School Psychology Commons^™

Parent Vs. Teacher Ratings Of Children’S Shyness As Predictors Of Language And Attention Skills, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Amanda Prokasky, Xiaoqing Tu, Scott R. Frohn, Kate Sirota, Victoria J. Molfese

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Shyness in childhood has been linked to multiple adjustment outcomes, including poor peer relations, internalizing problems, and clinical anxiety. However, shyness does not consistently emerge as a negative predictor of children’s success. This incongruity may stem, in part, from variations in the operationalization and measurement of shyness in different studies. Researchers often combine parent and teacher ratings of shyness, but correlations between parent and teacher reports are consistently small to medium. The purpose of this study is to examine parent and teacher ratings of shyness as they predict language and attention skills in preschool children, and explore discrepancies between parent …

Head Start And Child Care Providers’ Motivators, Barriers And Facilitators To Practicing Family-Style Meal Service, Dipti A. Dev, Katherine E. Speirs, Brent A. Mcbride, Sharon M. Donovan, Karen Chapman-Novakofski

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

This paper presents a qualitative investigation of the motivators, barriers, and facilitators for practicing family-style meal service (FSMS) from the perspective of 18 child care providers serving preschool children in Head Start (HS), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) funded, and non-CACFP child-care centers. Providers were selected based on maximum variation purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted until saturation was reached. Provider responses were systematically coded using thematic analysis. HS and CACFP providers reported being motivated to practice FSMS because it created pleasant mealtimes, opportunities to role model healthy eating, and healthful child development. CACFP and non-CACFP providers …

Being Shy At School, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Irina Kalutskaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

In our commentary on “Bashful boys and coy girls: A review of gender differences in childhood shyness” by Doey et al. (2013) we provide an analysis of limitations to the study of shyness in children as well as future avenues of research that may be fruitful for better understanding implications of shyness in school. Our focus is primarily on shyness in the classroom context, but we first discuss persistent difficulties in the measurement of shyness in childhood. Like Doey et al., our commentary reflects research in samples from the United States and Canada, unless otherwise noted. We then delve into …

Social Defense: An Evolutionary-Developmental Model Of Children’S Strategies For Coping With Threat In The Peer Group, Meredith J. Martin, Patrick T. Davies, Leigha A. Macneill

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Navigating the ubiquitous conflict, competition, and complex group dynamics of the peer group is a pivotal developmental task of childhood. Difficulty negotiating these challenges represents a substantial source of risk for psychopathology. Evolutionary developmental psychology offers a unique perspective with the potential to reorganize the way we think about the role of peer relationships in shaping how children cope with the everyday challenges of establishing a social niche. To address this gap, we utilize the ethological reformulation of the emotional security theory as a guide to developing an evolutionary framework for advancing an understanding of the defense strategies children use …

Gaining Control: Changing Relations Between Executive Control And Processing Speed And Their Relevance For Mathematics Achievement Over Course Of The Preschool Period, Caron A. C. Clark, Jennifer Mize Nelson, John Garza, Tiffany D. Sheffield, Sandra A. Wiebe, Kimberly Andrews Espy

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Early executive control (EC) predicts a range of academic out comes and shows particularly strong associations with children’s mathematics achievement. Nonetheless, a major challenge for EC research lies in distinguishing EC from related cognitive constructs that also are linked to achievement outcomes. Developmental cascade models suggest that children’s information processing speed is a driving mechanism in cognitive development that supports gains in working memory, inhibitory control and associated cognitive abilities. Accordingly, individual differences in early executive task performance and the irrelation to mathematics may reflect, at least in part, underlying variation in children’s processing speed. The aims of this study …

Changes In School Connectedness And Deviant Peer Affiliation Among Sixth-Grade Students From High-Poverty Neighborhoods, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Kate Niehaus, Lisa J. Crockett, Christopher R. Rakes

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study examined associations between changes in School Connectedness and changes in Affiliation With Deviant Peers among students from high-poverty backgrounds during the year immediately following the transition to middle school. Sixth-graders (N = 328) attending two middle schools in a large school district completed measures of School Connectedness and Affiliation With Deviant Peers at three points across the year. Results from parallel process modeling showed that students’ reports of School Support significantly declined across the school year, School Support and Affiliation With Deviant Peers were negatively associated at the beginning of the school year, and students who reported …

Teacher Support Mediates Concurrent And Longitudinal Associations Between Temperament And Mild Depressive Symptoms In Sixth Grade, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Patrick Pössel, Stephanie Winkeljohn Black, Kate Niehaus

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The combination of changes occurring at the transition to middle school may be a catalyst for the onset of depressive symptoms, yet teacher support at this transition is protective. Research points to certain temperamental traits as risk factors for developing depressive symptoms. This study examines student reports of teacher support and teacher reports of student–teacher relationship (STR) quality as mediators of associations between child temperament (i.e. negative emotionality at age 4½ : and emotional reactivity in elementary grades) and depressive symptoms in sixth grade. Results indicate (a) negative emotionality predicted emotional reactivity and depressive symptoms; (b) emotional reactivity predicted depressive …

Efficacy Of The Getting Ready Intervention And The Role Of Parental Depression, Susan M. Sheridan, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards, Kevin A. Kupzyk, Brandy L. Clark, Elizabeth M. Kim

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study reports the results of a randomized trial of a parent engagement intervention (the Getting Ready Project) on directly observed learning-related social behaviors of children from families of low-income in the context of parent-child interactions. The study explored the moderating effect of parental depression on intervention outcomes. Participants were 204 children and their parents, and 29 Head Start teachers. Semi-structured parent-child interaction tasks were videotaped two times annually over the course of two academic years. Observational codes of child behaviors included agency, persistence, activity level, positive affect, distractibility, and verbalizations. Controlling for gender and disability concerns, relative to children …

Contribution Of Reactive And Proactive Control To Children’S Working Memory Performance: Insight From Item Recall Durations In Response Sequence Planning, Nicolas Chevalier, Tiffany D. James, Sandra A. Wiebe, Jennifer Mize Nelson, Kimberly Espy

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study addressed whether developmental improvement in working memory span task performance relies upon a growing ability to proactively plan response sequences during childhood. Two hundred thirteen children completed a working memory span task in which they used a touchscreen to reproduce orally presented sequences of animal names. Children were assessed longitudinally at 7 time points between 3 and 10 years of age. Twenty-one young adults also completed the same task. Proactive response sequence planning was assessed by comparing recall durations for the 1st item (preparatory interval) and subsequent items. At preschool age, the preparatory interval was generally shorter …

Bullying Prevention In Schoolwide Positive Behavior Supports: A Review Of The Literature, Allen Garcia, Regina M. Oliver

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

The literature has suggested that problem behavior in the schools is an ongoing problem (Sugai et. al., 2000). This is a major concern for schools that want to provide a safe learning environment that promotes positive behaviors and academic learning. Such problem requires a systematic response, thus, School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) was created to target and prevent problem behaviors. Another form of problem behaviors in schools is bullying, and within the framework of SW-PBIS, there is limited research on targeting bullying. The current review examines and evaluates current research of SW-PBIS, and it’s application to bullying. Searches …

Tiers 2 & 3 Intervention: Behavior Contracting, Jenna Strahun, Ann O'Connor, Reece L. Peterson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

The research on behavior contracts suggests that the procedure is a positively oriented intervention for students with problematic and disruptive behaviors. Behavior contracts are also a tool in which students can generate input in deciding their own goals and rewards for academic and behavioral performance. In addition, behavior contracts are often a smaller element of a larger intervention package that is used to gain compliance and reward the student for adhering to and participating in the intervention. Although much of the research on behavior contracts is outdated and uses small participant sample sizes, behavior contracts may serve to increase …

The Racial And Ethnic Identity Formation Process Of Second- Generation Asian Indian Americans: A Phenomenological Study, Derek Kenji Iwamoto, Nalini Junko Negi, Rachel Negar Partiali, John W. Creswell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This phenomenological study elucidates the identity development processes of 12 secondgeneration adult Asian Indian Americans. The results identify salient sociocultural factors and multidimensional processes of racial and ethnic identity development. Discrimination, parental, and community factors seemed to play a salient role in influencing participants’ racial and ethnic identity development. The emergent Asian Indian American racial and ethnic identity model provides a contextualized overview of key developmental periods and turning points within the process of identity development.

Temperament In Early Childhood And Peer Interactions In Third Grade: The Role Of Teacher–Child Relationships In Early Elementary Grades, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Kate Niehaus, Eric S. Buhs, Jamie M. White

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Children’s interactions with peers in early childhood have been consistently linked to their academic and social outcomes. Although both child and classroom characteristics have been implicated as contributors to children’s success, there has been scant research linking child temperament, teacher–child relationship quality, and peer interactions in the same study. The purpose of this study is to examine children’s early temperament, rated at preschool age, as a predictor of interactions with peers (i.e., aggression, relational aggression, victimization, and prosociality) in third grade while considering teacher–child relationship quality in kindergarten through second grades as a moderator and mediator of this association. The …

Using Self-Regulated Strategy Development With At-Risk Writers With Asperger Syndrome, Lindsay M. Booker

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of implementing the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of instruction (Graham & Harris, 2005; Harris & Graham, 1996) with a population of middle school students with Asperger syndrome (AS). A multiple-baseline design across participants was used to examine the effectiveness of the SRSD instructional intervention on writing skills and self-regulation, attitudes, self-efficacy, and social validity. Each participant was taught SRSD story writing strategies, and wrote stories in response to story prompts during the baseline, instruction, post-instruction, and maintenance phases. Stories were assessed for writing quantity (TWW), writing quality (%CWS), and …

Do Students Understand What Researchers Mean By Bullying?, Kristin E. Bieber

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The definition of bullying most often used by researchers incorporates three key elements: repetition, intent to harm, and a power imbalance (Olweus, 2010). Past studies have found that students may not understand how this definition of bullying is different from general peer aggression, and that they may report their involvement in instances of aggression that occur only once, or happen among individuals of equal power, when they are asked about their involvement in bullying (Monks & Smith, 2006).

This dissertation examined: a) grade differences in students’ abilities to accurately apply the definition of bullying when determining if a behavior is …

Achieving Integration In Mixed Methods Designs—Principles And Practices, Michael D. Fetters, Leslie A. Curry, John W. Creswell

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Mixed methods research offers powerful tools for investigating complex processes and systems in health and health care. This article describes integration principles and practices at three levels in mixed methods research and provides illustrative examples. Integration at the study design level occurs through three basic mixed method designs—exploratory sequential, explanatory sequential, and convergent—and through four advanced frameworks—multistage, intervention, case study, and participatory. Integration at the methods level occurs through four approaches. In connecting, one database links to the other through sampling. With building, one database informs the data collection approach of the other. When merging, the two databases are brought …

The Relation Between High-Quality Prekindergarten Classroom Environments And Literacy Outcomes For Students Learning English As A Second Language, Allison Q. Osborn

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

U. S. students’ early English literacy skills are critical for their later reading and subsequent school success (e.g., Badian, 2000; Collins, 2010; Molfese et al., 2001; Storch & Whitehurst, 2002). Children’s literacy skills are stronger when they attend high-quality prekindergarten classrooms, especially classrooms with strong instructional supports (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Moreover, some research has suggested that students who enter school with the weakest skills and with higher risk of academic difficulty (including students who speak English as a second language) benefit the most from high-quality instruction and interactions in early literacy and reading (Connor, Morrison, & Petrella, 2004; Downer …

Teachers Engaging Parents As Tutors To Improve Oral Reading Fluency, Sara Kupzyk

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation examined the application of evidence-based tutoring for oral reading fluency (ORF) to a natural setting, using teachers as parent trainers. Measures used to determine the impact of parent tutoring included treatment integrity, student reading outcomes, attitudes towards involvement and reading, and social validity. Six teachers (second through fourth grade) were trained in a 3-hour workshop to develop individualized tutoring programs with parents. Following training, the teachers trained seven parents and students to use individualized tutoring programs. Training followed a behavior skills training model and incorporated video modeling and printed instructions to increase efficiency. A multiple-baseline design was used …

A Longitudinal Study Of School Connectedness And Academic Outcomes Across Sixth Grade, Kate Niehaus, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Christopher R. Rakes

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current longitudinal study examines the extent to which school connectedness (i.e., students' perceptions of school support and the number of adults with whom they have a positive relationship) is associated with academic outcomes across sixth grade for students from high poverty neighborhoods. Data were collected from 330 sixth-grade students attending two middle schools in a large public school district. Specifically, students completed a survey to assess their perceived connection to the school environment, and academic information regarding students' grades, attendance, and discipline referrals was obtained from school records. Results fromlatent growth curve modeling showed that, on average, students' perceptions …

Changing Museum Visitors’ Conceptions Of Evolution, Amy N. Spiegel, E Margaret Evans, Brandy Frazier, Ashley Hazel, Medha Tare, Wendy Gram, Judy Diamond

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

We examined whether a single visit to an evolution exhibition contributed to conceptual change in adult (n030), youth, and child (n034) museum visitors’ reasoning about evolution. The exhibition included seven current research projects in evolutionary science, each focused on a different organism. To frame this study, we integrated a developmental model of visitors’ understanding of evolution, which incorporates visitors’ intuitive beliefs, with a model of free-choice learning that includes personal, sociocultural, and contextual variables. Using pre- and postmeasures, we assessed how visitors’ causal explanations about biological change, drawn from three reasoning patterns (evolutionary, intuitive, and creationist), were modified as a …

Getting Ready: Results Of A Randomized Trial Of A Relationship-Focused Intervention On The Parent– Infant Relationship In Rural Early Head Start, Lisa Knoche, Susan M. Sheridan, Brandy L. Clark, Carolyn P. Edwards, Christine A. Marvin, Keely D. Cline, Keely Cline, Kevin A. Kupzyk

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a relational intervention (the Getting Ready intervention) on parenting behaviors supporting the parent–infant relationship for families enrolled in Early Head Start home-based programming. Two-hundred thirty-four parents and their children participated in the randomized study, with 42% of parents reporting education of less than a high-school diploma. Brief, semistructured parent–child interaction tasks were videotaped every 4 months over a16-month intervention period. Observational codes of parent–infant relationship behaviors included quality of three parental behaviors: warmth and sensitivity, support for learning, and encouragement of autonomy; two appropriateness indicators: support for learning and …

Reducing Overweight And Obesity Among Elementary Students In Wuhan, China, Ling Qian, Ian Newman, Duane F. Shell, Cheng Maojin Cheng

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Obesity and overweight among children in China is a growing concern. The curriculum and organization of Chinese schools focuses on academic achievement leaving little time for other programs. This pilot program illustrated that it is possible to involve schools and parents in a program to reduce obesity and overweight. Teachers, school staff, parents and elementary students were involved in an all-school educational initiative based on WHO’s Health Promoting School Model. The program was evaluated with a mixed modal ANOVA using a 3-level within subjects repeated factor (baseline, 1st follow-up, 2nd follow-up) and a 2-level between subjects factor (gender: boys and …

Self-Efficacy, Intrinsic Motivation, And Academic Outcomes Among Latino Middle School Students Participating In An After-School Program, Kate Niehaus, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Jill L. Adelson

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study examined how academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and participation in an after-school program contributed to the academic achievement of Latino middle school students over the course of one school year. Participants were 47 Latino students in sixth through eighth grades who attended two public middle schools in which an after-school program was held that was specifically for Latino students. Results from ordinary least squares regression revealed that intrinsic motivation was positively associated with students GPAs, self-efficacy was a positive predictor of students’ school attendance and standardized math achievement scores, and attendance at the after-school program also contributed positively …

Neonatal White Matter Abnormalities An Important Predictor Of Neurocognitive Outcome For Very Preterm Children, Lianne J. Woodward, Caron A. C. Clark, Samudragupta Bora, Terrie E. Inder

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Cerebral white matter abnormalities on term MRI are a strong predictor of motor disability in children born very preterm. However, their contribution to cognitive impairment is less certain. Objective: Examine relationships between the presence and severity of cerebral white matter abnormalities on neonatal MRI and a range of neurocognitive outcomes assessed at ages 4 and 6 years. Design/Methods: The study sample consisted of a regionally representative cohort of 104 very preterm (≤32 weeks gestation) infants born from 1998–2000 and a comparison group of 107 full-term infants. At term equivalent, all preterm infants underwent a structural MRI scan that was …

Book Review: The Morality Of Social Identity, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Morality tells us how to treat each other. Social identity connects us to each other. But all is not well. Social identity connects us to a group and thus to its members. Morality requires justice for everyone, regardless of group. Thus considerations of morality and social identity often pull in different directions (Appiah, 2005; Moshman, 2007; Sen, 2006).

Two excellent and complementary new books, Children and Social Exclusion and Narrative and the Politics of Identity, address the developmental roots and implications of these issues. The first reviews and integrates multiple programs of research on children’s developing judgments about dilemmas …

Examining The Effect Of Medical Risk, Parental Stress, And Self-Efficacy On Parent Behaviors And The Home Environment Of Premature Children, Kathryn Woods

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between medical risk and parenting stress and the extent to which parental self-efficacy moderates the relationship between medical risk, parenting stress, specific parenting behaviors (i.e., parental responsivity, acceptance of child, parental involvement) and the home environment (i.e., organization of environment, learning materials, variety in experience, and IT-HOME total score) of premature children. Participants included 72 parent-child dyads with premature children between the ages of 7 and 35 months corrected age. Measures included parent reports of medical risk, stress, self-efficacy, and the IT-HOME. Results show that medical risk was not significantly …

A Kinder, Gentler Nativism?: Review Of Alison Gopnik, The Philosophical Baby, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Review of Alison Gopnik, The philosophical baby: What children's minds tell us about truth, love, and the meaning of life.

In its historic philosophical and psychological formulations, nativism highlighted innateness. Development was deemed nothingmore than a genetically driven process ofmaturation; learning, in turn, was nothing more than the filling in of superficial content. In this determinist view, neither development nor learning could be deemed active, creative, or constructive processes, and nothing genuinely new could result.

The nativists who have increasingly populated the literature of developmental psychology since the 1980s, however, are neonativists. Neonativists fully accept modern views of immature organisms …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of Peer Victimization, Self-Esteem, Depression, And Anxiety Among Adolescents: A Test Of Cognitive Diathesis-Stress Theory, Cixin Wang

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examined the relationship between two types of peer victimization(overt and relational victimization), depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and selfesteem over three time points. Participants were 1171 fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth graders (623 females) recruited from four elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools in the Midwest. Students’ self-report on peer victimization, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem was collected. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the relationship among those variables. The results showed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between two types of peer victimization and depressive symptoms. Self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship …

Functional Analysis Of Replacement Behavior: Assessing Concurrent Behavioral Excesses And Academic Deficits, Kristi L. Hofstadter-Duke

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation involved the application of functional analysis methodology to replacement behaviors (i.e., academic responding).  Participants were exposed to the typical school-based functional analysis conditions –  (a) teacher attention, (b) peer attention, and (c) escape –  in addition to a control condition; yet, replacement behavior (i.e., academic responding) was reinforced across conditions instead of problem behaviors.  Two functional analyses were conducted using identical contingencies while measuring condition impact on disruptive behavior, academic engagement, and academic performance (i.e., problems completed, digits correct).  Unknown math problems were used during the first functional analysis, and a second functional analysis incorporated antecedent instructional sessions, …

A Qualitative Study On Online Social Networks And Language Mistakes, Buket Akkoyunlu, Meryem Yılmaz Soylu

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to put the suggestions of the students for the solutions towards caring Turkish by examining their projects carried out by Primary School 7th and 8th grade students in the online social networks (Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs) in order to detect the wrong use of Turkish. The case study among the qualitative research methods was used. In the study, 7th and 8th grade students examined how Turkish (language) is used in the correspondences in the online social networks (Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Twitter, Blogs), detected the mistakes and presented solution suggestions towards the correct use …