Student–teacher relationships matter: Moderating influences between temperament and preschool social competence

Ecological approaches to preschool assessment, which consider both within‐child and environmental variables, are considered best practice for school psychologists. This study employs such a model to investigate the interactive influence of child temperament and student–teacher relationship quality on peer play behaviors. Parents of 44 preschool children (25 girls, 19 boys) ranging in age from 40 to 68 months (mean [M] = 53.00) and primarily White (92.9%) provided ratings of their children's temperaments on the Behavioral Style Questionnaire. Their teachers completed the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale and the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale. Results indicate that (a) student–teacher relationships characterized by low conflict and low dependence are associated with less disruptive peer play, and (b) the association between temperament and disruptive play is attenuated in low conflict student–teacher relationships. Implications for school psychologists include the importance of student–teacher relationships in the context of preschool assessment and intervention planning. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

DIMENSIONALITY AND MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE OF A SCHOOL READINESS SCREENER BY ETHNICITY AND HOME LANGUAGE

This study examined the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the Kindergarten Student Entrance Profile (KSEP) when used to rate the school readiness of children from different ethnic backgrounds (Latino or White, non‐Latino), as well as from households where a different language was predominant (Spanish or English). Teachers rated the readiness of 9,335 children during the first month of kindergarten in four ethnically diverse, medium‐sized school districts in central California. From the total sample, two overlapping subsamples (S1 and S2) were identified. First, a series of confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with S1 (n = 7,787) to examine the dimensionality and measurement invariance of the KSEP with children who identified as either Latino or White at the time of kindergarten enrollment. Next, the same set of analyses were replicated with S2 (n = 9, 234) to examine whether results held for students from households where the primary language spoken was Spanish or English. Results yielded evidence supporting a two‐factor structure encompassing social‐emotional and cognitive dimensions of children's readiness. In addition, results showed the KSEP exhibited measurement invariance across student ethnicities (Latino/White) and home languages (Spanish/English). The results of this study provide psychometric evidence that is particularly important for a universal school readiness screener.     

Correction to: The effects of distant professional development model on second grade teachers’ instruction and students’ quality of procedural papers

Reading and Writing - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10141-w     

Continuing Education Module: How to Connect With Parents by Using Updated Lamaze Messages

Lamaze International partnered with Edelman, an international public relations firm, to re-brand the organization through its messaging to elevate its relevance among key stakeholders. Sound primary and secondary research revealed new ways to communicate the Lamaze message to women, their families, and their care providers. Various tips and tools are presented in this article to enable childbirth educators, care providers, and birth advocates to communicate these new messages more effectively to parents.     

When Fact Conceals Privilege: Teaching the (Shared?) Reality of Disability

Disability studies in education scholars have discussed the need to engage students, and certainly preservice teachers, in critical discussion of disability as a concept. To better understand what such critical discussion entails, Ashley Taylor examines the pedagogical implications of promoting an understanding of disability as a shared experience of being human. In particular, Taylor is concerned with how the appeal to a shared experience of disability (which she calls “the shared reality view”) might contribute to or impede students' development of critical attitudes toward ableist social and educational practices. She describes two chief limitations of the shared reality view and argues that these complicate efforts to teach about disability in ways that avoid reinforcing students' existing beliefs. Taylor concludes by offering a pedagogical framework that retains valuable aspects of the shared reality view while avoiding its limitations.     

Mothers' Physiological and Affective Responding to Infant Distress: Unique Antecedents of Avoidant and Resistant Attachments

In a sample of 127 mother–infant dyads, this study examined the predictive significance of mothers' physiological and observed emotional responding within distressing and nondistressing caregiving contexts at 6 months for infant attachment assessed with Fraley and Spieker's (2003) dimensional approach and the categorical approach at 12 months. Findings revealed that a lesser degree of maternal respiratory sinus arrhythmia withdrawal and higher levels of maternal neutral (vs. positive) affect within distressing (vs. nondistressing) caregiving contexts were distinctive antecedents of avoidance versus resistance assessed dimensionally (but not categorically), independent of maternal sensitivity. Discussion focuses on the usefulness of examining mothers' physiological and affective responding, considering the caregiving context, and employing the dimensional approach to attachment in identifying unique antecedents of patterns of attachment insecurity.     

An Exploration of Transportation and Psychological Reactance in Organ Donation PSAs

The present study expands on prior work on the use of narratives in persuasive communication by examining students’ (N = 201) reactions to six organ donation public service announcements (PSAs). Reactions to the type of appeal, donor-focused or recipient-focused, were also explored. Results indicated that being immersed in the PSA was positively associated with message reactions and negatively associated with threats to overall freedom of choice when deciding whether or not to become an organ donor. Those perceived threats partially mediated the relationship between immersion into the story of the PSA and message reactions, such that increased threats were associated with reduced message reactions. Individuals exposed to the recipient-focused appeals were more interested in the narrative of the PSAs than those exposed to donor-focused appeals. Results are discussed in the context of future message and campaign development.     

Immortal Brands? A Temporal Critique of Promotional Culture

This article contributes to the theoretical analysis of branding and promotional culture by exploring how professional practice, legal systems, and applied academic research have championed a notion of the brand that is powerful, durable, and everlasting—in a word, “immortal.” We argue that this immortalized brand challenges emerging critical scholarship through its ignorance of the brand’s weaknesses and limitations, especially as they pertain to time and history. To counter that challenge, we argue for a heightened awareness of the brand’s temporality. In the service of this goal, this article explores several cases of aging brands, retro brands, and abandoned trademarks to showcase how consideration of brands in time reveals their contingent and historical nature.