Keith Smolkowski

A Randomized, Wait-List Controlled Effectiveness Trial Assessing School-Wide Positive Behavior Support in Elementary Schools

We report a randomized, wait-list controlled trial assessing the effects of school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS). An effectiveness analysis was conducted with elementary schools in Hawaii and Illinois where training and technical assistance in SWPBS was provided by regular state personnel over a 3-year period. Results document that the training and technical assistance were functionally related to improved implementation of universal-level SWPBS practices. Improved use of SWPBS was functionally related to improvements in the perceived safety of the school setting and the proportion of third graders meeting or exceeding state reading assessment standards. Results also document that levels of office discipline referrals were comparatively low, but the absence of experimental control for this variable precludes inference about the impact of SWPBS. Implications for future research directions are offered.

Development of Adolescent Problem Behavior

The developmental model of adolescent antisocial behavior advanced by Patterson and colleagues (e.g., Patterson, Reid, & Dishion, 1992) appears to generalize the development of a diverse set of problem behaviors. Structural equation modeling methods were applied to 18-month longitudinal data from 523 adolescents. The problem behavior construct included substance use, antisocial behavior, academic failure, and risky sexual behavior. Families with high levels of conflict were less likely to have high levels of parent–child involvement. Such family conditions resulted in less adequate parental monitoring of adolescent behavior, making associations with deviant peers more likely. Poor parental monitoring and associations with deviant peers were strong predictors of engagement in problem behavior. These constructs accounted for 46% of the variance in problem behavior. Although association with deviant peers was the most proximal social influence on problem behavior, parental monitoring and family factors (conflict and involvement) were key parenting practices that influenced this developmental process.

A randomised controlled trial of a community intervention to prevent adolescent tobacco use

OBJECTIVE Experimental evaluation of comprehensive community wide programme to prevent adolescent tobacco use. DESIGN Eight pairs of small Oregon communities (population 1700 to 13 500) were randomly assigned to receive a school based prevention programme or the school based programme plus a community programme. Effects were assessed through five annual surveys (time 1–5) of seventh and ninth grade (ages 12–15 years) students. INTERVENTION The community programme included: (a) media advocacy, (b) youth anti-tobacco activities, (c) family communications about tobacco use, and (d) reduction of youth access to tobacco. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The prevalence of self reported smoking and smokeless tobacco use in the week before assessment. RESULTS The community programme had significant effects on the prevalence of weekly cigarette use at times 2 and 5 and the effect approached significance at time 4. An effect on the slope of prevalence across time points was evident only when time 2 data points were eliminated from the analysis. The intervention affected the prevalence of smokeless tobacco among grade 9 boys at time 2. There were also significant effects on the slope of alcohol use among ninth graders and the quadratic slope of marijuana for all students. CONCLUSION The results suggest that comprehensive community wide interventions can improve on the preventive effect of school based tobacco prevention programmes and that effective tobacco prevention may prevent other substance use.

Early Elementary School Intervention to Reduce Conduct Problems: A Randomized Trial With Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Children

Childrens aggressive behavior and reading difficulties during early elementary school years are risk factors for adolescent problem behaviors such as delinquency, academic failure, and substance use. This study determined if a comprehensive intervention that was designed to address both of these risk factors could affect teacher, parent, and observer measures of internalizing and externalizing problems. European American (n = 116) and Hispanic (n = 168) children from 3 communities who were selected for aggressiveness or reading difficulties were randomly assigned to an intervention or no-intervention control condition. Intervention families received parent training, and their children received social behavior interventions and supplementary reading instruction over a 2-year period. At the end of intervention, playground observations showed that treated children displayed less negative social behavior than controls. At the end of a 1-year follow-up, treated children showed less teacher-rated internalizing and less parent-rated coercive and antisocial behavior than controls. The studys limitations and implications for prevention are discussed.

Considerations for the Systematic Analysis and Use of Single-Case Research.

Single-case research designs provide a rigorous research methodology for documenting experimental control. If single-case methods are to gain wider application, however, a need exists to define more clearly (a) the logic of single-case designs, (b) the process and decision rules for visual analysis, and (c) an accepted process for integrating visual analysis and statistical analysis. Considerations for meeting these three needs are discussed.

Supplemental Instruction in Decoding Skills for Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Students in Early Elementary School A Follow-Up

This article describes a follow-up study that experimentally evaluated the effects of supplemental reading instruction for children in kindergarten through Grade 3. Students from 10 elementary schools in three school districts were screened using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Two hundred fifty-six K—2 students were identified for participation, then randomly assigned to receive or not receive 2 years of supplemental reading instruction that taught basic decoding and comprehension skills. Reading ability was measured in the fall prior to the first year of the intervention and again in the spring of Years 1, 2, and 3. At the end of the 2-year intervention, children who received the supplemental instruction performed better on measures of word attack, word identification, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. One year after the intervention, children in the supplemental instruction group still showed greater improvement in word attack and oral reading fluency than the comparison students.

Predictors of smoking onset over two years

The objective of this analysis was to identify variables that predict the initiation of smoking among adolescents, and the development of susceptibility to smoking, over a 2-year period. We assessed variables that might predict later smoking among nonsmoking students in grades 7 and 9 and assessed their smoking status 2 years later, when they were in grades 9 and 11, thus receiving data from 4,130 students at two time points. Initiation of weekly smoking over the 2 years was associated with having a parent, sibling, or close friend who smokes; low school grades; higher levels of deviant behavior; susceptibility to smoking; use of smokeless tobacco; and for 7th graders, perception of higher levels of normative smoking. Susceptibility, defined as not being able to rule out the idea of smoking a year after the survey, was identified as a strong predictor of smoking and a valuable intermediary measure. We also assessed factors associated with the prediction of susceptibility 2 years post-test. Susceptibility to smoking was associated with deviant behavior, low grades, lower parental monitoring, relaxed parental attitude toward youth smoking, ease of access to tobacco, and lower exposure to anti-tobacco messages. This study provides support for the idea that susceptibility to smoking could be a useful outcome variable for tobacco research, as an intermediary to the initiation of smoking. In addition, evidence indicates that theoretically manipulable variables, including access to tobacco and exposure to anti-tobacco information, have the potential to influence susceptibility to smoking over a time.

Preventing Early Mathematics Difficulties: The Feasibility of a Rigorous Kindergarten Mathematics Curriculum.

Concern about poor mathematics achievement in U.S. schools has increased in recent years. In part, poor achievement may be attributed to a lack of attention to early instruction and missed opportunities to build on young childrens early understanding of mathematics. This study examined the development and feasibility testing of a kindergarten mathematics curriculum designed to focus on the development of early number sense, geometry, measurement, and mathematics vocabulary. A mixed-model analysis of covariance, using pretest score as a covariate, was used to determine the effect of the experimental curriculum on student achievement on a standardized measure of early mathematics. Achievement results as well as implementation fidelity and teacher satisfaction suggest that further empirical research on the efficacy of the curriculum is warranted.

An Analysis of Early Numeracy Curriculum-Based Measurement Examining the Role of Growth in Student Outcomes

Three important features to examine for measures used to systematically monitor progress over time are (a) technical features of static scores, (b) technical features of slope, and (c) instructional utility. The purpose of this study was to investigate the technical features of slope of four early numeracy curriculum-based measures administered to kindergarten students. Approximately 200 students were assessed at the beginning and end of the school year, and a subset of students (n = 55) was assessed three additional times during the year. Growth curve analysis was used to model growth over time. The contribution of slope to explaining variance on a criterion measure was examined for the curriculum-based measures that fit a linear growth pattern. Implications are discussed regarding monitoring progress in early mathematics.

Does sexual coercion play a role in the high-risk sexual behavior of adolescent and young adult women?

Sexual coercion and its relationship to high-risk sexual behavior were examined in five samples of young women. Sample 1 (N=22) consisted of sexually active adolescents aged 15 to 19. Samples 2 (N=206) and 3 (N=70) were recruited from among patients at three sexually transmitted disease clinics. Sample 4 (N=51) consisted of young homeless women living on the street in a large city. Sample 5 (N=51) was recruited from among young women on a college campus. Across all samples, 44.4% of women indicated that they had been forced into some form of sexual activity against their will. Self-reports of sexually coercive experiences were consistently related to risky sexual behavior. It appears that many young women are coerced into engaging in high-risk sexual behavior. This implies the need for greater attention to male coercive sexual behavior and womens skills for coping with such behavior.