There are large differences in expulsions and suspensions on the basis of race starting in preschool and divergent explanations for their cause. The current study explores how developmental methodology can shed light on this vexing issue. We leverage two measures: (1) childcare provider complaints about children's behavior and their recommended…

As leaders in the school, principals play an important role in fostering family engagement. Unfortunately, little is known about specific aspects of leadership that promote family engagement. Collegial leadership, an aspect of principal leadership that promotes organizational health via trusting relationships and a sense of community, may be…

This study examined the unique and interactive effects of teacher-child relationships and classroom quality on PreK to Grade 1 children's reading and math achievement, social skills, and problem behaviors, as well as whether these relationships differed by children's race and ethnicity. Based on data from 192 children (18.23% Black, 8.33% Latine…

In this study, we identified the specific discipline decision situations (i.e., vulnerable decision points [VDPs]) that contribute most to racial discipline disparities from a sample of 2020 schools across the United States. We also examined how much VDPs contributed to overall discipline disparities and the extent which there was similarity among…

The present study examined whether teacher-child closeness and conflict across kindergarten and first grade varied by gender and disruptive behavior at kindergarten entry within a sample of 324 predominantly Black children from low-income, urban households. Three main findings emerged from the analyses. First, contrary to findings from previous…

Many youth experience mental health problems. Schools are an ideal setting to identify, prevent, and intervene in these problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate patterns of student social, emotional, and behavioral risk over time among a community sample of 3rd through 12th grade students and the association of these risk patterns…

We report findings from a 40 middle school randomized controlled trial of an adapted version of Coping Power (Lochman & Wells, 2002a) for middle schoolers, called the Early Adolescent Coping Power (EACP) Program (Bradshaw et al., 2019) to determine the impact of EACP on adolescents' mental health outcomes, as indicated by student self-reported…

Students involved in bullying experience mental health issues and negative psychosocial outcomes. Few studies have investigated how teacher-student relationships (TSRs) may buffer the negative outcomes experienced by students involved in bullying. To investigate the moderating role of TSRs with bullying involvement status and psychosocial…

School disciplinary practices affect student academic and life outcomes. Many schools have recently shifted towards the prevention of behavioral disorders rather than the punishment of such disorders, but disciplinary actions are still disproportionately meted out to Black students. We took advantage of a natural experiment in a large school…

Black men and women have different levels of average educational attainment, yet few studies have focused on explaining how and why these patterns develop. One explanation may be inequality in experiences with institutional punishment through exclusionary school discipline and criminal justice exposure. Drawing on intersectional frameworks and…

In preschool, Black children are over-represented in percentages of children suspended or expelled. Teachers' perceptions of and responses to children displaying disruptive behavior may be different depending on the race of the teacher and child. Although teacher-child race match is associated with a number of outcomes in K-12 students, research…

Background: Strong connections between children's teachers and their parents fosters their learning and development in early childhood and throughout their schooling. Developing strong connections in preschool may ease the transition to elementary school for children. Objective: The goal of this study is to examine the initial implementation of…

Despite research highlighting the importance of academic performance in reducing youth's bullying involvement, little attention has focused on its role in moderating the association between peer victimization and youth maladjustment, further there have been even fewer studies examining potential racial-ethnic differences in these associations.…

Middle schoolers with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) typically have a trajectory of difficult outcomes (e.g., school dropout, incarceration). Growing evidence suggests that the continuum of behavioral competence to challenges is closely linked to students' neurocognitive executive function (EF) capacities, perceived stress…

Race-based bullying (RBB) victimization is a significant concern among youth and can translate into a range of adjustment problems. As such, additional research is needed on possible protective factors that may buffer these effects among RBB victims. One potential factor is school equity, as it may buffer race-based bullying victims from…