Mentor Support Provisions Scale: Measure dimensionality, measurement invariance, and associations with adolescent school functioning.

Mentoring relationships can have important effects on adolescents' psychosocial and academic outcomes; however, the transactions within mentoring relationships that may account for impact on psychosocial and academic outcomes are not well understood. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Mentor Support Provisions Scale (MSPS), a tool for assessing the types of support that mentors provide. Exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine measure dimensionality. Findings indicated acceptable fit with a three-factor structure: Academic Support, Intimacy, and Warmth. The MSPS was found to have scalar invariance; thus, factor loadings and intercepts are the same across student sex and ethnic groups (e.g., White, Hispanic, and Black). In structural equation modeling analyses, the three latent factors predicted academic engagement and reading and math achievement, above baseline scores. Research and practical uses of the MSPS are discussed.

Effects of Extracurricular Participation During Middle School on Academic Motivation and Achievement at Grade 9.

We investigated the effect of participating in two domains of extracurricular activities (sports and performance arts/clubs) in Grades 7 and 8 on Grade 9 academic motivation and letter grades, above baseline performance. Participants were 483 students (55% male; 33% Euro-American, 25% African American, and 39% Latino). Propensity score weighting controlled for potential confounders in all analyses. Delayed (Grade 8 only) and continuous participation (Grades 7 and 8) in sports predicted competence beliefs and valuing education; delayed and continuous participation in performance arts/clubs predicted teacher-rated engagement and letter grades. Benefits of participation were similar across gender and ethnicity; however, Latino youth were least likely to participate in extracurricular activities. Implications for reducing ethnic and income disparities in educational attainment are discussed.

Effect of Trajectories of Friends' and Parents' School Involvement on Adolescents' Engagement and Achievement.

In a sample of 527 academically at-risk youth, we investigated trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement across ages 12-14 and the joint contributions of these trajectories to adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement. Girls reported higher levels of friends' and parents' school involvement than boys. Both parents' and friends' school involvement declined across ages 12-14. Combined latent growth models and structural equation models showed effects of the trajectories of friends' and parents' school involvement on adolescents' age 15 school engagement and academic achievement, over and above adolescents' prior performance. These effects were additive rather than interactive. Strategies for enhancing parent involvement in school and students' affiliation with peers who are positively engaged in school are discussed.

Effect of school belonging trajectories in grades 6-8 on achievement: Gender and ethnic differences.

This study investigated the association between trajectories of school belonging across grades 6-8 and academic achievement in grade 8 in an ethnically diverse sample of 527 academically at-risk adolescents. Students reported annually on school belonging. Reading and math achievement were assessed at grade 5 (baseline) and grade 8. Interactive effects of gender and ethnicity were found in the conditional growth models for school belonging. Girls of all ethnicities had identical growth trajectories and reported higher initial school belonging than Euro-American or Latino boys. Latino and Euro-American males had lower initial level of school belonging than African American males, and Latino males had lower growth in school belonging than Euro-American males. In structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses, initial level of school belonging predicted grade 8 reading for girls and grade 8 math for boys and girls, above prior achievement and school and child covariates, but growth in school belonging predicted grade 8 achievement only for African American students. Implications for strategies to improve school belonging among academically at-risk youth are discussed.

Effect of retention in elementary grades on grade 9 motivation for educational attainment.

This study investigated the effect of grade retention in elementary school on students' motivation for educational attainment in grade 9. We equated retained and promoted students on 67 covariates assessed in grade 1 through propensity score weighting. Retained students (31.55%, nretained=177) and continuously promoted students (68.45%, npromoted=384) were compared on the bifactor model of motivation for educational attainment (Cham, Hughes, West & Im, 2014). This model consists of a General factor (student's overall motivation for educational attainment), and three specific factors: student perceived Teacher Educational Expectations, Peer Educational Aspirations, and Value of Education. Measurement invariance between retained and promoted groups was established. Retained students scored significantly higher than promoted students on each specific factor but not on the General factor. Results showed that the retained and promoted students did not significantly differ on the General factor. The retained students had significantly higher scores on each specific factor than those of the promoted students. The results suggested that grade retention may not have the negative effects so widely assumed in the published literature; it is an expensive intervention with minimal evidence of benefits to the retained student.

Effect of peer nominations of teacher-student support at individual and classroom levels on social and academic outcomes.

This longitudinal study examined the prospective relations between 713 elementary students' individual peer teacher support reputation (PTSR) and a measure of the classroom-wide dispersion of peer nominations of teacher support (Centralization of Teacher Support) on students' peer relatedness (i.e., peer acceptance and peer academic reputation) and academic motivation (i.e., academic self-efficacy and teacher-rated behavioral engagement). PTSR was measured as the proportion of classmates who nominated a given student on a descriptor of teacher-student support. Centralization of Teacher Support was assessed using social network analysis to identify the degree to which peer nominations of teacher support in a classroom centered on a few students. PTSR predicted changes in all student outcomes, above academic achievement and relevant covariates. Centralization of Teacher Support predicted changes in students' peer academic reputation, net the effect of PTSR and covariates. Students' academic achievement moderated effects of PTSR and Centralization of Teacher Support on some outcomes. Findings highlight the importance of peers' perceptions of teacher support and of the structure of those perceptions for children's social and academic outcomes. Implications for practice are discussed.

Assessment of adolescents' motivation for educational attainment.

The Adolescent Motivation for Educational Attainment Questionnaire is a 32-item questionnaire (we drew 20 items from 3 subscales of the Educational Motivation Questionnaire; Murdock, 1999) that was developed to measure multiple potential dimensions of adolescents' motivation to complete high school and enroll in post-secondary education, including competence and effort beliefs; perceived value of education; and peer, teacher, and parent support for educational attainment. We assessed a multiethnic sample (N = 569) of low-achieving students who started 1st grade together in 1 urban and 2 small city school districts. Participants were assessed over 2 consecutive years (Grades 8 and 9 given prior grade retention, or Grades 9 and 10 if not retained). Exploratory factor analyses identified 4 correlated dimensions underlying the questionnaire responses. Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a bifactor model, which includes a general factor of students' basic educational motivation, and specific factors of (a) teacher educational expectations, (b) peer aspirations, and (c) value of education. Measurement invariance of the bifactor model was established across students' gender and ethnicity (Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic) and year of testing. Criterion-related validity of the general and specific factors with students' school belonging, student-teacher warmth and conflict, disciplinary practices, letter grade, conduct problems, and behavioral engagement was examined. Practical implications of the measure are discussed.

Learning-related skills and academic achievement in academically at-risk first graders.

Using an academically at-risk, ethnically diverse sample of 744 first-grade children, this study tested a multi-method (i.e., child performance measures, teacher ratings, and peer ratings) measurement model of learning-related skills (i.e., effortful control [EC], behavioral self-regulation [BSR], and social competence [SC]), and their shared and unique contributions to children's reading and math achievement, above the effect of demographic variables. The hypothesized correlated factor measurement model demonstrated relatively good fit, with BSR and SC correlated highly with one another and moderately with EC. When entered in separate regression equations, EC and BSR each predicted children's reading and math achievement; SC only predicted reading achievement. When considered simultaneously, neither EC, BSR, nor SC contributed independently to reading achievement; however, EC had a direct effect on math achievement and an indirect effect on reading achievement via both BSR and SC. Implications for research and early intervention efforts are discussed.

Effect of retention in elementary grades on transition to middle school.

The authors investigated the effects of retention in grades 1 to 5 on students' reading and math achievement, teacher-rated engagement, and student-reported school belonging in middle school. From a multiethnic sample (N=784) of children who scored below the median on a test of literacy in grade 1, an average of 75 students subsequently retained in grades 1 to 5 were matched with an average of 299 continuously promoted students on the basis of propensity to be retained in the elementary grades. A total of 20 imputed datasets were analyzed, all of which showed good balance across the 67 baseline covariates used to calculate propensity scores. The hypothesis that retained students, who are "old for grade" when they make the transition to middle school, would have a more difficult transition to middle school than promoted peers was tested with 3-level, piecewise growth modeling. Piece 1 included assessments prior to the transition to middle school, and piece 2 included assessments after the transition. Retained and continuously promoted students did not differ on any of the outcome measures during the year prior to transition, nor did they differ in their post-transition trajectories. Discrepancies between these results and results of prior research are discussed in terms of demographic and generational differences as well as differences in methodological rigor.