EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF ON‐TASK IN A BOX AS A CLASS‐WIDE INTERVENTION

The present study evaluated the effects of the On‐Task in a Box intervention on student on‐task behavior when used as a class‐wide intervention. The intervention package includes self‐monitoring, video modeling, and reinforcement contingency components. A multiple baseline design across three elementary classrooms was used to determine the effects of the intervention on student behavior. Results indicated immediate increases in on‐task behavior in all classrooms. Calculation of nonoverlap of all pairs’ effect sizes indicated strong intervention and maintenance effects on on‐task behavior of students in all classrooms. Social validity data were also collected, which indicated adequate validity of the intervention. Results of the study suggest that the intervention package may be effective for improving class‐wide levels of on‐task behavior.     

Universal Design for Learning within an Integrated Multitiered System of Support

Comprehensive schoolwide initiatives like integrated multitiered systems of support (I-MTSS) and universal design for learning (UDL) present opportunities for large-scale impact on improving teacher instructional practices and, therefore, student outcomes. Specifically, implementing I-MTSS and UDL concurrently presents an opportunity to enhance and improve universal instruction for all students. This mixed-methods study explored current Tier 1 practices in elementary schools across the United States. Findings revealed that I-MTSS and UDL are perceived as being implemented concurrently. In addition, school personnel identified specific barriers to implementation.     

A mixed-methods evaluation of the experience of emerging young adult care partners

There is limited literature on emerging young adult (EYA) care partners, despite a recent rise in interest in this group. The purpose of this study is to compare EYA care partners and their non-care partner peers in the domains of academic achievement and engagement, employment, health-related behaviors and self-care, and mental health and respite, as well as to assess EYA care partners’ burden and potential for positive psychosocial sequelae and life changes as a result of their role. Further, within EYA care partners, we examine the relationship between mental health variables and care partner-relevant variables. Two hundred undergraduates (100 care partners and 100 non-care partners) completed measures of academic achievement and engagement (grade point average and credit load), employment (number of paid positions held and number of hours worked per week), health-related behavior/self-care (visits to the dentist, primary care physician, optometrist, diet healthfulness, exercise, cigarette smoking, and drinks per week) and mental health/respite (depression, anxiety, loneliness, drinking, social support, peer pressure, vacation recency, and frequency). Care partners completed measures of spiritual well-being, burden, meaning, and benefit-finding, as well as provided qualitative feedback on how caregiving changed their lives. EYA care partners and non-care partners did not differ on any variables examined except for the number of jobs held, as EYA care partners held more paid jobs than EYA non-care partners. EYA care partners showed moderate burden and high levels of finding meaning/benefit, the latter of which was supported by the themes that emerged from their qualitative data. Within EYA care partners, we found that depression and anxiety (mental health variables) were significantly related to spiritual well-being, burden, benefit finding, and finding meaning through caregiving (care partner-relevant variables). It is encouraging that the care partner and non-care partner groups were similar in domains critical for this age group, such as academic achievement and engagement.     

Teacher Leader Model Standards and the Functions Assumed by National Board Certified Teachers

The Teacher Leader Model Standards (TLMS) were created to stimulate discussion around the leadership responsibilities teachers assume in schools. This study used the TLMS to gauge the self-reported leadership responsibilities of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs). The NBCTs reported engaging in all domains of the TLMS, most frequently with Domain 1: Fostering a collaborative culture to support educator development and student learning, and least frequently with Domain 7: Advocating for student learning and the profession.     

Introducing veteran critical theory

Research on student veterans is in an infant state. As veterans continue to enroll in institutions of higher education, researchers must explore new ways of knowing student veterans. It is not enough to only describe and model this growing demographic, researchers must also have a tool for criticism and question. The next in an important tradition of emancipatory paradigms, this article suggests a critical theory built on current critical conversations but adapted for the unique characteristics of the student veteran. The article defines the need for a critical theory (Veteran Critical Theory), explains 11 tenets for this new theory, and discusses how these tenets could be used by administrators, faculty, student affairs professionals, and students in the higher education community.     

Help-seeking tendencies during early adolescence: An examination of motivational correlates and consequences for achievement

The present study examined the motivational correlates and achievement consequences of students’ help-seeking tendencies during sixth grade (N = 217). Students’ grades were collected from school records at the beginning and end of the school year. Midway through the year students reported on their academic self-efficacy and social demonstration goals; teachers reported on students’ help-seeking tendencies. First quarter grades and academic self-efficacy were positively related to adaptive help seeking and negatively related to avoidant help seeking. In addition, a social demonstration-approach goal was negatively related to adaptive help seeking. Help-seeking tendencies predicted 3rd quarter grades, controlling for 1st quarter grades.     

Circuits of Dominance in Education and Poverty: Control Logic and Counter Narrative

In this article I represented educational narratives from two students who completed college coursework while they were incarcerated in a closed correctional facility in North Carolina. Alongside their narratives, I shared literature that addressed inadequacies in the United States social welfare programs, an absence of a living wage, and whitestream dominance in US public schools and analyzed the narratives of these students’ childhoods. These narratives were situated at the intersections of poverty and illegal work. Often these intersections remain invisible in policy discourse and educational contexts in the high accountability/high stakes testing movement that positions the curriculum, and not the child, as the most important thing in the classroom. Subsequently, I challenged educators and researchers committed to the pursuit of equity to question how the children in our classrooms and youth in our prisons were raced, gendered, and classed, and to engage in careful and layered understandings of our students’ lives.     

Self‐Compassion Among College Counseling Center Clients: An Examination of Clinical Norms and Group Differences

There has been growing interest in the mental health benefits of self‐compassion. This study was designed to establish norms on the Self‐Compassion Scale–Short Form, a popular measure of self‐compassion for individuals seeking counseling, and to examine group differences in self‐compassion based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, previous counseling, and psychiatric medication use. Data for this study were collected through the Center for Collegiate Mental Health, a practice‐research network of more than 240 college and university counseling centers.     

School Start Time Change: An In‐Depth Examination of School Districts in the United States

In response to the scientific evidence documenting both profound developmental changes in sleep and circadian biology during adolescence and the myriad of negative health, performance, and safety outcomes risks associated with chronic sleep loss, at least 70 public school districts in the United States, representing approximately 1,000 schools, have successfully implemented a delay in high school start times. However, despite the compelling evidence supporting school start time change as a key strategy in addressing the epidemic of adolescent sleep loss, many school districts across the country with early high school start times have not considered the option to implement later bell schedules for adolescents. Moreover, while the current scientific literature has clearly documented the positive outcomes associated with delayed high school start times, these studies contain limited information regarding the process by which school districts consider, approve and implement bell schedule changes. Thus, this in‐depth examination of those school districts that have been successful in changing their bell schedules is intended to support the efforts of other districts in various stages of contemplating this measure. We utilized a multi‐pronged approach (literature review, case studies, telephone interviews, online survey) to summarize the experiences of school districts across the United States in regard to challenges faced, strategies employed, and lessons learned in the hope that this information will be a useful tool for other school districts looking to chart a course forward to promote the health, safety, and academic opportunities of their students.     

Multiple Copies of Bestsellers in Public Libraries: How Much Is Enough?

How do public libraries develop their collections of high-demand materials for the “I want it now” generation? Ten public libraries’ holdings of fiction and nonfiction bestseller titles were observed over a four-week period. The number of copies rose fairly consistently, with the five fiction titles having roughly about twice the number of copies as the five nonfiction titles. The ratio of holds to copies averaged 2.7:1 and ranged from 0.8:1 to 6.5:1. Demand for e-books was consistently higher than the number of copies available, averaging more than 4:1 across all libraries.