Tendency to blame the victim of bullying in 9- and 12-year-old Italian students (N = 246, 124 boys and 122 girls) was examined by manipulating gender of the victim and type of bullying (direct [physical] vs. indirect [relational]). Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 scenarios describing a bullying episode and rated on 5 questions about how…

In this study I examined how Taiwanese junior high school students' perceptions of autonomy support were related to their motivational characteristics, and the ability of these constructs to explain students' academic engagement. A total of 343 eighth-grade students completed a self-report survey assessing their perceptions of autonomy support…

This study investigated the relation of teacher characteristics, including ratings of teacher quality, to classroom instructional variables and to bilingual students' literacy and oral language outcomes at the end of the kindergarten year. Teacher characteristics included observational measures of oral language proficiency, quality, and classroom…

This 2-year study assessed program-level differences in after-school program (ASP) engagement in relation to child competencies (effectance motivation, social competence, school grades) and program quality and content. Participants were 141 children (M age = 8.4 years) who attended 9 ASPs in an urban, disadvantaged city in the United States.…

We examined child, family, and early child care predictors of teacher reports of referral for or placement in special and remedial education for 999 youth. Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and nested multivariate modeling techniques, we found that…

Using a nationally representative sample of over 12,000 children and nearly 750 schools from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--kindergarten cohort and hierarchical linear modeling, we investigated the association between literacy and mathematics learning and grade configuration. Preprimary schools--those spanning only preschool through…

In this study, we used a randomized design to investigate the effects of an enriched reading program on 226 urban elementary students' (third through sixth grade) reading comprehension, oral reading fluency, and attitude toward reading in 2 elementary schools. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model in Reading Framework (SEM-R) provides enriched reading…

This study examined teachers' awareness of their classrooms' social networks, as reported by their students. Teachers and 549 students in 19 fourth- and 11 fifth-grade classes from 7 schools in 2 suburban/small urban school districts were asked twice during the school year to list the members of classroom social groups. In addition, we gave…

In this article we examine the development, over 1 year, of mathematical discourse communities in 2 eighth-grade mathematics classes in a suburban public middle school. The curriculum topics included probability, functions, graphing, data analysis, and pre-algebra. The 50 students were heterogeneously placed; most were from upper-middle-class…

This article presents results from 2 studies comparing 3 approaches to teaching vocabulary during storybook reading: (a) contextual instruction, based on connecting words to their use in books and to children's personal experience; (b) analytical instruction, which enhances contextual instruction with semantic analysis of words in contexts other…

We used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) data to examine how important mathematics readiness levels are to subsequent achievement growth and the efficacy of instruction and engagement in producing such growth. The ECLS-K selected a nationally representative sample of kindergartners in fall 1998 and is following…

In this study we investigated reading development from kindergarten to third grade for 1,913 economically disadvantaged children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort. Characteristics of the child, the family, classroom instruction, and school composition were used to model influences from multiple levels of children's…

This study focused on the predictive validity of fluency measures that comprise Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). Data were gathered from first through third graders attending 44 schools in 9 districts or local educational agencies that made up the first Reading First cohort in Michigan. Students were administered DIBELS…

This study explored how Taiwanese upper-elementary-school students' motivational characteristics were related to their decisions regarding avoidance of help seeking in the classroom context. Two hundred and ninety-eight sixth-grade students completed a self-report survey assessing their attitudes and behaviors related to help avoidance,…

In this study we examined the relation between children's social competence and their first-grade classroom environment. Drawing from data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we used cluster analysis to identify 4 types of typical classrooms based on observed classroom emotional and instructional supports. The 4 types…