Christi Bergin

Measuring Engagement in Fourth to Twelfth Grade Classrooms: The Classroom Engagement Inventory.

Research on factors that may promote engagement is hampered by the absence of a measure of classroom-level engagement. Literature has suggested that engagement may have 3 dimensions--affective, behavioral, and cognitive. No existing engagement scales measure all 3 dimensions at the classroom level. The Classroom Engagement Inventory (CEI) was developed to fill this gap. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on data from 3,481 students from the 4th to 12th grade. The results suggested a 4-factor model of the CEI. Using these results, in Study 2 several items were revised and data were collected 1 year later from 4th to 12th grade students in the same school district as Study 1. Analyses were conducted on data from 3,560 students after data cleaning. A series of potential models was tested. The final results suggest a 5-factor 24-item CEI: (1) Affective Engagement, (2) Behavioral Engagement-Compliance, (3) Behavioral Engagement-Effortful Class Participation, (4) Cognitive Engagement, and (5) Disengagement. Results advance understanding of the construct of classroom engagement. The CEI fills a significant gap in measurement of engagement. The CEI is classroom level, measures multiple dimensions of engagement, uses self-report, is relatively short, and can be readily administered in classrooms from the 4th to 12th grade.

Do Reinforcement and Induction Increase Prosocial Behavior? Results of a Teacher-Based Intervention in Preschools

Abstract Teachers were trained to use reinforcement and induction to increase prosocial behavior in a sample of 98 children in Head Start-affiliated preschools, using a peer coaching model. There was one control group and three intervention groups: reinforcement-only, induction-only, and reinforcement-and-induction. Results indicated that the intervention groups showed a significant increase in total classroom prosocial behavior compared to the control group. The induction-only group increased dramatically in affection. The reinforcement-only group increased more in helping, sharing, and cooperation than in affection and comforting. Teacher behaviors in the classroom did not reflect conclusively that they were using the intervention strategies, possibly due to inadequate measurement.

Attachment in substance-exposed toddlers: The role of caregiving and exposure

Prenatal substance exposure is linked to adverse outcomes in children. Some adverse outcomes may result from insecure attachment and low-quality caregiving rather than from substance exposure. Little is known about the caregiving of polysubstance-using mothers. To address this, low-income mothers (n = 41) with their substance-exposed 12-month-olds were compared with a nonexposed group case-matched for other risk factors. Maternal sensitivity and involvement were analyzed from 2 hr of videotaped interaction. Attachment was assessed using the Attachment Q-Set. Attachment security and quality of caregiving were quite low for both groups, with no significant differences. In addition, regression analyses revealed that quality of caregiving predicted attachment, but amount of alcohol and cocaine exposure did not. These results suggest that among toddlers with social risk, substance exposure may not predict insecure attachment. Previous research linking attachment to exposure may be better explained by low-quality caregiving. Implications are that substance-exposed children, and nonexposed children with comparable social risk, are likely to need intervention to enhance maternal sensitivity and involvement to improve psychiatric outcomes.

Implementing Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Requirements to Serve Substance-Exposed Newborns: Lessons From a Collective Case Study of Four Program Models

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) of 2003 requires states to develop procedures to notify child protective services of newborns prenatally exposed to illegal substances and develop plans of safe care. In 2005 the Administration for Children and Families awarded grants to four programs to develop models for implementing these CAPTA requirements. Although the programs were quite varied, they encountered similar challenges collaborating across agencies, developing effective protocols for identifying exposed newborns, and engaging families in services. This article describes the programs, discusses how they implemented CAPTA requirements, and presents recommendations for other communities.

Handbook of prosocial education

individualistic ideology of mainstream counseling and clinical psychology tend to place the source of mental disorder within the individual, rather than in the interaction between the individual and oppressive aspects of their physical and cultural environment. To summarize, this is an excellent read in regard to reframing the field of psychology in terms of its responsibility as a healing science and force for social justice on a global basis. Beyond psychologists, this book would be morally and intellectually informative for and has implications useful to any educator from primary through tertiary stages.

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Can the prospect of public performance motivate student learning? One school found that it did.

Principals’ use of rating scale categories in classroom observations for teacher evaluation

ABSTRACT Teacher evaluation systems commonly rely on observation of teaching practice (OTP) by school principals. However, the value of OTP as evidence of teacher effectiveness depends on its psychometric quality. In this study, we address a key aspect of the psychometric quality of principals’ OTP ratings. Specifically, we investigate the degree to which rating scale categories have a consistent interpretation across teaching episodes and practices. Results suggest that the 1,324 principals’ use of the rating scale categories functioned as intended overall. However, we also found that the midpoint category is underutilized and that rating categories do not always reflect similar levels of teaching effectiveness across teaching episodes and practices. When such discrepancies occur, we cannot assume principals’ ratings reflect a consistent level of teacher effectiveness within and across classrooms. This is a critical component of validity evidence that can inform the interpretation of OTP ratings and point to areas for improvement in both the rubrics and in principals’ training for classroom observations.