Multilevel modeling and school psychology: A review and practical example.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the state of multilevel modeling in the field of school psychology. The authors provide a systematic assessment of published research of multilevel modeling studies in 5 journals devoted to the research and practice of school psychology. In addition, a practical example from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS–K) is presented to help school psychologists become familiar with the basic terminology and procedures used in multilevel modeling studies. Implications for statistical reform and future research practices are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's early approaches to learning and academic trajectories through fifth grade.

Children's early approaches to learning (ATL) enhance their adaptation to the demands they experience with the start of formal schooling. The current study uses individual growth modeling to investigate whether children's early ATL, which includes persistence, emotion regulation, and attentiveness, explain individual differences in their academic trajectories during elementary school. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), the present investigation examined the association between ATL at kindergarten entry and trajectories of reading and math achievement across 6 waves of data from kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade (n = 10,666). The current study found a positive link between early ATL and individual trajectories of reading and math performance. Overall, children's early ATL was equally beneficial for children regardless of their race/ethnicity and dimensions of their socioeconomic background. However, links between early ATL and academic trajectories differed by their gender and initial levels of math and reading achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and impact of changes in home learning environment on development of language and academic skills in preschool children.

In this study, we examined changes in the early home learning environment as children approached school entry and whether these changes predicted the development of children's language and academic skills. Findings from a national sample of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,018) revealed an overall improvement in the home learning environment from 36 to 54 months of children's age, with 30.6% of parents of preschoolers displaying significant improvement in the home environment (i.e., changes greater than 1 SD) and with only 0.6% showing a decrease. More important, the degree of change uniquely contributed to the children's language but not to their academic skills. Home changes were more likely to be observed from mothers with more education and work hours and with fewer symptoms of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment at school age and academic performance.

The association between attachment and school-related cognitive functioning was longitudinally examined for a French Canadian sample of 108 school-age children. The affective quality of mother-child interaction patterns, child cognitive engagement, and quality of child attachment to mother were evaluated during a laboratory visit that included a separation-reunion procedure occurring when the children were approximately 6 years of age. Children's mastery motivation and academic performance were assessed 2 years later (at age 8). Analyses indicated that secure children had higher scores than their insecure peers on communication, cognitive engagement, and mastery motivation. Controlling children were at greatest risk for school underachievement, with the poorest performance on all measures except mastery motivation. Avoidant and ambivalent children were lowest on mastery motivation. Results of mediational analyses support the salience of mother–child interactional processes and child cognitive engagement at school age in explaining relations between attachment and cognitive functioning in school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An attachment and school satisfaction framework for helping children raised by grandparents.

The numbers of children raised by their grandparents are increasing. Although placement with their grandparents may be the best setting for children whose parents can no longer care for them, research suggests the children may experience difficult school functioning such as behavioral, emotional, and academic problems. Additionally, the grandparents often are subject to high levels of stress that adversely affects their physical and emotional well-being. The aforementioned problems frequently occur secondary to relational issues. Attachment and school satisfaction constructs include human relational factors that are important to understanding the school-related functioning of children raised by grandparents. In this article, the implications of attachment and school satisfaction on the children's functioning are described. The constructs offer relational strategies to improve the educational and developmental trajectories of children raised by their grandparents. An attachment model and framework, based on the constructs, is described to guide prevention and intervention with these families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families.

This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the prekindergarten year and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the prekindergarten year and that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. Implications of these findings for prekindergarten programs are discussed, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations among family environment, sustained attention, and school readiness for low-income children.

In this study, we examined the developmental pathways from children's family environment to school readiness within a low-income sample (N = 1,046), with a specific focus on the role of sustained attention. Six distinct factors of the family environment representing maternal parenting behaviors, the physical home environment, and maternal mental health at 3 years of age were explored as independent predictors of children's observed sustained attention as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes at 5 years of age. Children were grouped by poverty status (poor vs. near-poor). Results suggest specificity in the associations among attention (focused attention and lack of impulsivity) and its correlates, with different patterns emerging by poverty status group. Overall, the family environment was largely unrelated to children's sustained attention. For both groups, focused attention was associated with receptive vocabulary; however, it partially mediated the association between maternal lack of hostility and receptive vocabulary only among the near-poor. In addition, lack of impulsivity was associated with both receptive vocabulary and externalizing behaviors but only for the poor group. Findings indicate sustained attention as a potential target for efforts aimed at enhancing school readiness among predominantly poor children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' attitudes toward seeking help for their children from school and private psychologists.

What inhibits parents from seeking psychological help for their children? This study examined the attitudes of mothers of school-age children toward seeking psychological help from school psychological services and from private psychologists. Mothers express greater and more intense worries in relation to seeking help from school psychological services as compared to private psychologists. Hypothetical vignettes about a problematic child also showed that mothers prefer to refer both their own child and that of a friend to a private psychologist. Reducing the threat aroused by public sector psychologists should increase the utilization of psychological help for children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-anxiety and blame-assignment in grade school children.

"… an attempt was made to measure the relationship between test-anxiety in elementary school children and the propensity for self-blame assignment in regard to the experience of failure in a test situation… . The general hypothesis… was that in a failure situation, high test-anxious S's assign blame for a failure to themselves to a greater extent than do non-test-anxious S's… . The overall results… tend to support the hypothesis, but with qualifications that… change the perspective… of test-anxiety and blame assignment." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting and academic socialization as they relate to school readiness: The roles of ethnicity and family income.

Relationships between parenting and children's school readiness were examined within socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and Euro-American kindergarten children, mothers, and teachers. The moderating role of family income and ethnicity for the relationships between parenting behaviors, parental expectations, and school involvement and children's early school performance were also examined. Although there were many similarities across ethnic groups in the relationships between parenting and school performance, family income moderated the relationship between parenting behaviors and prereading scores: Parenting had a much stronger relationship with prereading performance for lower income families than for higher income families. Ethnicity moderated the relationships between parental school involvement and children's premath performance. Implications of these findings for prevention and intervention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community violence exposure and children's academic functioning.

This study reports a cross-sectional investigation of the link between community violence exposure and academic difficulties for 237 urban elementary school children (mean age of 9.5 years). Children completed a self-report inventory assessing exposure to community violence. Their achievement test scores and GPAs were obtained from school records, and other aspects of psychosocial adjustment were assessed with a multi-informant approach. Analyses indicated that community violence exposure was associated with poor academic performance. These relations appeared to be mediated by symptoms of depression and disruptive behavior and remained significant even after the prediction associated with bullying by peers was controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior": Correction to Kurdek and Sinclair.

Reports an error in "Relation of eighth graders' family structure, gender, and family environment with academic performance and school behavior" by Lawrence A. Kurdek and Ronald J. Sinclair (Journal of Educational Psychology, 1988[Mar], Vol 80[1], 90-94). Table 2 contained incorrect data. The first column of data contained correlations whose signs should have been reversed. The complete correct table appears in the erratum. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1988-24801-001.) The purpose of this study was to assess how family structure, gender, and family environment were related to both academic performance (end-of-the-year grades and quantitative and verbal achievement factor scores) and school behavior (number of days absent, number of days tardy, and number of in-school detentions). Subjects were 219 middle-class eighth graders (96 boys, 123 girls). Generally, students in two-parent nuclear families had better academic performance and less problematic school behavior than did students in either mother-custody or stepfather families. Boys had more detentions than did girls. Despite significant differences among the three family structures, the family structure variable accounted at most for only 7% of the variability in academic performance and school behavior. A family environment that emphasized achievement and intellectual pursuits accounted for variability in end-of-the-year grades beyond that accounted for by family structure, gender, and family conflict. The joint consideration of family structure, gender, and family environment accounted at most for 17% of the variance in academic performance and school behavior. For students in the mother-custody and stepfather families, contact with father was unrelated to academic performance. Findings are discussed in terms of models of achievement motivation and behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A portrait of benchmark school: How a school produces high achievement in students who previously failed.

This is a case study of Benchmark School, which educates 6- to 15-year-olds with a history of school failure. Grounded theory methodology was employed to generate a theory about how the school promotes achievement. Many elements potentially promoting academic achievement were identified, including ones informed by psychological theory and research (e.g., evidence-based literacy instructional practices, strategies instruction, conceptually focused content instruction, many mechanisms to motivate students) but also, selective admissions, human resources (i.e., well-trained teachers, supportive parents, skilled counselors), small class size, and a supportive physical context. The theory that emerges is that many elements must be articulated to remediate struggling elementary students, although some are more important than others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are SSATS and GPA enough? A theory-based approach to predicting academic success in secondary school.

Two studies were carried out to predict academic success in the highly competitive environment of a private preparatory school, Choate Rosemary Hall. The 1st study focused on the question of whether there are indicators beyond middle school grade-point average (GPA) and standardized test scores that might enhance the validity of measures for predicting success of students attending Choate. The results indicated the importance of taking into account aspects of self-regulated learning (SRL), such as academic self-efficacy, academic motivation, academic locus of control, and measures of the WICS (Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity Synthesized) theoretical framework. Both sets of SRL and WICS indicators demonstrated incremental validity in predicting success at Choate. The 2nd study preliminarily evaluated the value of including indicators of aspects of the SRL and the WICS theoretical framework into the Choate admission process. The results of this study examined the utility of using quantified indicators other than middle-school GPA and standardized test scores for making admission decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Popularity, social acceptance, and aggression in adolescent peer groups: Links with academic performance and school attendance.

This article reports a short-term longitudinal study focusing on popularity and social acceptance as predictors of academic engagement for a sample of 342 adolescents (approximate average age of 14). These youths were followed for 4 consecutive semesters. Popularity, social acceptance, and aggression were assessed with a peer nomination inventory, and data on academic engagement were obtained from school records. For adolescents who were highly aggressive, increases in popularity were associated with increases in unexplained absences and decreases in grade point average. Conversely, changes in social acceptance were not predictive of changes in grade point average or unexplained absences. These results highlight the importance of multidimensional conceptualizations of social standing for research on school adjustment during adolescence and emphasize the potential risks associated with popularity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Kindergarten children's emotion competence as a predictor of their academic competence in first grade.

This study examined the relation between emotion competence and academic competence and three potential mediators of this relation. In kindergarten, 193 children from elementary schools serving urban, minority, and low income students participated in an emotion competence assessment, and 142 of these children completed a follow-up assessment in first grade. The relation between teacher ratings of emotion regulation and academic competence was primarily indirect through the effect of emotion regulation on teacher ratings of attention. Peer acceptance and teacher closeness did not mediate the relations between emotion competence and academic competence. Results highlight the potential benefits of early emotion-centered prevention programs and the need to identify children with attention problems as early as possible to prevent academic difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation of positive and negative sociometric valuations to social and personal adjustment of school children.

For students (N = 250) in seven grade-school classes, the frequency of positive and negative sociometric choices was related to scores on the subtests of the California Test of Personality. Frequency of both positive and negative choices was dichotomized into "few" and "many," and the subtest scores were analyzed in a 2 X 2 factorial design created by the four possible combinations of choices. "Seven of the 12 subsections of the… test… produced evidence to indicate a relationship between one's social position among his peers and some aspect of personality adjustment as measured by this test." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The developmental context of school satisfaction: Schools as psychologically healthy environments.

A positive psychology perspective on school psychology challenges us to think critically about the degree to which schools and schooling processes support children's optimum adjustment. We argue that schools contribute to a student's positive adjustment when they function as psychologically healthy environments for development. In this narrative review, we examine contemporary perspectives on positive adjustment in children and propose a developmental-ecological perspective as one theoretical lens through which to view positive school adjustment. We will critique the empirical literature on contextual factors contributing to school satisfaction, one marker of positive school adjustment. Finally, we will make recommendations for practice and research in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and correlates of academic interests from childhood through adolescence.

Study goals were to assess: (a) the development of academic interests from middle childhood through late adolescence; (b) the degree to which junior high and high school transitions, parents' educational expectations, interests, and education were related to changes in academic interests; and (c) the longitudinal links between youths' academic interests and school grades. Participants were mothers, fathers, and 2 siblings from 201 White working-class and middle-class families who were interviewed in their homes on up to 9 annual occasions. Multilevel model analyses revealed overall declines in youths' interests over time, with boys showing more rapid decline than girls. Mothers' educational expectations were positively related to youths' interests, and youths' interests declined less when fathers had more education. The transition to junior high, but not high school, was linked to decline in interests, but this was buffered by mothers' academic interests. Declines in youths' academic interests were linked to declines in school grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between peer-play interactions in the family context and dimensions of school readiness for low-income preschool children.

Relationships between parental report of children's peer play at home and indicators of children's school readiness were examined. Behavior ratings and observational data were collected for 242 preschool children from a large urban Head Start program. Relationships between children's home-based, peer-play behaviors and 4 measures of children's classroom behaviors (i.e., school-based peer play, approaches to learning, self-regulation, and behavior problems) were analyzed using bivariate correlational and multivariate methods. Play competencies exhibited in the home environment were significantly associated with prosocial behavior in the classroom, motivation to learn, task persistence, and autonomy. Disruptive or disconnected play behaviors were significantly related to patterns of disruptive and dysregulated experiences in the classroom with peers and with the learning process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)