The Positive Outcomes With Emotion Regulation (POWER) Program is a transdiagnostic intervention for adolescents at risk of developing emotional disorders. The POWER Program was designed to be ...implemented in secondary schools, by school personnel with or without specialized mental health training, as a Tier 2 intervention. In this pilot study, the POWER Program was implemented by school psychologists and school psychologists-in-training and evaluated across four focal student participants using a multiple-baseline-across-participants single-case design. Program efficacy was assessed using systematic direct classroom observations of student negative affect and social engagement as well as student and caregiver ratings of emotional and behavioral symptoms. Program usability was assessed through rating scales completed by intervention facilitators and student participants. Overall, results provide evidence of the POWER Program’s small- to large-sized effects on students’ emotional and behavioral functioning as observed in the classroom and self-reported by students. In addition, results suggest implementation facilitators’ and students’ positive impressions of the program, evident in ratings of high understanding, feasibility, and acceptability across groups. Study limitations are highlighted with attention to opportunities to further refine and evaluate the POWER Program.
Recent federal and state policies promote school-level parent involvement (PI) (e.g., volunteering), although evidence linking it to both student-level academic performance and school-level outcomes ...is thin. Using social capital theory and drawing upon a longitudinal sample of public schools (n=914) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), we examine the relationship of school-level student achievement and the school learning environment to three forms of school-level PI: involvement directed toward school improvement (public-good PI); involvement directed toward parents' own children's schooling (private-good PI); and the formation of social networks among parents (networking). Multilevel modeling analyses revealed that schools characterized by high aggregate levels of parents' public-good PI (participation in PTA/PTO, volunteering, and fundraising) and networking were more likely than other schools to have higher percentages of students at or above national/state standards in math and reading achievement and more likely to show more positive learning environments. School-level socio-economic status (SES) moderated these effects such that aggregate private-good PI and networking related to more positive learning environments and higher school achievement in low-SES schools while aggregate public-good PI brought more benefit within high-SES schools.
•Prior research has not fully explored school-level parental involvement (PI) or its relationship to school-level outcomes.•Schools characterized by high aggregate levels of public-good PI and parent networking have higher percentages of students at or above national/state standards in math and reading achievement.•Schools characterized by high aggregate levels of public-good PI, private-good PI, and parent networking possess more positive learning environments.•School-level socio-economic status (SES) moderated school-level PI effects. High aggregate levels of public-good PI conferred more benefit within high-SES schools.•High aggregate levels of private-good PI and networking were found to increase the capacity of low-SES schools to create a more positive school learning environment and higher achievement.
School climate has been widely examined through both empirical and theoretical means. However, there is little conceptual consensus underlying the landscape of this literature, offering inconsistent ...guidance for research examining this important construct. In order to best assist the efforts of developing causal models that describe how school climate functions, we propose the Systems View of School Climate (SVSC). This theoretical framework was formed by deconstructing prior models and empirical research on school climate into themes and highlighting their implicit assumptions. Using the SVSC to synthesize this existing literature, school climate is defined as the affective and cognitive perceptions regarding social interactions, relationships, values, and beliefs held by students, teachers, administrators, and staff within a school. School climate is situated within Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner 1989) to guide future research in this domain and help specify levels of research or analysis, thereby providing utility as a theoretical framework for future causal models. The SVSC provides a roadmap for research by demarcating school climate from related constructs, suggesting related contextual and structural constructs, and delineating proximal and distal systems which may shape the nature of school climate.
The extant literature documents the importance of school counselors’ roles in school–family–community partnerships, yet no model exists to guide school counselors through the process of building ...partnerships. The authors propose a model to help school counselors navigate the process and principles of partnerships. They define partnerships; discuss the principles of democratic collaboration, empowerment, social justice, and strengths focus that should infuse partnerships; enumerate a partnership process model; and discuss implications for practice and research.
This exploratory study surveyed school mental health providers across the United States to examine their perception of the facilitators and the barriers to evidence‐based professional practice (EBPP) ...when offering mental health services to students in schools and to identify any group differences of these perceptions. A national sample of school counselors, school psychologists, and social workers (N= 303, 86.5% female) was surveyed using an original questionnaire. Results of the study identified 12 perceived facilitators to EBPP: educational and professional standards, continuing education training, graduate school training, personal theoretical orientation, publications from professional organizations, individual student needs, peer support from coworkers, providing supervision to other professionals, access to research, access to resources to provide specific programs and interventions, student preferences, and use of treatment plans. No perceived barriers to EBPP were identified when looking at the whole sample. However, an examination of specific groups within the study revealed two barriers: use of treatment plans and providing supervision to other professionals. Findings provide an updated understanding of perceived facilitators and barriers to EBPP and set the stage for future interventions targeting these factors. Implications and future research directions are discussed.
Practitioner points
1.
Education and professional involvement are perceived to facilitate evidence‐based professional practice in schools more than the work environment.
2.
Different groups of mental health providers have different perceptions of what constitutes specific facilitators and barriers to evidence‐based professional practice in schools.
3.
Providing mental health services in schools should be a collaborative effort with cooperation and consistency across disciplines to provide the best treatment for students.
Student attendance is increasingly recognized as an important measure of educational success, which has spurred a body of research examining the extent to which schools can affect this outcome. ...However, prior work almost exclusively focuses on teachers, and no studies have explicitly examined the importance of school leaders. This study begins to fill this gap by estimating principal value-added to student absences. Drawing on statewide data from Tennessee over a decade, I find that principal effects on student absences are comparable in magnitude to effects on student achievement. Moving from the 25th to 75th percentile in principal value-added decreases student absences by 1.4 instructional days and lowers the probability of chronic absenteeism by 4 percentage points. Principals have larger effects in urban and high-poverty schools, which also have the highest baseline absenteeism rates. Finally, principals who excel at decreasing student absences may not be those who excel at increasing student test scores, and high-stakes accountability measures, such as supervisor ratings, fail to identify principals who decrease student absenteeism.
Reading and writing are critical to students' success in and outside of school. Because they draw on common sources of knowledge and cognitive processes, involve meaning making, and can be used ...conjointly to accomplish important learning goals, it is often recommended that reading and writing should be taught together. This meta-analysis tested this proposition by examining experimental intervention studies with preschool through high school students to determine whether literacy programs balancing reading and writing instruction strengthen students' reading and writing performance. To be included in this review, no more than 60% of instruction could be devoted to either reading or writing. As predicted, these programs improved students' reading, resulting in statistically significant effects when reading measures were averaged in each study (effect size ES = .39) or assessed through measures of reading comprehension (ES = .39), decoding (ES = .53), or reading vocabulary (ES = .35). The programs also statistically enhanced writing when measures were averaged in each study (ES = .37) or assessed via writing quality (ES = .47), writing mechanics (ES = .18), or writing output (ES = .69). These findings demonstrated that literacy programs balancing reading and writing instruction can strengthen reading and writing and that the two skills can be learned together profitably.
Background
Autistic students are reported to move schools at a high rate, but little is understood about why this is happening. What is known is that the effects of school mobility can negatively ...impact both short‐ and long‐term outcomes, particularly the child's learning, behaviours, mental health and school retention.
Aims
The aim of this systematic review was to synthesize the research on factors and experiences which influence the family's decision to move their autistic child to another school.
Methods
A protocol was registered with PROPERO (ID: CRD4202120794). Searches were conducted with ERIC, Scopus and Web of Science and seven studies were identified.
Results
The studies focused on three main types of mobility: mainstream‐to‐mainstream school moves, moving between mainstream and segregated schools, and moving between mainstream and homeschool. Parents’ concerns for their child's learning, social experiences and mental health, as well as their own interactions with their child's school, influenced the decision to leave. Whilst there were similarities across the studies for reasons to move, there were also differences based upon the settings between which students moved.
Conclusion
The findings highlight the need for further research across all school mobility types to better understand the reasons underpinning high rates of school mobility for autistic students.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Mental health literacy is important for awareness of mental illnesses in adolescence, which is the initial period of mental disorders. Determining the levels of mental health ...literacy guides studies in activities promoting mental health. This study aimed to determine the mental health literacy levels of high school students and teachers and related factors.
METHODS
Our study is a cross‐sectional study. A total of 1051 people (students and teachers) were included in the Fatih District of Istanbul were included in our study. The mental health literacy levels of the participants were evaluated with the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire. This questionnaire includes scenarios about mental problems called “vignettes” and questions about them.
RESULTS
Students' recognition percentages of depression, schizophrenia, and social phobia vignettes were found to be 28.1%, 46.5%, and 5.9%, respectively. For the person who was described in the vignettes, the “family physician” was chosen as the least by students and teachers. A statistically significant relationship was found between students' mental health literacy levels and sex, grade, father education levels, and experiencing vignette similar issues (p < .005). Additionally, teachers who were not school administrators and experienced vignette similar issues levels were higher (p < .005).
CONCLUSIONS
These results showed us that mental health literacy levels are low in high schools. School‐based intervention studies on this issue are of critical importance. In addition, it is seen that individuals do not consider asking for help with mental health problems from primary care services. This shows the inadequacy of the integration of primary health care services and mental health services.
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