Developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills from grades 1 to 9 and their early identification.

The aim of the present study was to examine the kinds of developmental profiles of arithmetic fluency skills that can be identified across Grades 1-9 (ages 7-16) in a large Finnish sample (n = 2,518). The study also examined whether membership in the developmental profiles could be predicted using a comprehensive set of kindergarten-age factors, including information on cognitive skills; motivational, parental, and home environment factors; and gender. Four profiles of arithmetic fluency skills development were identified using a factor mixture model: persistent arithmetic difficulties (12.23%), precocious onset (50.24%), delayed onset (36.96%), and precocious onset with a Grade 7 drop (.06%). The Cholesky models predicting membership in the three largest profiles suggested that overall, the strongest kindergarten-age predictors were cognitive skills (especially counting, number concepts, spatial relations, rapid automatized naming [RAN], phonological awareness, and letter knowledge), but motivational, parental, and home environment factors were also significant. Membership in the profile with precocious onset was predicted by most of the kindergarten-age measures, suggesting that the strengths in early skills, as well as motivational, parental, and home environment factors, are reflected in the advanced start in arithmetic development at school. The profiles with delayed onset and persistent difficulties were similar in most kindergarten-age measures but differed in task avoidance and four cognitive skills (letter knowledge, counting, number concepts, and RAN), suggesting that these factors predict differential development over the longer term. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Teachers' situational physiological stress and affect.

Since teaching is a demanding and stressful profession, the study of teachers' physiological stress in the classroom setting is an emerging field. In cross-sectional studies self-reported stress and affect are related, but less is known about the intraindividual relations between situational physiological stress and corresponding positive and negative affect. The aim of our study was to investigate the associations between situational physiological stress (six salivary cortisol samples per day) and self-reported situational affect (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule four times a day) among 61 Finnish primary school teachers over two workdays. We present a novel multilevel structural equation model (MSEM) that includes cortisol, with time since awakening as a flexibly coded time-varying covariate and affect with time since cortisol measurement as a time-varying covariate. Higher levels of teachers' situational physiological stress were related to lower situational positive affect (e.g., enthusiasm) and higher negative affect (e.g., nervousness), demonstrating the acute/situational effects of stress on affect. In our discussion, we emphasize the importance of the sequence of sampling and observations for further theoretical modeling of relations between stress and affect. We also propose practical implications for improving teachers' awareness of their well-being.

Subtypes of mathematical learning disability and their antecedents: A cognitive diagnostic approach.

Using cognitive diagnostic modeling (CDM), this study identified subtypes of mathematics learning disability (MLD) based on children's numerical skills and examined the language and spatial precursors of these subtypes. Participants were 99 MLD children and 420 low achievers identified from 1839 Finnish children (966 boys) who were followed from preschool (age 6) to fourth grade (2007-2011). Five subtypes were identified: the arithmetic fluency deficit only subtype, the counting deficit subtype, the pervasive deficit subtype, the symbolic deficit subtype, and the counting and concept deficit subtype. Different subtypes depended on different constellations of language and spatial deficits. Findings highlight the effectiveness of CDM in identifying MLD subtypes and underscore the importance of understanding the specific deficits and antecedents of the subtypes.

Teachers' daily physiological stress and positive affect in relation to their general occupational well-being.

BACKGROUND: Teachers' stress, affect and general occupational well-being influence their teaching and their students. However, how teachers' daily physiological stress and positive affect are related in the classroom is unknown. To reduce teachers' stress and enhance their positive affect, it is crucial to understand how occupational well-being relates to stress and affect. AIM: The aim of the study was to examine the relationships between teachers' daily physiological stress and positive affect in authentic classroom settings and the roles played by teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, perceptions of school climate and burnout symptoms in daily stress and affect. SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 45 classroom teachers. METHOD: Daily physiological stress was assessed by measuring salivary cortisol levels three times in two days. Positive affect was reported by experience sampling at the same time that cortisol was collected. Questionnaires were used to assess self-efficacy beliefs, perceptions of school climate and burnout symptoms. Three-level modelling with random intercepts and slopes was used to analyse the relationships between daily stress and affect and the effect of teachers' general occupational well-being on stress and affect. RESULTS: No relationships were evident between teachers' physiological stress and positive affect or between daily changes of stress and affect. Self-efficacy beliefs were related to lower stress and higher affect in the middle of the school day. Having sufficient school resources were related to higher positive affect. Teachers' burnout symptoms were associated with lower positive affect. CONCLUSIONS: We emphasize the potential for self-efficacy and perceptions of school resources as targets for intervening in teachers' stress and affect.

Teachers' physiological and self-reported stress, teaching practices and students' learning outcomes in Grade 1.

BACKGROUND: Teachers' self-reported stress is related to the quality of teacher-student interactions and students' learning outcomes. However, it is unclear if teachers' physiological stress is related to child-centred teaching practices in the classroom and whether teaching practices mediate the link between teachers' stress and students' learning outcomes. AIMS: We studied the effect of teachers' physiological stress and self-reported stress on their teaching practices and thereby on students' learning outcomes in math. SAMPLE: A total of 53 classroom teachers and 866 Grade 1 students participated in the study. METHODS: Salivary cortisol in the middle of the school day and cortisol slope from morning peak to evening were used as indicators of teachers' physiological stress, in addition to self-reported teaching-related stress. Teaching practices were observed with the ECCOM instrument. Students' math skills controlled for gender and previous skills were used as a measure of learning outcomes. Data were analysed with a two-level SEM. RESULTS: Teachers' physiological stress did not have an effect on teaching practices or students' math skills. Teachers reporting less stress used relatively more child-centred teaching practices compared with teacher-directed ones. These practices had a marginal effect on classroom-level differences in the gain of students' math skills in Grade 1. There was neither a direct nor indirect effect from teachers' stress on students' math skills. Altogether, our model explained 77% of classroom-level variance in math skills. CONCLUSIONS: Teachers' self-reported stress has an effect on their teaching practices, which, in turn, have a marginal effect on students' learning outcomes.

Reading and math skills development among Finnish primary school children before and after COVID-19 school closure.

This study quantified the possible learning losses in reading and math skills among a sample of Finnish Grade 3 children (n = 198) who spent 8 weeks in distance learning during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. We compared their reading and math skill development trajectories across Grades 1, 2, and 4 to a pre-COVID sample (N = 378). We also examined if gender, parental education, maternal homework involvement, and child's task-avoidant behavior predict children's academic skills at Grade 4 differently in the pre-COVID sample compared with the COVID sample. Children's reading and math skills were tested, mothers reported their education and homework involvement, and teachers rated children's task-avoidant behavior. The results showed, on average, lower reading skills in the COVID sample than in the pre-COVID sample but there were no differences in math skills. Although the COVID sample had lower levels in reading, their developmental trajectories in reading and math skills were not different from the pre-COVID sample before the pandemic in Grades 1 and 2. From Grade 2 to 4, however, the development was slower in reading fluency and comprehension in the COVID sample, but not in math. The predictors of change from Grade 2 to 4 in reading and math skills were not different in the samples. The results showed that the development of reading skills in particular may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring agency and entrainment in joint music-making through the reported experiences of students and teachers.

This qualitative interview-based study draws on the reported experiences of students and teachers to explore how agency and entrainment resource and constrain each other in joint music-making. The participants were 23 students of Grades 6 and 11 music teachers from different primary schools. The qualitative content analysis of the 11 student pair interviews and 11 one-to-one teacher interviews indicated that experiences of music-related interpersonal entrainment intertwine with different dimensions of agency. In the analysis, four themes were identified as follows: presence, belonging, safety, and continuity. These findings provide insights into the relationship between agency and entrainment in classroom-based joint music-making and provide a novel lens through which to examine the complementary experiences of students and teachers. This study builds bridges between the concepts of agency and entrainment in the context of music education, offering theoretical clarification as to how and why joint music-making can be considered an intersubjective activity that fosters group cohesion and social interaction. The findings further present a view of the constitutive nature of the relationship among agency, entrainment, and intersubjectivity in joint music-making. The findings offer educators concrete grounds for using joint music-making as a platform for an agency.

Off on the Wrong Foot: Task Avoidance at the Outset of Primary School Anticipates Academic Difficulties and Declining Peer Acceptance.

The present study examined the academic antecedents of declining peer social status. Participants included 545 (311 boys, 234 girls) Finnish students followed from the 1st through the 4th grade (ages 6-8 at outset). Each year, teachers completed assessments of academic task avoidance and students completed standardized measures of reading and math achievement. Acceptance was assayed through peer nominations. Supporting the hypothesized model, the results indicated that a lack of interest and motivation at the outset of primary school leads to a downward spiral of academic difficulties and diminished peer acceptance. Specifically, academic task avoidance in 1st and 2nd grade anticipated declining math and reading achievement one year later, which in turn, anticipated decreases in peer acceptance the following year. The findings held after controlling for factors known to contribute to school and peer difficulties, such as friendlessness, school readiness, and emotional and behavioral problems.

Profiles of Work Engagement and Work-Related Effort and Reward Among Teachers: Associations to Occupational Well-Being and Leader-Follower Relationship During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study examined teachers' occupational well-being by identifying profiles based on teachers' self-ratings of work engagement as well as work-related effort and reward. It also did so by examining whether the identified subgroups differed with respect to teachers' self-reported occupational stress and emotional exhaustion as well as with respect to work-related resources such as the individual resource of work meaningfulness and the leader-level resource of the leader-follower relationship. The participants in the study were 321 Finnish elementary school teachers. The data were collected in spring 2021, that is, at the time when the COVID-19 pandemic was present, yet there were no national school closures. Three groups of teachers were identified with latent profile analysis: (1) teachers recognized as being poorly engaged with the highest effort and lowest reward (4.7%); (2) teachers recognized as being averagely engaged with higher effort than reward (32.1%); and (3) teachers recognized as being highly engaged with higher reward than effort (63.2%). The subsequent analyses examining the differences among the profile groups revealed, for example, that each profile group differed with respect to the individual resource of work meaningfulness and profile groups 2 and 3 differed with respect to the leader-level resource of the leader-follower relationship. Thus, the findings indicate that there are differences in the ways in which teachers are able to benefit from the work-related resources and how they cope with job-related demands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension from grades 1 to 9 and their early identification.

This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming [RAN], number counting, word reading, vocabulary, and listening comprehension), parental factors (level of education, reading difficulties), and gender. Four different profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension development were identified using latent profile analysis. These comprised one profile with persistent reading difficulties across the grades, one with early poor reading skills but with a resolving tendency, one with average reading skills, and one with good readers who started with very high reading fluency but scored average over time. Of the kindergarten measures, parental reading difficulties, being male, low paternal level of education, slow RAN, difficulty in reading easy words, and low scores in phonological skills, letter knowledge, number counting, and vocabulary predicted reading difficulties. The children belonging to the profile with the resolving tendency showed an increased rate of family risk and multiple cognitive deficits but managed to resolve their reading difficulties. Being female, and good number counting and vocabulary skills predicted a tendency to resolve early reading difficulties. The results confirm the previous findings on the early predictors of reading difficulties and add to the literature by identifying skills that predict resolving patterns. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal associations between poor reading skills, bullying and victimization across the transition from elementary to middle school.

Students with poor reading skills and reading difficulties (RDs) are at elevated risk for bullying involvement in elementary school, but it is not known whether they are at risk also later in adolescence. This study investigated the longitudinal interplay between reading skills (fluency and comprehension), victimization, and bullying across the transition from elementary to middle school, controlling for externalizing and internalizing problems. The sample consists of 1,824 students (47.3% girls, T1 mean age was 12 years 9 months) from 150 Grade 6 classrooms, whose reading fluency and comprehension, self-reported victimization and bullying, and self-reported externalizing and internalizing problems were measured in Grades 6, 7, and 9. Two cross-lagged panel models with three time-points were fitted to the data separately for reading fluency and comprehension. The results indicated that poorer fluency and comprehension skills in Grade 6 predicted bullying perpetration in Grade 7, and poorer fluency and comprehension skills in Grade 7 predicted bullying perpetration in Grade 9. Neither fluency nor comprehension were longitudinally associated with victimization. The effects of reading skills on bullying perpetration were relatively small and externalizing problems increased the risk for bullying others more than poor reading skills did. However, it is important that those who struggle with reading get academic support in school throughout their school years, and social support when needed.

Investigating Bidirectional Links Between the Quality of Teacher-Child Relationships and Children's Interest and Pre-Academic Skills in Literacy and Math.

This study investigated bidirectional links between the quality of teacher-child relationships and children's interest and pre-academic skills in literacy and math. Furthermore, differences in the patterns of bidirectionality between boys and girls were explored. Participants were 461 Finnish kindergarteners (6-year-olds) and their teachers (n = 48). Teachers reported their closeness and conflict with each child twice throughout the kindergarten year. Children rated their interest in literacy and math, and were tested on their pre-academic skills. Cross-lagged path models indicated that teacher-perceived conflict predicted lower interest and pre-academic skills in both literacy and math. Results were similar for boys and girls. Implications for reducing conflictual patterns of relationships, together with promoting other factors, are discussed.

Early Antecedents of School Burnout in Upper Secondary Education: A Five-year Longitudinal Study.

School burnout symptoms are prevalent among upper secondary education students, but thus far, very little is known about the background of these symptoms. The present study examined the extent to which school burnout symptoms (i.e., exhaustion and cynicism) among upper secondary education students have their roots in primary and lower secondary school and whether early antecedents of school burnout symptoms could be identified. The sample consisted of 1544 Finnish students followed up four times (Time1-Time 4) from the end of primary school (T1; mean age 12.74 and range 11.71-14.20) to the first year of upper secondary education (T4; mean age 16.66 and range 15.55-18.39). The results of latent growth curve modeling showed that school burnout symptoms in upper secondary education were predicted by the level of school burnout symptoms at the end of primary school and by an increase in these symptoms across the transition from primary school through lower secondary school. In addition, psychological well-being, academic skills, and gender were found to contribute to the prediction of school burnout symptoms. Overall, the present study suggest that potential warning signs of school burnout should not be ignored and attention should be directed to earlier education phases.

Intra-individual dynamics of lesson-specific engagement: Lagged and cross-lagged effects from one lesson to the next.

BACKGROUND: Student engagement denotes active participation in academic work through commitment and involvement in learning tasks (Appleton et al., 2006, Journal of School Psychology, 44, 427). This study looks at questions such as whether engagement experiences in one lesson have an effect on the next lesson. In the present study, process-oriented analyses were conducted to examine lower secondary school students' engagement experiences and the stability of those experiences from one lesson to the next. AIMS: (1) To what extent are students' engagement experiences, in terms of behavioural and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and disaffection, stable from one lesson to the next (autoregressive cyclic effects)? (2) What are the cross-lagged relationships (dynamic effects) between engagement experiences from one lesson to the next? SAMPLE: The sample consisted of 56 Finnish lower secondary school students. The students provided ratings of their engagement experiences at the end of each lesson for one week (5 days, 975 ratings). Each student rated, on average, 17.4 lessons (SD = 5.67). METHODS: We specified multilevel dynamic structural equation models with random slopes. RESULTS: The models showed small significant sustainability in behavioural and cognitive engagement, emotional engagement, and disaffection from one lesson to the next, regardless of subject matter and teacher continuity. Higher behavioural and cognitive engagement in a lesson also had a self-diminishing effect on disaffection. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides valuable information to teachers by showing that an experience in one lesson can have an effect on subsequent ones.

Longitudinal Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Parental Difficulties on Reading and Math Development Across Grades 1-9.

This study focuses on parental reading and mathematical difficulties, the home literacy environment, and the home numeracy environment as well as their predictive role in Finnish children's reading and mathematical development through Grades 1-9. We examined if parental reading and mathematical difficulties directly predict children's academic performance and/or if they are mediated by the home learning environment. Mothers (n = 1590) and fathers (n = 1507) reported on their reading and mathematical difficulties as well as on the home environment (shared reading, teaching literacy, and numeracy) when their children were in kindergarten. Tests for reading fluency, reading comprehension, and arithmetic fluency were administered to children in Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, and 9. Parental reading difficulties predicted children's reading fluency, whereas parental mathematical difficulties predicted their reading comprehension and arithmetic fluency. Familial risk was associated with neither formal nor informal home environment factors, whereas maternal education had a significant relationship with both, with higher levels of education among mothers predicting less time spent on teaching activities and more time spent on shared reading. In addition, shared reading was significantly associated with the development of reading comprehension up to Grades 3 and 4, whereas other components of the home learning environment were not associated with any assessed skills. Our study highlights that taken together, familial risk, parental education, and the home learning environment form a complex pattern of associations with children's mathematical and reading skills.

Home Literacy Activities and Children's Reading Skills, Independent Reading, and Interest in Literacy Activities From Kindergarten to Grade 2.

According to the Home Literacy Model (Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2002, 2014), young children can be exposed to two distinct types of literacy activities at home. First, meaning-related literacy activities are those where print is present but is not the focus of the parent-child interaction, for example, when parents read storybooks to their children. In contrast, code-related literacy activities focus on the print, for example, activities such as when parents teach their children the names and sounds of letters or to read words. The present study was conducted to expand the Home Literacy Model by examining its relation with children's engagement in literacy activities at home and at school as Finnish children transitioned from kindergarten to Grades 1 and 2. Two facets of children's engagement were examined, namely, children's independent reading at home and their interest in literacy activities. Children (N = 378) were tested and interviewed at the ends of kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. Mothers completed questionnaires on their home literacy activities at each test time, and they reported the frequency with which their children read independently twice when children were in grade school. Tested was a longitudinal model of the hypothesized relations among maternal home literacy activities (shared reading and teaching of reading), children's reading skills, independent reading, and their interest in literacy activities/tasks as children progressed from kindergarten to Grade 2. Stringent path analyses that included all auto-regressors were conducted. Findings extended previous research in four ways. First, the frequency of shared reading and teaching of reading at home predicted the frequency of children's independent reading 1 year later. Second, children with stronger early literacy skills in kindergarten read independently more frequently once they were in Grade 1. Third, parents adapted, from kindergarten to Grade 1, their teaching behaviors to their children's progress in reading, whereas shared reading decreased over time. Fourth, children's own reports of interest in literacy activities were mostly not linked to other variables. Taken together, these results add another layer to the Home Literacy Model.

Parental Teaching of Reading and Spelling Across the Transition From Kindergarten to Grade 1.

We investigated the longitudinal links between parental teaching of reading and spelling and children's word reading and spelling skills. Data of 244 Lithuanian parent-child dyads were analyzed, who were followed across three time points: end of kindergarten (T1; M age = 6.88; 116 girls), beginning of Grade 1 (T2), and end of Grade 1 (T3). The children's word reading and spelling skills were tested, and the parents answered questionnaires on the frequency with which they taught their children reading and spelling. Overall, the results showed that the parents were responsive to their children's skill levels across the domains of reading and spelling and across time (i.e., the transition from kindergarten to Grade 1 and across Grade 1). However, differences between the domains of reading and spelling were also observed. In particular, in the domain of reading and across the transition from kindergarten to Grade 1, the parents responded to their children's skill levels by increasing the time spent teaching children with poor word reading skills, and decreasing the teaching time for the children with good word reading skills. In contrast, as spelling skills may require more time to develop, parents maintained similar frequencies of teaching spelling across the transition to Grade 1 for all children, and only parents of good spellers taught less spelling at the end of Grade 1 than parents of children with poor and average word spelling skills.

Leisure Reading (But Not Any Kind) and Reading Comprehension Support Each Other-A Longitudinal Study Across Grades 1 and 9.

This study examines associations between leisure reading and reading skills in data of 2,525 students followed from age 7 to 16. As a step further from traditional cross-lagged analysis, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to identify within-person associations of leisure reading (books, magazines, newspapers, and digital reading), reading fluency, and reading comprehension. In Grades 1-3 poorer comprehension and fluency predicted less leisure reading. In later grades more frequent leisure reading, particularly of books, predicted better reading comprehension. Negative associations were found between digital reading and reading skills. The findings specify earlier findings of correlations between individuals by showing that reading comprehension improvement, in particular, is predicted by within-individual increases in book reading.

Early Cognitive Precursors of Children's Mathematics Learning Disability and Persistent Low Achievement: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study.

Mathematical difficulties have been distinguished as mathematics learning disability (MLD) and persistent low achievement (LA). Based on 1,880 Finnish children who were followed from kindergarten (age 6) to fourth grade, this study examined the early risk factors for MLD and LA. Distinct groups of MLD (6.0% of the sample) and LA (25.7%) children were identified on the basis of their mathematics performance between first and fourth grades with latent class growth modeling. Impairment in the same set of cognitive skills, including language, spatial, and counting skills, was found to underlie MLD and LA. The finding highlights the importance of monitoring mathematical development across the early grades and identifying early cognitive precursors of MLD and LA for screening and intervention efforts.

Students' academic and emotional adjustment during the transition from primary to secondary school: A cross-lagged study.

The current study examined several indicators of students' academic and emotional adjustment during the transition from primary (i.e., grade 6) to secondary school (i.e., grades 7 and 9). Specifically, the study investigated how students' engagement, achievement, and burnout, as well as student-teacher conflict, evolve together over time. A total of 356 adolescents (57.3% boys) filled out questionnaires about their burnout and their behavioral and cognitive engagement. Students' achievement was measured using standardized test scores. Conflict in the teacher-student relationship was assessed using teacher ratings. Cross-lagged models revealed bi-directional associations between behavioral and cognitive engagement. More teacher conflict related to less behavioral engagement, whereas higher achievement predicted more cognitive engagement one and two school years later. The results underscore that, despite the interrelatedness of behavioral and cognitive engagement during the transition from primary to secondary school, both show unique contextual and personal correlates.