Jennifer L. Frank

The Effectiveness of the Learning to BREATHE Program on Adolescent Emotion Regulation

This study assessed the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based program, Learning to BREATHE, on adolescent emotion regulation. Participants included 216 regular education public high school students with pretest and posttest data participating in the program or instruction-as-usual comparison condition. Program participants reported statistically lower levels of perceived stress and psychosomatic complaints and higher levels of efficacy in affective regulation. Program participants also evidenced statistically larger gains in emotion regulation skills including emotional awareness, access to regulation strategies, and emotional clarity. These findings provide promising evidence of the effectiveness of Learning to BREATHE on the development of key social-emotional learning skills.

Effectiveness of a School-Based Yoga Program on Adolescent Mental Health, Stress Coping Strategies, and Attitudes toward Violence: Findings from a High-Risk Sample.

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a universal yoga-based social-emotional wellness promotion program, Transformative Life Skills, on indicators of adolescent emotional distress, prosocial behavior, and attitudes toward violence in a high-risk sample. Participants included 49 students attending an alternative education school in an urban inner-city school district. Results indicated that students who participated in the Transformative Life Skills program demonstrated significant reductions in anxiety, depression, and global psychological distress. Significant reductions in rumination, intrusive thoughts, physical arousal, and emotional arousal were reported as well. Students exposed to Transformative Life Skills reported being significantly less likely to endorse revenge-motivation orientations in response to interpersonal transgressions and reported overall less hostility than did students in the comparison condition. No significant improvements in somatization or general affect were found. Results of this pilot study provide evidence of the potential for Transformative Life Skills to influence important student social-emotional outcomes among high-risk youth. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Mindfulness-Based Interventions in School Settings: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Interest in contemplative science, particularly the use of mindfulness-based practices, has expanded rapidly in recent years. This special issue of Research in Human Development explores the potential effectiveness of mindfulness-based practices delivered in school settings. Articles included in this issue demonstrate how mindfulness can be used to help to improve student-teacher relationships, reduce ADHD symptomology, promote emotion regulation, and reduce stress among school-age youth. A final reflective commentary by Roeser (this issue) describes how study findings fit within the larger context of the contemplative sciences movement, followed by suggestions for future research.

Critical Features Predicting Sustained Implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.

The current study explored the extent to which a common measure of perceived implementation of critical features of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) predicted fidelity of implementation 3 years later. Respondents included school personnel from 261 schools across the United States implementing PBIS. School teams completed the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Self-Assessment Survey to self-assess fidelity of implementation in different PBIS settings (school-wide, nonclassroom, classroom, individual). These scores were then analyzed to assess whether certain items predicted the fidelity of PBIS implementation, as assessed through another fidelity of implementation measure, the School-Wide Benchmarks of Quality, 3 years later. Regression analyses indicated that self-reported fidelity of implementation of Classrooms Systems significantly predicted sustained implementation and student outcomes, as assessed through levels of Office Discipline Referrals. Within Classroom Systems, regular acknowledgment of expected behaviors, matching instruction to student ability, and access to additional support were the strongest predictors of sustained implementation. Results are discussed in terms of critical areas for focusing PBIS training to increase the likelihood of sustained implementation.

School Disciplinary Responses to Truancy: Current Practice and Future Directions.

Truancy, or unexcused absence, is a common problem facing nearly all high schools across the United States and other nations. Understanding how schools typically respond to student truancy and the relative effectiveness of these responses is an important, yet relatively unexplored area. Using a national extant dataset, this study examined which school disciplinary responses are most effective in reducing the reoccurrence and growth in truancy among ninth-grade students. Results revealed group differences in the odds of truancy reoccurrence. After controlling for student-level factors, out-of-school suspension (OSS) was found to significantly decrease the probability of future truancy. However, longitudinal growth models revealed that repeated and ongoing exposure to OSS actually accelerated the growth in truancy. Implications for schools and directions for future research are discussed.

Impacts of the CARE for Teachers program on teachers’ social and emotional competence and classroom interactions

Understanding teachers’ stress is of critical importance to address the challenges in today’s educational climate. Growing numbers of teachers are reporting high levels of occupational stress, and high levels of teacher turnover are having a negative impact on education quality. Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE for Teachers) is a mindfulness-based professional development program designed to promote teachers’ social and emotional competence and improve the quality of classroom interactions. The efficacy of the program was assessed using a cluster randomized trial design involving 36 urban elementary schools and 224 teachers. The CARE for Teachers program involved 30 hr of in-person training in addition to intersession phone coaching. At both pre- and postintervention, teachers completed self-report measures and assessments of their participating students. Teachers’ classrooms were observed and coded using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Analyses showed that CARE for Teachers had statistically significant direct positive effects on adaptive emotion regulation, mindfulness, psychological distress, and time urgency. CARE for Teachers also had a statistically significant positive effect on the emotional support domain of the CLASS. The present findings indicate that CARE for Teachers is an effective professional development both for promoting teachers’ social and emotional competence and increasing the quality of their classroom interactions.

Discipline Referrals and Access to Secondary Level Support in Elementary and Middle Schools: Patterns Across African-American, Hispanic-American, and White Students

Given documented racial/ethnic disproportionality in disciplinary referrals and strong recommendations to base provision of secondary level supports on data, we explored whether students from various racial/ethnic groups have equitable access to secondary supports. We disaggregated discipline data from 155 elementary and 46 middle schools by student race/ethnicity and behavioral risk level to assess the extent to which different racial/ethnic groups were disproportionately represented among students at each risk level and students receiving secondary support. Outcomes indicated that Hispanic-American and White students were underrepresented among students with multiple disciplinary referrals, while African-American students were over-represented. African-American students were over-represented among students receiving secondary support in elementary schools but were less likely to receive this support in middle schools. Across all schools, number of referrals as well as race/ethnicity emerged as statistically significant predictors of access to secondary level support. Limitations to the current investigation and recommendations for future research are provided.

Implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support in High School Settings: Analysis of Eight High Schools

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is a systems-level intervention designed to prevent the occurrence of problem behavior and increase social competence. A growing body of research documents that SWPBS reduces problem behavior and improves academics (e.g., McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner, 2006), yet documentation of the feasibility of implementing SWPBS in high school settings is lacking. The current study examines implementation of universal SWPBS components in eight high schools serving over 15,525 students across a three-year period. Our findings were that improvements in implementation were evident between baseline and the end of year one, yet the implementation of SWPBS practices took a minimum of two years to achieve statistically significant and meaningful changes. These results suggest that unique aspects of the high school context may present specific implementation challenges.

Utility of Number and Type of Office Discipline Referrals in Predicting Chronic Problem Behavior in Middle Schools

Abstract. This study examined the technical adequacy of office discipline referrals (ODRs) received early in the school year for predicting total ODRs received by the end of the year. The sample included 401,852 students from 593 public middle schools (serving Grades 6 to 8) in the United States in the 2009–2010 school year. The results showed that ODRs received in September, October, and November were statistically significant predictors of total ODRs and that the inclusion of types of referrals (especially for defiance) significantly improved prediction of total ODRs. These results are discussed regarding the utility of ODRs for screening and patterns of problem behavior likely to predict chronic discipline problems in middle schools.

Evaluating Student Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth During a High School Mindfulness Course Using Mixed-Method Design

Between 2014 and 2017, an interdisciplinary group of researchers examined whether a high school health class that incorporated mindfulness techniques lowered students’ stress and improved their wellbeing. We received a grant from the Institute of Educational Sciences from the United States Department of Education to (1) train high school health teachers to implement the mindfulness-based curriculum and (2) study how the program impacted students. We examined changes in cognitive, social, emotional, and physical wellbeing indicators from before the course to after the course, using a quasi-experimental (intervention and control group with pre and post tests), mixed-methods (concurrent triangulation) design. Data consisted of student responses to psychometric surveys and interviews with a subsample of students. When we compared qualitative findings with quantitative outcomes, we discovered instances of different results through each method. This allowed us to provide explanations and context for certain outcomes. For example, the recent loss of a grandparent explained why one student scored high in social isolation. At other times, the two methods found two different “outcomes stories” from the same student. For example, a student reported in the interview that he was struggling with social interactions, but the psychometric indicators had him in the top quintile of social wellbeing indicators as compared to his peers. This case study discusses methodological approaches to mixed-method educational psychology research, the challenges of making sense of data from different sources, and the usefulness and limitations of mixed-methodologies for psychological outcome evaluations of student wellbeing interventions. We also discuss the process of working as a large group of researchers. This case is useful for students in psychology and education, and it is equally useful for early career researchers.