No description available.

Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) procedures have been shown to substantially increase academic performance. Other positive outcomes, incidentally observed, include enhanced prosocial behaviors and increased appropriate interactions among peers. This study examined the direct effects of a CWPT program on peer relations and academic performance. A mixed first- and second-grade general education classroom participated in a CWPT spelling intervention with a comparable control classroom. The study consisted of three phases-Baseline (4 weeks), Intervention (6 weeks), and Follow-up (4 weeks). Dependent measures included sociometric peer rating scales and spelling test scores. Results were analyzed by determining mean change for each participant and each social status group for both experimental and control classrooms. The data indicate that CWPT positively influenced students' peer acceptance and improved spelling performance.

No description available.

Teaching is considered one of the most challenging professions, often associated with high levels of occupational stress and job turnover that perpetuates additional negative outcomes including depleted funding for school districts, poor education quality, and reduced student academic performance. Research shows that teachers are an integral part of the classroom with the power to positively influence students’ perceived classroom support and emotional competence (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Positive psychology has facilitated school-based initiatives that foster feelings of subjective well-being (happiness) through the implementation of brief, scripted activities (i.e., Positive Psychology Interventions; PPIs) that reflect the thoughts and behaviors of happy people (Layous & Lyubomirsky, 2014). Studies have demonstrated the positive impact of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) for adults (Bolier et al., 2013) and youth including a multicomponent, multitarget PPI (i.e., Well-Being Promotion Program) that improves students’ well-being (Suldo et al., 2015). McCullough’s (2015) investigation of the efficacy of a strengths-based intervention (Utilizing Signature Strengths in New Ways) on elementary teachers’ well-being revealed promising effects on teacher reduced emotional distress, increased life and work satisfaction, and SWB. This study examined the additive impact of teachers’ participation in the brief strengths-based teacher intervention (SBTI) on elementary students’ social and emotional outcomes, as reflected in levels of SWB, psychopathology, as well as classroom engagement and relationships among teachers and students. Concurrently, these elementary students took part in a Classwide Well-Being Promotion Program, a 10-week intervention targeting a variety of positive psychological constructs (i.e., positive relationships, gratitude, kindness, character strengths, hope) with additional parent and teacher components. A total of 7 classes (4 fifth grade; 3 fourth grade) within one large elementary school received the classwide, multicomponent student intervention in spring 2016, while 3 teachers were randomly assigned to participate in the SBTI concurrently. Follow-up analyses examined group differences on the variables of interest for the combined intervention (WBPP + SBTI) group, relative to classes of students engaged in the classwide-only intervention (WBPP). At immediate post-intervention, results revealed that classes of students participating in the combined intervention group did not demonstrate significantly improved student-reported life satisfaction, positive or negative affect, classmate or teacher support, emotional or behavioral engagement, nor teacher-reported relationship satisfaction, instrumental help, and emotional or behavioral engagement relative to the classwide-only intervention group. Additionally, students in classes within the combined approach reported statistically higher levels of negative affect and reduced levels of perceived teacher support relative to a classwide-only intervention group at immediate post-intervention, although the unexpected impact on negative affect appeared driven by data from students in the class led by a teacher with questionable fidelity of intervention implementation. Results of this study do not provide support that targeting teachers’ well-being through the SBTI may promote superior student outcomes for students concurrently engaged in the WBPP. Nonetheless, high levels of treatment acceptability reported by teachers and students participating in the combined intervention, as well as limitations to the study design, justify further investigation on the impact of targeting both teacher and student well-being in the context of positive psychological practices.

Youth psychological well-being has become increasingly acknowledged as not merely the absence of psychological distress, but the presence of positive indicators of optimal functioning. Students with complete mental health (i.e., low psychopathology and high well-being) demonstrate the best academic, social, and physical health outcomes. As such, there remains a need to address children’s well-being through a holistic approach emphasizing the prevention of mental health problems and promotion of flourishing. Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) have emerged as a promising method of enhancing students’ complete mental health. Previous investigations support the utility of multitarget PPIs with middle school students and single-target PPIs (e.g., character strengths, hope) with younger elementary students, though the extent to which comprehensive multitarget, multicomponent PPIs enhance classes of elementary students’ outcomes relative to a control has not been examined. This study compared levels of subjective well-being, mental health problems, classroom social support, and classroom engagement between students in 6 classrooms randomly assigned to participate in a 10-week intervention targeting a variety of positive psychological constructs (i.e., positive relationships, gratitude, kindness, character strengths, hope) with parent and teacher components, and students in 7 classrooms randomly assigned to a delayed intervention control group. Follow-up analyses examined levels of outcomes of the immediate intervention group relative to the control group at post-intervention, as well as levels of outcomes in the intervention group three months after program completion. At post-intervention, classes of students participating in the immediate intervention group did not have significantly improved student-reported life satisfaction, positive affect or negative affect, classmate or teacher support, emotional or behavioral engagement, nor teacher-reported relationship satisfaction, instrumental help, and emotional or behavioral engagement relative to the control classes. However, several trends were found: (a) students in the immediate intervention group had lower negative affect relative to the delayed intervention control among students with greater baseline negative affect levels, (b) students in the immediate intervention group had lower teacher-reported levels of instrumental help relative to the control among students with greater baseline instrumental help levels, and (c) students in the immediate intervention group reported lower levels of behavioral engagement relative to the delayed intervention control. Because of the lack of improvement in immediate intervention group outcomes relative to the control group at post-intervention, continuation of those anticipated improvements from post-intervention to 3-month follow-up could not be detected. However, there was a significant increase in teacher-reported internalizing symptoms from post-intervention to follow-up among the immediate intervention group (without comparison to a control). Overall, findings from this study do not provide empirical support for the efficacy of a multitarget, multicomponent PPI when delivered universally to classes of elementary students. Nevertheless, high levels of treatment acceptability and feasibility from students and teachers as well as limitations to the study design support the need for educational scholars and practitioners to continue exploring the impact of multitarget PPIs delivered to students in multiple formats and various age levels in order to promote complete mental health across tiers of support and thus optimize success for all students.

Disparities in academic and social outcomes for ethnically diverse students in educational settings has been identified in the literature as the achievement gap. This study examined the impact of teacher training interventions on establishing equity in teacher implementation of a common positive behavior classroom support strategy, behavior-specific praise in four elementary classrooms. Teacher self-monitoring and written performance feedback were used to facilitate teachers to improve classroom practices by establishing proportionate praise and discipline practices across racially diverse students. A multiple-baseline across participants design was used to evaluate the impact of self-monitoring and written performance feedback with and without equity-focused procedures on teacher delivery of behavior-specific praise and reprimands and their perception of student classroom behavior. Results indicated that the typical self-monitoring and written performance feedback were effective in increasing the participating teachers’ overall rates of delivering behavior-specific praise and reducing reprimands; however, substantial disparities in praise delivery were observed between demographic groups across all four teachers. Additional feedback regarding equity was necessary for reducing disparities in teacher behavior between demographic groups. The results also indicated that teacher perception of student classroom behavior improved, demonstrating decreased levels of disruptive student behavior and increased levels of respect and student engagement across all participants

School readiness literature indicates that skills which lend themselves to readiness and success in primary school are not amongst the skills generally taught in center based care facilities. Furthermore, children enrolled in non- maternal care settings are at greater risk for developing problem behavior. To address this issue, the Preschool Life Skills (PLS) program was created as a preventative intervention to teach functional communication and social skills to typically developing children. Children diagnosed with developmental disabilities are not immune to these concerns and are also at risk for developing problem behaviors in non-maternal settings, due to insufficient instruction and contingency management. The current study aimed to evaluate and identify the dose of instruction necessary for the PLS curriculum to be a successful and efficient teaching tool for children with developmental disabilities. Twelve preschool life skills were taught to 9 participants across 4 instruction units. Instruction was provided by means of a three-tiered instructional approach, which incorporated class-wide instruction, followed by small group and individual instruction as necessary. Skills were sequentially introduced and unit probes were conducted following mastery of all 3 skills within a unit. Results indicated that the adaptations made to the original preschool life skills curriculum led to skill acquisition with all nine participants.

The present review examined the effectiveness of three peer tutoring programs: cross-age peer tutoring, Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), and Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS), for elementary students in the academic areas of math and reading. The research reviewed indicates students who participated in cross-age peer tutoring and CWPT had improved test scores on basic math facts as well as increased math scores on standardized assessments. Students also showed improvement in reading fluency, reading comprehension, spelling, and reading level after participating in cross-age peer tutoring and CWPT. High-, average-, and low-achieving students as well as students in special Ill education benefitted from these peer tutoring programs. In addition, both tutors and tutees received benefits from the tutoring programs, although fewer studies examined outcomes for tutors. Although cross-age peer tutoring, and CWPT resulted in mostly positive outcomes, this was not the case for the PALS program. Students participating in this program demonstrated little change from pre- to post-assessment. Since the PALS studies were better designed with tighter experimental control, it is less likely results were due to another variable. The cross-age and CWPT studies lacked the tight experimental control of the PALS studies.

Classroom management is still one of the top-rated concerns of general educators and public school administrators, even though there exist a number of empirically supported interventions that improve classroom behavior. The current research, consisting of two studies, examined the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of one of these interventions, a classwide peer-assisted, self-management program. Using a multiple baseline design across classes, the first study investigated the effects of the Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) Game on appropriate classroom behavior of three classes of seventh-grade language arts students and of 10 target at-risk students. The PAL Game consisted of teacher instruction in self-management and social skills, a classwide self-monitoring game in which two teams of peer dyads rated themselves and each other, a teacher-rated mystery match, and public posting of team and partnership scores. The second study examined the effects of the systematic withdrawal of the PAL Game on maintenance of appropriate behavior of the class and of target at-risk students. In addition to examining the effects of the PAL Game on classroom behavior, another purpose of these two studies was to document and analyze the feasibility of implementing the PAL Game in a general education classroom and acceptability of the PAL Game to students and the teacher. Classroom management is still one of the top-rated concerns of general educators and public school administrators, even though there exist a number of empirically supported interventions that improve classroom behavior. The current research, consisting of two studies, examined the effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability of one of these interventions, a classwide peer-assisted, self-management program. Using a multiple baseline design across classes, the first study investigated the effects of the Peer-Assisted Learning (PAL) Game on appropriate classroom behavior of three classes of seventh-grade language arts students and of 10 target at-risk students. The PAL Game consisted of teacher instruction in self-management and social skills, a classwide self-monitoring game in which two teams of peer dyads rated themselves and each other, a teacher-rated mystery match, and public posting of team and partnership scores. The second study examined the effects of the systematic withdrawal of the PAL Game on maintenance of appropriate behavior of the class and of target at-risk students. In addition to examining the effects of the PAL Game on classroom behavior, another purpose of these two studies was to document and analyze the feasibility of implementing the PAL Game in a general education classroom and acceptability of the PAL Game to students and the teacher. The results of these studies are discussed in terms of their implications for classroom practitioners and for future research.

A year-long longitudinal study was conducted to quantify different types of teaching in the beginning of the year, and the effect of those choices on end of year instructional practices and student outcomes. Teacher practices were organized around the fidelity of implementation to the Responsive Classroom (RC) program (Northeast Foundation for Children, 2009). Most notably, a central RC tenant entitled “the first six weeks” was examined. RC is a universal prevention program that previously has been categorized as a Tier I social-behavioral program for students when considered within an RTI model (Elliott, 1999). Twenty-seven teachers from the New England region and 179 students participated. The Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES), teacher-form (DiPerna & Elliott, 2000) was used to measure student outcomes. The Classroom Practice Measure (CPM; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2007) was used to measure level of RC implementation. Finally, to quantify teaching behavior, a momentary time-sampling observation, called the Teaching Observation Tool (TOT; Marcotte, Klein, & Solomon, 2010), was implemented. Results from a series of multilevel models utilizing students nested within teachers indicated that both a constant, high level of instructional time and investment in environmental management time in the fall results in higher levels of student reading (significant) and math achievement (non-significant) in the spring, and lower levels of time spent correcting behavior. Teachers with large discrepancies in instructional time from fall to spring and teachers who failed to release environmental control to students over time had students with lower levels of reading and math growth. Relationships between the CPM, ACES, and the TOT indicate that RC is significantly correlated with increases in student reading achievement and motivation beyond what would be expected of a teacher that does not implement RC. However, in contrast to past research, RC in this study was not correlated with teacher reported improvements in social skills. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.