Urban Middle School Research Articles

Urban Middle Schoolers’ Opportunities to Belong Predict Fluctuations in Their Engagement Across the School Day

Existing measures of belonging in schools do not explicitly elevate the contextual and cultural insights of the educators and students they were designed to assess. Our study addresses this shortcoming through the co-creation of an Opportunities to Belong survey measure for urban middle schoolers. The tool was developed in partnership with practicing educators and normed around Black and Latinx students ( N = 225). Results of a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis revealed strong evidence for single factor structure. A within-persons multilevel model revealed that shifts in opportunities to belong predicted fluctuations in student engagement across different academic courses. Implications are discussed.

Contradictions as an entry into inclusive systemic design: Addressing racial disparities in the discipline at an urban middle school

In the United States, school disciple has been racialized. Youth from racially minoritized backgrounds receive exclusionary discipline more frequently and severely for more subjective reasons such as disrespect, excessive noise, and dress code violation in U.S. schools. The study presents how an urban school community in Wisconsin engaged in inclusive knowledge-production and systemic design process, Learning Lab, to collectively examine and address racial disparities in school discipline. Learning Lab members (school staff, parents, and community representatives) engaged in root cause analysis behind disproportionality in their local context and identified the manifestations of the systemic contradiction (racial disproportionality) as dilemmas, conflicts, critical conflicts, and double binds in everyday practices of the school community. They collectively designed a new culturally responsive school-wide behavioral support system to address the systemic contradiction. We identified 194 discursive manifestations of contradictions in the 14 meetings of the Learning Lab. These manifestations stemmed from three main contradictions as tensions between components in the school activity system related to classroom management, school-community partnership, and behavioral support tools.

What’s Compassionate Discipline Got to Do With It?

This teaching case study aims at encouraging meaningful conversations about discipline. The case illustrates the increasing need for school leaders to adopt discipline approaches that foster support, equity, inclusion, and advocacy for cultural differences rather than punishment and the exclusion of marginalized students. This scenario takes place in an urban middle school that is representative of many other American schools. In particular, I examine the challenges educational leaders commonly face with discipline, leading to unsatisfactory student learning outcomes and well-being. The hope is to expose school leaders to a holistic discipline approach that is grounded in support, care, love, and respect for cultural diversity. To promote reflection, I pose questions designed to prepare prospective and current educational leaders facing similar discipline situations.

A Comparative Study on the Social Psychological Problems of Adolescents in Rural and Urban Middle Schools

A Comparative Study on the Social Psychological Problems of Adolescents in Rural and Urban Middle Schools

Exploring Relations among Social-Emotional and Character Development Targets: Character Virtue, Social-Emotional Learning Skills, and Positive Purpose

In the current study, we sought to understand relations among the key intervention targets of social-emotional and character development (SECD) interventions: character virtues, Positive Purpose, and social-emotional learning (SEL). Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students (n = 1011, ages 11 to 16, M = 12.94, SD = 1.00) from five urban middle schools in the mid-Atlantic US completed self-report surveys containing measures of five supporting character virtues (diligence, gratitude, forgiveness, future-mindedness, and generosity) and Positive Purpose. Teachers rated students’ social-emotional strengths. Hierarchical regressions found a constellation of five character virtues was associated with Purpose and SEL, thereby providing empirical support for the framework for SECD interventions. Exploratory analyses found higher student-reported virtues were associated with a steeper increase in teacher ratings of SEL for males and White students, compared to female students and students of color. The current study contributes to both SEL and character education research by demonstrating positive associations among SEL, character, and Positive Purpose in the context of mid-Atlantic US urban middle schools. Future directions for research include examining how these SECD intervention targets and relations among them develop over time, the ability of SECD interventions to cultivate these skills and virtues, and how differences in teacher ratings by student race/ethnicity and sex may occur.

Narratives of Puerto Rican Middle School Students Regarding School Context and Identity: Contradictions and Possibilities

Puerto Rican students are a growing population in U.S. mainland schools, yet few recent studies have focused on the school contextual and identity-based experiences of Puerto Rican youth. Using stage-environment fit and LatCrit theories, this qualitative study examined seven Puerto Rican adolescent students’ perspectives on domains of school context, along with prominent aspects of how they defined “being Puerto Rican,” in two urban middle schools. Based on qualitative analyses of student interview and focus groups, findings revealed that students’ experiences with teachers, ethnic-racial climate, and sense of belonging were fundamentally contradictory, where examples of purported “equal treatment” were tempered by racialized experiences marked by stereotypes and the suppression of Spanish, especially among male students. However, dimensions of identity-based resiliency such as ethnic pride, sense of familismo with other Puerto Rican students, and being bilingual emerged as sources of strength. We discuss school-based possibilities for the delivery of critically conscious support and ethnic affirmation for students during this critical developmental period, based on our exploratory findings.

Considerations for Moral Education and Altruistic Behavior Particularities in Roma Adolescents

The present study aims at depicting the perspectives on moral education for Roma adolescents related to altruistic behavior. Data were drawn from a sample of sixty-six Roma students studying in rural and urban middle schools and high schools. Participants aged between 13 and 18 years old (M=15.91, SD=1.44) were asked to fill out self-administered questionnaires, assisted by the researcher. This study determined the influence of five moral foundations, such as care, fairness, loyalty, respect, and purity on altruistic behavior. The results showed the importance of care and fairness moral foundations as predictors of altruistic behavior. These results provide some insight into the moral values that may influence altruistic behavior in Roma adolescents. Further, implications for moral education are discussed.

Professional development partnership between urban middle school science teachers and informal science institutions

ABSTRACT Background This study explored science teachers’ participation in a professional development partnership with informal science institutions (ISIs) designed for urban middle school science teachers, known as the Urban Advantage Science Initiative. The teacher training involved a whole school focused approach, providing teaching strategies, collaborative situated experiences, and specific classroom resources for implementing and guiding science explorations both at ISIs and in the formal classroom. The conceptual framework for the study incorporated a situated perspective model with situated, social, and distributed cognition. Purpose This long-term situated learning model engaged teachers in over 100 hours of training over five years, with an option to continue in select educational activities in subsequent years. Training was held at eight ISIs in New York City. The purpose of the study was to analyze impacts on teachers’ pedagogical philosophies and practices. Sample The ways teachers translated program principles into their practice was investigated through interviews with nine teachers and three administrators (N = 12) to provide broadened perspectives. The teacher sample was drawn from a larger group of 253 teachers with at least four years of experience in the program. Design/Methods The data of this phenomenological qualitative study were examined and integrated with the a priori conceptual framework to create an emergent explanatory framework for changing pedagogical practice and teacher motivation through a schoolwide professional development partnership with ISIs. This framework included two major components: 1) improved teacher motivation, and 2) pedagogical change. Results Teacher motivation was heightened because of their situated learning experiences at ISIs, the positive changes in their science pedagogy, and their involvement in a professional community of like-minded science educators. Conclusion As a result of this whole-school focused program that included specific roles for teachers and administrators, the long term, sustained ISI-based professional development model improved teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of science teaching practices.

Peer Factors as Mediators of Relations Between Exposure to Violence and Physical Aggression in Middle School Students in a Low-Income Urban Community.

Although prior research has demonstrated that peers influence both physical aggression and exposure to violence during adolescence, few studies have investigated the extent to which peers play a role in relations between physical aggression and violence exposure. This longitudinal study examined peer pressure for fighting, friends' delinquent behavior, and friends' support for fighting as mediators of relations between exposure to violence through witnessing and victimization, and adolescents' frequency of physical aggression. Participants were 2,707 adolescents attending three urban middle schools (Mage = 12.4; 52% female; 79% African American, 17% Hispanic/Latino). Participants completed measures of their frequency of physical aggression, witnessing community violence, victimization by violence, and negative life events, and peer variables at four waves within the same school year. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that the role of peer variables as mediators varied as a function of the type of exposure and the direction of effects. Whereas peer pressure for fighting mediated relations between witnessing violence and changes in physical aggression, friends' delinquent behavior mediated relations between physical aggression and changes in witnessing violence and victimization. In contrast, violent victimization was not associated with changes in any of the peer factors when included in the same model as witnessing violence. These findings highlight the role of peers as both a cause and a consequence of adolescents' aggressive behavior and exposure to violence. They suggest focusing on peer variables as targets for interventions to disrupt connections between exposure to violence and physical aggression during early adolescence.

The story of a model restorative school: creative response to conflict at MS 217 in Queens, NY

PurposeRestorative practice programs in the USA and Western elementary and secondary schools have been the focus of intensive, large scale field research that reports positive impacts on school climate, pro-social student behavior and aggressive behavior. This paper aims to contribute to a gap in the research by reporting a case study of transformation of an urban middle school in a multi-year implementation of restorative practices.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports how Creative Response to Conflict (CRC) supported the transformation of Middle School 217, in Queens, NY, from a school with one of the highest suspension rates in New York City to a model restorative school. CRC’s model, which incorporates the themes of cooperation, communication, affirmation, conflict resolution, mediation, problem-solving, bias awareness, bullying prevention and intervention, social-emotional learning and restorative practices, helped shift the perspective and practice of the entire school community from punitive to restorative.FindingsImplementation of a full school advisory program using restorative circles for all meetings and classes and development of a 100% respect program committing all school community members to dignified and respectful treatment aided the transformation. Key to MS 217’s success was the collaboration of multiple non-profit organizations for provision of peer mediation training, after-school follow-up work, staff coaching and preventative cyberbullying training through the Social Media-tors! Program.Research limitations/implicationsChallenges to the restorative practices implementation are reviewed with attention to the implementation online during COVID-19.Originality/valueNext steps in the program post-COVID are articulated as a best practice model for other schools interested in adopting MS 217’s commitment, creativity and community-building to become a model restorative school.

The (In)Visibility of Race in School Discipline Across Urban, Suburban, and Exurban Contexts

Background/Context: Racial disparities in school discipline represent a long-standing injustice in U.S. schools. Students of color, particularly Black students, are systematically subjected to harsher school disciplinary actions compared with their peers. A growing body of evidence demonstrates the severity of the problem and the negative consequences of harsh punishment, particularly given that students who are disciplined are more likely to be forced into the complex nexus of education and incarceration. Focus of Study: In this study, we aimed to understand how different racial contexts in urban, suburban, and exurban schools shaped responses to and understandings about racial disparities in school discipline. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework that centers the visibility and invisibility of race (Artiles, 2019) throughout the disciplinary cycle, this study was guided by two research questions: (1) What are the similarities and differences in educators’ and students’ understandings of racial contexts and racial disparities in school discipline across urban, suburban, and exurban school districts? (2) How do urban, suburban, and exurban school districts’ racial contexts shape educators’ responses to racial disparities in discipline? Research Design: This research was part of a larger mixed-methods research–practice partnership that aimed to understand racial disparities in school discipline and how to address them across varying school contexts in Central Virginia. The qualitative portion of the study included individual and focus group interviews and classroom observations. The findings reported in this article focus specifically on 50 individual and focus group interviews with teachers, leaders, staff, and students. Findings: Our findings demonstrate the ways race was made visible and invisible in responses to and understandings about racial disparities in discipline. This was evident in the ways deficit perspectives were racialized and how race-evasive perspectives and ideologies dominated educators’ responses to the problem. We found these responses were mediated by the racial contexts of each school. For instance, we learned that educators at the urban middle school with a majority of Black and Latinx students were the most willing to discuss the role of race and racism in shaping racial disparities in discipline compared with educators at the suburban and exurban schools. Educators at the racially diverse suburban high school focused on socioeconomic diversity and relied on deficit cultural explanations for poverty. Contrastingly, educators at the exurban school openly discussed its racial homogeneity with its mostly White students, and their language regarding racial disparities was laced with race-evasive terms and some racist perspectives. Across suburban and exurban school contexts, many educators adopted race-evasive and deficit rationales for disproportionality in ways that failed to consider the role of the school in disciplinary outcomes. We also found that students across the three school contexts were more willing than educators to discuss the role of race and racism in explaining disparities in discipline. Conclusions/Recommendations: Findings from this study have important implications for how schools can respond more effectively to racial disparities in discipline. First, it is important that schools create policies and practices that provide clear guidelines to promote racial equity in discipline. Data should therefore be collected, shared, discussed, analyzed, and used to inform how to improve disciplinary practices and interventions at multiple intersections (e.g., by race, gender, socioeconomic status, and disability) given research that demonstrates disproportionality in discipline emerges among students of color and multiply-marginalized students. Second, schools must critically examine how their everyday beliefs about race become enacted in practice and ultimately institutionalized, thereby granting privileges to dominant groups. Third, schools can benefit from including and engaging with students as they reform disciplinary procedures to address racial disparities. Ultimately, disrupting racial inequities in discipline requires responses that include engagement with race and racism in ways that attend to both individual beliefs and school policies and practices.

Sleep Moderates Improvements in Mental Health Outcomes in Youth: Building Resilience for Healthy Kids.

To examine the role of sleep in a school-based resiliency intervention. Single group feasibility study. Urban middle school. Sixth grade students. A total of 285, 11-12-year-old students (70% White, 18% Hispanic, 55% female) participated in the six-week 1:1 Healthy Kids intervention. Youth (n = 248) completed electronic surveys at pre-post the 6-week study assessing mental health parameters and self-reported bed and wake time. Students were categorized as having insufficient sleep opportunity if they reported time in bed of <9hours per night. General linear models examined differences between groups for each mental health parameters pre-post-study. A third of participants (28%) were classified as having insufficient sleep opportunity. Youth with insufficient sleep were more often Hispanic (27% vs 16%; P < .001) and were more often classified with both mild to severe depression and anxiety symptoms (55% vs 35%; P = .004). The health coaching intervention was found to have a significant improvement on overall resilience and self-efficacy only among students who reported sufficient sleep, while no significant intervention effect was found for those students who reported insufficient sleep. Our findings suggest that youth with poor sleep health may not benefit from school-based resiliency interventions.

A study of family-related factors associated with scholastic backwardness in urban lower middle class school children.

Introduction:Causes of scholastic backwardness in a child may be internal or external. The external factors include the factors related to the family the child is living in, and these factors are usually under-estimated in assessing contribution to scholastic backwardness.Aims:The aim of this study is to study the family factors associated with scholastic backwardness in school-going children in Pune Cantonment.Materials and Methods:Three hundred school children aged 8–14 years studying in Class III to IX from two government aided semi-Marathi Schools in Pune Cantonment were screened for scholastic backwardness, and evaluation of family-related factors was carried out for positive cases and matched controls.Results:Significant association was found between scholastic backwardness and such family factors as maternal education, chronic illness in the family members, and family problems such as domestic violence and substance abuse (P < 0.05).Conclusions:The family a child lives in plays an important role in determining the scholastic performance of a child. Adverse impact on the child's performance can be made by such variables as low maternal education, chronic illness in one or more family members, and poor family environment. Management strategies and policies aimed at correcting these preventable cause would ensure that they are identified and remedied at an early stage to ensure optimum scholastic performance by children.

Responding to Trauma: A Review of Culturally Effective, Trauma-Informed Strategies for Urban Middle and High Schools

Responding to Trauma: A Review of Culturally Effective, Trauma-Informed Strategies for Urban Middle and High Schools

Childhood adversity and co-occurring post-traumatic stress and externalizing symptoms among a predominantly low-income, African American sample of early adolescents.

Although there is strong evidence supporting the association between childhood adversity and symptomatology during adolescence, the extent to which adolescents present with distinct patterns of co-occurring post-traumatic stress (PTS) and externalizing symptoms remains unclear. Additionally, prior research suggests that experiencing nonviolent, negative life events may be more salient risk factors for developing some forms of psychopathology than exposure to violence. The current study used latent profile analysis to identify subgroups of early adolescents with distinct patterns of PTS, physical aggression, delinquency, and substance use, and examined subgroup differences in exposure to three forms of violent and nonviolent childhood adversity. Participants were a predominantly low-income, African American sample of 2,722 urban middle school students (M age = 12.9, 51% female). We identified four symptom profiles: low symptoms (83%), some externalizing (8%), high PTS (6%), and co-occurring PTS and externalizing symptoms (3%). A higher frequency of witnessing violence was associated with increased odds of membership in subgroups with externalizing symptoms, whereas a higher frequency of nonviolent, negative life events was associated with increased odds of membership in subgroups with PTS symptoms. Interventions aimed to address childhood adversity may be most effective when modules addressing both PTS and externalizing symptoms are incorporated.

Caring to know a name: An examination of New York City student attitudes towards knowing a tree's name

Societal Impact StatementAs the world becomes more urbanized, people place less value on knowing the biodiversity that surrounds them. Engagement with trees is hindered by an additional barrier, plant blindness, the tendency of people to ignore plants entirely. To help educators make tree diversity learning meaningful to students, this research aims to understand whether observing trees improves student dispositions towards knowing and observing trees, whether positive dispositions improve student learning about trees, and the reasons why urban middle school students care or do not care to know tree names.Summary To improve student engagement with local plant diversity, we developed a curriculum for New York City (NYC) students (Grades 6–8, ages 11–14) to help them scientifically observe the trees they pass daily. This study reports results from preassessments/postassessments that explore students' dispositions towards knowing and observing trees and how these dispositions relate to learning. Participants included 150 intervention and 100 comparison students. In addition, 19 students were interviewed at three different time points. Findings indicate that a tree observation and identification curriculum positively influenced students' dispositions towards knowing and observing trees, but 6 months after implementation, student interest had returned near to where it had begun. In addition, socioeconomic status had little impact on students' dispositions, and no relationship was found between dispositions and learning. Findings also show that as a baseline, about 25% of students care about knowing a tree's name. We grouped the reasons students provided into 17 categories, 10 for caring and 7 for not caring. The most frequently stated categories for caring were liking to know, knowing a name helps me know more, and knowing a tree's name helps me know my surroundings. The most stated categories for not caring were that knowing a tree's name is unimportant for my day‐to‐day life and all trees look the same. Student reasons for caring and not caring are a compelling guide to the difficult task of making trees meaningful for students, an important step for empowering students to learn more about the trees that surround them.

Screening, Monitoring, and Referral to Treatment for Young Adolescents at an Urban School-Based Health Center.

This study describes the experience of implementing a screening, monitoring, and referral to treatment (SMARTT) initiative at an urban middle school school-based health center. Retrospective data were collected for adolescents screened with the Pediatric Symptom Checklist-17-Y. At-risk adolescents having unmet health needs were offered a mental health referral, and those that declined a mental health referral were offered a primary care monitoring (PCM) visit with the medical provider. Chi-square analyses were used to evaluate differences in screening and outcomes by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. One out of four adolescents had a positive PSC-17-Y or negative screen with other identified concerns. Approximately half of these at-risk adolescents accepted a mental health referral, and 86% of those who declined agreed to the PCM visit. More than two-thirds of the PCM group did not need continued monitoring and support at follow-up, and 85.4% of youth who had a mental health assessment accepted mental health services. The SMARTT initiative successfully demonstrated that co-located and integrated mental health services can enhance access and connection to mental health services for at-risk youth. In addition, PCM visits were found to be an effective option for youth who declined mental health referrals.

Observing the Demographic Factors of Peer-Nominated Leaders in Urban Middle Schools

This study investigated the relationship between adolescent students' gender and racial/ethnic backgrounds and their likelihood of being identified by their peers as having leadership qualities. A survey designed to gauge peer perceptions of leadership qualities was administered to 1003 middle school students from three diverse public middle schools in a Northeastern US city. The survey asked students to nominate as many students as possible who possess specific leadership characteristics. Female students consistently received more nominations across all survey items at two schools. This pattern was observed for five out of the ten survey items at the third school. At a school with a Hispanic majority, Hispanic students received more nominations for most survey items than Asian, Black, and White students. Additionally, at a school with a Black majority, Asian students received more nominations for all survey items compared to Black and Hispanic students and for nine survey items compared to White students. The results indicate that students' gender and schools' racial/ethnic composition may have some influence on peer perceptions of leadership. Furthermore, significant differences in how youths perceive leadership among peers of different backgrounds may be indicative of bias. Educators and administrators can use this information to make sure that students from marginalized backgrounds have opportunities to grow as leaders.

The Impact of a Universal Mental Health Intervention on Youth with Elevated Negative Affectivity: Building Resilience for Healthy Kids.

ObjectiveIn response to the rise in mental health needs among youth, a school-based resilience intervention was implemented for sixth graders at an urban middle school. The goal of this analysis is to examine improvements in key mental health parameters among students who endorsed negative affectivity at baseline.MethodA total of 285 11–12-year-olds (72% white, 18% Hispanic, 55% female) participated in a single-arm, non-randomized 6-week 1:1 school-based coaching intervention, Healthy Kids. Youth completed validated surveys at baseline and 6-week follow-up assessing depression/anxiety symptoms, bullying, self-efficacy, academic pressure, grit, and resilience. Participants were determined to have elevated negative affectivity if they reported mild-to-severe symptoms for both depression and anxiety symptoms. General linear models examined differences between groups for each mental health parameter, as well as change in outcomes from baseline to follow-up.ResultsA third of participants (38%) at baseline endorsed negative affectivity. Youth who endorsed negative affectivity were more often female (71% vs 29%; p < 0.001) and identified as victims of cyberbullying (25% vs 8%; p < 0.001). Youth with baseline negative affectivity scored lower for self-efficacy (total 70.5 vs 86.8; p < 0.0001). Baseline negative affectivity was a significant moderator for change in mental health parameters. Post-intervention, those who endorsed baseline negative affectivity, medium effect sizes were observed for self-efficacy (g = 0.6; 95%CI 0.3, 0.9; p < 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (g = − 0.70; 95%CI − 1.0, − 0.4; p < 0.001). Among all youth, there were significant medium intervention effects in resilience (g = 0.5; 95%CI 0.3, 0.7; p < 0.001) and self-efficacy (g = 0.7; 95%CI 0.4, 0.9; p < 0.001).ConclusionsA universal resiliency program may improve self-efficacy and symptoms of anxiety among youth experiencing negative affectivity, while improving resilience and self-efficacy among all youth. Our findings suggest a universal school-based coaching program benefits all youth, while also specifically targeting the needs of youth with negative affectivity who are most at risk for mental health concerns.

Does preschool attendance affect the urban-rural cognition gap among middle school students? Evidence from China Education Panel Survey

Cognitive abilities have a great impact on individuals’ socioeconomic status. Among the factors that affect cognitive ability, early childhood development and preschool education are vital. However, evidence on the effect of preschool attendance on the urban-rural cognition gap from large-scale samples is almost nonexistent. Based on a nationally representative dataset from the China Education Panel Survey, this study fills this gap by presenting evidence of a significant cognition gap between urban and rural middle school students. We find a consistent positive relationship between preschool attendance and cognitive ability in grade 7 and grade 9 based on ordinary least squares and propensity score matching estimations. Results based on a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition suggest that the differences between urban and rural students in preschool education account for 28% to 44% of the between-group cognition gap. We also simulate the effects of policy interventions meant to develop preschool education on the narrowing of the urban-rural cognition gap.