Larissa M Gaias1, Clayton R Cook2, Lillian Nguyen3, Stephanie K Brewer4, Eric C Brown5, Sharon Kiche6, Jiajing Shi7, Jodie Buntain-Ricklefs8, Mylien T Duong9. 1. Assistant Professor, (larissa_gaias@uml.edu), Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 850 Broadway St Lowell, MA 01854. 2. Professor, (crcook@umn.edu), College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, 56 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455. 3. Project Coordinator, (lilliann@utexas.edu), School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training Center, University of Washington, 6200 NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115. 4. Postdoctoral Fellow, (sbrewer1@uw.edu), School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training Center, University of Washington, 6200 NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115. 5. Associate Professor, (ecb41@miami.edu), Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, 1600 NW 10th Ave, Miami, FL 33136. 6. Project Coordinator, (kichews@uw.edu), School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training Center, University of Washington, 6200 NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115. 7. Research Study Assistant, (sshi@cfchildren.org), Committee for Children, 2815 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121. 8. Research Lead/Managing Director, (jjbr@uw.edu), School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training Center, University of Washington, 6200 NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115. 9. Senior Research Scientist, (mduong@cfchildren.org), Committee for Children, 2815 2nd Ave, Seattle, WA 98121.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Student-teacher relationships are associated with the social and emotional climate of a school, a key domain of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model. Few interventions target student-teacher relationships during the critical transition to high school, or incorporate strategies for enhancing equitable relationships. We conducted a mixed-methods feasibility study of a student-teacher relationship intervention, called Equity-Explicit Establish-Maintain-Restore (E-EMR). METHODS: We tested whether students (N = 133) whose teachers received E-EMR training demonstrated improved relationship quality, school belonging, motivation, behavior, and academic outcomes from pre- to post-test, and whether these differences were moderated by race. We also examined how teachers (N = 16) integrated a focus on equity into their implementation of the intervention. RESULTS: Relative to white students, students of the color showed greater improvement on belongingness, behavior, motivation, and GPA. Teachers described how they incorporated a focus on race/ethnicity, culture, and bias into E-EMR practices, and situated their relationships with students within the contexts of their own identity, the classroom/school context, and broader systems of power and privilege. CONCLUSIONS: We provide preliminary evidence for E-EMR to change teacher practice and reduce educational disparities for students of color. We discuss implications for other school-based interventions to integrate an equity-explicit focus into program content and evaluation.
BACKGROUND: Student-teacher relationships are associated with the social and emotional climate of a school, a key domain of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model. Few interventions target student-teacher relationships during the critical transition to high school, or incorporate strategies for enhancing equitable relationships. We conducted a mixed-methods feasibility study of a student-teacher relationship intervention, called Equity-Explicit Establish-Maintain-Restore (E-EMR). METHODS: We tested whether students (N = 133) whose teachers received E-EMR training demonstrated improved relationship quality, school belonging, motivation, behavior, and academic outcomes from pre- to post-test, and whether these differences were moderated by race. We also examined how teachers (N = 16) integrated a focus on equity into their implementation of the intervention. RESULTS: Relative to white students, students of the color showed greater improvement on belongingness, behavior, motivation, and GPA. Teachers described how they incorporated a focus on race/ethnicity, culture, and bias into E-EMR practices, and situated their relationships with students within the contexts of their own identity, the classroom/school context, and broader systems of power and privilege. CONCLUSIONS: We provide preliminary evidence for E-EMR to change teacher practice and reduce educational disparities for students of color. We discuss implications for other school-based interventions to integrate an equity-explicit focus into program content and evaluation.
Keywords:
education equity; implicit bias; school program evaluation; student-teacher relationships; teacher professional development; transition to high school transition
Authors: Mylien T Duong; Larissa M Gaias; Eric Brown; Sharon Kiche; Lillian Nguyen; Catherine M Corbin; Cassandra J Chandler; Joanne J Buntain-Ricklefs; Clayton R Cook Journal: School Ment Health Date: 2022-04-15