Using moderated nonlinear factor models to adjust for differential item functioning in the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale from kindergarten to Grade 6.

Prior research has demonstrated that children form developmentally salient relationships with teachers and that these relationships are uniquely predictive of subsequent functioning both in and outside of school. However, prior work estimating trajectories and predictors of teacher-student relationship quality has failed to test and adjust for bias in questionnaire items. The present study used longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD; N = 1140) to test and adjust for measurement bias in the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001) across grades (K-6) and sociodemographic characteristics (i.

Which aspects of education are health protective? a life course examination of early education and adulthood cardiometabolic health in the 30-year study of early child care and Youth Development (SECCYD).

Background: Past research describes robust associations between education and health, yet findings have generally been limited to the examination of education as the number of years of education or educational attainment. Little is known about the specific features or processes underpinning education that are health protective. The objective of the current study was to address this gap by examining specific aspects of early education pertaining to student characteristics and experiences, as well as features of the classroom environment, in predicting cardiometabolic health in adulthood.

The representation of child-parent relation: validation of the Italian version of the child-parent relationship scale (CPRS-I).

This study proposes a psychometric validation of the Italian version of the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS) developed by Pianta in 1992. Based on attachment theory, the scale assesses parents' relationship perceptions with their own child and comprises three scales: Closeness, Conflict, and Dependency. A sample of 501 parents (188 fathers and 313 mothers) completed 30 items of the Italian version of the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS-I) online, but only 437 answered 85% of the entire protocol; hence, the analyses only focused on 437 participants.

Defining early education quality using CLASS-observed teacher-student interaction.

In this paper we argue that the quality of early education programs or classrooms can be defined in terms of features of teachers' interactions with students observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS. We present evidence suggesting that dimensions of teacher-student interactions can be described, observed, and measured consistently across cultures and countries and that such dimensions also have modestly positive influence student development and learning. Evidence is summarized indicating that interactions can also be improved systematically through professional development interventions.

Thirty-year follow-up of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD): the challenges and triumphs of conducting in-person research at a distance.

Purpose: The purpose of the current study, The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Health in Early and Adult Life (SHINE), was to build on the landmark Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), a longitudinal birth cohort initiated in 1991, by conducting a health-focused follow-up of the now adult participants. This effort has produced an invaluable resource for the pursuit of life course research examining links between early life risk and resilience factors and adulthood health and disease risk.

Participants: Of the 927 NICHD SECCYD participants available for recruitment in the current study, 705 (76.

Integrating Research-Supported Coaching Practices Into Secondary Teachers' Team Meetings: Early Indications of Potential to Impact Collaborations, Classroom Interactions, and Student Engagement.

The My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTPS) program demonstrated improvements in classroom interactions and student outcomes in secondary schools using one-on-one coaching between study staff and teachers. Despite promising results, the time, cost, and oversight from a university research team may pose barriers to adoption of coaching programs like MTPS at scale. The My Teaching Team (MTT) project sought to translate key ingredients from MTPS into existing professional development contexts that are already built into many middle and high school educators' weekly schedules: co-planning or professional learning community meetings.

The association between and development of school enjoyment and general knowledge.

Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and general knowledge from preschool (2016-2017) to kindergarten (2017-2018) in 1359 children (M  = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse).

The Role of Preschool Dosage and Quality in Children's Self-Regulation Development.

The present study examined how the dosage and quality of the federal preschool program "Head Start" (HS) in the US related to children's self-regulation skills in kindergarten. Using Propensity Score Matching and multiple regression (OLS), this study explored how the number of years and hours a week of HS were related to self-regulation among 2,383 children, who entered the program either at 3 or 4 years old. An additional year in HS was significantly positively associated with self-regulation in kindergarten, while the number of hours a week in HS was not.

Indirect effects of coaching on pre-K students' engagement and literacy skill as a function of improved teacher-student interaction.

The present study is a secondary analysis of a randomized control trial that had established the causal impact of MyTeachingPartner (MTP) coaching for improving the quality of teacher-student interactions. This study reports auxiliary analyses of the extent to which MTP was associated indirectly with classroom engagement and literacy outcomes for pre-kindergarten (pre-K) students as a function of the association of dosage of MTP cycles with teacher-student interactions. The number of coaching cycles a teacher completed was examined as a predictor of teacher-student interactions, as were corresponding direct or indirect associations with students' early literacy outcomes.

Coaching Teachers to Improve Students' School Readiness Skills: Indirect Effects of Teacher-Student Interaction.

This study examined indirect associations of MyTeachingPartner coaching with pre-K students' (N = 1,570; 73% low income) school readiness, via improvements of teachers' (N = 393; 47% Black; 41% Head Start) classroom interactions. Data were collected across 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 in 10 urban sites across the eastern United States. The number of completed coaching cycles was examined as a predictor of teacher-student interactions, as were direct or indirect associations with students' literacy, receptive language, and working memory skills.

Does the timing of kindergarten absences matter for children's early school success?

Although we know that children who are more frequently absent from school do less well academically, we know little about whether absences matter for other domains of development and whether the timing of their absences matter. In order to address these gaps in knowledge, we examined the experiences of 1,131 kindergartners (64% Hispanic, 7% Black, 17% Asian/other, 12% White) from a mid-Atlantic state. Covariate-adjusted regression analyses showed that children who missed school more frequently did less well in terms of their academic achievement and executive function skills both in kindergarten and through the end of first grade.

Persistence and convergence: The end of kindergarten outcomes of pre-K graduates and their nonattending peers.

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county ( = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of achievement and executive functioning skills at the end of kindergarten, and also that the benefits of pre-K at the start of the year diminished by a little more than half. This convergence between groups' performance was largest for more constrained skills, such as letter-word identification, and was attributed to the fact that nonattenders made greater gains in kindergarten as compared with graduates of pre-K.

Absenteeism in the First Decade of Education Forecasts Civic Engagement and Educational and Socioeconomic Prospects in Young Adulthood.

Much has been established about the short-term consequences of missing school, yet little is known about the longer-term outcomes of absenteeism. To address this gap in knowledge, the current study considered the consequences of school absenteeism between kindergarten and eighth grade for the behavioral, economic, and educational outcomes of young adults. Participants were drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (age 22-23; 54% female and 86% White, n = 648).

School absenteeism in the first decade of education and outcomes in adolescence.

This study used a prospective longitudinal sample of American children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1326) to consider the educational, social, and behavioral correlates of absenteeism. More specifically, this study examined: (a) the extent to which absenteeism in the early elementary school years is associated with absenteeism in the later school years; (b) the degree to which absenteeism in the first decade of children's education is associated with their academic achievement and social-behavioral outcomes at age 15; (c) whether the timing of absenteeism matters for outcomes at age 15; and (d) whether early absenteeism has indirect effects on outcomes at age 15 via later absenteeism. Results indicated that school absenteeism was fairly stable throughout children's educational careers and although few children were chronically absent, children who had a weaker attendance record in the early years, in turn, had weaker attendance later on.

Gains in teacher-child interaction quality and children's school readiness skills: Does it matter where teachers start?

Teachers' initial level of interactional quality at the beginning of a school year (baseline) was examined as a potential moderating factor in the relation between change in interactional quality and change in children's school readiness skills throughout an academic year. Participants were 269 preschool teachers and 1179 children from low-income backgrounds. Teacher-child interactions and children's school readiness skills were measured in the fall and spring of the preschool year.

Variation in the long-term benefits of child care: The role of classroom quality in elementary school.

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,307) were used to estimate the additive and multiplicative benefits of high-quality child care between birth to 54 months of age and high-quality elementary school education between first and fifth grade. Results indicated that the math and language and literacy benefits of high-quality child care accrued from the end of preschool through age 15 only when coupled with higher quality classroom environments during the elementary school years. In contrast, the benefits of high-quality child care were no longer present when children later attended lower quality classrooms in elementary school.

How teacher emotional support motivates students: The mediating roles of perceived peer relatedness, autonomy support, and competence.

Multilevel mediation analyses test whether students' mid-year reports of classroom experiences of autonomy, relatedness with peers, and competence mediate associations between early in the school year emotionally-supportive teacher-student interactions (independently observed) and student-reported academic year changes in mastery motivation and behavioral engagement. When teachers were observed to be more emotionally-supportive in the beginning of the school year, adolescents reported academic year increases in their behavioral engagement and mastery motivation. Mid-year student reports indicated that in emotionally-supportive classrooms, adolescents experienced more developmentally-appropriate opportunities to exercise autonomy in their day-to-day activities and had more positive relationships with their peers.

Closing the Racial Discipline Gap in Classrooms by Changing Teacher Practice.

Black students are issued school discipline sanctions at rates higher than members of other racial and ethnic groups, underscoring the need for professional development that addresses this gap. In 86 secondary classrooms, a randomized controlled trial examined the effects of a 2-year teacher coaching program, My Teaching Partner Secondary (MTP-S). Results from the second year of coaching and the year after coaching was discontinued replicated previous findings from the first year of coaching-intervention teachers had no significant disparities in discipline referral between Black students and their classmates, compared to teachers in the control condition, for whom racial discipline gaps remained.

Periprosthetic Bone Remodeling After Novel Short-Stem Neck-Sparing Total Hip Arthroplasty.

Background: Short femoral stems have been designed with the aims of reducing proximal bone loss, improving load transfer, and increasing compressive loads at the medial proximal femoral calcar. This study examines bone mineral density (BMD) changes associated with a novel neck sparing short femoral stem design.

Methods: The study was a prospective, single-center, multi-investigator consecutive series, which assessed bone-remodeling changes after insertion of the MSA Stem (Global Orthopaedic Technology).

Teaching Through Interactions in Secondary School Classrooms: Revisiting the Factor Structure and Practical Application of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System-Secondary.

Valid measurement of how students' experiences in secondary school classrooms lead to gains in learning requires a developmental approach to conceptualizing classroom processes. This article presents a potentially useful theoretical model, the Teaching Through Interactions framework, which posits teacher-student interactions as a central driver for student learning and that teacher-student interactions can be organized into three major domains. Results from 1,482 classrooms provide evidence for distinct emotional, organizational, and instructional domains of teacher-student interaction.

Enhancing Secondary School Instruction and Student Achievement: Replication and Extension of the My Teaching Partner-Secondary Intervention.

My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTP-S) is a web-mediated coaching intervention, which an initial randomized trial, primarily in middle schools, found to improve teacher-student interactions and student achievement. Given the dearth of validated teacher development interventions showing consistent effects, we sought to both replicate and extend these findings with a modified version of the program in a predominantly high school population, and in a more urban, sociodemographically diverse school district. MTP-S produced substantial gains in student achievement across 86 secondary school classrooms involving 1,194 students.

Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Pre-Kindergarten Teachers' Responsiveness to the MyTeachingPartner Coaching Intervention.

With research findings indicating positive associations between teacher-child interaction quality and children's development and learning, many professional development efforts now focus on improving the ways in which teachers interact with children. Previous work found that MyTeachingPartner (MTP), a web-mediated coaching intervention, improved teachers' classroom interactions with children, and further analysis found that improvement in teachers' interactions was mediated by their responsiveness to the MTP intervention. The current study assessed how teacher characteristics, including demographics, beliefs, and psychological factors, as well as contextual characteristics related to multiple measures of teachers' responsiveness to MTP.

EFFECTS OF A PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON BEHAVIORAL ENGAGEMENT OF STUDENTS IN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL.

Student behavioral engagement is a key condition supporting academic achievement, yet student disengagement in middle and high schools is all too common. The current study used a randomized controlled design to test the efficacy of the My Teaching Partner-Secondary program to increase behavioral engagement. The program offers teachers personalized coaching and systematic feedback on teachers' interactions with students, based on systematic observation of videorecordings of teacher-student interactions in the classroom.

Evidence for general and domain-specific elements of teacher-child interactions: associations with preschool children's development.

This study evaluates a model for considering domain-general and domain-specific associations between teacher-child interactions and children's development, using a bifactor analytic strategy. Among a sample of 325 early childhood classrooms there was evidence for both general elements of teacher-child interaction (responsive teaching) and domain-specific elements related to positive management and routines and cognitive facilitation. Among a diverse population of 4-year-old children (n = 1,407) responsive teaching was modestly associated with development across social and cognitive domains, whereas positive management and routines was modestly associated with increases in inhibitory control and cognitive facilitation was associated with gains in early language and literacy skills.

Understanding how children's engagement and teachers' interactions combine to predict school readiness.

This study examined the quality of preschool classroom experiences through the combination of teachers' interactions at the classroom level and children's individual patterns of engagement in predicting children's gains in school readiness. A sample of 605 children and 309 teachers participated. The quality of children's engagement and teacher interactions was directly observed in the classroom setting, and direct assessments of children's school readiness skills were obtained in the fall and again in the spring.