Effects of a Teacher Professional Development Intervention on Peer Relationships in Secondary Classrooms

We investigated the effects of My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTP-S), a teacher professional development intervention, on students' peer relationships in middle and high school classrooms. MTP-S targets increasing teachers' positive interactions with students and sensitive instructional practices and has demonstrated improvements in students' academic achievement and motivation. The current study tested the prediction from systems theory that effects of MTP-S on students would extend beyond the academic domain-that is, the ecology of teachers' behaviors towards students should also influence the ecology of students' behaviors towards one another. Participants were 88 teachers (43 randomly assigned to MTP-S and 45 assigned to a control group that received the regular professional development offerings in their school) and 1423 students in their classrooms. Observations and student self-report of classroom peer interactions were collected at the start and at the end of the course. Results indicated that in MTP-S classrooms, students were observed to show improvement in positive peer interactions, although this pattern was not found in self-report data. However, moderation analyses suggested that for students with high disruptive behavior at the start of the course, teacher participation in MTP-S mitigated a typical decline towards poorer self-reported peer relationships. The relevance of findings for the social ecology of classrooms is discussed.     

Teachers' modeling advantage and their modeling effects on college students' learning styles and occupational stereotypes: a case of collaborative teaching in technical courses

In this study, modeling advantage that depicts the likelihood of a teacher model being imitated by students over other competing models in a particular class was developed to differentiate the rival modeling of two kinds of teachers (the technical teachers vs. the lecturing teachers) between college students' learning styles and occupational stereotypes in the collaborative teaching of technical courses. Results of a one-semester longitudinal study indicated that the students perceived a greater modeling advantage of the technical teachers than that of the lecturing teachers. Both the students' learning styles and occupational stereotypes were in accordance with those teachers as their role models. In general, the impact of the teachers' learning styles and occupational stereotypes on students appeared to be mediated by the teachers' modeling advantage. Administrators and curriculum designers should pay attention to the fact that the technical teachers appeared to exhibit greater modeling effects than the lecturing teachers in collaborative teaching.     

Teachers' Epistemic Authority: Perceptions of Students and Teachers

The present study examines students' perception of the teacher's role as epistemic authorities, that is, a source of determinative influence on the formation of individuals' knowledge, from three perspectives. First, it examines 7th and 10th graders' perception of their teachers as epistemic authorities. The results showed that a teacher's subject matter, as well as students' age and gender, influence perception of him/her as an epistemic authority. In addition, interest in the subject matter was found to be an important predictor of students' perception. The second part focuses on teachers' self-perceptions as epistemic authorities. The results indicated that teachers' personal efficacy is the most powerful predictor of their self-perception. Finally, the study compares students' perceptions of teachers as epistemic authorities, teachers' self-perceptions in these terms and teachers' perceptions of how their students perceive them. Two main findings showed the following: (a) teachers perceive themselves as being more of an epistemic authority than their students consider them; (b) teachers believe that students perceive them as being more of an epistemic authority than the students actually think.     

Teachers' attunement to students' peer group affiliations as a source of improved student experiences of the school social-affective context following the middle school transition

A randomized control trial examined the impact of a professional development program on rural teachers' attunement to student social dynamics, and the influence of teacher attunement on students' school experiences. In intervention schools serving Latino and White rural early adolescents, teachers (N = 14) received training on social dynamics and aspects of early adolescent adjustment; control school teachers (N = 12) received no training. Social cognitive mapping procedures assessed and compared students' and teachers' perceptions of peer groups; structured observations assessed teachers' management of social dynamics. Students (N = 225) self-reported their perceptions of the school social-affective context. Intervention and control schools differed on teacher attunement and management of the social environment. Students whose teachers were more attuned to peer group affiliations evidenced improved views of the school social environment. Findings are discussed in terms of attunement as an element of teachers' invisible hand, and for teachers' role in promoting productive contexts for students during the middle school transition.     

关于小学教师对学生课堂参与的内隐观的研究

本研究通过课堂观察和结构化访谈,从三个侧面,即：教师判断学生参与的标准、对学生参与特点的描述、对参与功能的界定,考察了49名小学教师对学生课堂参与的内隐认识。研究表明,教师：1)重视师生交往中学生的参与,忽视学生与同学间的交往和学生独立活动时的表现;2)最关注学生在行动上的参与,其次是学生思维的投入,对学生情绪的投入是比较忽视的;3)特别注重参与促进学生认知能力发展的功能。     

课业负担对学校生活满意度的影响:学校氛围的多水平调节作用

课业负担对学校生活满意度有重要影响,但是学校氛围对课业负担的多水平调节作用少有研究涉及。在发展系统理论的基本框架下,本研究构建了一个多水平的调节模型,同时考察学校氛围中不同水平的变量对学生学校生活满意度的影响及其作用机制。以20155名五、八年级学生为研究对象,本研究采用学生知觉的师生关系及校长知觉的学生士气、教师士气、学生消极行为、教师负面状态来考察学生和校长对学校氛围的评价。多水平模型分析发现:(1)在控制了年级、性别、城乡后,课业负担对学校生活满意度仍有显著的消极影响;(2)课业负担对学校生活满意度的负向影响,随学生知觉的师生关系和校长知觉的学生士气的变好而减弱。研究结果有利于从发展系统理论及相互作用的视角理解学校氛围的作用,"减负"不仅要确实减少学生的课业负担,也要重视学校中其他环境变量的综合影响。     

Disturbing behaviors: comparison of regular and special education teachers

77 regular and 45 special education teachers rated how disturbing various students' behaviors would be when working with the students in the classroom setting. Comparison of the two groups of teachers' ratings showed that the regular teachers reported more disturbance than special education teachers on two of the scales of the Teacher Checklist of School Behavior, Aggressive Interaction and Teacher Avoidance.     

Associations of students' self-reports of their teachers' verbal aggression, intrinsic motivation, and perceptions of reasons for discipline in Greek physical education classes

In this study were examined associations among physical education teachers' verbal aggressiveness as perceived by students and students' intrinsic motivation and reasons for discipline. The sample consisted of 265 Greek adolescent students who completed four questionnaires, the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, the Lesson Satisfaction Scale, the Reasons for Discipline Scale, and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory during physical education classes. Analysis indicated significant positive correlations among students' perceptions of teachers' verbal aggressiveness with pressure/ tension, external reasons, introjected reasons, no reasons, and self-responsibility. Significant negative correlations were noted for students' perceptions of teachers' verbal aggression with lesson satisfaction, enjoyment/interest, competence, effort/importance, intrinsic reasons, and caring. Differences between the two sexes were observed in their perceptions of teachers' verbal aggressiveness, intrinsic motivation, and reasons for discipline. Findings and implications for teachers' type of communication were also discussed and suggestions for research made.     

Promoting principals' managerial involvement in instructional improvement

Studies of school leadership suggest that visiting classrooms, emphasizing achievement and training, and supporting teachers are important indicators of the effectiveness of school principals. The utility of a behavior-analytic program to support the enhancement of these behaviors in 2 school principals and the impact of their involvement upon teachers' and students' performances in three classes were examined in two experiments, one at an elementary school and another at a secondary school. Treatment conditions consisted of helping the principal or teacher to schedule his or her time and to use goal setting, feedback, and praise. A withdrawal design (Experiment 1) and a multiple baseline across classrooms (Experiment 2) showed that the principal's and teacher's rates of praise, feedback, and goal setting increased during the intervention, and were associated with improvements in the academic performance of the students. In the future, school psychologists might analyze the impact of involving themselves in supporting the principal's involvement in improving students' and teachers' performances or in playing a similar leadership role themselves.     

教师共情对学生学业成绩的促进:基于动画叙述模拟测量的多层线性分析

以往研究认为教师共情能促进学生的社交能力和情绪的发展,但教师共情能否促进学生学业成绩呢?以往研究存在较多的分歧。本研究为进一步考察教师共情对学生学业成绩的作用,开发和运用针对教师职业特殊性的ANVs共情测量工具,采用准实验的方式,运用共情培训对20位实验组教师进行干预(另外20位教师作为控制组),同时收集相应实验组803名学生、控制组852名学生的期中、期末成绩,并采用多层线性的方式控制无关变量,关注学生原有成绩的影响,从而检验教师共情与学生学业成绩的关系。结果表明:(1)教师共情能力的提高能够促进学生学业成绩的提高;(2)在教师共情对学生学业成绩的促进作用中,学生原有成绩起到调节作用。     

Teachers' and students' work-culture variables associated with positive school outcome

Little is known about the relationship between teachers' family-of-origin variables, impacting their work attitudes and interpersonal skills, and students' academic outcome. This study investigated whether goodness of fit between teachers' and students' backgrounds is associated with subjective grading and objective achievement at school. One hundred one seventh graders and twenty of their teachers completed the Self-Report Family Inventory. Similarity between teachers' and students' work-culture variables was associated with the subjective grading practices of teachers. The self-report data also revealed effective teacher and successful student profiles.     

Elementary school teachers' strategies to handle externalizing classroom behavior: a study of relations between perceived control, teacher orientation and strategy preferences

Rydell, A.-M. & Henricsson, L. (2004). Elementary school teachers' strategies to handle externalizing classroom behavior: A study of relations between perceived control, teacher orientation and strategy preferences. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 45 , 93–102.
Strategies for dealing with problematic student behavior are an important part of the teacher role. Relations between teachers' perceptions of control over children's classroom behavior, teacher orientation and teachers' strategy preferences when confronted with externalizing child behaviors were investigated. Eighty-six primary school teachers, 91% of all first grade teachers in one municipality in Sweden, completed a questionnaire. Disciplinary strategy preferences were measured through vignettes describing externalizing child behaviors, with response alternatives modeled after the Parental Discipline Interview ( Scarr, Pinkerton & Eisenberg, 1991 ). Perceived control was measured with a subscale applied to teachers from the Parental Locus of Control Scale ( Campis, Lyman & Prentice-Dunn, 1986 ). Newly constructed measures of teacher orientation were used. The results indicated that perceived low control over one's classroom situation and a custodial teacher orientation were associated with preferences for authoritarian strategies (firm verbal reprimands, physical restraint) and perceived high control and a humanistic teacher orientation were associated with non-authoritarian strategies (e.g. reasoning with students). Teachers' strategy preferences and associations between perceived control, teacher orientation and strategy preferences were to some extent validated in relations to observed teacher behavior in a subsample of the classrooms.     

Teacher and parent perceptions of behavior problems among a sample of African American,Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white studients

A multiracial/multiethnic sample of middle school adolescents and their teachers was used to assess whether teacher ratings of student behavior problems varied according to teacher-student racial/ethnic differences and students' perception of teachers' attitudes toward them. No significant mean score differences were found for Hispanic or non-Hispanic white students according to the race/ethnicity of the teachers doing the ratings. However, African American students rated by Hispanic and non-Hispanic white teachers had significantly higher mean total behavior problem scores than African American students rated by African American teachers. Teacher ratings were also compared to those made by parents. The percentage of students rated as cases by teachers but not by parents differed significantly by race/ethnicity of student. Other findings indicated highly significant relationships between student-perceived teacher disparagement and the assignment of high behavior problem scores to students by teachers. This research was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, R01DA05912; William A. Vega, Principal Investigator. The authors express their appreciation to Superintendent Octavio Visiedo, Dr. James Mennes, Dr. Sylvia Rothfarb, and the cooperating staff and teachers of the Dade County Public Schools for their support in the conduct of this research.     

Effect of teachers' stereotyping on students' stereotyping of mathematics as a male domain

This multilevel analysis used data from a representative sample from Grades 6, 7, and 8 in public schools in Switzerland. The data included information on (a) 6,602 students (3,307 girls, 3,295 boys) nested within 338 classes and (b) 321 mathematics teachers of these classes. The teachers and the students tended to stereotype mathematics as a male domain, and the teachers' stereotypes significantly affected the students' stereotypes after the author controlled for achievement, interest, and self-confidence in mathematics and for school grade and schooling track.     

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of adolescent storm and stress: relations with parenting and teaching styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents and teachers differed in their views of adolescent storm and stress, and to examine the relations of these reported perceptions with parenting and teaching behaviors. Subjects were parents and teachers of middle and high school students in three school districts in the Midwest. Storm and stress beliefs were identified as parents' and teachers' perceptions of conflict, moodiness, and risk-taking behavior. Scales assessing classic/conforming and positive adolescent behaviors also were included. Self-report assessments of parenting and teaching were administered as well. Results indicated that whereas both parents and teachers held storm and stress beliefs, teachers maintained stronger perceptions than parents. Teachers also endorsed higher classic/conforming and lower positive behaviors than did parents. The results further indicated that parents' perceptions of storm and stress were related to their degree of parental responsiveness; but teachers' perceptions were not related to their teaching style. These results suggest that stereotypic beliefs of the adolescent period continue to be maintained, and that these may influence how adults interact with adolescents.     

Relationship between academic placement and perception of abuse of the voice

Informal polling of public school speech-language pathologists indicated that special education teachers referred more children for disorders of voice than did regular classroom educators. This study evaluated the effect of academic placement (regular or special education settings) upon children's and their teachers' ratings of abuse of the voice. Analysis showed the two groups of teachers' criteria for judging abusive vocal behaviors differed while the children's ratings from each setting did not differ. The special educators appeared to perceive their students' vocal behavior as more abusive possibly due to environmental constraints, training or the social affective interactions of their students.     

Teacher practices as predictors of children's classroom social preference

Students who do not get along with their peers are at elevated risk for academic disengagement and school failure. Research has predominantly focused on factors within such children that contribute to their peer problems. This study considers whether teacher practices also predict social preference for children in that classroom. Participants were 26 elementary school teachers and 490 students in their classrooms followed for one school year. Results suggested that teachers who favored the most academically talented students in the fall had classrooms where children had lower average social preference in the spring after statistical control of children's fall social preference and externalizing behavior problems. Teachers who demonstrated emotionally supportive relationships with students in the fall had classrooms where children had greater possibility of changing their social preference from fall to spring. Although children with high externalizing behaviors tended to experience declining social preference over the course of the school year, teachers' learner-centered practices attenuated this progression. However, teachers' favoring of the most academically talented accentuated the negative relation between externalizing behaviors and social preference. Implications for school psychology practitioners are discussed.     

The relationship of sex-role perception and levels of self-actualization in public school teachers

The Personal Orientation Inventory and the Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire were administered to 218 public school teachers of Connecticut, K-12, for the purpose of testing the following hypotheses: (1) Teachers would perceive male and female students as significantly different; (2) teachers' perceptions would not be influenced by teachers' sex; and (3) teachers' differential perceptions of male and female students would be inversely related to teachers' levels of self-actualization. All three hypotheses were supported. However, hypothesis 2 may require qualification. While no relationship could be established between sex of teachers and the index of teachers' perceptions (BDTOT) — a finding that supports the second hypothesis — the research did yield some evidence that younger female teachers in the lower grades may be more apt to perceive students, particularly male students, in sex-stereotypic terms.     

Prevention of school bullying: The important role of autonomy‐supportive teaching and internalization of pro‐social values

Background. This study examined students’ perceptions of autonomy‐supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro‐social values and bullying in class. Aims. We hypothesized that: (1) teachers’ AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students’ identified internalization of considerateness towards classmates, and would relate negatively to external regulation (considerateness to obtain rewards or avoid punishments); (2) students’ identified regulation would relate negatively to self‐reported bullying in class, whereas external regulation would relate positively to bullying; and (3) the relation between teachers’ AST and student bullying would be mediated by students’ identification with the value of considerateness towards others. Sample. The sample consisted of 725 junior high school students (50% females) in Grades 7 and 8 from 27 classes in four schools serving students from lower‐middle to middle‐class socioeconomic backgrounds. Method. The participants completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest. Results. Correlational analysis supported the hypotheses. Moreover, mediational analyses using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) demonstrated that identified regulation mediates the negative relation between AST and self‐reported bullying in class. The mediational hypothesis was supported at the between‐class level and at the within‐class level. Conclusions. The findings suggest that school policy aimed at bullying reduction should go beyond external control that involves external rewards and sanctions and should help teachers acquire autonomy‐supportive practices focusing on students’ meaningful internalization.     

教师自主支持与学生学业成就关系的元分析:心理需要满足、动机及投入的中介作用

在教育实践中,教师作为教学活动的主要引导者,他们的教学风格对学生的学业成就具有重要影响。根据自我决定理论,自主支持型教师能够满足学生的基本心理需要,促进学习动机内化,进而提高学业投入及学业成就。本研究通过对37篇教师自主支持与学生学业成就的实证研究(53个独立样本,18278名学生)进行元分析,结果发现:(1)教师自主支持显著正向预测需要满足、动机、投入及学业成就;同时自主支持对需要满足、动机及投入的效应量高于对学业成就的效应量;(2)学生的需要满足及动机在教师自主支持对学业成就影响中起中介作用,但学业投入的中介作用不显著;(3)教师自主支持对学业成就的影响在不同年龄、经济与文化背景下没有显著差异。综上,在未来的教育活动中,教师应给予学生更多的自主支持,以满足学生基本心理需要,激发学生的学习动机,促进学业投入,提升学业成就。