Background: Within the same school class, it is usual to find children who differ in age by almost a full calendar year. Although associations between being relatively young and poor academic outcomes are well documented, and relatively consistent, the associations between being relatively young and psychosocial outcomes are less clearly…

The Mystery Motivator intervention has been shown to increase prosocial behavior among school-age children by capitalizing on the anticipation afforded by reward concealment or randomization. Although numerous evaluations have supported the effectiveness of the Mystery Motivator, the overall status of this intervention is still unknown. The…

This dissertation is a three-piece dissertation, including two empirical research (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2) and a methodological improvement of prior work (Chapter 3), to address issues of the effects of approaches to learning on academic achievement in childhood and power analysis for a three-level model in meta-analysis. Approaches to learning…

There are a variety of skills that are not directly taught in schools yet serve as protective factors for academic success (i.e., self-efficacy, social, skills; emotional well-being; Graziano et al (Journal of School Psychology 45 3-19 2007); Minnard (Children and Schools 24(4) 233-246 2002). An intervention strategy for promoting such protective…

Externalizing behavior and low academic performance present key developmental challenges for school-age children, with the potential for these domains to predict each other over time, leading to worsened outcomes. Yet, previous studies have yielded inconsistent conclusions about the directional pathways between externalizing behaviors and academic…

This meta-analysis examined literature from the last two decades to identify factors that correlate with teachers' classroom management self-efficacy (CMSE) and to estimate the effect size of these relationships. Online and reference list searches from international and Chinese databases yielded 1085 unique results. However, with a focus on…

The current study examined the effect of academic interventions and modifications on behavioral outcomes in a meta-analysis of 32 single-case design studies. Academic interventions included modifying task difficulty, providing instruction in reading, mathematics, or writing, and contingent reinforcement for academic performance. There was an…

Children and youth with or at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBDs) present substantial challenges for schools, teachers, parents, and peers. Social skills interventions have been shown to be effective for this population. Meta-analytic reviews of this literature show that about 65% of students with EBD will improve when given social…

This study expands upon the extant prior meta-analytic literature by exploring previously theorised reasons for the failure of school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes to produce expected results. Eighty-nine studies reporting the effects of school-based, universal SEL programmes were examined for differential effects…

One point of intersection in ethnic and racial identity research is the conceptual attention paid to how positively youth feel about their ethnicity or race, or "positive ethnic-racial affect." This article reports results of a series of meta-analyses based on 46 studies of this dimension and psychosocial, academic, and health risk…

Self-management interventions aimed at skill acquisition and/or improving behavior of students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders were examined. Twenty-three single-subject research design studies met inclusion criteria. Quality assessment of these studies was conducted using the What Works Clearinghouse guidelines, and treatment effect…

This article suggests that students' characteristics play a more important role in classrooms than has previously been thought. To investigate this, a computerized literacy search was conducted, finding 19 studies that focused on the topic. On the basis of these studies a meta-analysis was carried out in which 23 effect size estimates were…

Students who engage in challenging behaviour compromise the fundamental ability of schools to educate children. Consequently, teachers face the daunting task of designing effective strategies to promote positive educational outcomes for their students. Since the 1997 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act amendments, the use of positive…

This meta-analysis examined the impact of a mother's decision to disclose her HIV positive serostatus to her children. Results indicated that disclosure to a child improves the parent-child relationship (average r = + 0.171). There was a corresponding increase in internalized negative emotions (average r = + 0.108) and negative externalized…

A meta-analysis found that attending full-day (or all-day) kindergarten had a positive association with academic achievement (compared to half-day kindergarten) equal to about one quarter standard deviation at the end of the kindergarten year. But the association disappeared by third grade. Reasons for this fade-out are discussed. Social…