School Climate: a Review of the Construct,Measurement, and Impact on Student Outcomes

The construct of school climate has received attention as a way to enhance student achievement and reduce problem behaviors. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the existing literature on school climate and to bring to light the strengths, weakness, and gaps in the ways researchers have approached the construct. The central information in this article is organized into five sections. In the first, we describe the theoretical frameworks to support the multidimensionality of school climate and how school climate impacts student outcomes. In the second, we provide a breakdown of the four domains that make up school climate, including academic, community, safety, and institutional environment. In the third, we examine research on the outcomes of school climate. In the fourth, we outline the measurement and analytic methods of the construct of school climate. Finally, we summarize the strengths and limitations of the current work on school climate and make suggestions for future research directions.     

Academic risk and resilience for children and young people in Asia

Abstract

In studies of academic resilience, researchers seek to identify factors that protect against adverse effects caused by risk and stress, and which ultimately assist students to be academically successful. However, because relatively few studies are conducted in Asian settings, Western-based research may have limited application for policy and prevention in the Asian context. It is therefore important to expand the context and culture in which resilience research takes place. This paper highlights academic resilience factors among Asian students that are located in the multiple levels of the social ecology (including individual, peers, family and school). This is consistent with results from the Western context. However, it also reports on some differences in academic resilience factors that are found both within Asian countries and between Asian and Western countries. From these results, we might thus conclude that alongside pan-human factors, Asian students’ academic success can also be considered in part due to uniquely Asian attributes. This reaffirms the importance of considering culture and national context in studies of academic resilience. Taken as a whole, this collection of papers showcases multiple approaches to building academic resilience and empowering students and their educators and caregivers across the Asian region.     

Contestable professional academic identity of those who teach research methodology

A professional academic identity is important because it supports a sense of belonging and contributes to the scholarly advancement of a discipline. However, a professional academic identity for those involved in teaching research methodology is particularly complex and diverse. This research surveyed 144 academics from 139 universities in 9 countries, who are involved in teaching research methodology, and examined the extent to which participants construct their professional academic identity around research methodology. The study also sought to examine whether participants view research methodology as a distinct discipline. Findings show that academics teaching research methods inhabit multiple identities. Some identified as expert researchers, while others associated with particular research methods, along with a clear epistemic attachment, within a particular area of scholarly inquiry. Furthermore, few participants described themselves as research methodologists, and stressed the significance of teaching research methodology as a distinct discipline. Findings also revealed that the majority of the institutions involved in the study approach research methodology as ‘a service course’ and predominantly taught by volunteer academics. This study contributes to our understanding of how research methodology courses are organized, and the broader implications of the different approaches to the scholarly advancement of research methodology as a distinct subject.     

Action research and organisational learning: a Norwegian approach to doing action research in complex organisations

The purpose of this article is to present a specific approach to the practice of action research ‘in complex organisations’. Clearly, there are many approaches to the challenge of doing action research in organisations; approaches that are, and also must be, quite context dependent and specific. But my purpose is neither to give an overview nor a recommendation of how action research is or should be done in complex organisations by different schools of action researchers around the world. The approach I will present has grown through practical experience accumulated over many years with doing action research in many different Norwegian organisations with organisational change and development as the specific objective. I will limit myself to an outline of this Norwegian context, and to how I and others have worked specifically with organisational learning both practically and theoretically within or in relation to a broad Norwegian or Scandinavian approach to action research and organisation development represented by many individuals.     

Threatened and Placed at Risk: High Achieving African American Males in Urban High Schools

This study investigated the risk and protective factors of 11 high-achieving African American males attending 4 urban charter high schools in a Midwestern city to determine what factors account for their resilience and success in mathematics courses, and in high school more generally. This research was guided by a Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory, which assisted in extrapolating how these young Black males make sense of their experiences despite the many challenges they face growing up in urban Black America. Results indicate that although students were under multiple forms of academic and physical threat within and beyond school walls, there was a keen presence of academic agency and an ability to manage potentially threatening situations to cleverly protect themselves from complex systems of risk.     

Academic resilience and its psychological and educational correlates: A construct validity approach

This study examines educational and psychological correlates of academic resilience using within‐network and between‐network validity approaches. Based on a sample of 402 Australian high‐school students, a newly developed unidimensional academic resilience construct found within‐network validity by way of sound item and factor properties. In terms of between‐network validity, correlation, path analysis, and cluster analysis showed that five factors predict academic resilience: self‐efficacy, control, planning, low anxiety, and persistence. Hence, a 5‐C model of academic resilience is proposed: confidence (self‐efficacy), coordination (planning), control, composure (low anxiety), and commitment (persistence). Path analysis also showed that academic resilience subsequently predicts three educational and psychological “outcomes”: enjoyment of school, class participation, and general self‐esteem. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 43: 267–281, 2006.     

Studying science teacher identity: current insights and future research directions

Over the past 10?years an increasing number of articles have been published in leading science education journals that report on research about teacher identity and describe interventions that support teacher identity development. My purpose in this review paper is to examine how the construct of science teacher identity has been conceptualised and studied in science education. In doing so, I synthesise the findings of 29 empirical studies on teacher identity within the field of science education in an attempt to respond to the following questions: (a) In what ways have researchers used the construct of teacher identity to examine science teacher learning and development? (b) What approaches to supporting science teacher identity development have been documented in the literature? Following that, I identify gaps and limitations in the existing literature and I offer recommendations for future research in the area of science teacher identity and identity development: (a) studying teacher identity as a process; (b) connecting science teacher identity research and reform recommendations; (c) conducting large-scale, longitudinal and life-history studies; and (d) examining teacher identity enactment in school classrooms.     

General and Specific Issues for Researchers' Consideration in Applying the Risk and Resilience Framework to the Social Domain of Learning Disabilities

In this article, I discuss several general and specific issues that pertain to the risk and resilience framework. I propose that these issues deserve consideration by researchers using or interested in using the risk and resilience framework to guide their research in the social domain of learning disabilities. General issues discussed include: (1) integrating current research findings with those from prior longitudinal research by Emmy Werner and her associates, and from research in the 1980s and 1990s on problems in social perception and communication in children with learning disabilities; (2) measurement problems; and (3) the need for more differentiation in research regarding gender and the severity of learning disabilities. The specific issues discussed include: the need to continue to search for potential risk and protective factors; the need to research mediating processes or mechanisms that render a factor a risk or a protection; and the nature of intervention research.     

The Influence of Additional Educational Support on Poverty-Stricken Adolescents’ Resilience and Academic Performance

Abstract

Resilience can be viewed as successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances (e.g. poverty). This article reports on an investigation of which the primary aim was to establish how additional educational support enhances adolescents’ resilience and academic performance. A quantitative approach was followed using two schools. One was a poverty-stricken school where additional educational support was officially offered, while the other school offered normal required tuition and was located in a middle class suburb. In total, 117 Grade 9 and 10 learners participated in the research. The results indicated that resilience related positively to academic performance and to other factors which are associated with academic performance such as teacher-learner relationships, parental involvement and study methods. Additional educational support to poverty-stricken learners resulted in higher resilience and academic achievement. Amongst the variables used in the investigation, additional educational support explained the largest proportion of the variance in academic achievement, followed by resilience and cognitive development.     

The benefits of publishing systematic quantitative literature reviews for PhD candidates and other early-career researchers

Universities increasingly expect students to publish during a PhD candidature because it benefits the candidate, supervisor, institution, and wider community. Here, we describe a method successfully used by early-career researchers including PhD candidates to undertake and publish literature reviews – a challenge for researchers new to a field. Our method allows researchers new to a field to systematically analyse existing academic literature to produce a structured quantitative summary of the field. This method is a more straightforward and systematic approach than the traditional ‘narrative method’ common to many student theses. When published, this type of review can also complement existing narrative reviews produced by experts in a field by quantitatively assessing the literature, including identifying research gaps. The method can also be used as the initial step for further analysis, including identifying suitable datasets for meta-analysis. Students report that the method is enabling and rewarding.     

Conceptualization and Operationalization of Executive Function

Executive function is comprised of different behavioral and cognitive elements and is considered to play a significant role in learning and academic achievement. Educational researchers frequently study the construct. However, because of its complexity functionally, the research on executive function can at times be both confusing and contradictory. To attempt to bring some clarity to the construct, a systematic review of contemporary empirical studies was conducted. A PsycInfo database search was conducted and 106 empirical studies were selected for review. The analyses explored specific aspects of these studies such as how executive function is defined and measured, and in what domains and population groups is it studied. The resulting analyses identified both points of convergence and divergence, as well as issues with both the conceptualization and operationalization of executive function.     

Emotional Intelligence: Review of Research and Educational Implications

This article provides a critical review of the research field of emotional intelligence (EI) and examines the usefulness of the construct in the debate on educational policy and practice. The authors examine two approaches to the theory and measurement of EI and summarize the evidence linking EI to life success and academic achievement. Also considered is whether or not EI can be changed or developed, and how it might be facilitated in educational practice. In conclusion, while a distinct construct of EI remains debatable; many of the attributes encompassed by this term do predict that life success and programmes of socio-emotional learning in schools may usefully contribute to the development of these attributes.     

Understanding student behavioral engagement: Importance of student interaction with peers and teachers

Recent theoretical conceptualizations of student engagement have raised questions about how to measure student engagement and how engagement varies not only across schools, but also within school and within classrooms. The authors build on existing research on student behavioral engagement and extend this research to emphasize a continuum of disengagement, active engagement, and passive engagement. They review common approaches to measuring engagement and highlight areas where new theoretical conceptualizations of engagement require new approaches to measurement. The authors analyze how student behavioral engagement changed depending on the context and demonstrate the need of a finer scale of engagement. They find there was not a uniform association of higher behavioral engagement and student interaction with peers, but it was the interaction with other students and the teacher that was predictive of increased engagement. Their work suggests that disaggregating behavioral engagement into disengagement, active engagement, and passive engagement has important research and conceptual implications.     

Resilience in higher education students: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

The health, wellbeing and employability of university students are key considerations within higher education. In response, interest in student resilience is on the rise. Reviews of contemporary resilience literature highlight both conceptual and methodological weaknesses, issues which hamper attempts to design effective resilience interventions. To inform the design of a student resilience program, to be piloted at three Australian universities, a scoping review of resilience specific to the higher education context was undertaken. Searches of three electronic databases (PsychINFO, CINAHL and ProQuest) were conducted. Seventy-two peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2017 were included in the review. While the review reaffirms the conceptual and methodological issues found in previous resilience research, it provides a useful critique of key issues in relation to university student resilience and interventions to enhance students’ resilience. Recommendations for educators and researchers are provided.     

Research Methods to Investigate Significant Life Experiences: review and recommendations

This article reviews different research approaches to understanding the significant experiences that influence people's environmental concern and behavior, with an emphasis on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing studies. It also reviews relevant findings regarding the validity of autobiographical memory, as memory is the medium which selects and interprets the significant events reported to researchers. The review notes promising new directions in recent studies, but makes several concrete suggestions regarding how researchers in this field can refine existing methods and broaden their approaches.     

Resilience in young children involved with child protective services

Child maltreatment increases the risk of poor developmental outcomes. However, some children display resilience, meaning they are high-functioning despite their adverse experiences. To date, few research studies have examined protective factors among very young maltreated children. Yet, domains of resilience, and the protective factors that promote resilience among maltreated children, are likely to differ by developmental stage. Drawing on ecological systems theory and life course theory, we examined how protective factors at multiple ecological levels across early childhood were related to social and cognitive resilience among very young children involved with child protective services. The results demonstrated that the buffering effects of protective factors varied by social or cognitive resilience and the cumulative effects of protective factors were more consistently related to later resilience than protective factors at specific time points. In addition, the influence of specific protective factors on resilience slightly varied by initial in-home or out-of-home placement. These findings have important policy and research implications for promoting optimal development among children involved in child protective services.     

教师教学效能研究进展

教学效能是近年来教师教育研究的热门课题之一.主要围绕教学效能的后果变量、影响因素、测量问题等,对国内外教师教学效能的研究进展进行了梳理与回顾,阐述了当前教学效能研究中取得的成果与存在的问题,并建议后续的研究中应当在研究内容、测量工具、样本选取以及研究方法等四个方面做出突破.     

The white cube in the black box: assessing artistic research quality in multidisciplinary academic panels

Despite its imperfections, academic peer review has been accepted as a satisfactory process by which assessment panels comprised of different disciplinary representatives arrive at agreement through a system of shared rules and language that respects disciplinary plurality. Artistic researchers, whose output is required to meet both scholarly research criteria and the aesthetic standards expected by their peers in the art world, express concern that university peer review processes disadvantage their disciplines due to differences between artistic research and more science-informed research expectations. As research created with the artistic ‘white cube’ in mind intersects with this ‘black box’ of scholarly peer review, do the shared protocols adopted by peer-review panels extend to research expressed not in scholarly text but in artistic artefact? Are there features inherent in artistic research that impinge upon equitable consideration within these settings? This paper draws upon face-to-face interviews with visual and performing artists in three Australian universities to explore how these researchers experience university peer review. It contributes a distinctive disciplinary perspective to understanding university assessment and evaluation processes for the benefit of both academic staff and postgraduate students.     

A multilevel model of child- and classroom-level psychosocial factors that support language and literacy resilience of children in Head Start

Early exposure to the multiple risk factors associated with poverty is related to an elevated risk for academic difficulty. Therefore, it is important to promote academic resilience as early as possible and to identify factors that support resilience. Given the positive relation between early language skills and later academic outcomes, examining resilience in the domain of language and literacy is critical. Both exposure to a high-quality classroom environment and early child psychosocial strengths may serve as protective or promotive factors for low-income children, reducing the risk of poor language and literacy outcomes. Using a sample of 275 preschoolers from 29 Head Start classrooms, the current study examined the relations among teacher-reported child-level psychosocial strengths, observed classroom process quality, and growth in language and literacy. Furthermore, whether child and classroom factors had an additive or an interactive effect on outcomes was also investigated. Results indicated that child-level psychosocial strengths predicted initial levels of language and literacy, and classroom organization predicted growth. Results are discussed in terms of understanding how malleable child- and classroom-level factors are associated with language and literacy outcomes and emphasize the importance of intervening early on in young children's learning trajectories.     

The potential use of social media and other internet-related data and communications for child maltreatment surveillance and epidemiological research: Scoping review and recommendations

Collecting child maltreatment data is a complicated undertaking for many reasons. As a result, there is an interest by child maltreatment researchers to develop methodologies that allow for the triangulation of data sources. To better understand how social media and internet-based technologies could contribute to these approaches, we conducted a scoping review to provide an overview of social media and internet-based methodologies for health research, to report results of evaluation and validation research on these methods, and to highlight studies with potential relevance to child maltreatment research and surveillance. Many approaches were identified in the broad health literature; however, there has been limited application of these approaches to child maltreatment. The most common use was recruiting participants or engaging existing participants using online methods. From the broad health literature, social media and internet-based approaches to surveillance and epidemiologic research appear promising. Many of the approaches are relatively low cost and easy to implement without extensive infrastructure, but there are also a range of limitations for each method. Several methods have a mixed record of validation and sources of error in estimation are not yet understood or predictable. In addition to the problems relevant to other health outcomes, child maltreatment researchers face additional challenges, including the complex ethical issues associated with both internet-based and child maltreatment research. If these issues are adequately addressed, social media and internet-based technologies may be a promising approach to reducing some of the limitations in existing child maltreatment data.