Findings from a study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry suggest that children who are the youngest in their classroom are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than their older classmates. Martin Whitely and colleagues conducted a systematic review of 22 studies that examined the relationship between a child's age relative to their classmates and their chances of being diagnosed with, or medicated for, ADHD. The findings showed that: Seventeen studies (with a total of more than 14 million children) found that it was more common for the youngest children in a school year to be diagnosed as ADHD than their older classmates. This effect was found for both countries that have a high diagnosis rate, like the USA, Canada and Iceland, and countries where diagnosis is less common, like Finland and Sweden. The researchers suggest that some teachers may be mistaking normal age-related immaturity of...

A small-scale study by Clayton Cook and colleagues, published in the Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, investigated the impact of a Positive Greetings at the Door (PGD) strategy. Ten language arts and math classrooms (from sixth to eighth grade) in two schools in the Pacific Northwest of the United States were identified that had low levels of academic engaged time (AET) and a high rate of disruptive and off-task behavior. In total, 203 students took part. A randomized block design was used to allocate the classes to intervention and control groups. Teachers of intervention classes were provided with training sessions and follow-up coaching on a PGD strategy (greeting the students by name, reminding students individually and collectively of behaviors for success, having a structure learning activity ready, and positively recognizing on-time behavior). Teachers in the control classes were given the same amount of time to talk with other teachers about their classroom...

A recent meta-analysis showed that paper-based reading yields better outcomes in reading comprehension than digital reading. In an article appearing in Educational Research Review, Pablo Delgato and colleagues from Spain and Israel analyzed 54 studies from 2000-2017 comparing the reading comprehension outcomes of comparable paper and digital texts. They examined if one medium has an advantage over the other for reading outcomes, and what factors contribute to any differences found. Results showed that: Paper text has an advantage over digital text (ES=+0.21). Influencing factors favoring paper text include reading under time limitations, text type (informational or informational plus narrative), and publication year—later publications showed increased advantages for paper reading than earlier publications. While the authors do not advocate getting rid of digital texts given their convenience, cost advantages, and pervasiveness, they reflect that these study findings should be considered when students are required to perform digitally-related tasks under time constraints.   Source: Delgado,...

A paper by Lisa Boonk and colleagues, published in Educational Research Review, reviews the research literature on the relationship between parental involvement and students’ academic achievement. To be eligible for the paper, studies had to (a) investigate parental involvement and its relation with academic achievement of learners aged 0 to 18; (b) provide clear descriptions of the parental involvement construct and measurements and type of academic outcome; and (c) be published in the period 2003 to 2017 in a peer reviewed journal. A total of 75 studies were included. After reviewing the literature, the authors found that parental involvement variables that show promise according to their correlations with academic achievement are: Reading at home Parents that are holding high expectations/aspirations for their children’s academic achievement and schooling Communication between parents and children regarding school Parental encouragement and support for learning The authors concluded that parental involvement was related to children’s academic achievement...

A study from Harvard and Brown Universities shows that struggling students did better in school when their teachers communicated with their parents regularly, and suggested specific actions students could do to improve their grades. Researchers studied the effects of teacher/parent communication on the academic achievement of 435 struggling high school students enrolled in summer school to recover lost credits in English, history, math, or science two hours a day during a five-week program. Students were mostly Hispanic and African-American, and all were low-income. All students had to have been absent less than 30 days and to have received an “F+” in up to two courses. Students’ parents were randomly divided into three groups: the first group received a short weekly message from the teacher by phone, text, or email about what their child was doing well (positive); the second received a weekly teacher’s message about areas where their child needed improvement...

Chinese parents were reported to exercise a higher level of parental control. To understand how this could affect students’ achievement, an article published in the Journal of School Psychology examined the relationship between harsh parenting and adolescent academic achievement, as well as how effortful control and classroom engagement mediated the effects of harsh parenting. The research also investigated how boys and girls were differently affected. Mingzhong Wang and colleagues surveyed 815 students in sixth through eighth grade from two public junior high schools located in rural areas of Eastern China, as well as their parents. Students’ academic achievement was measured by a standardised score obtained from test scores in Chinese language, English language and Math combined with two teacher-rated items. Harsh parenting, effortful control and classroom engagement were measured by items used in prior research and were validated. The findings showed that: Harsh parenting has negative direct effects on academic...

A meta-analysis from Harvard University explores the relative strength of the association between educational involvement of fathers versus mothers and the achievement of their children. The research suggested that parents have an equal academic impact on children regardless of their gender, although fathers’ mean levels of involvement were lower. In general, research on parental involvement in education does not distinguish between fathers and mothers, and where the focus is on one parent, it is most likely to be the mother. In contrast, this meta-analysis sought to put fathers in the picture. The authors included 52 empirical studies representing 390 correlations for the relation between parental involvement (mothers or fathers) and achievement. They found that: Parental involvement was positively associated with student achievement. The relation between involvement and achievement was equally strong for fathers and mothers. Child gender did not moderate this relation. The authors do note some limitations to their analysis,...

Prior research has indicated that an individual adolescent’s behavior is influenced by the behavior of his or her classmates. But while most studies have focused on negative peer influence, a study published in Journal of Adolescence investigates whether individual anti-social behaviors in adolescents can potentially be reduced by promoting prosocial behavior at the classroom level. In order to determine whether classmates’ prosocial behavior is related to lower anti-social behavior of students, Verena Hofmann and Christoph Michael Müller conducted a longitudinal study among lower secondary school students in Switzerland (mean age = 13.8 years). The sample included 55 classrooms in eight schools, and the researchers analyzed data collected at the end of Grade 7, Grade 8, and Grade 9. Participants completed self-reported assessments on prosocial behavior, anti-social behavior, and anti-social attitudes. Classmates’ pro- and anti-social behavior for each student was calculated by averaging all students’ scores in a class, excluding the students’ own score. The...

Wanger and Ruch (2015) found that some character strengths contribute to positive classroom behaviours, which then lead to an increase in school achievement. Positive psychologists identified twenty-four character strengths that are inherently valuable and contribute to positive outcomes. In this article, published in Frontiers in Psychology, the authors report on two studies conducted on 179 primary students from 3 schools and 199 secondary students from 4 schools respectively in Switzerland to examine whether character strengths are important to school success for primary and secondary school students. They measured character strengths by the Value in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth (VIA-Youth) and positive classroom behaviours by the Classroom Behavior Rating Scale (CBRS), which cover positive achievement-related behaviour and positive social behaviour. For primary students, achievement was obtained by teachers’ rating; for secondary students, the schools’ administration offices provided their grades. The findings showed that: Perseverance, prudence, hope, social intelligence, and...