Safe and unsafe school spaces: Comparing elementary school student perceptions to common ecological interventions and operationalizations

There is a burgeoning literature on school safety in the United States. Often, researchers determine the problem and intervention. Few studies, however, examine how students understand school safety. In this study, elementary school students in the United States (n = 225) marked safe and unsafe school places; this was correlated with other commonly used school safety measures. Results indicate that children have different perceptions of safety based on school location. Additionally, for older children, unsafe places correlated with injury data, adult absence and low levels of territoriality. For younger children, unsafe places were associated with adult absence and referrals. Safe places were places that were more likely to have an adult. Results bring into question some common safety interventions. Implications include working with children to determine what is meant by ‘safe’ and interventions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improving student bus-riding behavior through a whole-school intervention

We describe a multicomponent intervention to improve bus-riding behavior of students attending an urban public school. The intervention was developed with technical assistance consultation that emphasized collaboration among students, school personnel, and bus drivers. The primary intervention procedures were identifying appropriate behaviors during transportation ("bus rules"), training bus drivers to deliver positive reinforcement, and rewarding student performance through a weekly school-based lottery. Disruptive bus behaviors, as measured by discipline referrals and suspensions, decreased with intervention relative to baseline phases in an ABAB reversal design. These positive results were maintained over the long term, with school personnel assuming responsibility for intervention in the absence of ongoing consultation.     

Effects of teacher greetings on student on-task behavior

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to determine how teacher greetings affected on-task behavior of 3 middle school students with problem behaviors. Momentary time sampling was used to measure on-task behavior during the first 10 min of class. Teacher greetings produced increases in students' on-task behavior from a mean of 45% in baseline to a mean of 72% during the intervention phase. Teacher greetings represent an antecedent manipulation that can easily be implemented in classrooms to improve students' on-task behavior.     

Altering student responses through changes in teacher verbal behavior

Two experiments were conducted in a junior-high special-education class of eight pupils in an inner-city school. In the first experiment, the teacher doubled the number of words used by the pupils in answering questions by altering the type of questions asked. In the second experiment, the number of words used by students and the percentage of answers given in complete sentences, increased from less than 5% to approximately 90% when the teacher instructed the pupils to answer in complete sentences and asked another pupil to answer using a sentence if the first one did not do so. In both experiments, a brief return to baseline conditions brought a return to low levels of verbal responding. An analysis of which pupils were called on by the teacher, teacher praise, and in the second experiment the types of questions asked, indicated that these variables were not responsible for the increases in verbal responding.     

Collective student characteristics alter the effects of teaching practices on academic outcomes

The goal of this study was to examine the influence of collective student characteristics (academic skills and task persistence at the beginning of first grade) and different teaching practices (child-centered, teacher-directed, and child-dominated) on the development of academic skills and task persistence during the first two years in school. We hypothesized that teaching practices would differentially impact the development of academic skills and task persistence depending on the collective needs of the classroom. Participants were 523 students (273 boys) from 32 classrooms across Estonia. By using multilevel modeling, we found several interactions indicating that both contextual influences are important in determining subsequent academic functioning and task persistence but that some teaching practices are more beneficial depending on the collective starting point of students. These findings highlight the importance of studying different contextual influences hand in hand when trying to understand what enhances young children's academic development.     

The Positive Plus Program: Affirmative classroom management to improve student behavior

This study describes the Positive Plus Program, a multicomponent intervention combining behavior‐specific praise with an interdependent group contingency and teacher feedback. An elementary school teacher wanting to improve her classroom management skills implemented the Positive Plus Program. Four second‐grade students participated in the study, and each of the students emitted disruptive behavior in class previously. This study, using an ABAB design, indicated that when the teacher reliably delivered high levels of behavior‐specific praise and awarded points, disruptive behavior was less likely. Student outcomes showed increased academic engagement and decreased off‐task motor and verbal behavior from pre‐ to post‐intervention. Teacher ratings indicated high levels of social validity. In light of these findings, implications for future research and implementation are discussed.     

Engaging contexts: Drawing the link between student and teacher experiences of the hidden curriculum

This article examines how academic disengagement (being off task, unenthusiastic and uncurious about learning) is facilitated by the hidden curriculum (the values, norms and beliefs transmitted via the structure of schooling), and mediated by race, ethnicity and gender for students in a working class elementary school. Additionally, we contextualize how a teacher was challenged by the hidden curriculum in her attempt to make her classroom environment engaging for all students. Participants included a young white female teacher and 21 second grade, low‐income students, of whom approximately 50% were white and 50% were Black or Latino/a. A teacher interview and fieldnotes covering 8 hours a week over 3 months comprised the data. Results indicated that students were required to show their engagement in particular ways that related to control and conformity. When they did not, they were reprimanded, which led to academic disengagement and the transmission of the hidden curriculum's message that school was not a place for them. This process was especially salient for Black and Latino boys, which indicated that the hidden curriculum was institutionalized. Results also showed that the hidden curriculum was a structural limitation for the teacher, as she was often thwarted in her attempts to create an academically engaging learning environment. Implications include strategies for school change and reform, including making the hidden curriculum more visible. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation trial of a cognitive behavioural therapy programme for reducing student stress in the final year of secondary school

The final year of secondary school has been shown to be associated with heightened student stress. Psychological interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing and preventing distress in students during this school period, although the widespread adoption of these interventions into school settings is limited. There have been recent calls for research to examine the implementation success of evidence-based programmes when used by schools in school settings. The present study aimed to evaluate the implementation success of an evidence-based cognitive-behavioural therapy programme (Study without Stress) using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. At one Australian high school, all tutor group teachers were trained by the school counsellor to deliver the programme in standard school classes to students in the lead up to their final year of secondary school. Students (n = 80) and teachers (n = 11) reported on programme success against the RE-AIM framework at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up. The findings indicated that SWOS was implemented successfully by the school. SWOS was associated with maintaining student stress levels at normal levels over time, as well as reducing the severity of stress for initially highly distressed students. The findings provide evidence from implementation science that SWOS can be adapted and delivered effectively by school staff to manage stress in final year secondary school students.     

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.     

Shared student self-evaluation

This article describes an innovative, child-oriented, self-development project that gives the child major responsibility for assessing his own developmental needs. With the child at the core of the process, the traditional counselor-teacher consultation model is given a new twist. Although the age-old concept of understanding and relating to the needs of children is viewed as necessary, it is not seen here as sufficient in promoting an atmosphere of self-growth. In this alternative model of counseling, the counselor acted as a consultant to the teacher and the child, rather than as an active agent of change.     

Bulimia and student counselling

Bulimia is an abnormal craving for food that results in gorging followed by induced vomiting. From its relatively innocent origin as a simple method of controlling weight, the condition may progress to a compulsive, uncontrollable habit that can be life-threatening in its later stages. The counsellor's role when dealing with this problem is discussed.     

Burn-out in student counsellors

This study investigated the relations among perceived work stress, sources of support and reported levels of distress and burn-out of men and women who have been employed for shorter and longer periods as Technical & Further Education (TAFE) counsellors. Stress, types of support, with one exception, and symptoms reported by men and women were not significantly different. Length of time spent counselling influenced level of burn-out but not level of distress. Distress and burn-out were significantly positively correlated. Levels of work stress were significantly correlated with distress and burn-out but the effect was strongest for burn-out. There were low but significant correlations between some sources of support and work stress and burn-out. Results are discussed in terms of the extent to which they support the uniqueness of burn-out in helping professions and the action of support on work stress to reduce burn-out.     

Reflections of the student teacher

This paper explores the concept of reflection and its changing role in the journey of the student teacher. It presents part of the findings of a year-long investigation into the reflective practice of student teachers during their training year. Specifically, it investigates the reflections of the student teachers’ lessons during the PGCE (Post/Professional Graduate Certificate of Education) year at a higher education institution (HEI) in England. The strengths and weaknesses of the student teachers’ lessons are analysed and how these reflections change as they reach Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) status.     

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy and student counselling

This paper explores the experience of a psychotherapist working in a university counselling service, indicating the contribution I think a psychoanalytic orientation can make to this kind of work. The exposed ‘coal face’ nature of the work is illustrated, and some of the psychotherapeutic implications of working within a large organisation discussed. There is an exploration of institutional dynamics which bear directly upon the psychotherapist, in terms of what it is possible to provide, and of professional self-preservation and self-esteem. Analysis of the uses made of the counselling service is seen as a contribution towards enabling the service to represent properly itself and its concerns within the institution.