The Presence of School-based Initiatives as it Relates to Observed Teacher Behaviors Toward Students

• In Event: The Promise and Practice of Social-Emotional Learning in Schools

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between school-based initiatives for improving school climate and promoting students’ social emotional learning (SEL) and teachers’ observations of their colleagues’ behaviors toward students. School climate and SEL initiatives have been associated with increased student engagement (Lombardi et al., 2019), reductions in challenging behaviors (Reaves et al., 2018), and more equitable student achievement (Berkowitz, 2022). Consistently positive and supportive staff behaviors are seen as essential components of such initiatives (CASEL, n.d.; Darling-Hammond & Cook-Harvey, 2018). Little is known about whether these initiatives are successful in promoting positive staff behaviors and deterring negative behaviors. The current study explored the relationship between the number and type of school climate or SEL initiative and teachers' reports of the frequency with which they observe other teachers engaging in different types of behaviors towards students.

In the current study, teachers (n= 422) responded to an online survey that included questions about 26 different teacher behaviors towards students. The questions assessed how appropriate participants think the behaviors are (0=never to 4=always) and how often they observed other teachers engaging in the behaviors (0=never to 4=daily). Participants were also asked to indicate the presence or absence of 11 school climate and SEL initiatives within their schools.

Exploratory factor analysis on judgments of appropriateness of the teachers’ behaviors identified five behavior types (See Table 1): harmful (8 items; e.g., insulting), disengage/target (5 items; e.g., giving up on students), ambiguously harmful (5 items; e.g., ignoring), school policy (3 items; e.g., sending to the office for defiance), and supportive (4 items; e.g., setting ground rules with students).

To understand the relationship between the number of school initiatives and the frequency of observing each behavior type, we conducted simple regression analyses. Results indicated a significant positive relationship for supportive behaviors and number of initiatives, explaining 6.9% of the variance (adjusted R2=6.9, F(1,420)=32.15,p<.001). There was no significant relationship between number of initiatives and harmful, ambiguously harmful, or school policy behaviors.

Multiple regression analysis was then used to test whether the type of initiative predicts teachers’ supportive behaviors. Program type explained 9.1% of the variance (adjusted R2 =9.1, F(11,410)=4.827, p<.001). Administrator expectations for teachers to integrate SEL into curriculum (β=.119, p=.041) and school-wide behavioral expectations (β=.115, p=.048) significantly predicted higher frequencies of witnessing supportive behaviors (See Table 2).

These results suggest that the implementation of school climate and SEL initiatives can increase observed supportive teacher behaviors. Implementing initiatives in combination may better promote supportive teacher behaviors, with SEL integration and school-wide behavioral expectations as foundational initiatives for schools to build on. However, we did not find a relationship between number of initiatives or type of initiative and observed negative teacher behaviors. Future research and interventions may consider targeting teachers’ stress responses and coping strategies, which have been associated with higher rates of harsh student reprimands (Herman et al, 2020).

Authors

• Jean Sack, University of Illinois at Chicago
  Presenting Author

• Yueyao Wang, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Stacey Horn, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Sarah Schriber, Prevent School Violence Illinois

• Connor Callahan