risk for academic failure and behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

This special topic section features research regarding practices that will support mental health service delivery within a school-based multitiered framework. The articles include data and discussions regarding the evaluation of universal, targeted, or intensive intervention addressing mental health concerns and assessment tools intended for use in screening, progress monitoring, or problem identification. The featured interventions and assessment practices are suitable for use within a service delivery model that prioritizes ecological theory, data-based decision making, and problem solving logic. Each article includes a conceptualization of how the intervention/assessment of interest fits into a school-based multitiered framework and information about feasibility and utility of the practice in school-based settings. These articles highlight the use of mental health intervention and assessment within a multitiered problem-solving framework, and will hopefully stimulate interest in and further scholarship on this important topic., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

The purpose of the study was to explore the effectiveness of a brief, feasible, and cost-effective universal screener for kindergarten readiness. The study examined whether teacher ratings of kindergarteners' academic, behavioral, and overall readiness at the beginning of the year were predictive of academic, emotional, and behavioral outcomes at the end of the year. Participants included 19 kindergarten teachers and their students (n = 350) from 6 urban elementary schools; all teachers were female and the majority of children were African American (74%) or White (23%). Thirty-six percent of children qualified for free or reduced lunch. Teachers completed single-item ratings of student readiness as well as full scale ratings of student prosocial skills, disruptive behaviors, and academic competence. Students also completed a standardized academic achievement test. Independent observers rated disruptive behaviors in the classroom. Readiness items had statistically significant relations with a range of academic, emotional, and behavior indicators. Hierarchical linear regression analyses found that readiness items predicted end-of-year outcomes when controlling for baseline covariates. Items also predicted higher likelihood of negative academic and behavior categorical outcomes and demonstrated classification utility. Schools need universal screening options that are feasible and easy to implement school-wide. The screening tool presented in this study offers a viable, psychometrically strong option for school teams and professionals interested in universal screening., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

We examined typologies of parenting practices using latent profile analysis (LPA) in a sample of families with young children who had externalizing behavior disorders. We also examined mother and child characteristics associated with class membership using ratings from multiple informants. The sample included pooled data from five parenting treatment outcome research studies on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and/or conduct disorder (CD) conducted throughout the past 20 years. These studies included 21 separate cohorts of children resulting in a total of 514 families. All children met diagnostic criteria for ODD or CD and 78 % were male. Parenting practices were observed by independent raters using the Dyadic Parent-child Interactive Coding System-Revised (DPICS-R). Four summary scores (i.e., total critical statements, total commands, total positive, total supportive) from the DPICS-R were used as class indictors in the LPA. Four classes best characterized the parenting practices of this clinic sample, roughly comprising a quarter of the sample each: Positive Only, Negative Only, Positive/Negative, and Neither Positive/Negative. High observed child negative behaviors, low observed child warmth, high socioeconomic status, and low academic performance distinguished the two classes with high negative behaviors (Negative Only, Positive/Negative) from the other classes. These results provide markers of the most common parenting profiles at entry into treatment programs for behavior disorders in young children. Findings have significant implications for the tailoring parenting interventions and supports to specific family needs.

Many school-based interventions to promote student mental health rely on teachers as implementers. Thus, understanding the interplay between the multiple domains of fidelity to the intervention and intervention support systems such as coaching and teacher implementation of new skills is an important aspect of implementation science. This study describes a systematic process for assessing multiple domains of fidelity. Data from a larger efficacy trial of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IY TCM) program are utilized. Data on fidelity to the IY TCM workshop training sessions and onsite weekly coaching indicate that workshop leaders and the IY TCM coach implemented the training and coaching model with adequate adherence. Further, workshop leaders' ratings of engagement were associated with teacher implementation of specific praise, following training on this content. Lastly, the IY TCM coach differentiation of teacher exposure to coaching was evaluated and found to be associated with teacher implementation of classroom management practices and student disruptive behavior.

The purpose of the study was to explore patterns of parent involvement as perceived by teachers and identify correlates of these patterns. Parent involvement indicators and correlates were selected from a review of existing research. Participants included 34 teachers and 577 children in kindergarten through third grade. The vast majority of the sample was African American (78%), followed by Caucasian (19%) and other ethnic backgrounds (2%). Two subscales from the Parent Involvement-Teacher scale, contact and comfort, were entered as indicators in a latent profile analysis to determine the number and types of parent involvement classes. Contact included the frequency of interactions between parents and teachers; comfort included the quality of their relationship with the parent and how well their goals were aligned. Subsequent latent class regressions were conducted to identify student, school, and family characteristics associated with class membership. Three classes provided the optimal solution. This included two classes of parents with low contact with teachers but different comfort levels; one with low contact and low comfort (11%), and one with low contact but high comfort (71%). The remaining class, representing 18% of parents, was rated high on both contact and comfort. Low income status, family problems, and social, emotional, academic, and self-regulation problems distinguished the low comfort class from the other two classes. It is imperative to help teachers feel more comfortable working with families who may be experiencing substantial stressors and who also have children who need support across school and home settings.

This study examined the developmental trajectories of maladaptive perfectionism over a 7-year period among African American youth living in an urban setting (N = 547). In particular, the study attempted to determine whether two maladaptive aspects of perfectionism (socially prescribed and self-critical) changed over time and could be distinguished by variables in 6th and 12th grades (Mage at study entry [first grade] was 6.22 years [SD = 0.34]). Four classes best described the developmental trajectories on both measures of maladaptive perfectionism: high, low, increasing, and decreasing. Sixth- and 12th-grade correlates, including measures of internalizing symptoms, mostly confirmed the distinctiveness of these classes. Parallel process analyses suggested that the two processes are complementary, yet distinct. Implications regarding the prevention of maladaptive perfectionism are discussed., (© 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.)

We examined associations between adolescent problem trajectories and suicide risk outcomes in 361 community participants. Depressive symptoms (self-report) and externalizing behaviors (parent report) were assessed six times from grades 5 to 10. Parallel process linear growth curves indicated that lifetime suicide attempt history assessed to age 25 was associated with higher intercept (grade 5) and slope (increases from grades 5 to 10) of depressive symptoms and higher slope of externalizing behaviors. Both problem intercepts predicted suicidal ideation at ages 18 to 25 years. Adolescent depressive and externalizing symptom trajectories showed independent associations with suicide risk. Preventive intervention that occurs prior to the developmental period in which suicidal thoughts and behaviors show peak prevalence is expected to prevent suicide., (© 2012 The American Association of Suicidology.)

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the eleven year longitudinal association between students identified in first grade as having academic and behavior problems and distal outcomes in twelfth grade. The study extends prior research that identified latent classes of academic and behavior problems in a longitudinal community sample of 678 predominately African American first-grade students. The type and number of classes identified in first grade differed by gender, but results indicated that students within the classes of behavior and academic problems had long-term negative outcomes in the twelfth grade. The class with co-occurring academic and behavior problems in first grade had the greatest risk for negative distal outcomes for both boys and girls including higher likelihood of special education placement, mental health service use, poor academic achievement, and school dropout. Implications for prevention, early intervention, and current practices in schools are discussed., (Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The joint, longitudinal trajectories of symptoms of disruptive behavior problems and of depression were examined in a community sample drawn from neighborhoods with elevated rates of delinquency. Growth mixture modeling was applied to a 6 year transition period from childhood to adolescence, age 10 to 16 years, to identify latent classes of trajectories for each symptom type. Several classes emerged for the two types of symptoms, namely a group of youth with high levels of disruptive behavior, a group with increasing levels, and a group with low levels, as well as a group with increasing levels of depression, a group with high levels, a group with decreasing levels, and a group with low levels. Within each symptom type, membership in either the high or in the increasing classes was related to a variety of problematic outcomes during emerging adulthood. The co-occurrence of the disruptive behavior and depression classes was then evaluated using parallel process analysis. Youth exhibiting high depressive symptoms were at increased risk for disruptive behavior problems, and youth with increasing disruptive behavior problems were at risk for depressive symptoms. However, only a very small number of youth had both a high depression trajectory and a high disruptive behavior trajectory. Implications of the findings for the design of prevention and treatment programs are discussed.

Engaging families in school-based preventive interventions for aggressive youth can be especially challenging. The current article describes an integration of a parent engagement model, called the Family Check-Up, with an evidence-based intervention for youth with aggressive behaviours called Coping Power. The overall goal of the integration was to increase parental involvement and exposure to the core elements of the Coping Power programme to optimize impact on families and their children. We describe both models, summarize evidence of their efficacy when implemented alone, and provide a rationale for their integration. We also provide case examples to illustrate the implementation of the integrated programme in schools as well as feasibility data to support its continued study and implementation.