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Introduction: One's sense of entitlement—the subjective perception of what one deserves from another person—can contribute to social attitudes and behaviour in positive or negative ways, depending on the way in which one construes this subjective sense. Previous work has examined how adolescents' sense of entitlement towards their parents contributes positively or negatively to their well‐being. In this study, we extend this line of research and focus on adolescents' sense of entitlement towards another important authority figure—teachers, while examining its associations with both students' and teachers' characteristics and implications for students' functioning at school. Method: We adapted the Adolescents' Sense of Relational Entitlement towards Parents scale to tap students' relational entitlement towards their teachers. We then examined the factor structure of the adapted scale and its associations with students' and teachers' relevant psychological measures in three samples (N = 1588). Results: Findings confirmed the three‐factor structure of student–teacher entitlement. Studies 2–3 also revealed that students' sense of entitlement was associated with both students' variables (e.g., psychological well‐being, self‐esteem, perceptions of teachers' acceptance of them and students' school engagement) and teachers' emotional difficulties. Study 3's findings indicated that students' sense of entitlement was associated with their school engagement. Conclusion: Students' sense of entitlement towards teachers seems to be associated with teachers' emotional makeup and attitudes towards students. In addition, this subjective sense is associated with students' school engagement. These findings suggest that there is theoretical value and practical implications for further unpacking both teachers' and students' factors associated with students' sense of entitlement and examining its association with academic functioning at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study explored the impact of a 4-week, daily lovingkindness meditation practice on students' levels of hope and emotional intelligence. Our findings indicated no statistically significant difference between treatment and waitlist control groups in students' reported levels of hope and emotional intelligence. However, when students' frequency of practice was included in the model, the results showed that the between-subjects effects were significant. We offer implications for school counseling practice and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A child's disability, long-term illness, or mental ill-health is known to affect siblings' health, social life, school engagement, and quality of life. This article addresses a research gap by its focus on young sibling carers and the impact of providing care to a sibling. A cross-national survey study was conducted in 2018–2019 (Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK) to examine the incidence of adolescent sibling carers, the extent of care they provide, and their self-reported health, well-being, and school situation. The survey was completed by 7146 adolescents, aged 15–17, and 1444 of them provided care to family members with health-related conditions. Out of these, 286 were identified as Sibling Carers and 668 as Parent Carers, while 181 had both sibling(s) and parent(s) with health-related conditions, and thus were identified as Sibling–Parent Carers. Sibling Carers and Sibling–Parent Carers carried out higher levels of caring activities compared to Parent Carers. They reported both positive aspects of caring, such as increased maturity, and negative aspects, such as mental ill-health, impact on schooling and a lack of support. To reduce the negative aspects of a sibling carer role, it is important to recognise them and to implement early preventive measures and formal support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connection with others and a sense of belonging is essential for student school engagement and success. Relationship building practices are therefore central within trauma-informed frameworks that aim to support students with a history of interpersonal trauma. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the research literature regarding relationship building strategies that have been implemented within educational systems as part of their trauma-informed practices. The relationship building strategies, outcomes, and phenomenological experiences of teachers and students were evaluated. Four electronic databases were systematically searched and studies within the education system, from preschool to high school, which included connectedness to school through relationship building as part of a trauma-informed practice protocol, were included in the searches. Thirteen studies were identified where educational settings implemented relationship building strategies within well-established, eclectic, or relationship-specific trauma-informed models. Results suggest great variability of implementation and strategies related to relationship building across school settings, even within studies implementing the same trauma-informed framework. Across studies, positive outcomes reported included improved relationships with teachers, better relationships with other students, greater use of relationship building practices, an increased willingness of teachers to develop better relationships with their trauma-affected students, and improved relationships with families. The study concludes that relationship building strategies within the school system need to be considered and implemented within a systems framework where teacher-child and teacher-family relationships are supported and encouraged. Further, these strategies are more likely to be sustainable when teachers receive ongoing support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School achievement has long-term consequences for occupational success, mental health, and overall psychological adjustment. The present study examined the association between temperament trajectories from late childhood through adolescence and academic outcomes during late adolescence and young adulthood. Data come from the California Families Project, a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin youth assessed 12 times from Age 10 to 23, and from school records. Results from latent growth curve models indicate that higher levels of Effortful Control (EC) at Age 10 were associated with better academic achievement (i.e., higher high school grade point average and test scores, greater likelihood of high school graduation and college attendance) in late adolescence and young adulthood. Higher levels of Negative Emotionality (NEM) at Age 10 were associated with worse academic achievement, but this effect did not hold for all facets of NEM. Neither the levels nor slopes of Positive Emotionality (Surgency, Affiliation) consistently predicted school achievement. There were no main effects of the EC or NEM slopes; however, statistically significant interactions between these slopes and parental monitoring emerged. When parental monitoring was low, youth who experienced greater increases in EC (vs. flat or decreasing slopes) had better academic achievement, and youth who experienced greater increases in NEM had worse academic achievement; in contrast, when parents closely monitored their children, changes in EC and NEM were only weakly associated with achievement. Overall, these findings demonstrate that temperament in late childhood, and changes in temperament across adolescence, have important prospective effects on academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Positive psychological characteristics have been found to be associated with discrimination and school outcomes separately; however, no work has examined these associations together or in North American Indigenous (NAI) populations. NAI adolescents experience high rates of racial discrimination. Because discrimination has a detrimental impact on academic outcomes it is critical to identify factors that could buffer this impact. The purpose of this study was to examine the indirect effect of racial discrimination on three distinct school outcomes (i.e., attitudes toward school, grades, and educational attainment goals) through the pathway of three positive psychological characteristics (i.e., satisfaction with life, subjective happiness, and self‐compassion). Methods: First Nation adolescents living on a rural reserve in Eastern Canada (N = 106, Mage = 14.6 years, 50.0% female) completed a pencil‐and‐paper survey in Spring 2017 as part of a larger community‐based participatory research study. Results: In the model examining school attitudes, indirect effects through subjective happiness (b = −0.21, 95% confidence interval (CI): [−0.53, −0.03]) and self‐compassion (b = −0.19, 95% CI: [−0.39, −0.04]), but not satisfaction with life, were significant. In the model examining grades, only the specific indirect effect through subjective happiness was significant (b = −0.27, 95% CI: [−0.59 −0.07]). Similarly, in the model examining school goals, only the indirect effect through subjective happiness was significant (b = −0.40, 95% CI: [−0.94, −0.08]). The direct effects of discrimination on school attitudes (b = 0.02, 95% CI: [−0.52, 0.56]), grades (b = 0.16, 95% CI: [−0.39, 0.71]), and school goals (b = −0.03, 95% CI: [−0.90, 0.84]) were not significant after controlling for positive psychological characteristics. Discussion: Schools should foster positive emotions to enhance academic outcomes, especially for NAI youth who are more likely to experience racial discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Higher Education & Science / Yüksekögretim ve Bilim Dergisi is the property of Zonguldak Bulent Ecevit Universitesi and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Prior studies emphasize the value of friends' support for children/adolescents who have a disability or suffer from mental ill-health or a long-term illness. However, few studies have explored how a caring role affects those young friend carers themselves. This paper addresses a gap in the research by focusing on this hitherto neglected group of young carers to explore the impact of providing care to friends. An online survey was employed for a cross-national study conducted in 2018–2019 in Sweden, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to examine the incidence of adolescent young friend carers, the extent of care they provide, and their self-reported health, well-being, and school situation. The survey was completed by 7146 adolescents, aged 15–17, and 1121 of them provided care to a friend with a health-related condition, most frequently mental ill-health. They carried out high levels of caring activities, and a quarter of them also provided care to a family member. They experienced both positive and negative aspects of caring. Nevertheless, in comparison with adolescents who provided care to family members, they reported more health problems, with a dominance of mental ill-health, and they received lower levels of support. Since adolescent friends play a valuable role for young people with health-related conditions, especially mental ill-health, it is important to find ways of optimizing their caring experiences in order that those adolescents who choose to care for a friend can do so without it having a negative impact on their own mental health, well-being, and life situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tijdschrift voor Arbeidsvraagstukken is the property of Amsterdam University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the added value of universal mental health screening in school settings. A total of 1735 students were screened using the youth self-report version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ-SR). Non-parametric models were fit to data from the SDQ-SR Internalizing and Externalizing subscales to predict total ODRs by the end of the school year. Final models confirmed the positive predictive relationship between SDQ-SR externalizing scores and ODRs and consistently found internalizing scores to be a negative predictor of ODRs. Specifically, for every 1-point increase in the Externalizing score, ODRs increase by .09 standard deviations; for every 1-point increase in Internalizing scores, ODRs decrease by 0.02 standard deviations. Findings suggested that students with internalizing concerns were likely under-identified when examining patterns in ODRs alone. The implementation of school-based universal mental health screening in addition to examining patterns in academic and behavioral outcomes may assist school personnel in identifying students with emerging social-emotional difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty as a cultural factor affects students' school success and outcomes. In the current literature review, we aimed at providing a comprehensive analysis of intervention research designed to support school outcomes of students aged 3 to 21 years with disabilities or at risk for developing disabilities in high-poverty contexts. Eighteen studies were included in this review (16 group designs, 1 single case design, and 1 group design with embedded single case), with a total of 1782 student participants. Results indicated that most of the research studies designed for students in poverty focused on their language skills (e.g., reading, vocabulary, literacy) with various interventions. Most of the group design studies met the quality indicators (Gersten et al., 2009) with a low standard, although all single case studies met the quality indicators by higher than 80% (Kratochwill et al., 2013). As for the analysis of cultural responsiveness, we found that most studies provided limited information reflecting culturally responsive research (Trainor & Bal, 2014). Discussion and implication for practice and research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used an accelerated longitudinal design to investigate trajectories of proactive and reactive aggression in middle childhood and their outcomes in early adolescence. Children (N = 1420; ages 5–12; 48% female) were assessed biannually over 6 school years. Classroom teachers rated students' proactive and reactive aggression throughout grades K-5; and multi-method (teacher-report, self-report, school records) measures of peer problems, depressive symptoms, academic performance, disciplinary actions, and school absenteeism were collected throughout grades 3–5. Latent class growth models were estimated to differentiate parallel-process trajectories of proactive-reactive aggression. Class membership was then examined as a predictor of outcomes at the end of 5th grade. The best-fitting solution had four trajectory classes: (1) low aggression, 76.7%; (2) high proactive-reactive aggression, 4.7%; (3) declining aggression, 4.9%; and (4) predominantly reactive aggression, 13.7%. Most classes showed seasonal upticks in aggressive behavior in the spring semester relative to fall; these were especially pronounced for proactive aggression, both as a variable and for the proactive-reactive class. Relative to their low-aggression peers, children in any elevated-aggression class had higher levels of peer problems, depressive symptoms, and disciplinary actions and lower GPAs at the end of 5th grade. The reactive class—which on no occasion had the highest total aggression—exhibited the most consistently unfavorable pattern of outcomes across methods and measures. Findings offer new insights concerning the multifinality and heterogeneity of aggressive behavior in childhood. Research, theory, and practice could benefit from adopting person-centered conceptualizations that consider the long-term trajectories, short-term variations, and proactive vs. reactive functions of youth aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although widely used in policy debates, the literature on children's outcomes when raised by same-sex parents mostly relies on small selective samples or samples based on cross-sectional survey data. This has led to a lack of statistical power and the inability to distinguish children born to same-sex parents from children of separated parents. We address these issues by using unique administrative longitudinal data from the Netherlands, which was the first country to legalize same-sex marriage. These data include 2,971 children with same-sex parents (2,786 lesbian couples and 185 gay male couples) and over a million children with different-sex parents followed from birth. The results indicate that children raised by same-sex parents from birth perform better than children raised by different-sex parents in both primary and secondary education. Our findings are robust to use of cousin fixed effects and coarsened exact matching to improve covariate balance and to reduce model dependence. Further analyses using a novel bounding estimator suggest the selection on unobserved characteristics would have to be more than three times higher than the selection on observed characteristics to reduce the positive estimates to zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that young carers are less likely to complete or do well in secondary school compared with young people without caring responsibilities. Positive engagement at school is an important correlate of school outcomes, yet quantitative evidence on the factors contributing to young carers' school engagement is lacking. Drawing on the results of a national school-based survey of Australian children aged 8–14 years (N = 5220) in which about 9% of the sample identified as carers (N = 465), this paper compares the school engagement of non-carers, young carers of a family member with disability, and young carers of a family member with a mental illness or using alcohol/drugs. The analysis shows that school engagement of young carers of people with disability is not significantly different from that of non-carers, but school engagement among young carers of people with a mental illness or using alcohol/drugs is significantly lower. Among this latter group, young carers who are themselves with disability report particularly low levels of engagement. The study concludes that improved support focused on young carers of people with a mental illness or using alcohol/drugs is needed to improve their school engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Physical activity-based positive youth development (PYD) programs offer asset building experiences to foster the overall well-being of youth. These programs have the potential to enhance success in other important contexts for children, such as school. However, rigorous examination of this potential impact is needed.Methods: Propensity score matching was used to compare school outcomes among children who participated in a short, summer physical activity-based PYD program in the USA and children who were from similar backgrounds and from the same school district but did not attend the program. The sample included 149 pairs of students aged 7-12 years (M = 10.11, SD = 1.26) and, in each group, 62% were from ethnically diverse backgrounds, 38% were from primarily Caucasian backgrounds, and 80 were female and 69 were male, and birth years were equally distributed. Ordinal and logistic regression models were used to test for differences between standardized math and language arts test scores, excused and unexcused absences, and total suspensions and expulsions between the two groups.Results: PYD program youth had 55% and 46% greater odds being in the highest math (χ2(1, N = 298) = 4.06, p = .04) and total days attended categories (χ2(1, N = 298) = 5.58, p = .02) respectively. No other significant differences were found. When using a more rigorous quasi-experimental and longitudinal design, participation in a PYD program predicted some but not all academic performance and behaviors. PYD programs may need to be designed to specifically nurture academic skills to consistently impact academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood have previously been related to anxiety and mood disorders in middle childhood. In the current study, trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms (1.5-10 years) were related to children's broader psychosocial and school-related functioning at 10 years. We included a population-based sample of 7499 children, for whom primary caregivers reported anxiety and depression symptoms on the Child Behavior Checklist, at children's ages of 1.5, 3, 6, and 10. Growth Mixture Modeling identified four distinct, gender-invariant, trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms: low (82.4%), increasing (7.4%), decreasing (6.0%), and increasing symptoms up to age 6 followed by a decrease to age 10 (preschool-limited, 4.2%). Children with a non-Dutch ethnicity had lower odds to be in the increasing trajectory and higher odds to be in the decreasing and pre-school limited trajectory. Also, low maternal education predicted the decreasing and pre-school limited trajectory. Higher levels of psychopathology during pregnancy for both mothers and fathers predicted the increasing, decreasing, and preschool-limited trajectory, compared to the low trajectory. At age 10, children in the increasing and preschool-limited trajectory had diminished psychosocial outcomes (friendship-quality and self-esteem) and worse school-related outcomes (school performance and school problems). This study adds to current knowledge by demonstrating that developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood are related to broader negative outcomes in middle childhood. Child and family factors could guide monitoring of anxiety and depression symptoms in the general population and provide targets for prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many cases, the school failure cycle begins in elementary school for students with specific risk factors. Young students with learning difficulties and behavioral problems require a timely and sufficient program to prevent poor school outcomes. After-school mentoring programs are effective in providing meaningful relationships, structure, and academic support, thus mitigating risk factors and improving academic achievement. This case example describes a year-long, cross-age peer mentoring program between high school students identified as gifted and elementary students with risk factors attending adjacent schools with support from a local university. The positive results of this community-based mentoring program include improved academic grades, teacher perceptions, student-rated self-efficacy, and social validity. These results are presented along with implications for practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the positive academic outcomes among school students, it is very essential to develop and enhance academic buoyancy and academic resilience among them. The objective of this review was to explore the empirical literature related to academic buoyancy and academic resilience among school students along with highlighting the major findings of the studies. To collect the relevant studies, databases-Google scholar, Sage, Science direct, ERIC, Psyc INFO, and Taylor and Francis Online were explored. Eighty three studies related to resilience and adults were found. Out of them, only seven studies could quality the inclusion criteria to assess the academic resilience and academic buoyancy among school students. These studies found the importance of factors- self-efficacy, control, planning, persistence, low anxiety, family and community support that are associated with academic buoyancy and academic resilience. Future research direction include: further research from non-westem countries; use of qualitative and mixed methods for analysis; and examination of the effect of demographic variables like SES, family structure and parents' education level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known of educators' knowledge of the impact of preterm birth on academic achievement and nothing is known of parental perspective of this knowledge.Aims: To examine the knowledge of the impact of preterm birth on academic achievement amongst Canadian educators, characterize educators' attitudes towards these challenges, and examine parental perspectives of the educational system for their preterm child.Study Design and Methods: This was a mixed methods study involving kindergarten to Grade 3 educators and parents of preterm children aged 4-8 years. Focus groups were conducted with 35 educators and surveys were collected from 138 educators and 174 parents. Thematic analysis was employed for focus group data and findings from surveys were summarized using descriptive statistics.Results: Themes identified from focus groups included: educators' knowledge was experiential, limited information sharing by parents, and lack of resources. No consensus existed amongst educators on facilitators or barriers in the educational system to help children born preterm. On the parent survey, parental disclosure of medical history was more frequent with lower gestational age. Most parents (94.9%, 130/137) advocated for extended neonatal follow-up and only 59.9% (82/137) expressed confidence that the school was meeting their child's needs. The educator survey confirmed these themes, except educators advocated for disclosure of the child's medical history (91.7%, 100/109). Additional qualifications and experience enhanced educators' knowledge, being a parent of a child born preterm did not.Conclusion: Educators are unprepared to address the academic challenges for the preterm child and training is needed. Parents and providers need to be prepared to advocate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of a language-rich math content text message intervention as a way to promote child literacy outcomes for children enrolled in 15 Head Start centers participating in Jumpstart. Two-hundred and fifty-eight families were randomly assigned to treatment (language-rich math text) or control (information about kindergarten enrollment) conditions. Families received text messages in English, Spanish, or written Chinese. Parents reported on children’s fall entry skills and family demography. Teachers reported on children’s interest in math and literacy. Children were directly assessed on literacy skills to determine if the language-rich math content increased literacy skills. Structural equation models reveal no main effects for the sample of 258, but subgroup analyses by language show intervention effectiveness. For families receiving text messages in English, effectiveness depended on children’s fall letter and shape knowledge for increasing phonological awareness (English). The intervention appears most effective for Spanish-speaking families by increasing children’s math and literacy interest, definitional vocabulary, and print knowledge. Limitations and finding implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report presents further validation evidence for the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire (SSWQ). Analyses conducted with a sample of urban middle-school students (Grades 5-8, N = 335) targeted two limitations from previous validation studies: the lack of convergent validity evidence linking responses to the SSWQ with actual school outcomes and the lack of comparative validity evidence demonstrating the relative contributions of the SSWQ’s first-order and second-order factors for predicting criterion variables. Results from the present study confirmed the SSWQ’s higher-order measurement model and then demonstrated that both first-order and second-order factors had substantive effects on several school-reported outcomes, although first-order factors were more robust predictors overall. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The current study examined whether young children's executive functions and emotionality are related to childcare experiences and whether they work as mediators explaining the associations between childcare experiences and early school outcomes. Findings from a national sample of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 990) revealed that centre‐based care experiences and childcare quality positively predicted preschool children's executive functions, which then were linked to their academic skills and social skills in preschool and kindergarten years. Childcare hours were negatively related to executive functions. Further, childcare experiences did not predict children's emotionality, which was related to their social skills. Overall, childcare experiences, of higher quality, more structure and less hours, were modelled as predicting early school outcomes directly as well as indirectly through executive functioning. Highlights: A mediated model of childcare experiences and early school outcomes through executive functions and emotionality is proposed. SEM analysis revealed that high‐quality, center‐type, and non‐excessive care experiences predicted executive functions, which then predicted academic and social outcomes, None of the childcare characteristics predicted emotionality while emotionality predicted social outcomes. Executive functions can be stimulated by high‐quality, structured care experiences and need to be a target of early learning and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children of parents with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are at-risk for a variety of negative outcomes, including poor educational achievement. The multi-level, resilience-based ChildCARE intervention has been found to yield short-term improvement in a number of school-related variables for children affected by parental HIV. However, no studies have examined whether educational gains persist. Thus, this study evaluated whether children who received the ChildCARE intervention displayed better educational outcomes than children assigned to a control group at 24-, 30-, and 36-months post-intervention. We enrolled 790 Chinese children affected by parental HIV in a four-arm randomized controlled trial to evaluate the intervention components of ChildCARE. Children and their caregivers were randomized to a control group, child-only intervention, child + caregiver intervention, or child + caregiver + community intervention. School outcomes at 24-, 30-, and 36-months suggested limited support for the efficacy of the intervention to yield sustained improvements in educational outcomes. Findings highlight the need for comprehensive and coordinated efforts that involve caregivers, communities, and schools to support children made vulnerable by parental HIV in China and around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent education inequality is a complex problem in the United States, and, despite efforts to promote equity, education performance and attainment remain highly related to characteristics of students' families, schools, and neighborhoods. Systemic interventions are designed to address complex problems through the identification and purposeful incorporation of knowledge from the multiple systems implicated in a problem. Although systemic intervention approaches are not widely reported in education, they have yielded positive effects in health and human services and are worth investigating in the education context. In this paper we review policy and research evidence related to education inequality and provide an agenda for designing and evaluating systemic interventions to reduce education inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of bi-ethnic children is increasing. The focus of this study is on bi-ethnic students in the Netherlands with one parent with an ethnic majority background and one parent with an ethnic minority background. Most studies that have investigated educational outcomes and social functioning in school for bi-ethnic students have not focused on the diversity within this group. In this study, we described the demographic, social and cultural diversity among bi-ethnic students and examined whether, in particular, ethnic background and gender of the migrant parent were related to the educational outcomes and social functioning of bi-ethnic students. Data on a total of 653 sixth grade bi-ethnic students (age 11-12) in primary education of the national Dutch cohort study (COOL) were used in this study. To analyse the relationship between the ethnic background and gender of the migrant parent and the educational outcomes and social functioning among bi-ethnic students, multivariate multilevel analyses were performed. The research findings indicate that bi-ethnic students differ demographically, socially and culturally in a manner dependent on ethnic background and gender of the migrant parent. We also found that the ethnic background and the gender of the migrant parent were related to cognitive outcomes, social-emotional functioning and citizenship competences. When trying to understand and support bi-ethnic students, we must consider the diversity among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study adds to the empirical literature examining the effects of conditional cash transfers on school outcomes. Using school-level and student-level enrolment data from Davao Oriental Philippines, we evaluate the influence of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (also known as 4Ps), a social development policy program, on the growth rates in school enrolment outcomes. The findings show that 4Ps, on average, increased school enrolment of children by 1.12 percent. It was also apparent that using student-level data as opposed to school-level data revealed a more robust effect of 4Ps on school outcomes. We also found some school and socioeconomic characteristics influencing the change in school enrolments. Finally, this study highlights the role of government intervention programs in improving access to education in the poorest sector of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Parental incarceration impacts millions of children in the United States and has important consequences for youths' adjustment and school-based outcomes. METHODS Using data from a survey of youth behavior in one large Midwestern state, we examined the effect of both present and past parental incarceration on school-based outcomes, across 3 school settings (public schools, alternative learning centers, and juvenile correctional facilities). RESULTS Parental incarceration was significantly associated with students' poor school-based outcomes; however, these effects varied markedly by school setting. Among youth in public schools, parental incarceration was consistently associated with poor school outcomes. There were mixed effects among youth in alternative learning centers and no significant effects among youth in juvenile correctional facilities. CONCLUSIONS The study adds to a body of literature demonstrating the negative effects of parental incarceration on youth's school-based outcomes for youth in public schools; however, findings were mixed for youth in alternative learning centers and juvenile correctional facilities. Implications for future research and school practitioners are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to build a broader framework for Chinese principal leadership and to determine what aspects of principal leadership correlate most highly with school outcomes from the perspectives of both principals and teachers. Method: The data come from a 2013 national student achievement assessment in China comprising 37,749 students in Grade 8 and 9,165 teachers in 613 secondary schools. Adopting Grissom and Loeb’s measurement framework, we use both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to examine the structure of principal leadership. Then, a hierarchical linear model is employed to analyze the relationship between principal leadership and five school outcomes, controlling for basic student and teacher demographics and certain school context variables. Findings: We identify many differences and some similarities between China and the United States. We obtain five leadership factors from the principals’ self-rating data (Visibility and Direct Participation, Instruction Organization, Internal Environment Organization, Planning and Personnel, and External Relations) and three leadership factors from the teachers’ rating data (Organization and Management, Instruction and Curriculum, and Visibility and Direct Participation). Regarding student reading achievement and learning efficacy, from both the principals’ and teachers’ perspectives, the most highly correlated aspect is Instruction Organization. For teachers’ occupational stress, job burnout, and teaching efficacy, teachers’ ratings of principal leadership exhibit more significant relationships than does principals’ self-rated leadership. Implications: We explore a broader framework of principal leadership in China. We identify the benefits and analyze alternative views of the indirect effects of principal leadership on students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children affected by parental HIV/AIDS are at-risk for poor school outcomes including reduced attendance, lower grades, and lower school satisfaction compared to unaffected peers. Resilience-based interventions offer promise to improve functioning across a number of domains. A four-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted with 790 children affected by parental HIV/AIDS in rural, central China to examine the effects of a multi-level, resilience-based intervention (i.e., ChildCARE) on school outcomes. Child and caregiver dyads were randomized to a control group, child-only intervention, child + caregiver intervention, or child + caregiver + community intervention. School outcomes at 6-, 12-, and 18-months suggest that participation in the ChildCARE program yielded improvements in academic performance, school satisfaction, and school interest. Opportunities for school psychologists to engage in psychosocial and educational intervention for children impacted by HIV/AIDS are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some definitions of child homelessness include the category of children who are doubled-up with others due to loss of housing or economic hardship, while others do not. Are doubled-up children more like children in shelters or children who are poor but housed? A quasi-experimental comparison group design was used to test empirically for differences in school mobility, school attendance, and reading and mathematics achievement among three groups of sheltered, doubled-up, and poor, housed children, respectively, with each group containing 49 students. Sheltered students were found to have significantly higher levels of school mobility and significantly lower rates of school attendance than students in the other two groups. An elaboration of the continuum of risk model is proposed to differentiate experiences of sheltered and doubled-up students. Recommendations are made for policy responses as well as future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study analyzed the predictive relationship between reading fluency and school outcomes across school levels (primary, secondary, and high school), after controlling on the effect of reading comprehension. The sample included 489 children attending Italian primary (grades 4 and 5), secondary (grades 6 and 8), and high schools (grade 9). Students' reading fluency and comprehension were examined with a standardized reading achievement test. At the end of the school year, we requested the school reports of each participant. According to our data, reading fluency predicted all schoolmarks in all literacy-based subjects, with reading rapidity being the most important predictor. School level did not moderate the relationship between reading fluency and school outcomes, confirming the importance of effortless and automatized reading even in higher school levels. Overall this study emphasizes the importance of identifying evidence-based tasks that can be administered in a short time and to many different individuals, which are easy to create, and are linked to school outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is a growing literature showing associations between prenatal and early-life exposure to air pollution and children's neurodevelopment. However, it is unclear if decrements in neurodevelopment observed in epidemiologic research translate into observable functional outcomes in the broader pediatric population. The objective of this study was to examine the association between early-life exposures to common urban air toxics and the use of academic support services, such as early intervention and special education within a population-based cohort of urban children.Methods: Data for 201,559 children born between 1994 and 1998 in New York City were obtained through administrative data linkages between birth, early intervention and educational records. Use of academic support services was ascertained from birth through attendance in 3rd grade. Census tract at birth was used to assign estimates of annual average ambient concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) using the 1996 National Air Toxics Assessment. Discrete-time hazard models were fit to the data and adjusted for confounders including maternal, childhood and neighborhood factors.Results: Children with higher exposures to BTEX compounds were more likely to receive academic support services later in childhood. For example, the adjusted hazard ratio comparing children exposed to the highest decile of benzene to those with lower exposure was 1.09 (95% confidence interval 1.05, 1.13). Results were consistent across individual BTEX compounds, for exposure metrics which summarized exposure to all four BTEX pollutants and for multiple sensitivity analyses.Conclusions: These findings suggest urban air pollution may affect children's neurodevelopment and educational trajectories. They also demonstrate the use of public health data systems to advance children's environmental health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To better understand the impact of age at injury, severity of injury, and time since injury on long-term school outcomes of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants: Four groups of children: complicated mild/moderate TBI (n = 23), severe TBI (n = 56), orthopedic injury (n = 35), and healthy controls (n = 42). Children with TBI were either 2 years postinjury or 6 years postinjury. Design: Cross-sectional design. Measures: School records as well as parental ratings of functional academic skills and school competency. Results: Children with severe TBI had consistently high usage of school services and low school competency ratings than children with orthopedic injuries and healthy controls. In contrast, children with complicated-mild/moderate TBI were significantly more likely to receive school support services and have lower competence ratings at 6 years than at 2 years postinjury. Students injured at younger ages had lower functional academic skill ratings than those injured at older ages. Conclusions: These findings highlight the increasing academic challenges faced over time by students with complicated-mild/moderate TBI and the vulnerability of younger children to poorer development of functional academic skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and as a result, one of the largest populations of incarcerated parents. Growing evidence suggests that the incarceration of a parent may be associated with a number of risk factors in adolescence, including school drop out. Taking a developmental ecological approach, this study used multilevel modeling to examine the association of parental incarceration on truancy, academic achievement, and lifetime educational attainment using the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (48.3 % female; 46 % minority status). Individual characteristics, such as school and family connectedness, and school characteristics, such as school size and mental health services, were examined to determine whether they significantly reduced the risk associated with parental incarceration. Our results revealed small but significant risks associated with parental incarceration for all outcomes, above and beyond individual and school level characteristics. Family and school connectedness were identified as potential compensatory factors, regardless of parental incarceration history, for academic achievement and truancy. School connectedness did not reduce the risk associated with parental incarceration when examining highest level of education. This study describes the school related risks associated with parental incarceration, while revealing potential areas for school-based prevention and intervention for adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Food-insecure ( FIS) adolescents struggle in school and with health and mental health more often than food-secure ( FS) adolescents. Rural communities experience important disparities in health, but little is known about rural FIS adolescents. This study aims to describe select characteristics of rural adolescents by food-security status. METHODS Baseline analysis using data from a randomized trial to increase school breakfast participation ( SBP) in rural Minnesota high schools. Students completed a survey regarding food security, characteristics, and home and school environments. Schools provided academic data and staff measured height and weight. Food security was dichotomized as FS vs FIS. Bivariate analysis, multivariate linear/logistic regression, and testing for interaction of food security and sex were performed. RESULTS Food-insecure adolescents reported poorer health, less exercise, had lower grades, and higher SBP (p < .01). Food-insecure adolescents reported marginally fewer barriers (p = .06) and more benefits of breakfast (p = .05). All associations except reported benefits remained significant after adjustment. Interactions were identified with girls' grade point average and with boys' caloric and added sugar intake. CONCLUSIONS Negative associations among food insecurity and positive youth development are identified in our sample. Policy and environmental strategies should address the complexities of these associations, including exploration of the role of school meals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixteen meta-analyses were conducted to examine relations of typically developing bilingual immigrant-background children’s oral language proficiency in their first and second language with the school outcomes of early literacy (k = 41), reading (k = 61), spelling (k = 9), mathematics (k = 9), and academic achievement (k = 9). Moderate to strong within-language relations were found for all school outcomes (.22 < r < .43), and cross-language relations for early literacy and reading (.12 < r < .22). Within-language relations were stronger than cross-language relations (.14 < d < .35). Only 6 out of 96 moderator effects tested were significant. Based on our findings, we propose a task-dependent bidirectional transfer hypothesis: The strength of cross-language transfer depends on the type of language proficiency task and the type of school outcome. Stimulating oral language proficiency in both languages can be a key factor in improving school outcomes of bilingual immigrant background children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school climate and student growth in Michigan charter schools. The Organizational Climate Descriptive Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (OCDQ-RE) developed by Hoy, Tarter and Kottkamp (1991) was used to assess teacher perceptions of school climate. Student growth data were calculated using the fall and spring reading and math results from the Performance Series test by Scantron, and the MAP test by NWEA. A non-experimental, quantitative analysis was used to test for variables in participating charter elementary schools in Michigan. The results indicated there is a significant relationship between school climate and student growth in the select schools and reinforce that the school environment is a key variable in student performance. Understanding the variables that affect a student's performance, both academically and social, will provide insight for school leaders to help focus on factors that contribute to increased student performance. While educators and researchers have been studying the dynamics within the school environment and how they impact student outcomes for many years, this study departs from the traditional student achievement variable and instead uses student growth to determine what influence the school climate may have on student performance. Additionally, this study looks at the new environment of charter public schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison of the impact of bullying and sexual harassment on five school outcomes was conducted on a sample of high school students. Results revealed that sexual harassment was a stronger predictor than bullying of all school outcomes for both sexes, but especially for girls. This study suggests that sexual harassment, which activates sexist and heterosexist stereotypes, erodes school engagement, alienates students from teachers, and adversely affects academic achievement, to a greater degree than bullying does. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Changing demographics in societies through international migration have led to an increasing number of bi-ethnic individuals. The focus of this study is on bi-ethnic students with one parent with an ethnic majority background and one parent with an ethnic minority background. Most studies worldwide have grouped these bi-ethnic students with ethnic minority students or have grouped them according to the ethnic background of their mothers with the majority or minority group. However, empirical arguments for these groupings are lacking. Purpose: The present study examined the educational outcomes and functioning of bi-ethnic students compared with mono-ethnic majority and mono-ethnic minority students in the Netherlands. Sample: Data on in total 12,841 sixth-grade students (age 11–12) in primary education from two consecutive measurements of the national Dutch cohort study (COOL5–18) were used in this study. Method: Educational outcomes were measured with test scores on reading comprehension and mathematics. Educational functioning in school was measured with teacher and student questionnaires. Student questionnaires included instruments for well-being of the pupil in relationship with fellow students and citizenship competences. Teachers reported on problem behaviour of the pupils. To analyse the differences in educational outcomes and functioning among bi-ethnic, mono-ethnic minority and mono-ethnic majority students, multivariate, multilevel analyses were performed. Results: The research findings indicate that bi-ethnic students do not differ from mono-ethnic majority students while they do differ from mono-ethnic minority students in their cognitive achievement, social-emotional functioning and citizenship knowledge. Bi-ethnic students scored higher on cognitive outcomes, social-emotional functioning and citizenship knowledge than mono-ethnic minority students did. For citizenship orientation alone, it was found that bi-ethnic students score in between mono-ethnic majority and mono-ethnic minority students. Conclusion: This study indicates that researchers should not assume that bi-ethnic students will be similar to mono-ethnic ones. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Open enrollment was expected to provide students in urban school settings with equal opportunity to access schools with abundant educational resources that led to improved student achievement. The One-way ANOVA and Linear Mixed Models used a propensity score matching method were administered to identify to what extent urban students utilized inter-district open enrollment in a Midwestern city and to compare their performances on standardized tests before and after the school transfer had occurred. The results indicated that open enrollment provided black students and students in the child welfare system with equal access to racially and socioeconomically integrated schools. However, these students' academic performance was not significantly enhanced by their open enrollment, except the 3rd grade student achievement in math. The results raised questions about the characteristics of open enrollment. Recommendations for future research are made; study limitations are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]