Carmen Zurbriggen

An overview of classroom composition research on social-emotional outcomes – Introduction to the Special Issue

Classroom composition research on social-emotional outcomes (CCRSO) aims to systematically explore how characteristics of classmates are related to the social-emotional outcomes of children and adolescents. In this introduction to the special issue, we first provide an overview of the scientific roots of CCRSO. We then develop a conceptualization of research areas typically of interest in CCRSO, which comprises 4 different fields of inquiry. Based on this, an overview on exemplary studies in these areas of research is given. Finally, we provide an introduction to methodological approaches and current challenges of CCRSO. We end with a brief discussion on potential future research directions.

The quality of experience of students with and without special educational needs in everyday life and when relating to peers

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the quality of experience of students with and without SEN in everyday life in general and when relating to peers in particular: (1) How do they experience everyday school life vs. leisure time? (2) How much time per week do they spend with peers outside school? and (3) How do they experience those peer contacts? The data comprised 120 grade 8 (20%) and grade 9 (80%) students from the German-speaking part of Switzerland, with a mean age of 15.8 years (SD = 0.8 years). Of these students, 42 were diagnosed with SEN, of which 32 were taught in regular classes and 10 in special classes. Students were asked to report their current affective states on about 31 randomly selected occasions during one week, with a total of 3758 ‘snapshots’ of their activities and their emotional experience in everyday life. Data were collected using the experience sampling method. Momentary affective states were measured by the PANA short-scales. The findings show, first, that students with and without SEN from regular classes interact as often with peers during leisure time, while students with SEN from special classes are presumably more likely to interact with family. Second, adolescents experience leisure activities more positively than instruction. Third, social interactions generally have a positive effect on the quality of experience. The quality of experience is especially good for teenagers when they are with peers – best with peers during leisure time. There are no differences between the student groups.

Assessing Behavior Difficulties in Students

Research about assessment has increased dramatically in recent years. As argued by Greiff (2017), this is true for psychological assessment in general and clinical and educational assessment in particular. Especially in the field of school psychology, the assessment of behavior difficulties has received a considerable amount of research attention (Volpe & Chafouleas, 2011). Behavioral difficulties are related to a wide range of developmental dysfunctions in a variety of domains, such as social skills, self-regulation, executive functions, attention, information processing, motor activities, emotions, and distress (for an overview, see Garner, Kauffman, & Elliott, 2014). Behavioral manifestations range from internalizing behavior (i.e., withdrawn and inhibited symptoms) to externalizing behavior (i.e., undercontrolled and disruptive symptoms). Since any behavior is embedded in a broader context (e.g., ecological theory of human development and socialization of Bronfenbrenner, 1989), it has to be studied with respect to the relevant contextual factors. As stated in our call for papers, the topic of behavior difficulties of students has reached a rather prominent position in education and inclusion debates in recent years. Children and youth with behavioral difficulties present tremendous challenges to both families and schools (Landrum, 2017). In order to intervene as early as possible, it is important to have appropriate instruments to assess core features of behavior difficulties. However, there are many available instruments that do not consider new developments in scale constructions (for an overview, see Danner et al., 2016). For instance, about a decade ago, measurement invariance within different subgroups such as students with special educational needs and students without special educational needs was hardly ever taken into account. Nowadays, the analysis of measurement invariance or equivalence in broader terms (e.g., Chen, 2008) is considered to be a prerequisite for comparing group differences. And yet, analyses of measurement invariance are still not applied as standard routine, and many publications in this research area do not even refer to this important asset. This special issue aims to expand our knowledge on the assessment of behavior difficulties, introducing innovative assessments, and discussing challenges which influence the quality of measurements. Further, in our call for papers, we encouraged authors to examine the different instruments available in line with the developments in the assessment of psychological constructs. In the following paragraphs, we provide an overview of the six articles that compose this special issue. All of them have undergone a blind review process. Beforehand, we would like to thank all the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, which ensured the high quality of all papers accepted.

The Relevance of the Reference Group for Students With Low Achievement: A Contrasting Juxtaposition of Comparative and Normative Peer Effects

Peers are considered as one of the major school factors of student’s educational development. However, there is an ongoing controversial debate about the type of impact of the peer group on students with low academic achievement and, in particular, the mechanisms underlying it—a controversy that is accentuated in the light of school tracking and inclusive education. The aim of this dissertation was therefore to investigate the mechanisms of such peer effects in inclusive classes before and after the assignment to different tracks at lower secondary school. After an introduction to the topic, the two contradictory theoretical approaches—comparative versus normative peer effects—are elucidated with reference to the current state of research. According to Marsh’ theoretical model of reference groups, on one hand, attending a class or school with relatively high group-average achievement has a negative effect on student’s academic self-concept over and above the effect of individual achievement. Such comparative peer group influences, well known as the big-fish-little-pond effect, are hypothesized to have a particular deleterious effect for students with low achievement in a reference group with high ability level. On the other hand, normative peer effects predict favorable academic development in high-achieving or mixed-ability learning groups. The rationale behind this approach is the assumption that students’ achievement is influenced indirectly through normative characteristics of their social learning environment, which in turn depends to a large extent on the educational tracking system. Normative factors include peers’ achievement-related goals as well as certain normative aspects of teaching practice. Furthermore, both theoretical models imply an impact on educational and occupational aspirations. Based on the theoretical considerations and previous research, four research questions and the corresponding hypotheses were examined: First, it was tested if the comparative peer effect on academic self-concept could be replicated in inclusive classes at the end of primary education. Second, it was investigated whether the compositional effect on students’ academic achievement was mediated by performance-related norms in primary classes, teacher’s frame of reference, and learner-centered instruction. The third question dealt with the two conflicting predictions for students with low achievement in connection with transition from primary to lower secondary school. Fourth, the question was explored, which of the hypothesized variables predict students’ occupational aspirations at the end of lower secondary education. To address the research questions, data of a study undertaken in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were used. The sample at the first measurement point consisted of about