Elizabeth Levine Brown

Purpose Plus: Supporting Youth Purpose, Control, and Academic Achievement.

Research in the past decade suggests that a persistent achievement gap between students from low-income minority backgrounds and higher-income white backgrounds may be rooted in theories of student motivation and youth purpose. Yet limited research exists regarding the role of purpose on positive youth development as it pertains to academic achievement. Using a sample of 209 high school students, this study examines the effectiveness of an intervention designed to promote purpose development and internal control over academic success in high school students from a low-socioeconomic-status community. Findings reveal that a short-term intervention was effective in significantly increasing internal control over academic success and purpose in life for students participating in the intervention group. In addition, analysis of academic achievement for students who experienced positive gains in internal control and purpose demonstrates significant gains in academic achievement as measured by grade point average. Implications are made for further study of internal control and life purpose as a means of academic intervention in the effort to address the achievement gap.

Student Development, Student Learning: Examining the Relation Between Epistemologic Development and Learning

Within the college student development literature, epistemologic development has been studied in the context of academic learning and outside of this context. However, investigation into if and how epistemologic development relates to academic behaviors and outcomes rarely has been studied. This study uses quantitative measures to explore the relationship between epistemologic development and academic performance as well as epistemologic development and academic behaviors and beliefs of high-risk students. Results indicated that a positive correlation existed between epistemologic development and academic achievement (grade point average [GPA]), but that the more explanatory relationship was in the relation between epistemologic development and achievement behaviors.

It Takes Two: Sensitive Caregiving across Contexts and Children's Social, Emotional, and Academic Outcomes.

Research Findings: Using longitudinal survey data from the Welfare, Children, and Families Study: A Three-City Study (n = 135), this study examines how congruence in maternal and child care provider sensitivities contributes to young childrens social, emotional, and academic outcomes among low-income minority families. Congruence groups were created based on levels of high and low maternal and child care provider sensitivity. Children with high maternal sensitivity and low child care provider sensitivity had lower scores on measures of social competence and applied problems compared to children with high maternal and child care provider sensitivity. Children with low maternal sensitivity but high child care provider sensitivity displayed higher emotional competence than children with low maternal and child care sensitivity, implying an important protective benefit of child care. Practice or Policy: Current state and federal policy climates, including recently awarded Early Learning Challenge grants focused on social and personal development and the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act, reflect an important emphasis on social and emotional learning. Given this, the findings from this study implicate the role of families and child care providers as important components in any policy or program focused on shaping childrens early social and emotional outcomes.

“I Am Who I Am Because of Here!”: School Settings as a Mechanism of Change in Establishing High-Risk Adolescents’ Academic Identities

A growing body of research considers the role of school settings in supporting adolescents’ social-emotional and behavioral development through instructional, social, and organizational practices (Eccles & Roeser, 2009). Recent lines of inquiry have begun to investigate individual aspects of the school setting and their influence in promoting positive academic outcomes and youth development (Shinn & Yoshikawa, 2008). These authors argue that, through an ecological lens, the school environment serves as a mechanism of change in supporting early adolescents’ academic identities. By presenting evidence that the school plays a fundamental role in changing these high-risk, African American youths’ academic perceptions, trajectories and aspirations, which led further to a 92% rate of students’ matriculation to college, we introduce how school setting characteristics support these youths’ conceptualizations of their academic identities. Moreover, this article addresses how our understanding of early adolescents’ academic identities implicates future research and practice.

Emotions matter: the moderating role of emotional labour on preschool teacher and children interactions

ABSTRACT Teachers’ emotions in the classroom shape their ability to nurture positive relationships with young children. There is increasing interest in understanding how teachers manage and express their emotions on the job through the use of emotional labour, or the deliberate expression or suppression of emotions to achieve organizational goals. This study investigates how preschool teachers’ emotional labour informs their interactions with young children. Using quantitative survey and observation data from 123 preschool teachers, we found that preschool teachers’ use of emotional labour, particularly surface and deep acting, and their limited perceptions of emotional display rules were linked to the quality of their interactions with young children. Also, the associations between emotional labour and teacher–child interactions were moderated by their perceptions of emotional display rules. Findings have implications for early childhood care and education policy and practice, as well as future research related to the emotional aspects of preschool teachers’ work.

Making Sense of Student-Teacher Relationships: Teacher Educator and Candidate Engagement with the Relational Practices of Teaching.

ABSTRACT Although research on student–teacher relationships (STRs) consistently demonstrates STRs’ association with student achievement and well-being, teachers typically receive limited guidance regarding how to cultivate these relationships. Efforts to promote teacher dispositions toward STRs and learning of relational practices—practices that ground strong STRs—are promising but scattered. This case study, which analyzes observation and interview data, program materials, and teacher candidate artifacts, extends knowledge in this area. The authors explore how one purposefully selected program, unique in its efforts to promote relational practices, incorporated relevant programmatic and instructional structures, and how candidates in turn developed relational practices. Faculty stressed STRs’ importance but hesitated to didactically teach relational practices. This stance encouraged instructors’ relational practice teaching and generated promising ideas about relational practice teaching. It also led to varied, idiosyncratic relational practice repertoires among candidates. These findings inform discussion of how and whether teacher educators might further incorporate relational practice teaching and learning.

Developing cultural humility through experiential learning: How home visits transform early childhood preservice educators’ attitudes for engaging families

ABSTRACT Research calls for teacher education to prepare early childhood educators for the needs of diverse and marginalized young children and their families in the U.S. With an increasing cultural divide between teachers and students, some early childhood educators may demonstrate limited understanding for how diverse cultural, linguistic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds inform the daily functions of families of young children. In this article, we examine how the use of experiential learning vis-à-vis conducting a home visit with a family from a diverse and marginalized background can shape early childhood preservice teachers’ (PST) development of cultural humility, an important component of cultural competence. During this experiential learning, PSTs engaged in critically reflective practices to uncover and challenge their implicit biases. While discovering the strengths and challenges among their home visit families, PSTs also learned what they had in common with the families. PSTs noted how the home visit process informed their work as future early childhood educators.

Home and school influences on the behavioral and academic outcomes of low-income children of color

ABSTRACT Framed within contextual systems model, this study examines how home and school operate together to shape behavioral and academic outcomes for 544 low-income African American (56%) and Latino/a (44%) elementary school-aged children (mean age = 7.88 years, SD = 1.46, 50% male). Using data from Welfare, Children, & Families Study: A Three City Study and multiple group path analysis, we found that for children in kindergarten through third grade, the adequacy of the home resources was positively related to applied problem scores (e.g. math literacy) and negatively associated with externalizing behavior. For fourth- to sixth-graders, the adequacy of classroom resources was negatively associated with applied problem scores. For both age groups positive teacher–child relational quality was also a positive predictor of externalizing behavior. Results revealed that barriers to parental involvement in school were a negative predictor of applied problem scores for low-income children in early and later elementary school. Implications for policy and practice aimed at strengthening opportunities for children and families from marginalized communities are discussed.