Moving beyond dosage and adherence: A protocol for capturing dimensions of active child engagement as a measure of fidelity for social-emotional learning interventions

Social-emotional competencies are important for school-readiness and can be supported through social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions in the preschool years. However, past research has demonstrated mixed efficacy of early SEL interventions across varied samples, highlighting a need to unpack the black box of which early interventions work, under what conditions, and for whom. In the present article we discuss the critical implementation component of active child engagement in an intervention as a potential point of disconnect between the intervention as designed and as implemented. Children who are physically present but unengaged during an intervention may lead to decreased average impacts of an intervention. Furthermore, measuring young children’s active engagement with an intervention may help to guide iterative intervention development. We propose a four-step protocol for capturing the multi-dimensional and varied construct of active child engagement in a SEL intervention. To illustrate the utility of the protocol, we apply it to data from a pilot study of a researcher-implemented, semi-structured block play intervention focused on supporting the development of SEL and math skills in preschoolers. We then present future directions for the integration of active participant engagement into the measurement of implementation of SEL interventions for young children

The Effect of Brief Anxiety Interventions on Reported Anxiety and Math Test Performance

Research suggests that math and test anxiety have detrimental impacts on performance in math. To prevent these effects, a number of interventions have been developed, but these interventions have not been extensively tested. In the current study, we examine whether four brief anxiety interventions reduce state anxiety and/or increase math performance. We also examine whether any of the interventions weaken the relation between math or test anxiety and math performance. Participants were 300 college students varying in math and test anxiety levels. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four single-session interventions, which each took 5 minutes or less (reappraisal as challenge, reappraisal as excitement, expressive writing, and look ahead), or a no intervention control group. Results generally show that none of the interventions had an effect on reports of state anxiety or performance on a difficult math assessment, with the exception that students in the expressive writing condition reported higher levels of state anxiety. None of the interventions served to attenuate the relation between math or test anxiety and math performance. These findings were not consistent with results of previous work, and suggest that interventions may need to be more extensive in order to have an effect on state anxiety and math performance

A Meta-analysis of the Relation Between Math Anxiety and Math Achievement

Meta-analyses from the 1990s have previously established a significant, small-to-moderate, and negative correlation between math achievement and math anxiety. Since these publications, research has continued to investigate this relation with more diverse samples and measures. Thus, the goal of the present meta-analysis was to provide an update of the math anxiety-math achievement relation and its moderators. Analyzing 747 effect sizes accumulated from research conducted between 1992 and 2018, we found a small-to-moderate, negative, and statistically significant correlation (r = -.28) between math anxiety and math achievement. The relation was significant for all moderator subgroups, with the exception of the relation between math anxiety and assessments measuring the approximate number system. Grade level, math ability level, adolescent/adult math anxiety scales, math topic of anxiety scale, and math assessments were significant moderators of this relation. There is also a tendency for published studies to report significantly stronger correlations than unpublished studies but, overall, large, negative effect sizes are under-reported. Our results are consistent with previous findings of a significant relation between math anxiety and math achievement. This association starts in childhood, remains significant through adulthood, is smaller for students in grades 3 through 5 and postsecondary school, is larger for math anxiety than for statistics anxiety and for certain math anxiety scales, and is smaller for math exam grades and samples selected for low math ability. This work supports future research efforts to determine effective math achievement and math anxiety interventions, which may be most helpful to implement during childhood

Relations Between Parents' Math Anxiety and Children's Math Learning, and the Role of Homework Help

At the intersection of developmental and educational science, recent studies have focused on the role of parents’ attitudes and beliefs towards math and their homework-helping behaviors. Specifically, findings from Maloney et al. (2015) suggest that parents’ math-related anxiety had a negative effect on children’s gains in math achievement only when the parents frequently helped with math homework – suggesting that frequent exposure to negative views towards math at home may diminish children’s math motivations, and in turn, their math achievement. To further understand this complex developmental mechanism, the current study aimed to replicate these findings with a larger, and more diverse sample of elementary school children. A sample of 2,953 kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade students (49.37% female) nested across 239 classrooms in a Southeastern U.S. state were assessed on their math achievement at fall and spring of the school year. Parents self-reported their math anxiety and frequency of homework help. Results revealed significant, negative main effects of parents’ math anxiety and homework help on children’s gains in math achievement across the school year. However, contrary to the work of Maloney et al. (2015), no significant interaction effect between these two parent-level predictors on children’s math achievement was found. These findings underscore the role of parents’ math anxiety as it relates to more negative child math outcomes. Accordingly, there remains a need for additional examination of parents’ homework help and how this process may play role in children’s change over time in math achievement