The present study reports findings from a school-level randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Double Check cultural responsivity and student engagement model. Consistent with the focus of this special issue on the conceptual and methodological advances for understanding contextual, identity, and cultural effects in intervention research, we report outcomes of the multi-component, school-wide Double Check model, testing the combined impacts of school-wide data-based decision-making along with staff professional development on school-level discipline, culturally responsive practices, classroom contextual factors, and classroom coaching using the Double Check version of the Classroom Check-up. The results from the 41 middle-school RCT indicated significant impacts on proximal outcomes of culturally responsive teacher self-efficacy, observations of instructional support, and indicators of student engagement, but no effect on other intended outcomes (e.g., observations of culturally responsive practices, suspensions). Findings suggest an effect of the Double Check on select teachers' classroom management strategies and student behaviors moderated by key classroom contextual factors. The contextual findings suggest implications for future tailoring of Double Check coaching supports in classrooms with low levels of tier 1 PBIS supports and high levels of disruptive student behavior.

Early career teacher attrition disrupts school continuity, precludes many of those who leave from achieving expertise, and drains economic resources from school systems. In a longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (k = 8, n = 98), we examined the impact of a 9-week meditation-based intervention on undergraduate preservice teachers' rates of attrition from teaching approximately 4 years later. The odds of attrition among intervention group participants 3 years into their teaching careers were significantly reduced by at least 77.0% regardless of modeling approach (Odds ratios = 0.13-0.23, ps ≤ 0.013) compared to teacher education as usual controls. In benefit-cost analyses, we estimated that for every $1 spent on the intervention, hiring districts saved $3.43 in replacement teacher costs. Additional research is required to replicate the core finding of reduced attrition and understand the pathways through which the intervention caused these reductions.

Students presenting externalizing behaviors often exhibit reduced levels of student engagement, posing academic and well-being challenges. Among potential protective factors, the role of parental involvement in school is relatively unexplored. The objective of this study was to examine whether parental involvement could mitigate lower levels of engagement among these students. Data were collected from 742 Canadian elementary students at the beginning and the end of the school year. Latent moderated structural equation modeling was employed to assess the moderating role of four dimensions of parental involvement (i.e., expectations, communication, homework support, and school-based involvement) on behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement. Results indicated that externalizing behaviors were negatively associated with behavioral engagement only when parental expectations were low (b = -0.394, p = .035) and with cognitive engagement only when homework support was low (b = -0.383, p < .001). These findings suggest the importance of promoting parental involvement, especially among students who exhibit high levels of externalizing behaviors.

When making comparisons between groups of students, a common technique is to analyze whether there are statistically significant differences between the means of each group. This convention, however, is problematic when data are negatively skewed and bounded against a performance ceiling, features that are typical of data in education settings. In such a situation, we might be particularly interested to observe group differences in the left tail, specifically among students who have room to improve, and conventional analyses of group means have limitations for detecting such differences. In this article, an alternative to these conventions is presented. Rather than comparing the means of two groups, we can instead compare how closely student data are concentrated toward the modes of each group. Bayesian methods provide an ideal framework for this kind of analysis because they enable us to make flexible comparisons between parameter estimates in custom analytical models. A Bayesian approach for examining concentration toward the mode is outlined and then demonstrated using public data from a previously reported classroom experiment. Using only the outcome data from this prior experiment, the proposed method observes a credible difference in concentration between groups, whereas conventional tests show no significant overall differences between group means. The present article underscores the limitations of conventional statistical assumptions and hypotheses, especially in school psychology and related fields, and offers a method for making more flexible comparisons in the concentration of data between groups.

Previous studies have shown how test anxiety is positively related to symptoms of emotion disorder and that highly test anxious persons can meet diagnostic thresholds for emotion disorder. However, many studies are somewhat dated and based on older conceptualizations of key constructs. In addition, well-being is rarely considered alongside test anxiety and emotion disorder. In the present study, we addressed this limitation by using contemporaneous conceptualizations of test anxiety and emotion disorder, alongside school-related well-being (SRWB), using two analytic methods that are rarely combined to establish how constructs are related. The sample comprised 1167 participants (n = 500, n = 621, n = 21, n = 25; M = 15.4 years, SD = 1.81) from secondary and upper secondary education. Data were analyzed using psychometric network analysis and receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The psychometric network analysis showed that test anxiety, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, social anxiety, major depression, and SRWB formed distinct and largely coherent communities. Generalized anxiety was principally linked to the worry and tension components of test anxiety, panic disorder to the physiological indicator's component, social anxiety and SRWB to the worry and cognitive interference components, and major depression to the cognitive interference component. The ROC curve analysis indicated that test anxiety scores from the 63rd to 75th scale percentiles could predict clinical risk with relatively high accuracy (0.79-0.88) and acceptable levels of sensitivity (0.75-0.86) and specificity (0.70-0.77). Results suggest that test anxiety, emotion disorder, and SRWB are distinct, albeit related constructs. Although constrained by the cross-sectional design, our findings suggest that high test anxiety presents an elevated risk for the development of emotion disorder.

Recent research has underscored the importance of teachers' responses to students' peer victimization as well as students' expectations for how their teacher responds to this victimization. However, little research has examined the extent to which teachers and their students have a shared understanding of their teacher's efforts, or lack of efforts, to manage peer victimization. This study addressed this issue using longitudinal data collected on 410 students (47.1% boys; 86.8% White; M = 10.29 years) from 26 fourth-grade and fifth-grade classrooms. In the fall and spring, students reported on their teacher's use of six responses to peer victimization and teachers completed self-reports of their use of these same six responses. Peer reports of aggressive behavior and peer victimization were obtained in the fall. Significant agreement among classmates was found for only three teacher responses, including contacting parents, advising independent coping (i.e., telling the student to handle it on their own), and suggesting avoidance, and there was little indication that there was greater agreement among same-gender classmates or among children either high or low in aggression or peer victimization. Overall, there was little association between teachers and their students as to the teachers' uses of the six response strategies. Based on these findings, fostering a shared understanding of the consequences and expectations regarding students' engagement in bullying should be examined as a potential target of anti-bullying interventions.

School-based consultation or coaching may be used to promote teachers' use of various classroom management practices and interventions. An important aspect of school-based consultation and coaching is ensuring teachers generalize their use of evidence-based practices that were trained through consultation. However, the extent to which teachers generalize practices trained through consultation or coaching is somewhat unclear. As such, the purpose of this meta-analysis was twofold: (a) synthesize the existing school-based consultation literature to determine the extent to which teachers generalize practices they learned through consultation and coaching and (b) make a call to action for researchers to collect generalization data in consultation and coaching research. Seventeen studies were identified for review, in which results indicated school-based consultation and coaching to be effective for promoting teachers' generalization of EBPs (LRRi = 0.82) as well as target outcomes (LRRi = 1.15). Specific implementation supports (i.e., in situ training and behavioral skills training) significantly contributed to teachers' generalization, with specific practices (i.e., behavior specific praise) being more generalizable. Furthermore, moderation analyses were conducted to delineate aspects of consultation and coaching that are more likely to promote teachers' generalized outcomes. Limitations, future directions, and implications for research and practice are described.

Schools are increasingly considered as critical to the identification and support of child and adolescent mental health difficulties. However, research often fails to capture critical aspects of context and culture, such as migration, in assessing both the accessibility and effectiveness of school-based interventions. Although migrant youth may be at risk for poor mental health, little is known about the barriers and facilitators they face in accessing mental health support in schools. This scoping review aims to map existing research into school-based mental health interventions for migrant children and young people and, in particular, identify potential cultural and contextual effects related to accessibility. Drawing on scoping review methodology, we searched seven psychology, education, and health databases (i.e., Education Research Complete, British Education Index, ERIC, Web of Science, EMBASE, Medline, and PsycInfo) for studies published between 2002 and 2023. Study selection and data extraction were performed independently by reviewers. Narrative and thematic synthesis were used to analyze included papers and address the research questions. Thirty-eight studies met our inclusion criteria and are presented in this review. Our findings reveal a lack of targeted school-based mental health interventions for migrant young people despite the clear need among this growing population. Furthermore, few studies directly addressed issues of accessibility. Despite the range of migrant groups considered, the primary barriers and facilitators to access identified were contextual, cultural, and systemic, such as stigma, acculturative stressors, and partnerships between families, schools, and mental health services. The results of this scoping review highlight the need for a more intersectional framework for the design and implementation of school-based mental health support for migrant youth, arguably one that positions migration as a key social determinant of health and in particular, child and adolescent mental health.

There is growing interest in improving and assessing teachers' use of culturally responsive practices (CRP) in the classroom, yet relatively few research-based approaches exist to address these measurement gaps. This article presents findings on the psychometric properties of a newly developed classroom observation measure of CRP, called the CARES Observational Assessment Tool, where CARES refers to five theorized domains of CRP. We used a sample of 268 30-min video observations across urban classrooms (Grades 4-9) from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2014). These videos were scored using the CARES to establish initial construct validity of the measure, assess measurement invariance across teacher and student racial composition, and evaluate convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity within a nomological validity network utilizing item analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling. Results confirmed the five-factor structure of the CARES and reduced the original 41-item version of the CARES to a 19-item classroom observation tool (ω = .73; CFI = .977, TLI = .952, RMSEA = .028, SRMR = .030). Configural measurement invariance was unable to be established across student and teacher racial groups, raising important questions about CRP measurement in the context of racially homogeneous versus heterogeneous classrooms. Some evidence of nomological validity emerged with positive correlations between observed CRP and classroom-level student engagement and academic performance. This study addressed an unmet need regarding the assessment of teacher CRP through observational assessment, which in turn will further inform research regarding the contextual factors associated with indicators of CRP.

This study synthesized the literature from international and Chinese databases regarding the associations between loneliness and the quality of affective teacher-student relationships (TSRs) among children and adolescents ages 5.34-17.09 years. Forty-seven studies published between 2005 and 2023 were included in a cross-sectional meta-analysis using a multi-level approach. Moderators of the relationship, including culture, study, sample, and measurement characteristics, were also examined. Findings indicated a significant medium effect size (r = -0.226) between loneliness and TSRs with effects moderated by students' gender and national cultural background (i.e., Hofstede's Power Distance and Long-term/Short-term Orientation Dimensions). Longitudinal meta-analyses were performed with six studies by using cross-lagged regression to investigate the prospective effects between these two variables. Results showed that loneliness predicted subsequent TSRs (β = -0.1661) and TSRs predicted subsequent loneliness (β = -0.0917), indicating a reciprocal prospective relationship over time. The findings emphasize not only the role of teachers in students' experiences of loneliness, but also the role that loneliness has on an individual's relationships with others. Recommendations for intervention include (a) increasing teacher awareness of student loneliness and (b) ensuring that any school-based work considers the specific social-cultural perspective.

There has been a long search for cognitive assessments that reveal aptitudes thought to be useful for treatment planning. In this regard, since the 1990s, there has been some enthusiasm for the Cognitive Assessment System (CAS) and its potential promise for informing treatment due to its alignment of theory, assessment instrument, and suite of interventions. The purpose of this meta-analytic review was to synthesize research pertinent to the treatment utility of the CAS according to a taxonomy of treatment utility. A total of 252 articles were produced by an electronic search and eligibility screening yielded 16 articles meeting criteria for consideration. Most studies described in these articles utilized obtained difference designs, focused on the Planning composite scores from the CAS, and addressed math interventions. Only seven studies with publication dates from 1995 to 2010 yielded sufficient information to be included in the meta-analysis. A random effects model was employed to determine the overall treatment utility effect across 114 participants apportioned to 14 groups and comprising eight comparisons. Results yielded an overall moderate effect size (0.64, 95% CI [0.24, 1.03], p = .002), but it was associated with significant imprecision (due to a low number of viable studies and small sample sizes across most studies) that prohibits reliable conclusions from being drawn. Assessment of between-study heterogeneity and moderator analysis was not possible. Considering these findings, additional research is needed to support the treatment utility of the CAS-even after more than 27 years of study. Furthermore, there are no published studies regarding the treatment utility of the second edition of the CAS, which was published in 2014. These results suggest that there is insufficient empirical grounding to enable practitioners to use this instrument to develop effective treatments for reading, mathematics, or writing. More direct interventions designed to enhance academic skill development should be employed.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a brief counseling intervention with demonstrated efficacy in ameliorating unhealthy habits across populations, behaviors, and settings. Although prior research underscores its benefit with adolescents, a comprehensive examination of its application in school settings remains unexplored. Therefore, the primary aim of the present meta-analysis was to calculate the average estimated effect of all studies examining the use of MI with students in school settings. Second, we sought to examine heterogeneity in effects through meta-regression models. Our final model included a meta-analysis of 38 studies with 207 effect sizes evaluating the efficacy of school-based MI. We estimated multivariate models using robust variance estimation with and without outliers. Our results demonstrate a significant estimated effect in favor of using MI to treat an array of behaviors (g = 0.18, 95% Prediction Interval [-0.26, 0.61]). Findings from the meta-regression analyses indicated three significant moderators: (a) the role of the interventionist, (b) target behaviors, and (c) dosage. We offer potential explanations of the findings and discuss current limitations and implications for future work regarding MI in school settings.

Numerous empirical studies have contributed to the understanding of factors connected to students' bystander behaviors in peer victimization situations. Nevertheless, a crucial gap remains concerning the scarcity of longitudinal studies. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the present study examined whether moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy predicted bystander behaviors a year later. Participants were 1346 Swedish adolescents (M = 13.6 years, M = 14.6 years) who answered a web-based self-report questionnaire in seventh and eighth grades. Random intercept models showed that higher levels of moral disengagement in seventh grade were associated with more pro-aggressive bystanding in eighth grade (Est = 0.19, p < .001), with interaction analyses revealing that this effect was particularly pronounced in students with high defender self-efficacy (Est = 0.05, p < .01). The results also revealed that higher levels of defender self-efficacy in seventh grade were associated with more defending (Est = 0.18, p < .001) and less passive bystanding (Est = -0.11, p < .001) in eighth grade. Interaction analyses further demonstrated that the negative association between defender self-efficacy and passive bystanding was significant only at low levels of moral disengagement (Est = 0.09, p < .001). Our findings suggest that moral disengagement is more strongly related to the inhibitive form of moral agency among bystanders, whereas defender self-efficacy is more strongly related to proactive moral agency. Thus, interventions aiming to reduce pro-aggressive bystanding and promote defending need to consider both moral disengagement and defender self-efficacy.

The present study consisted of the development and validation of a novel multi-rater Domain-Specific School Diversity Model scale (DS-SDM) that captures pupils' and teachers' perceptions of the extent to which their school adopts assimilationist, colorblind, and pluralist approaches to the domains of (a) languages, (b) religions, (c) the curriculum, and (d) students' identities. Using data collected from 3073 students ages 10-12 years and 816 teachers from 59 primary schools in Flanders, Belgium, we performed multilevel exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses to evaluate these novel scales. We identified a total of nine measurement scales among students and seven among teachers that were reliable (internal consistency range = 0.63-0.86) and invariant across different subgroups of pupils (i.e., ethnic minoritized versus majority pupils). Interestingly, we found that perceptions by pupils and teachers within the same school were often notably different, especially in the domains of curriculum and identities. Overall, this study offers novel tools to capture perceptions of school diversity models among students and teachers in more nuanced and domain-specific ways. As such, it paves the way for future school psychological or educational studies and interventions targeting domain-specific diversity practices that are most strongly related to ethnic minoritized and majority students' well-being and school achievement.

Peer victimization has long been recognized as a significant issue among adolescents, with potentially harmful consequences for their psychological and social well-being. However, studies adopting a longitudinal, multilevel approach to explore the complexity of peer victimization dynamics are still lacking. This study aimed to test short-term longitudinal associations between peer victimization, internalizing problems, and satisfaction with friends over the course of 6 months. The sample included 1299 adolescents at T1 (48.3% female adolescents, M = 13.6 years) attending 67 school classes. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires administered at two time-points during the same school year. Multivariate multilevel analysis indicated that, at the individual level, T2 victimization was positively predicted by T1 internalizing problems (proportional reduction in variance [PRV] = 0.7%) and negatively by satisfaction with friends (PRV = 1.6%), whereas internalizing problems at T2 were predicted by peer victimization at T1 (PRV = 0.7%). Satisfaction with friends was negatively predicted by peer victimization (PRV = 3.6%). At the class level, T2 victimization was more likely in classrooms with lower levels of satisfaction with friends in the fall (PRV = 15%). Moreover, class-level ethnic diversity contributed to explain between-class variability in satisfaction with friends (PRV = 9.1%). These findings highlight the need for interventions that promote positive peer relationships and provide support for victimized adolescents to reduce internalizing problems. Additionally, they underscore the importance of fostering friendship quality as a protective factor against victimization.

Using data from a large sample (N = 3115, 48% female; M = 11 years; 40% Latino, 31% Black, and 29% White) of US students attending 36 urban public middle schools in the Midwest, this study explored the effects of parents, teachers, and school context at the beginning of middle school (fall of sixth grade) on academic achievement at the end of middle school (spring of eighth grade). The results of a hierarchical linear model indicated that a higher level of parental monitoring (b = 0.31, p < .001), positive student-teacher relationships (b = 0.12, p = .030), and greater school racial and ethnic diversity (b = 1.08, p = .044) were independently associated with higher academic achievement. An examination of mesosystem effects revealed that for Latina/o students, attending a more racially and ethnically diverse school was associated with higher academic achievement, especially for those who reported having positive relationships with teachers (b = 0.42, p = .002). Moreover, parental monitoring was particularly beneficial for students attending low-socioeconomic schools (b = 0.92, p = .002). Implications for educational practice and policy aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in education are discussed.

Addressing adolescent mental health difficulties often begins by first correctly identifying students who are at risk when using universal mental health screeners in the school setting. A comprehensive conceptualization of mental health may enhance school psychologists' ability to effectively understand the mental health of students they serve. The dual-factor model of mental health posits a more holistic approach to mental health by capturing subjective-wellbeing scores alongside psychopathology. When employing the dual-factor model, practitioners have various ways to classify students as at risk for mental health difficulties, including locally normed cut scores and latent profile analysis (LPA); without an empirical comparison between the two approaches, practitioners may be uninformed in their decision making. The present study surveyed 404 adolescents on subjective wellbeing and psychopathology and examined how mental health classification varied when two common dual-factor approaches were employed (i.e., locally normed cut scores and LPA). Results indicated that 71.2% of the sample were classified in the same dual-factor mental health group across the two approaches, whereas 28.8% of adolescents' mental health classifications changed. The lack of agreement between the two approaches for a sizable proportion of the present sample presents an area for future research to ensure the correct identification of at-risk students and appropriately allocate services in schools.

This study examined the relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension of grade-level academic language. The CUBED Narrative Language Measures: Reading (NLM:R) subtest was used to assess the reading fluency and reading comprehension performance of 605 second- and third-grade students. The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) reading assessment was also used to assess students' reading comprehension. Results indicated that reading fluency was not significantly correlated with reading comprehension across any of the deciles in both grade levels when measured using the NLM:R. Reading fluency also was not significantly correlated with MAP results for second- or third-grade students. Partial correlation analyses controlling for race/ethnicity, gender, and soci-economic status did not result in meaningfully different outcomes. Students whose reading fluency was at the 10th percentile did not exhibit significantly different comprehension performance when compared to students reading more fluently. The results of this study suggest that outcomes from oral reading fluency assessments that focus on rate and accuracy may not be valid indicators of reading comprehension when passages include complex, academic language. School psychologists and other educators may need to interpret reading fluency data with caution when developing comprehension-related instructional recommendations and identifying students for whom comprehension intervention is warranted.

The present study examined the dependability of three newly developed direct behavior rating multi-item scales (DBR-MIS) of academic enablers (i.e., academic engagement, interpersonal skills, and study skills). Twenty-two K-5 teachers completed all three 5-item DBR-MIS daily for 1 week for one student in their class. Teachers' ratings on each item during the first occasion were used to create individualized DBR scales with 1-4 items. Items with the lowest ratings (indicating least frequent academic enablers) were included first and subsequent items were added in ascending order. Dependability of both full DBR-MIS and individualized DBR scales was evaluated using generalizability theory. Results indicated that the full DBR-MIS demonstrated high dependability and required only 1-4 assessment occasions (i.e., < 10 as the criterion) to inform absolute decision-making for progress monitoring. The three- and four-item individualized DBR-MIS demonstrated comparable dependability to their respective full five-item DBR-MIS. Dependability estimates of individualized scales in general were higher than standard D study-derived estimates with the same number of items (i.e., dependability estimates obtained by manipulating the number of items from the full standard scales modeled in D studies). Results support continued investigation of the DBR-MIS as a viable progress monitoring tool for school-based applications. Further research and implications for practice were discussed.

A variety of early literacy assessments are available to monitor student response to instruction in early reading skills. The purpose of this study was to explore the degree to which growth during the second half of kindergarten on measures of alphabetic principle (i.e., nonsense word fluency [NWF]) and word reading (i.e., decodable real words and word reading fluency [WRF]) predicted oral reading fluency (ORF) at the end of kindergarten and first grade, over and above January baseline performance. A total of 394 kindergarten students were monitored on each assessment every 2 weeks between January and May. The unique contribution of this study was the evaluation of the degree to which the predictive value of growth on these measures differed as a function of student skills in oral reading via quantile regression. Doing so revealed whether different word-level assessments were better suited for less skilled or more skilled readers. In addition, the utility of growth in different metrics on measures of NWF (i.e., correct letter sequences [CLS] and whole words read [WWR]) was explored. Results suggested that measures of more complex skills such as WRF and NWF-WWR were most predictive of general reading outcomes among students with high subsequent ORF. The value of measuring growth, relative to baseline performance, was even more apparent when predicting performance at the end of first grade.