Peer Victimization in Middle School

ABSTRACT

African American (n = 350) and Latino (n = 435) 6th grade students from eight middle schools completed self-report measures of peer victimization and psychological adjustment (i.e., self-esteem, anxiety, loneliness, depression, and physical symptoms). Peer nomination procedures were used to determine which students had reputations as victims and which students were accepted, rejected, and perceived as most «cool.» In addition, homeroom teachers rated participating students on social behavior and academic engagement and students' grades were collected from school records. We created four victim groups based on self-and peer perceptions. «True» victims (agreement between self and peer) experienced the worst outcomes on all of the adjustment variables examined. However, different adjustment difficulties were reported for victim groups where there was disagreement between self-and peer views. Self-perceived victimization was predictive of psychological maladjustment, whereas the reputational measure was more related to peer rejection and negative teacher ratings. The implications of the findings for both accurate identification of victims of harassment and targeted intervention strategies were discussed.     

Effects of an adapted physical education training package on special education teacher instruction

This study investigated the impact of an adapted physical education training package on functional motor skill instruction of three special education teachers who instructed secondary students with low‐incidence disabilities. The training package emphasized teachers' use of systematic prompting and specific reinforcement teaching strategies plus adapted physical education consultation. We used a multiple baseline design and collected data on the three teachers' use of systematic prompting and specific reinforcement plans during videotaped teaching trials. We also collected data on how teachers documented their instructional strategies, and we analyzed personal reflections that teachers wrote in the journals. Results indicated that with each of the three teachers, correctly implemented functional motor skill instructional performance improved after they completed the training package.     

An Investigation of Teachers' Beliefs of Students' Algebra Development

Elementary, middle, and high school mathematics teachers (N = 105) ranked a set of mathematics problems based on expectations of their relative problem-solving difficulty. Teachers also rated their levels of agreement to a variety of reform-based statements on teaching and learning mathematics. Analyses suggest that teachers hold a symbol-precedence view of student mathematical development, wherein arithmetic reasoning strictly precedes algebraic reasoning, and symbolic problem-solving develops prior to verbal reasoning. High school teachers were most likely to hold the symbol-precedence view and made the poorest predictions of students' performances, whereas middle school teachers' predictions were most accurate. The discord between teachers' reform-based beliefs and their instructional decisions appears to be influenced by textbook organization, which institutionalizes the symbol-precedence view. Because of their extensive content training, high school teachers may be particularly susceptible to an expert blindspot, whereby they overestimate the accessibility of symbol-based representations and procedures for students' learning introductory algebra.     

Instructional and behavior management practices implemented by elementary general education teachers

This investigation examined 317 general education kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers' use of instructional and behavioral management strategies as measured by the Classroom Strategy Scale (CSS)-Observer Form, a multidimensional tool for assessing classroom practices. The CSS generates frequency of strategy use and discrepancy scores reflecting the difference between recommended and actual frequencies of strategy use. Hierarchical linear models (HLMs) suggested that teachers' grade-level assignment was related to their frequency of using instructional and behavioral management strategies: Lower grade teachers utilized more clear 1 to 2 step commands, praise statements, and behavioral corrective feedback strategies than upper grade teachers, whereas upper grade teachers utilized more academic monitoring and feedback strategies, content/concept summaries, student focused learning and engagement, and student thinking strategies than lower grade teachers. Except for the use of praise statements, teachers' usage of instructional and behavioral management strategies was not found to be related to years of teaching experience or to the interaction of years of teaching experience and grade-level assignment. HLMs suggested that teachers' grade level was related to their discrepancy scores of some instructional and behavioral management strategies: Upper grade teachers had higher discrepancy scores in academic performance feedback, behavioral feedback, and praise than lower grade teachers. Teachers' discrepancy scores of instructional and behavioral management strategies were not found to be related to years of teaching experience or to the interaction of years of teaching experience and grade-level assignment. Implications of results for school psychology practice are outlined.     

中学生人际冲突解决策略取向及影响因素研究

本研究针对中学生常见的人际冲突问题 ,分别设计了与教师、家长、同学冲突的 9种情境 ,考察 1 80名初一至高三的学生在不同情境中解决冲突的策略取向、防御机制发展以及影响策略取向的因素。实验表明 :( 1 )总体上中学生更倾向于选择协商策略解决人际冲突 ,退让或服从策略以及对峙性策略运用的多寡与具体情境因素或冲突对象有关。对峙性策略多出现在与教师和家长的冲突情境 ,而退让策略较多出现在与同学的冲突中。 ( 2 )随着年龄的增长和社会化的发展 ,学生逐渐采用成熟性防御机制替代不成熟性防御机制以促使问题得到更好解决。初、高中学生在运用成熟性防御机制方面差异显著。 ( 3 )文化背景及个性特点与策略取向有关。     

Effects of Self-Monitoring on On-Task Behaviors of At-Risk Middle School Students

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of self-monitoring on increasing the on-task behaviors of four at-risk middle school students, and to examine its indirect effects on academic performance. Additionally, we attempted to develop and validate cost- and time-efficient procedures that typical classroom teachers could use. The data from a multiple baseline design across three academic settings, replicated with four students, revealed immediate increases in on-task behavior as each student began to self-monitor in each sequential setting. The data also revealed slightly higher levels of academic performance and, in most instances, gradually accelerating trends. These findings suggest that self-monitoring is a cost- and time-efficient procedure that classroom teachers can use to teach at-risk students to manage their own behaviors.     

Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Bullying in Middle School Youth

ABSTRACT

We examined middle school students' attitudes and perceptions of bullying during their middle school years. Participants were categorized along the bully/victim continuum as bullies, victims, bully-victims, and no-status students based on their self-nomination from a survey that queries students about their experiences with bullying (either as a bully, victim, or both), their observations of bullying, and their attitudes toward bullying. The majority of participants were classified as bullies, victims, and bully-victims as 70% of the participants reported involvement with bullying and/or victimization during their middle school years. Participants' perceptions about bullying and attitudes toward bullying were examined at three points in time. Participants' attitudes toward bullying became more supportive of bullying as students progressed through middle school. Additionally, external attributes for bullying were cited across all four status groups as reasons for involvement in bullying. Implications for prevention and intervention programs that address bullying are discussed.     

Teachers' Understandings of Probability

Probability is an important idea with a remarkably wide range of applications. However, psychological and instructional studies conducted in the last two decades have consistently documented poor understanding of probability among different populations across different settings. The purpose of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for describing teachers' understandings of probability. To this end, we conducted an 8-day seminar with eight high school statistics teachers in the summer of 2001. The data we collected include videotaped sessions and interviews, teachers' written work, and researchers' field notes. Our analysis of the data revealed that there was a complex mix of conceptions and understandings of probability, both within and across the teachers, which were situationally triggered, often incoherent when the teachers tried to reflect on them, and which did not support their attempts to develop coherent pedagogical strategies regarding probability and statistical inference.     

School Families: Implementation and Evaluation of a Middle School Prevention Program

The authors describe a school prevention program called School Families that emphasizes normal developmental needs of middle school students. In addition, the results of an in-depth qualitative evaluation of the program are presented. The School Families groups comprised middle school students, teachers, and adults from the university and community who meet weekly during the school day to process issues related to academic performance, decision making, self-esteem, and social skills. On the basis of written narratives, individual interviews, and focus-group discussions, the 35 participants (12 middle school students, 14 teachers, and 9 university students) reported that the School Families program largely had a beneficial influence on them.     

Navigating Middle Grades: Role of Social Contexts in Middle Grade School Climate

During early adolescence, most public school students undergo school transitions, and many students experience declines in academic performance and social-emotional well-being. Theories and empirical research have highlighted the importance of supportive school environments in promoting positive youth development during this period of transition. Despite this, little is known about the proximal social and developmental contexts of the range of middle grade public schools US students attend. Using a cross-sectional dataset from the eighth grade wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort 1998–1999, the current study examines the middle grade school social context from the perspectives of administrators and teachers in public schools with typical grade configurations (k–8 schools, middle schools, and junior high schools) and how it relates to students’ perceptions of school climate. We find that administrators and teachers in k–8 schools perceive a more positive school social context, controlling for school structural and demographic characteristics. This school social context, in turn, is associated with students’ perceptions of their schools’ social and academic climate. Implications for educational policy and practice are discussed.     

An Evaluation of a Classwide Intervention Package Involving Self-Management and a Group Contingency on Classroom Behavior of Middle School Students

The effectiveness of an intervention package involving self-management and a group contingency at increasing appropriate classroom behaviors was evaluated in a sample of middle school students. Participants included all students in each of the 3 eighth-grade general education classrooms and their teachers. The intervention package included strategies recommended as part of best practice in classroom management to involve both building skill (self-management) and reinforcing appropriate behavior (group contingency). Data sources involved assessment of targeted behaviors using Direct Behavior Rating—single item scales completed by students and systematic direct observations completed by external observers. Outcomes suggested that, on average, student behavior moderately improved during intervention as compared to baseline when examining observational data for off-task behavior. Results for Direct Behavior Rating data were not as pronounced across all targets and classrooms in suggesting improvement for students. Limitations and future directions, along with implications for school-based practitioners working in middle school general education settings, are discussed.     

新课程背景下上海市中小学教师职业角色认同的研究

本研究是在了解新课程背景所倡导的教师角色的基础上,对教师职业角色认同状况的调查和分析。结果发现：教师在职业角色认同上可以分两个组：“高认同组”和“一般认同组”。在调查的十个教师职业角色中,“教师是文化的传播者”;“教师是学生学习能力的培养者”;“教师是学生人生的引路人”处于角色认同排序的前三位,“教师是专家”、“教师是教育家”、“教师是社区型的开放的教师”处于排序的后三位,其余“教师是教育教学的研究者”;“教师是学生的心理顾问”;“教师是课程的建设者和开发者”和“教师是学者”居中。教师所处的学校类型、教师性别和是否担任行政职务,在职业角色认同上有非常显著和显著的差异。小学教师的职业角色认同要高于初中教师,初中教师又高于高中教师。女教师的职业角色认同要高于男教师。学校行政领导的职业角色认同要高于普通教师。     

Do the benefits from autonomy-supportive PE teacher training programs endure?: A one-year follow-up investigation

ObjectiveAn earlier study (Cheon, Reeve, & Moon, 2012) showed wide-ranging benefits from a training program designed to help teachers be more autonomy-supportive toward students during PE instruction. The present study collected a follow-up data set to determine whether those earlier-observed benefits endured one year later.DesignWe used an experimentally-based 3-wave longitudinal design. The experimental group consisted of 8 PE teachers from the original teacher training study and their 470 middle- and high-school students; the control group consisted of 9 matched PE teachers and their 483 students. Dependent measures included 3 manipulation checks, 3 measures of student motivation, and 6 course-specific outcomes.MethodTrained raters scored teachers' instructional behaviors at mid-semester, while students reported perceptions of their teachers' motivating style and their own course-related motivation and outcomes at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical linear modeling to account for the hierarchical structure of data in which repeated measures were nested within students who were nested within teachers.ResultsCompared to teachers in the control group, teachers in the experimental group were scored by raters and perceived by students as more autonomy supportive and less controlling. Their students consistently reported greater motivation and more positive outcomes than did the students of teachers in the control group. All 8 teachers in the experimental group reported being significantly more autonomy supportive than a year earlier.ConclusionTeacher- and student-related benefits from the earlier autonomy-supportive training program endured.     

TEACHING MULTIPLICATION FACTS TO STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Multiple baseline designs were used to examine the effects of an instructional package on accuracy of performance in solving multiplication facts by 3 students with learning disabilities. The instructional package included the following components: (a) a modified instructional sequence in which multiplication facts were grouped into the zeros, ones, doubles, fives, and nines categories, and those remaining; (b) identification of the category in which each fact belonged; (c) mnemonic strategies associated with solving facts in each category; and (d) steps to be completed for solving facts in each category. Results indicated that the instructional package produced substantial and immediate effects. After receiving instruction, a participant's accuracy was often 100%, and this was maintained throughout the evaluation even as other strategies were introduced. Comparable results occurred across students, demonstrating replication of the effects of the instructional package.     

Teaching and Learning in High School Reading Classes: Perspectives of Teachers and Students

This qualitative study investigated high school reading programs and participants focusing on the insider perspectives of teachers and their students. The study occurred in two sites, one in a Southern state and the other in an Eastern state. The participants, five high school reading teachers and two to three students in each of their reading classes, were interviewed individually by the researchers. Interview questions focused on reader identity, reading habits, reader strategies, content area reading, and the reading program. Findings indicate a disparity between teachers' and students' understanding about reading, variability in instruction, and need for engaged learning.     

Contexts as switchmen: The variable effects of formal and informal instructional strategies on student achievement

This study presents an exploratory theoretical framework that analyzes the extent by which the contexts of classroom instruction mediate the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. The study first presents the two main tasks that teachers face in classrooms-teaching, and controlling the social order. The study then elaborates on formal and informal instructional strategies that teachers use to manage these tasks. The main foci of the study is to show that the effects of these different instructional strategies on student achievements vary by grade level. The results suggest that the contexts of instruction determine the magnitude and direction of the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. Positive effects on student achievement appear when a functional congruence occurs between teachers' instructional strategies and the contexts wherein they are used. The analyses suggest that changes in the cognitive, social, and institutional contexts of classrooms may change the relative efficacy of specific instructional strategies. Consequently, researchers should pay more attention to the changes in the sociology of classrooms during students' school careers.     

Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers

This study addresses two questions: what goals do teachers have for their own emotional regulation, and what strategies do teachers report they use to regulate their own emotions. Data were collected from middle school teachers in North East Ohio, USA through a semi-structured interview. All but one of the teachers reported regulating their emotions and there were no gender or experience differences in spontaneously discussing emotional regulation. Teachers believed that regulating their emotions helped their teaching effectiveness goals and/or conformed to their idealized emotion image of a teacher. Teachers used a variety of preventative and responsive emotional regulation strategies to help them regulate their emotions. Future research on teachers emotional regulation goals and strategies should examine the role of culture and the relationship of emotional regulation goals with teachers other goals, stress, and coping.     

中学骨干教师人格特质、一般自我效能感及其关系

该研究旨在了解中学骨干教师的人格特征、一般自我效能感特征,以及两者之间的关系。采用卡特尔16人格因素问卷以及一般自我效能感量表,随机选择参加江西省骨干教师、骨干班主任培训的286名中学教师进行测查。结果:1)中学骨干教师人格特质存在性别差异和学科差异;2)中学骨干教师一般自我效能感较高,但与性别、学科、教龄、职称等均相关不显著,教龄和一般自我效能感总体上呈倒U型曲线变化趋势;3)人格特质与自我效能感相关显著,稳定性、恃强性、自律性、忧虑性等4种人格特质比其它人格特质更能预测一般自我效能感的变化。结论:中学骨干教师人格特质具有自身的优越性,一般自我效能感水平较高,人格特质能够预测一般自我效能感的变化。     

An Investigation of Middle School Classroom Libraries

Given that much of the research on classroom libraries focus on elementary school classrooms, this study sought to examine classroom libraries at the middle school level. Access to books is especially important for middle school students given the persistent decline in reading engagement at this level. The research questions guiding this investigation focused on the nature of the libraries, the physical features of the libraries, the contributions made by the libraries to the literacy environment of the classrooms, the contents of the libraries, and teacher perceptions of their own classroom libraries. Findings indicate that teachers value classroom libraries for promoting literacy engagement and understand how these libraries provide students with immediate and easy access to books. The contents of the libraries that were examined varied in terms of genre, multicultural literature, and social justice issues.     

中学生道德问题应对策略研究

按Carolyn Saarni对儿童在社会交往和情绪问题上应对策略的研究,在小样本初测基础上,以124名我国中学生为被试、以道德问题情境故事作为刺激材料、对他们的道德问题应对策略之选择及其相应的内心体验作了调查。结果表明,我国中学生道德问题应对策略有五类,他们大多能选择具有积极社会意义的策略,不同年级和面对不同道德问题时他们的选择会有差异,选择不同的应对策略时他们会有不同的内心体验,在“角色投射”时他们的内心体验更为强烈。