Laura L. Brock

Children's perceptions of the classroom environment and social and academic performance: A longitudinal analysis of the contribution of the Responsive Classroom approach ☆

This study examines the contribution of the Responsive Classroom (RC) Approach, a set of teaching practices that integrate social and academic learning, to childrens perceptions of their classroom, and childrens academic and social performance over time. Three questions emerge: (a) What is the concurrent and cumulative relation between childrens perceptions of the classroom and social and academic outcomes over time? (b) What is the contribution of teachers use of RC practices to childrens perceptions and social and academic outcomes? (c) Do childrens perceptions of the classroom mediate the relation between RC teacher practices and child outcomes? Cross-lagged autoregressive structural equation models were used to analyze teacher and child-report questionnaire data, along with standardized test scores collected over 3 years from a sample of 520 children in grades 3-5. Results indicate a significant positive relation between RC teacher practices and child perceptions and outcomes over time. Further, childrens perceptions partially mediated the relation between RC teacher practices and social competence. However, the models did not demonstrate that child perceptions mediated the relation between RC practices and achievement outcomes. Results are explained in terms of the contribution of teacher practices to childrens perceptions and student performance.

Early Adjustment, Gender Differences, and Classroom Organizational Climate in First Grade

We examined gender differences in the first‐grade transition, exploring child and classroom contributions to self‐control and achievement in a rural sample. Teachers (n = 36) reported on childrens (n = 172) initial adjustment difficulty and end‐of‐year self‐control. Observed classroom organization and teacher‐reported classroom chaos measured complementary aspects of classroom organizational climate. Childrens literacy and mathematics skills were assessed in the fall and spring. Boys had more difficulty than girls adjusting to first grade, and initial adjustment fully explained gender differences in self‐control. Neither observed organization nor teacher‐reported chaos predicted self‐control, and there were no gender differences in achievement. However, children in well‐organized and low‐chaos classrooms achieved greater literacy gains than those in poorly organized and chaotic classrooms. Boys made greater gains in mathematics in low‐chaos classrooms, whereas no association existed between mathematics and chaos for girls. Discussion highlights gender differences in early school adjustment and features of well‐organized classrooms and their implications for learning.

Visuomotor Integration and Inhibitory Control Compensate for Each Other in School Readiness.

Visuomotor integration (VMI), or the ability to copy designs, and 2 measures of executive function were examined in a predominantly low-income, typically developing sample of children (n = 467, mean age 4.2 years) from 5 U.S. states. In regression models controlling for age and demographic variables, we tested the interaction between visuomotor integration (design copying) and inhibitory control (pencil-tap) or verbal working memory (digit span) on 4 directly assessed academic skills and teacher-reported approaches to learning. Compared with children with both poor visuomotor integration and low inhibitory control, those on the higher end of the continuum in at least 1 of these 2 skills performed better across several dependent variables. This compensatory pattern was evident for longitudinal improvement in print knowledge on the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (TOPEL), with similar though marginally significant findings for improvement in phonological awareness (TOPEL) and teacher-rated approaches to learning on the Preschool Learning Behaviors Scale (PLBS). Of note, the same compensatory pattern emerged for concurrently measured receptive vocabulary on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), expressive vocabulary on the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ), TOPEL phonological awareness, and teacher-rated approaches to learning. The consistent pattern of results suggests that strong visuomotor integration skills are an important part of school readiness, and merit further study.

Executive Function and Medical Non-Adherence: A Different Perspective:

Medical non-adherence is multifactorial: cost, convenience, side effect profile, and cognitive impairment are all implicated in medical non-adherence. We explore impaired executive function (EF) as a cause for medical non-adherence when other causes can be ruled out. EF describes the coordination and manipulation of higher-order cognitive processes involved in problem-solving, planning, and decision-making. EF has three components: working memory, mental flexibility, and inhibitory control. The latter, inhibitory control, when impaired will affect an individuals ability to make choices to produce long-term benefits, in favor of short-term gratification. When applied to adults with chronic diseases, like diabetes, that require lifestyle modification and, at times, complicated medical regimens to forestall long term complications, an intact EF has a role in adherence. EF development is protracted with behavioral corollaries observable from early childhood. Thus, teachers, family physicians, and pediatricians will be the professionals to first encounter and manage such individuals. We suggest screening tests for children in the doctors office to detect impaired EF, and postulate a cognitive behavioral therapeutic approach for adults with uncontrolled DM and impaired EF.

Kindergarten Adjustment Difficulty: The Contribution of Children's Effortful Control and Parental Control

Research Findings: This paper examines the extent to which childrens effortful control and early family experiences predict difficulty in kindergarten adjustment. One hundred and eighty-two children from 31 kindergarten classrooms in rural elementary schools in the Southeast participated. Teachers reported on childrens difficulty with kindergarten adjustment, and parents completed measures assessing childrens effortful control (inhibitory control and attentional focus) and types of parental control (i.e., lax, firm, and harsh). A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to address three research questions: First, how does effortful control (inhibitory control and attentional focus) contribute to childrens difficulty with kindergarten adjustment? Second, how does parental control predict childrens difficulty with kindergarten adjustment? Third, to what extent does parental control moderate the relation between effortful control and difficulty with kindergarten adjustment? Practice or Policy: Children lower on inhibitory control showed greater difficulty with kindergarten adjustment than children with higher inhibitory control. Furthermore, lax parental control, but not firm or harsh parental control, predicted childrens adjustment problems. Lax parental control moderated the relation between childrens inhibitory control and difficulty with kindergarten adjustment; specifically, higher levels of lax parental control coupled with lower levels of inhibitory control predicted more difficulty with the adjustment to kindergarten.

Psychometric Properties of the Teacher-Reported Motor Skills Rating Scale

Children’s early motor competence is associated with social development and academic achievement. However, few studies have examined teacher reports of children’s motor skills. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Motor Skills Rating Scale (MSRS), a 19-item measure of children’s teacher-reported motor skills in the classroom. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) support the validity of the three-factor structure of MSRS. The subscales of the MSRS were also associated with child academic and behavioral outcomes, with differences in the associations depending on the subscale. Only the Classroom Fine Motor skills subscale was uniquely associated with academic knowledge and mathematics achievement, whereas Body Awareness and Shapes and Letters were not significantly associated with either of the academic outcomes. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Preliminary Validation of the Motor Skills Rating Scale

This study examined psychometric properties of the Motor Skills Rating Scale (MSRS), a questionnaire designed for classroom teachers of children in early elementary school. Items were developed with the guidance of two occupational therapists, and factor structure was examined with an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The resulting model showed good fit with 19 items that loaded on 3 subscales: Shapes and Letters, Classroom Fine Motor, and Body Awareness. In tests of concurrent criterion validity, each scale was correlated in the expected direction with direct assessments of children’s (N = 242) visuospatial processing, sensorimotor functioning, and executive function (EF) obtained using a direct neuropsychological assessment. Children with higher ratings on the Classroom Fine Motor scale of the MSRS also had higher teacher-rated and directly assessed mathematics achievement. Study findings provided preliminary support for the utility and validity of a brief teacher report of elementary children’s motor skills.

An after-school intervention targeting executive function and visuospatial skills also improves classroom behavior:

Executive function (EF) describes a complex set of skills, including flexible attention, inhibitory control, and working memory, that coordinate to achieve behavioral regulation. Visuospatial skills (VS) describe the capacity to visually perceive and understand spatial relationships among objects. Emerging research suggests VS skills are associated with classroom functioning, including behavioral adjustment. Children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to enter school with EF and VS deficits, with consequences for classroom adjustment. In response, we developed and experimentally tested an after-school intervention that incorporates fine and gross motor activities targeting EF and VS skills in a sample of 87 kindergarten and first-grade students from low-income communities. The aim of the present study was to preliminarily explore whether EF and VS skills were bolstered by the intervention and subsequently whether EF and VS skills mediate or moderate intervention impacts on learning-related and problem behaviors in the classroom. Intent-to-treat analyses confirm intervention effects for EF and VS skills. Using full information maximum likelihood and bias-corrected bootstrapping, results indicate that improvements in EF mediated the impact of assignment to the treatment condition on improvements in learning-related behaviors and reductions in problem behavior. Taken together, findings suggest out-of-school contexts are a reasonable point of intervention for improving daytime classroom behavior.

Consistency in Children’s Classroom Experiences and Implications for Early Childhood Development

In order to promote positive developmental trajectories, children need predictable teacher-child social interactions that are consistently sensitive and responsive. In environments where children are surrounded by warm, supportive, nurturing adults whose behaviors, actions, and emotions are relatively consistent, children cultivate the confidence to explore their surroundings in ways that facilitate development across multiple domains. In this chapter, we emphasize the within-day consistency in children’s experience of classroom emotional support and summarize the research linking emotional support consistency to children’s behavioral and academic gains from preschool through elementary grades. We further explore teacher-child relationships as mediators and child temperament and self-regulation as moderators of child outcomes. We offer two established theoretical frameworks for understanding the role of teacher’s emotional support consistency on child outcomes: (a) Attachment theory suggests the provision of consistently warm and supportive caregiving facilitates an environment where children more readily explore and learn; (b) resource depletion theory suggests that children who devote attentional resources to monitor a changing or unpredictable social environment may not have sufficient cognitive resources available to dedicate toward learning tasks. We conclude with consistency measurement considerations and an invitation to conceptualize consistency in multiple ways, offering family mobility patterns as an example.

The development of theory of mind: predictors and moderators of improvement in kindergarten

ABSTRACT Theory of mind describes the ability to engage in perspective-taking, infer mental states, and predict intentions, behavior, and actions in others. Theory of mind performance is associated with foundational cognitive and socioemotional skills, including verbal ability (receptive and expressive vocabulary), executive function (inhibitory control and working memory), and emotion knowledge. In a sample of 354 children from low-income households, theory of mind and foundational skills were directly assessed before and after kindergarten. Results indicate emotion knowledge, inhibitory control, and expressive language predicted improvement in theory of mind. Expressive language also served as a moderator such that children with low expressive language failed to improve in theory of mind regardless of initial theory of mind performance.