Implementation Factors and Their Influence on Student Mathematics Outcomes

Assessing implementation allows for a better understanding of an intervention's effects and the mechanisms that influence its impact. Two main areas of implementation are (a) the quality with which an intervention is delivered and (b) instructors’ adherence to the programmed intervention. The current study used data from a kindergarten mathematics intervention program to (a) examine if and how treatment adherence was associated with implementation quality and (b) explore implementation measures’ relation to student mathematics outcomes. Results indicated high implementation scores across time for both adherence and quality. Neither treatment adherence nor implementation quality was found to relate to a general outcome measure of student mathematics achievement; however, both were similarly related to the curricular-aligned measure.     

Does having vulnerable friends help vulnerable youth? The co-evolution of friendships,victimization, and depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents' social networks

This study examined whether having vulnerable friends helps or hurts victimized and depressed (i.e., vulnerable) adolescents and whether this depends on classroom supportive norms. Students (n = 1461, 46.7% girls, 93.4% Han nationality) were surveyed four times from seventh and eighth grade (M_age = 13 years) in 2015 and 2016 in Central China. Longitudinal social network analyses indicated that having vulnerable friends can both hurt and help vulnerable adolescents. Depressed adolescents with depressed friends increased in victimization over time. Victimized adolescents with victimized friends increased in victimization but decreased in depressive symptoms. These processes were most likely in classrooms with high supportive norms. Having friends and a supportive classroom may hurt vulnerable adolescents' social position but help victims' emotional development.