In situ Training for Increasing Head Start After-Care Teachers’ Use of Praise

This study tested the effects of the direct behavioral consultation in situ training procedure for increasing Head Start teachers’ praise during an after-school program. Participants included four Head Start teachers in one Head Start center. A multiple baseline design across teachers was employed to test the effects of in situ training on teachers’ praise rate. Maintenance of the training procedure was evaluated 1 week following termination of training and again at 1-month follow-up. Results indicated that all teachers delivered praise below the expected rate (i.e., 1 praise statement per minute) during baseline, and in situ training resulted in an immediate and substantial increase in praise for all four teachers. Three of four teachers maintained increased praise during the maintenance phase and again at 1-month follow-up. One teacher’s praise decelerated during maintenance, and that teacher received additional in situ training. However, for that teacher, praise rate again decelerated following the second in situ training phase, and additional consultation procedures were necessary for increasing praise rate. Results are discussed in terms of the consultation research and applied practice.     

A Comparison of Two Group Contingencies on Teachers’ Use of Behavior-Specific Praise

The present study evaluated the effects of two reinforcement contingencies on teacher use of behavior-specific praise (BSP) in the classroom. An alternating treatments design was used to compare the implementation of both an independent and interdependent contingency to increase frequency of BSP delivery. Four general education elementary school teachers and their students participated. Teachers’ use of BSP and general praise, as well as, behavior-specific and general reprimands were evaluated. Data were also collected on students’ levels of academically engaged and disruptive behaviors. Both the independent and interdependent conditions resulted in higher frequencies of BSP and reduced the use of both general and behavior-specific reprimands. Student levels of academic engagement increased while disruption decreased across both contingencies. Results of the present study are discussed in terms of related literature and implications for applied practice.

     

Increasing Pre-service Teachers’ Use of Differential Reinforcement: Effects of Performance Feedback on Consequences for Student Behavior

Significant dollars are spent each school year on professional development programs to improve teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. The usefulness of these programs can be measured by the consistent application (i.e., implementation integrity) of skills which were taught in the training sessions. This study assessed the integrity with which pre-service teachers used a differential reinforcement of alternate behavior (DRA) strategy taught to them during their student teaching experience. Seven student teachers in general education settings participated. Teaching assignments ranged from early elementary through high school in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Intervention consisted of a 1-h workshop and individual feedback meetings following direct classroom observation. Results showed that (a) student teachers increased their number of correct DRA responses as measured by accurate teacher feedback to students, and (b) students showed increased hand-raising and decreased talk-outs. Implications for helping pre-service general education teachers to teach more consistently and effectively in inclusive settings are discussed.     

Promoting Teachers’ Generalization of Intervention Use Through Goal Setting and Performance Feedback

Consultation is beneficial for increasing teachers’ intervention use for target students. However, little is known about teachers’ generalized intervention use. This study is a systematic replication of Riley-Tillman and Eckert (J Educ Psychol Consult 12:217–241, 2001) and Martens et al. (Sch Psychol Q 12:33–41, 1997) and examines effects of generalization training with goal setting and a feedback note on teachers’ specific labeled praise (SLP) toward target and non-target students. Participants were three teachers who referred students exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Initially, all teachers displayed low levels of SLP toward target and non-target students. Intervention training with the incorporation of goal setting and a daily feedback note increased teachers’ SLP toward target students. SLP toward non-target students also increased, but to a lesser extent. When feedback was withdrawn and generalization to other students was suggested, SLP decreased. Following generalization training with goal setting and a feedback note, all teachers increased SLP toward non-target students. SLP toward target students, however, was low for all teachers. Changes in target students’ disruptive behaviors are also reported. Results suggest that generalization training may be necessary to increase teachers’ SLP toward non-target students, but that additional support for treatment integrity maintenance may also be required. Results are discussed in terms of limitations and directions for future research.     

On the Role of Mental Health Activities for Teachers’ Work and Life

Everyday behavior is getting increasingly attention, both in the prevention of mental impairment and the promotion of mental health – within and beyond the work context. The present study aimed to identify the importance of mental health activities for well-being and positive functioning of teachers, while taking affectivity into account. Teachers are confronted with various stressors, and identifying predictors of teachers’ well-being and positive functioning is important, not only for teachers’ personal health, but also for their students’ well-being and achievement. Based on the Broaden and Build (B&B) theory and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we assumed that (1) the practice of mental health activities is associated with well-being (i.e., positive mental health) and positive functioning (i.e., healthy and unhealthy work-related behavior and experiences), and that (2) mental health activities mediate the association between affectivity and the respective outcomes. These assumptions were tested in a sample of 326 German teachers (75% female, age: M = 44, SD = 11.85). The practice of mental health activities was associated with more positive mental health, more healthy work-related behavior and experiences, and less unhealthy work-related behavior and experiences. Moreover, mental health activities partly explained the relationship between affectivity and the respective outcomes. The present findings indicate the potential of mental health activities for mental health promotion in teachers but future studies are recommended in order to establish causal effects.

     

Tactile detection response task: Metrics for assessing drivers’ cognitive workload

The Tactile Detection Response Task (TDRT) has been used to assess the cognitive workload of driver distraction with response time and miss rate as metrics of cognitive workload. However, it is not clear which metric is more sensitive and whether sensitivity is maintained for visual tasks. The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the TDRT to changes in cognitive workload and to examine whether the sensitivity depends on task modality. A driving simulator study was conducted with 24 participants. The study included restaurant selection tasks with three presentation modalities (auditory, visual, and hybrid) and two difficulty levels (low and high). The high difficulty level was designed to be more cognitively demanding than the low difficulty level. Mixed-effects models were applied to examine the TDRT metrics and task difficulty level. The model controlled for age group, gender, and included a random effect for participants. The high difficulty level of the auditory tasks significantly increased the likelihood of missing a TDRT stimulus. No statistically significant differences were observed for visual and hybrid tasks. TDRT response time was not significantly associated with the difficulty level, regardless of task modality. In this study, the binary outcome TDRT miss was thus considered a more sensitive metric of cognitive workload than TDRT response time. TDRT response time can still be used to measure cognitive workload when tasks are relatively easy and the TDRT miss rate is close to zero. In addition, the sensitivity of the TDRT miss diminished for tasks that involved a visual component. Researchers who use TDRT to measure the cognitive workload associated with visual tasks should be aware of this limitation.     

Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes and its associations with teachers’ instructional approaches and professional wellbeing

Teachers’ formal accountability and duties have been the focus of high-stakes educational reforms, for instance in the context of national accountability systems. Yet, teachers’ sense of personal (rather than formal) responsibility and willingness to assume responsibility for their teaching and students remains an understudied area. The main purpose of this study was to investigate contextual and person-specific predictors of teachers’ sense of personal responsibility, as well as the potential implications of teachers’ personal responsibility for their instructional approaches and wellbeing. A path analysis indicated that high school teachers (n = 287) who felt responsible for their teaching and students reported higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction than less responsible teachers, and were more likely to endorse mastery-oriented instructional practices that emphasized student effort, task mastery, and individual growth. Teachers’ perceptions of their school’s social climate (teachers’ evaluations of their relationships with students), their sense of teaching self-efficacy, and incremental beliefs of intelligence emerged as positive predictors of teacher responsibility. Teacher responsibility partially mediated the positive effects of these predictors on teachers’ wellbeing and mastery-oriented instructional practices. The results suggest that both contextual (e.g., school climate) and person-specific (e.g., self-efficacy) factors can contribute to teachers’ sense of personal responsibility, and that responsibility, in turn, can have positive implications for teachers’ wellbeing and instructional practices. Directions for future research and practical implications are considered.     

Teachers’ Knowledge of Evidence-Based Interventions and Available School Resources for Children with Emotional and Behavioral Problems

School professionals need to be prepared to support children with emotional and behavioral problems. Teachers in particular should be aware of the resources provided by their school as well as the evidence-based practices available to support children with behavioral problems. This study explored general education teachers’ knowledge of 10 evidence-based interventions as well as resources and data collected at their schools to support children with mental health problems. Participants included 239 general educators from 5 school districts. Overall, most teachers had not heard of 9 out of 10 of the evidence-based programs presented. Teachers were also not sure whether their schools provided specific assessments and interventions to support children. One particularly noteworthy finding was that 57% of teachers were not sure whether their schools provided functional behavioral assessment and intervention planning. Findings illuminate a need for continued work in this area.     

From Teachers’ Work Engagement to Pupils’ Positive Affect: a Weekly Diary Study on the Role of Pupils’ Autonomous Motivation

Applied Research in Quality of Life - The main purpose of the present study was to investigate whether there is a crossover effect from teacher’s general (trait-level) work engagement to...     

The Effects of Alternate Forms of Performance Feedback on Elementary-Aged Students’ Oral Reading Fluency

Within the context of a brief experimental design, the current study examined the effects of providing two different types of performance feedback, performance feedback on words read correctly (PFWC) and performance feedback on words read incorrectly (PFWI), on the oral reading fluency of six elementary-aged students. For all of the participants, PFWI resulted in higher levels of oral reading fluency than PFWC. In addition, for a majority of the participants, PFWC resulted in lower levels of oral reading errors than PFWI. These results suggest that providing students with performance feedback on the number or words read correctly may enhance the reading fluency of students experiencing reading difficulties. The implications of these results for intervention selection are discussed.     

American and Chinese Students’ Calibration of Comprehension and Performance

In the present study we examined the ability of American and Chinese undergraduate students to calibrate their understanding of textbook passages translated into their native languages. Students read a series of texts and made predictions of their understanding of each text as well as the number of questions they would be able to answer correctly. Students also made postdictions of their test performance. Chinese students were significantly better than American students in calibrating their understanding of passages and predicting how many comprehension items they would answer correctly. Chinese students also outperformed American students on comprehension tests. All students were able to make more accurate postdictions of comprehension test scores than predictions. Results are related to possible instructional differences between American and Chinese students. Several possible directions for future research are discussed.     

Do Mindsets Shape Students’ Well-Being and Performance?

“Mindsets (or implicit theories) are people’s lay beliefs about the nature of human attributes, such as intelligence or personality”. Individuals with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is an unchangeable trait, whereas those with a growth mindset think of it as a malleable quality that can be increased and developed. This study explored the relationships among growth mindset, wellbeing, and performance in a sample of 1,240 students from a multi-campus private university located in 18 states across Mexico. Our results indicated that individuals who scored high in growth (vs. fixed) mindset showed increased levels of wellbeing and also performed better in school. Furthermore, we found that wellbeing mediated the relationship between growth mindset and performance and that the effect of growth mindset on grades was higher among younger students. These findings have interesting implications for psychology and education.     

Correction to: From Teachers’ Work Engagement to Pupils’ Positive Affect: a Weekly Diary Study on the Role of Pupils’ Autonomous Motivation

Applied Research in Quality of Life - A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-021-09935-5     

“Level of Aspiration”: Preference for Time Versus Response Feedback and History Effects on the Setting of Personal Performance Standards

Human subjects responded on a computer keyboard and accumulated points according to fixed-ratio (FR) reinforcement schedules. In Experiment 1, subjects responded under a FR 500 schedule. Under baseline conditions satisfying the schedule requirement resulted in counter points and session termination. Subsequently, subjects could (a) choose to have a clock appear on the screen during the interreinforcement interval (IRI) as well as to enter a target time which they would attempt to better during that session, (b) choose to enter a target time or respond under baseline conditions, and (c) enter a target time and choose between having a clock appear throughout or at the end of experimental sessions. In Experiment 2, subjects responded under a FR 500 schedule, entered a target time each session, and could respond during the session to briefly produce either (a) clock feedback, or (b) the number of responses emitted by the subject. In Experiment 3, subjects responded under FR 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 schedule parameters, entered target times and responded for either clock or response feedback. Subjects (a) preferred responding under conditions in which target times were entered to responding under baseline conditions, (b) preferred to have the clock illuminated throughout rather than at the end of experimental sessions, (c) preferred response to clock feedback under all schedule parameters, (d) responded to having equaled or bettered a target time by lowering target time for the subsequent session, and (e) responded to having missed a target time by maintaining the same time during the subsequent session. The results were interpreted within the context of behavior analytic as opposed to more traditional personality theory.

     

Teachers’ Identity, Self and the Process of Learning

In this paper we try, by drawing on some insights from practical knowledge, to bridge a gap between common conceptions of teaching on the one hand, and of learning on the other. In Western traditions of educational thought and discourse, practical knowledge—i.e. the dynamics of thinking, speaking, acting, and personal writing—is frequently separated from disciplinary knowledge: i.e. the knowledge of academic disciplines. But this separation often fails to recognize an inherent dialectic in teaching and learning. Through fresh explorations of human capacities to act and think, to speak and write, we try to illuminate different aspects of a teacher’s identity, including the teacher’s individuality and the teacher as an agent of an educational institution. The teacher has to present and represent knowledge in education, both as an agent of an institution and as a person. By examining the disclosure and transformation of the self in light of understandings of identity as sameness (i.e. that which doesn’t change with time), or as selfhood (i.e. that which is confronted by successive challenges), we hope to draw some productive conclusions about the teacher’s self-understanding as the source for personal learning in education. We aim to explore the importance of transformation of the teachers’ self for the quality of learning relationships between the teacher and the always Other student.     

Teachers’ attitudes towards students with high- and low-educated parents

Educational inequalities may be derived from differential teacher expectations toward students from different backgrounds. Such expectations may be associated with stereotypical beliefs and attitudes, which guide behavior and judgments. Although ample research is available concerning differential teacher attitudes based on student ethnicity, few studies have considered the effect of the educational level of the parents. The aim of the current study was to investigate teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward students with differentially educated parents. Implicit attitudes were measured using an implicit association task (IAT). The first name of the student was used as a proxy for the educational level of parents, whereby we created separate versions for boys and girls. Participants were randomly divided in two groups, whereby the first group completed the IAT-boys version and the other group the IAT-girls version. Explicit attitudes were measured using a questionnaire. Participants indicated positive implicit attitudes toward students with highly educated parents, independent of the gender of the student. Teachers did not express differential explicit beliefs regarding the learning and social behaviors of students based on the educational level of the parents, and their expectations concerning the motivation and ambitions or educational chances of these students were neutral. The dissociation between implicit and explicit attitudes may be an indication of the social sensitivity of the relationship between students’ social background and educational achievements and opportunities. Especially implicit attitudes may account for differences in teacher behaviors toward different groups of students and in turn their educational opportunities, and could therefore partly account for consistent findings of educational inequalities based on the social status of families.     

Teachers’ burnout, depression, role ambiguity and conflict

The present study investigates issues associated with teachers’ burnout in primary education as related to depression and role conflict–ambiguity. At the time of the study the participants (562 teachers) were working in seventy nine (79) Primary Education State Schools in Greece (Athens and two prefectures in the southern part of the country). The results showed that of the three factors comprising the Burnout inventory (MBI, Maslach and Jackson, MBI: Maslach Burnout Inventory; manual research edition, 1986), (i.e., Emotional exhaustion, Personal accomplishment, Depersonalization) Emotional Exhaustion showed a statistically significant (positive) correlation with the factors that comprise: (a) the Scale of Depression (CES-D: Ensel, in: Lin et al. (eds.) Social support, life events and depression, 1986; Radloff, Applied Psychological Measurement 1: 385–401, 1977) such as Depressed affect, Somatic retarded activity and (b) Degree of Role Conflict (Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale, Rizzo et al., Administrative Science Quarterly, 15:150–163, 1970, adapted in Greek by Koustelios and Kousteliou, Psychological Reports, 82:131–136, 1998); similarly, Positive affect (CES-D) and Degree of Role Clarity (Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity Scale) showed a statistically significant (negative) correlation with the same factor (Emotional exhaustion). Furthermore, a regression analysis performed with Personal accomplishment as the dependent variable showed that the (combined) factors of Role Ambiguity, Positive Affect and Somatic Retarded Activity contributed significantly to the prediction of the dependent variable; A third regression analysis performed with Depersonalization as dependent variable showed that Somatic Retarded Activity, Role Conflict, Positive Affect, Interpersonal Affect and Role Ambiguity contributed significantly to the prediction of this variable. Overall, the results showed that Greek teachers experience low-moderate levels of Burnout, Depression, Role conflict and Role ambiguity.     

Efficacy of a Train-the-Trainer Curriculum for Increasing Occupational Therapists’ Mental Health Knowledge

The marked prevalence and under detection of affective disorders including depression in older adults is associated with poor functional outcomes and patient mortality. Although occupational therapists are trained in mental health assessment and intervention, these skills are underutilized in practice. A two-group wait-list control design was used to test a DVD-based educational curriculum to increase knowledge about depression in a sample of occupational therapists. The educational intervention was delivered using a train-the-trainer model. The train-the-trainer model was found to be effective and study results showed that knowledge increased significantly after the DVD training.     

Push-Ups Versus Clean-Up: Preschool Teachers’ Gendered Beliefs,Expectations for Behavior,and Disciplinary Practices

Sex Roles - Using data from observations in three U.S. preschools (nine classrooms total) and interviews with nine preschool teachers observed, the present qualitative study examines moments of...