Improving the School Context of Early Adolescence Through Teacher Attunement to Victimization: Effects on School Belonging

The present study examined the effects of teacher attunement to victimization on student perceptions of the bullying culture of their schools as a means of fostering a sense of belonging among early adolescents. Participants (n = 1,264) in sixth grade reported on the frequency that they had been bullied, and teachers were asked to report students who were “picked on.” Teacher attunement represented the correspondence between self-identified and teacher-identified victims. Attunement at the beginning of the school year was related to positive changes in student reports that their peers would intervene in bullying; in turn, sense of belonging was greater when students perceived that their peers would intervene in bullying. Teacher attunement was indirectly related to greater belonging through its impact on student perceptions of the bullying context

Supporting the Inclusion of Socially Vulnerable Early Adolescents: Theory and Illustrations of the BASE Model

We focus on the inclusion of socially vulnerable early adolescents including students with special education needs (SEN). Building from multiple intervention and randomized control trials of a professional development model aimed at supporting teachers\u27 management of the classroom social context, we provide an overview of the Behavioral, Academic, and Social Engagement (BASE) Model as a framework to foster social inclusion. We briefly review the conceptual foundations of this model and we present the delivery (i.e., directed consultation, the scouting report process) and content (i.e., Academic Engagement Enhancement, Competence Enhancement Behavior Management, Social Dynamics Management) components of BASE. We then briefly discuss the intervention support needs of subtypes of socially vulnerable youth and how these needs can be differentially addressed within the BASE framework. Many students are concerned about social difficulties during the late elementary and middle school years (Graham et al., 2006; Rice et al., 2011). This is particularly true for early adolescents with special education needs (SEN) who are at increased risk for peer rejection, social isolation, and involvement in peer victimization (Frederickson and Furnham, 2004; Estell et al., 2009a; Sullivan et al., 2015). The Behavioral, Academic, and Social Engagement (BASE) Model was developed as a holistic, ecological classroom management approach that teachers can use to support socially vulnerable youth during the transition to middle school. Our goal is to describe the application of the BASE model for supporting the inclusion of distinct subtypes of students with SEN during the late childhood and early adolescent school years. We address five aims. We begin with an overview of the social inclusion of students with SEN. Then, we build upon a person-in context dynamic systems perspective to describe the theoretical foundations of the BASE model. Next, we summarize the intervention components and practice elements of the BASE model and their linkages to key social development process variables typically experienced by early adolescents. Building on research using latent profile analysis of interpersonal competence, we discuss three distinct configurations or subtypes of socially vulnerable youth: popular aggressive; passive; and low-adaptive (i.e., multi-risk). Finally, using these configurations and associated adjustment factors as a guide, we illustrate how teachers can use the BASE model to adapt strategies and supports for each subtype. We focus on how teachers need to be attuned not only to the differential needs of sub-types of youth, but to also be aware that their management of the classroom experience of students characterized by different configurations may contribute to how subtypes of students are perceived by their classmates and their corresponding relationships and social roles in the peer ecology

Converging on quality: Examining multiple measures of teaching effectiveness.

The present study explores the convergent and predictive validity for several widely used measures of teaching quality from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2009-2011). Specifically, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, Hamre, & Mintz, 2012), the Framework for Teaching (FFT; Danielson Group, 2013), and the Tripod Student Perceptions Scale (Tripod; Ferguson, 2008) were examined. Correlations among measures were assessed by developmental level and content area (elementary mathematics N = 70; elementary English language arts N = 101; middle school mathematics N = 291, middle school English language arts N = 280). Both average scores and score variability (i.e., coefficient of variation) for the CLASS, FFT, and Tripod were used to predict value-added models (VAM), a high-stakes measure of students' academic growth. For elementary mathematics and ELA, findings indicated the CLASS and FFT exhibited moderate convergent validity while divergent validity was found between the Tripod and the CLASS and FFT. Across content areas in middle school grades, the CLASS, FFT, and Tripod exhibited moderate to high-moderate convergent validity. Average student and observer scores were positively related to VAM scores, whereas variability in scores demonstrated negative relations to VAM scores. Implications of findings for teacher evaluation and professional development are discussed