Teacher-child relationships and the development of academic and behavioral skills during elementary school: a within- and between-child analysis

Despite recent growth in research highlighting the potential of teacher-child relationships to promote children's development during the early years of school, questions remain about the importance of these relationships across elementary school. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 1,364), this study examines between- and within-child associations between teacher-child relationship quality and children's academic achievement and behavior problems from kindergarten (ages 4-6 years) through 5th grade (ages 9-11 years). Results suggest that increases in teacher-child relationship quality are associated with improvements in teacher-reported academic skills and reductions in behavior problems consistently throughout elementary school. As children progressed from kindergarten through fifth grade, the importance of teacher-child relationship quality is unchanging.     

Psychopathology and Parenting Practices of Parents of Preschool Children with Behavior Problems

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated associations among different types of parental psychopathology and several specific parenting practices. DESIGN: Mothers (n = 182) and fathers (n = 126) of preschool-aged children with behavior problems completed questionnaires assessing parental psychopathology and parenting practices, and participated in observed parent-child interactions. RESULTS: Maternal depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and several different personality disorder traits were related to maternal negativity, laxness, and lack of warmth. Paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, and borderline personality disorder symptoms predicted mothers' parenting practices, even when statistically controlling for other types of psychopathology. For fathers, those same symptoms, dependent and avoidant symptoms, and substance abuse symptoms were associated with self-reported lax parenting. Evidence emerged that psychopathology in one parent was associated with less overreactivity in the other parent. CONCLUSIONS: Many aspects of parents' psychological functioning play a role in determining specific parenting practices, including personality disorder symptoms.     

Do Formalized Gatekeeping Procedures Increase Programs' Follow‐Up With Deficient Trainees?

The authors investigated whether formalized gatekeeping procedures and program‐level characteristics influence the rates at which deficient trainees are graduated from counseling programs. One hundred eighteen faculty members reported that counselor educators face diverse pressures to avoid investigating potentially deficient students, including concerns about being sued and concerns about receiving compromised teaching evaluations. However, faculty members in programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs and faculty members in programs with more formalized gatekeeping procedures seemed to more effectively follow through with concerns they had about specific students. These findings support the implementation of both broad, program‐wide training standards and specific, formalized procedures to more effectively screen deficient trainees.     

School-Age Children Adapt the Dynamics of Lexical Competition in Suboptimal Listening Conditions

Although the ability to understand speech in adverse listening conditions is paramount for effective communication across the life span, little is understood about how this critical processing skill develops. This study asks how the dynamics of spoken word recognition (i.e., lexical access and competition) change during soft speech in 8- to 11-year-olds (n = 26). Lexical competition and access for speech at lower intensity levels was measured using eye-tracking and the visual world paradigm. Overall the results suggest that soft speech influences the magnitude and timing of lexical access and competition. These results suggest that lexical competition is a cognitive process that can be adapted in the school-age years to help cope with increased uncertainty due to alterations in the speech signal.     

Pedagogy for Equity: Teaching in a Hispanic-Serving Institution

Three female tenure-track faculty members at a Hispanic-Serving Institution explored how their cultural backgrounds inform their pedagogical approaches toward equity. They drew upon Mills’s (1959) and Collins’s (1993) frameworks to examine how their personal biographies, local social contexts, and broader systemic institutions affect their teaching processes for diverse students. These teaching processes include limiting assumptions about students, encouraging students to consider their own personal biographies in relation to the social world, welcoming students’ multiple modes of expression, serving as role models, and challenging inequities in schooling. They conclude with recommendations for enhancing inclusivity in student learning and faculty development.     

Parsing the language of racism and relief: Effects of a short-term urban field placement on teacher candidates’ perceptions of culturally diverse classrooms

This three-year study combines qualitative and quantitative analyses of effects of a one-week, intensive urban field placement on 95 suburban and rural teacher candidates’ self-reported perceptions of urban schools, students, teachers. Data was drawn from anonymous, open-ended, pre- and post-experience participant surveys; reflections; and alumni interviews. Findings include improvement in confidence in cross-cultural teaching abilities and interest in urban schools for future employment. Pre-service teachers’ perceptions can be meaningfully influenced by a short-term, cross-cultural immersion program when it is situated within a mutually-reinforcing, multicultural education curriculum that offers significant faculty scaffolding and structured reflection.