Alfred University Research & Archives
The Alfred University Research and Archive (AURA) repository collects, distributes and preserves research and scholarship created by faculty, staff and students as well as documents of historical or archival significance. By offering a central location for depositing these materials through a stable, well-managed and permanent platform, AURA provides the Alfred University campus with the opportunity to share research with colleagues throughout the world while also providing access to documents with enduring value. AURA is managed by the Alfred University Libraries; additionally users should be aware of the Terms of Use and Rights Statement.
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Academic Psychological Capital, Study Strategies, and Academic Achievement: How are They Related?
(2023) Chermak, Ashley
Academic Psychological Capital (Academic PsyCap) is a relatively new psychological construct that stems from industrial/organizational psychological research on Psychological Capital (PsyCap). PsyCap is a second order factor that encompasses one’s Hope, Self-Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism. The current study utilized a non-experimental quantitative research design focused on Academic PsyCap among high school students. Participants included 59 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students from a public high school in Southwest Florida who completed a Demographic Survey, the Academic Psychological Capital Questionnaire, and the Study Strategies scale from the School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI, 2014). March 2023 Grade Point Average (GPA) and each student’s 9th grade GPA was extracted directly from the district database. A Simultaneous Regression was conducted to examine the relationship between Academic PsyCap, Study Strategies, and Current GPA, with Parent Education and Previous Achievement included as statistical controls. The researcher also examined the correlation between Academic PsyCap and Study Strategies specifically. The first hypothesis was that Academic PsyCap and Current GPA would have a positive correlation to each other, while controlling for Parent Education and Previous Achievement. The second hypothesis was that Academic PsyCap and Study Strategies would have a positive correlation to each other. Results indicated that Current GPA was most strongly associated with Previous GPA, so much so that none of the other variables explained any significant amount of variance in the model. Results did support the second hypothesis that Academic PsyCap and Study Strategies are positively correlated to one another.
School Psychologists' Familiarity with Dissociation in the Children They Serve: A National Survey
(2023) Lanahan, Marcel
A growing awareness of the negative impact of childhood trauma and adversity on life outcomes has led many schools to seek out ways to become trauma-informed. School psychologists, given their expertise and scope of practice in schools, could be considered potential leaders in such a movement. Given a growing body of theoretical and empirical evidence that dissociation marks more complex forms of traumatic stress, a national survey was conducted to examine school psychologists’ familiarity with the phenomenon of dissociation in the children they serve. A small sample (N = 41) consistent with National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) membership data provided initial findings in this area of practice. Despite rating themselves as being generally familiar with terms related to significant trauma (PTSD, ACEs, complex trauma, developmental trauma, toxic stress, and dissociation), a simple majority (greater than 50%) of the school psychologists sampled self-reported that they were unfamiliar with dissociation in their students in terms of knowledge, awareness, and ability to identify during observation. More than 80% were not confident in assessing nor comfortable educating teachers and parents about dissociation in children. Furthermore, fewer than half of the school psychologists sampled would consider dissociative problems as accounting for symptoms overlapping with other childhood disorders. A majority of the sample received little to no training exposure to the topic of dissociation, both inside and outside of graduate school, implying a need for enhanced training regarding the reality and usefulness of recognizing dissociation and complex trauma in children. These results point to a potential gap in familiarity with conceptual terms and practical know-how related to helping children with trauma-related dissociation.
Physical Activity and Nutrition During Later Academic Achievement
(2023) Leposa, Mary
The current study investigated the relationship between kindergarten physical activity, kindergarten nutrition, and fourth grade academic achievement. The study utilized a publicly available national data set, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten 2010-2011 (ECSL-K2011). The use of this dataset allowed for the examination of the longitudinal effects of physical activity and nutrition as well as the generalization of the results. Scales were created for the kindergarten physical activity and nutrition variables since they do not exist in the original dataset. The dependent variable was the academic achievement of the students during fourth grade. Control variables were gender, SES, race, and kindergarten achievement. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationships among the variables. Physical activity during the kindergarten year was found to have a significant direct effect on fourth grade achievement but with higher activity levels predicting lower achievement. Although there is a current focus on encouraging children to be active, these findings suggest that activity level may at times take away from an academic focus. Kindergarten nutrition was not related to fourth grade achievement. Kindergarten achievement was highly related to fourth grade achievement and had a positive relationship with physical activity and nutrition. Additionally, girls had lower fourth grade achievement than boys, but this may have been because there was a greater focus on mathematics and science in measuring achievement in the study. Further longitudinal research in this field would be needed to better understand the impacts that physical activity and nutrition have on children’s academics and well-being as a whole.
Exploring Teacher Behavior Ratings in a Title I Urban Elementary School
(2023) Gomez, Julie
This study aimed to understand how student behavior (e.g., attendance, discipline, and academics) and student characteristics (e.g., gender and ethnicity) influence teacher endorsements on behavioral screening tools often used to make school-based diagnostic and classification decisions about students. During the 2013–2014 second semester, from late January through May, data were collected from the three first-grade classrooms. This data included demographic information (gender and race), academic assessments (Curriculum Based Measurements via easyCBM) and behavioral data (attendance and discipline records). The academic assessments consisted of one easyCBM probe administered for 10 weeks. The easyCBM measures included four kinder early literacy probes, four first-grade early literacy probes and one first-grade mathematics probe. In the 11th week, teachers completed the administration of the Vanderbilt Assessment Scale (VAS) for each one of their students. Simultaneous regression was used to examine influences on the VAS Total Score. The regression analysis revealed discipline referrals significantly influenced teacher endorsements on the VAS. Teacher perceptions, bias, and decision making will continue to affect student achievement outcomes. Teachers are the first line of all processes that involve students, such as PBIS, MTSS, and special education identification. Each system relies on teacher observation, opinions, and participation in identifying the support students require to succeed at school. Data gathered and used to help guide decisions came from behavioral screeners, observations, and descriptors by teachers. Further interpretation of behavioral screeners and the influence teacher reports have on student referral outcomes can lead to either positive or negative academic trajectories, such as supporting those aids in academic success or inaccurate diagnosis and student eligibility.
Inclusion and Wonder: Describing the Status of School-Based Supports for LGBTQ Students in New York State Middle Schools
(2023) Salinero, Julie
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, and other gender and sexual minority (LGBTQ) individuals often face challenges of discrimination and victimization. This is especially true for LGBTQ youth, who may be vulnerable as they grow and develop their sexual and gender identities while in schools. As such, specific school-based supports that mitigate the risks associated with discrimination and victimization have been shown to prevent negative outcomes for LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ-supportive policies, LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, and student-led clubs such as gender and sexuality alliances (GSAs) are particularly promising system-level interventions. However, existing research identifies several gaps in the application of these school-based supports, especially in middle schools. Primarily, many middle schools simply do not have any such supports in place or have only partial support available. Further, LGBTQ students often encounter barriers in using such supports, including stigma from peers and lack of knowledge about support availability. Thus, the present study examined the extent to which LGBTQ-supportive policies and LGBTQ-inclusive curricula were predictive of the presence of GSAs in New York State middle schools and what factors middle school administrators identified as supports and barriers to GSAs. Results of a logistic regression found that policy and curricula scores failed to predict the presence of a GSA at a statistically significant level. Administrators identified several factors influencing the presence of a GSA in their school, with a particular emphasis on student and faculty-related factors. Further analyses found inconsistent applications of supportive practices within the present sample. Such information may be useful in implementing systems change efforts to improve school climate and provide further resources for LGBTQ students.