Teacher consultation and cognitive-behavioral interventions with aggressive boys

This study compared the effects of two Anger Coping group interventions with aggressive boys to an untreated control condition. Both Anger Coping conditions used cognitive-behavioral and social problem-solving training, and one of the conditions included an adjunctive teacher consultation component designed to enhance teachers' behavioral management skills and facilitation of their students' problem-solving skills. In comparison to the untreated aggressive boys, treated aggressive boys displayed significant improvements in their disruptive-aggressive off-task classroom behavior and in their perceived social competence, and they tended to have reductions in their teachers' ratings of their aggressiveness. There were no significant differences between the two Anger Coping conditions, indicating that teacher consultation did not enhance treatment effects.     

Classroom contextual effects of race on children's peer nominations

Black children generally receive poorer sociometric nominations compared with Whites. This effect is not fully understood because Black children rarely hold a classroom majority and teachers' race is rarely investigated. Research from a person-environment perspective suggests that the effects of children's race depend on the racial composition of the classroom and society's racial attitudes. Sociometric nominations were obtained from 1,268 5th graders, between 9 and 11 years old (53% Black), across 57 classrooms (3-95% Black students). Half of the teachers were Black. The results indicated that ratings of Black children were more influenced by the racial context of classrooms than were ratings of White children. The implications of this study are discussed in relation to group dynamics and racial discrimination.