In-school Behavior Research Articles

FNEE 1 - Assessing SNAP-Ed Program Success Through Teacher Surveys

Objective: To develop a survey to assess satisfaction and perception of implemented intervention success among teachers participating in SNAP-Ed programming. Target Audience: Teachers in eligible schools participating in SNAP-Ed programming. Theory, Prior Research, Rationale: Evaluation of SNAP-Ed programming is vital to ensuring the success of interventions. Teachers in eligible schools are instrumental in the delivery of SNAP-Ed programming in Arkansas, so a survey was developed to assess teacher satisfaction and how they perceived the success of programs. Description: The University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service (UACES) delivered SNAP-Ed programming to 41,038 students in 239 schools across the state in FY17. Teachers assist with program delivery and evaluation of students and parents, so ensuring teachers are satisfied with the program is vital to maintaining their support. An original four-page survey, specific to one curriculum, was refined to a shorter survey in 2010 to assess teacher satisfaction. It was revised again in 2014 to expand it to a second curriculum, and once more in 2015 to make it appropriate for all UACES school-based nutrition education programs. The teacher survey provides an additional evaluation of student and parent behavior change, complementary to parent and student surveys completed with school-based programs. Evaluation: UACES staff review survey responses annually to determine efficacy of questions measuring teacher satisfaction and perception of program success. Questions were modified annually based on survey responses and usefulness of data. Conclusions and Implications: Teacher satisfaction is vital to maintaining their continued support of SNAP-Ed programming. Surveys show that overall, teachers are satisfied with the nutrition education programs. Teachers are able to provide observational data on in-school behavior change, such as children trying and eating more fruits and vegetables. County Agents use survey data to improve the local implementation of the program based on teacher feedback. Funding: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—Education.

The Impact of Hurricane Katrina on Students' Behavioral Disorder: A Difference-in-Difference Analysis.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of Hurricane Katrina on displaced students’ behavioral disorder. Methods: First, we determine displaced students’ likelihood of discipline infraction each year relative to non-evacuees using all K12 student records of the U.S. state of Louisiana during the period of 2000–2008. Second, we investigate the impact of hurricane on evacuee students’ in-school behavior in a difference-in-difference framework. The quasi-experimental nature of the hurricane makes this framework appropriate with the advantage that the problem of endogeneity is of least concern and the causal effect of interest can be reasonably identified. Results: Preliminary analysis demonstrates a sharp increase in displaced students’ relative likelihood of discipline infraction around 2005 when the hurricane occurred. Further, formal difference-in-difference analysis confirms the results. To be specific, post Katrina, displaced students’ relative likelihood of any discipline infraction has increased by 7.3% whereas the increase in the relative likelihood for status offense, offense against person, offense against property and serious crime is 4%, 1.5%, 3.8% and 2.1%, respectively. Conclusion: When disasters occur, as was the case with Hurricane Katrina, in addition to assistance for adult evacuees, governments, in cooperation with schools, should also provide aid and assistance to displaced children to support their mental health and in-school behavior.

In-school and social factors influencing learning among students enrolled in a disciplinary alternative school

Under the umbrella of the social cognitive theory and self-regulation of learning, this study examined the associations between free or reduced lunch, gender, deviant behavior, peer influence, school behavior, delay of gratification, academic performance, violence, and substance abuse of one hundred sixty-nine students enrolled in a disciplinary alternative high school. The results of a path analysis revealed a negative association between positive peer influence and deviant social behavior. Peer influence had an indirect and positive effect on math performance by its direct effect on school behavior and indirect effect on delay of gratification. Deviant behavior had an indirect and negative effect on math performance by its direct effect on gratification delay, violent behavior, substance abuse, and school behavior. The results suggest that positive peer associations, willingness to delay gratification, anger management, and avoiding substance abuse are important factors associated with in-school behavior and academic performance, which reflect learners' ability to engage in self-regulation while attending alternative disciplinary school settings.

Perceived Learner School Citizenship Behaviours in a Sample of Historically Disadvantaged South African Primary Schools

This study investigated learner in-school behavioral adjustment after the banning of corporal punishment in South African schools. Participant informants were 16 teachers from eight schools in a historically disadvantaged school district. Of the 16 teachers (females=10, age range between 35 and 56 years). They responded to a structured questionnaire which focused on the level of good citizenship behavior among township primary school learners. The data were quantitatively analyzed. Findings suggest that the teachers perceived the learners to have good behavioral adherence regarding attendance and learning participation. The teachers perceived some learners to have significant disruptive behavior and to display negative attitudes towards peers and teachers. The teachers did not perceive a role for parents in managing learners' in-school behavior. Retrospectively, it appeared the abolition of corporal punishment did not result in increased behavioral non-adherence by the learners.

De-Fizzing Schools: The Effect on Student Behavior of Having Vending Machines in Schools

In recent years, many researchers have sought to measure the effects of adolescent soft drink consumption due to a suspected link with childhood obesity and other negative health outcomes. While most studies in the existing literature have focused on physical health outcomes, the current study seeks to analyze how providing soft drinks in vending machines affects adolescent in-school behavior and academics. The data for this analysis comes from a school district in which a subset of schools prohibited the sale of soft drinks in vending machines. Using this subset of schools as a treatment group, students at the treatment schools are compared with students at the schools that did not change their vending machine policies. A difference-in-differences estimation shows that the number of times a student was tardy to class decreased significantly at the treatment schools. Students also were less likely to be referred to the principal's office for behavior problems following the policy change. These results suggest that policies directed toward restrictions on soft drinks in school vending machines might improve behavioral outcomes for students.

Longitudinal academic outcomes predicted by early adolescents’ subjective well-being, psychopathology, and mental health status yielded from a dual factor model

This longitudinal investigation examined the utility of subjective well-being (SWB) and psychopathology in predicting subsequent academic achievement and in-school behavior in 300 middle school students. Initial SWB predicted students’ grade point averages (GPAs) 1 year later, initial internalizing psychopathology predicted absences 1 year later, and initial externalizing psychopathology predicted grades, absences, and discipline problems 1 year later. Students’ grades and attendance across time varied as a function of mental health group yielded from a dual factor model. Specifically, students in the troubled mental health group declined at a significantly faster rate on GPAs than youth without psychopathology. In contrast, students in the symptomatic but content group were not significantly different from peers with low psychopathology. At Time 2, the best attendance, grades, and math skills were found among students who had both average/high SWB and low psychopathology 1 year earlier, supporting the long-term utility of complete mental health.

Parent–Teacher Concordance for DSM-IV Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in a Clinic-Referred Sample

To examine concordance between parent and teacher reports of DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its symptoms. Parents and teachers of 74 clinically referred children were interviewed using the ADHD module of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Parent-teacher agreement for the diagnosis of ADHD and its subtypes, as defined in DSM-IV, as well as parent-teacher concordance of in-school ADHD symptoms, was examined. Agreement between parents and teachers was found to be relatively poor, with virtually no agreement for individual ADHD subtypes. Diagnoses based on either parent or teacher report frequently yielded a diagnosis of either inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive subtype of ADHD. However, when cross-informant data were used to form diagnoses, these subtypes became relatively rare, with most cases meeting criteria for ADHD combined type. In addition, parent reports of in-school behavior were more highly correlated with their own reports of their child's behavior at home than with teacher reports of their child's behavior in school. These data suggest that the diagnosis of ADHD inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive subtype based on data from a single informant may be of questionable validity, and they point to the importance of using multiple informants when diagnosing this disorder in clinically referred samples.

The Mediating Effect of Good School Performance on the Maltreatment-Delinquency Relationship

This article explores the possibility that good school performance may reduce the elevated risk of delinquency produced by maltreatment. Using a random sample of children with substantiated maltreatment reports (N = 522) and a random comparison sample of the general school population (N = 256), the authors find that neglected and physically abused, but not sexually abused, children are more likely than the general school population to be reported for delinquent acts. Good school performance, specifically good grades, low rates of in-school behavior problems during the elementary years, and good attendance, is associated with substantially reduced delinquent involvement for both at-risk groups. For physically abused children the elevated risk falls to statistically insignificant levels. The findings suggest interventions to raise the grades and attendance and improve the classroom behavior of physically abused and neglected children with the aim of reducing delinquency in these groups.