Maintaining learning engagement throughout adolescence is critical for long-term academic success. This research sought to understand the role of metacognition and motivation in predicting adolescents' engagement in math learning over time. In two longitudinal studies with 2,325 and 207 adolescents (ages 11-15), metacognitive skills, interest, and self-control each uniquely predicted math engagement. Additionally, metacognitive skills worked with interest and self-control interactively to shape engagement. In Study 1, metacognitive skills and interest were found to compensate for one another. This compensatory pattern further interacted with time in Study 2, indicating that the decline in engagement was forestalled among adolescents who had either high metacognitive skills or high interest. Both studies also uncovered an interaction between metacognitive skills and self-control, though with slightly different interaction patterns.

This article used self-regulated learning as a theoretical lens to examine the individual and interactive associations between a growth mindset and metacognition on math engagement for adolescent students from socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. Across three longitudinal studies with 207, 897, and 2,325 11- to 15-year-old adolescents, students' beliefs that intelligence is malleable and capable of growth over time only predicted higher math engagement among students possessing the metacognitive skills to reflect upon and be aware of their learning progress. The results suggest that metacognitive skills may be necessary for students to realize their growth mindset. Thus, growth mindsets and metacognitive skills should be promoted together to capitalize on the mutually reinforcing effects of each, especially among students in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools.

Increased attention is being placed on the importance of ethnic-racial socialization in children of color's academic outcomes. Synthesizing research on the effects of parental ethnic-racial socialization, this meta-analysis of 37 studies reveals that overall the relation between ethnic-racial socialization and academic outcomes was positive, though the strength varied by the specific academic outcome under consideration, dimension of ethnic-racial socialization utilized, developmental age of the child receiving the socialization, and racial/ethnic group implementing the socialization. Ethnic-racial socialization was positively related to academic performance, motivation, and engagement, with motivation being the strongest outcome. Most dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization were positively related to academic outcomes, except for promotion of mistrust. In addition, the link between ethnic-racial socialization and academic outcomes was strongest for middle school and college students, and when looking across ethnic-racial groups, this link was strongest for African American youth. The results suggest that different dimensions of ethnic-racial socialization have distinct relationships with diverse academic outcomes and that the effects of ethnic-racial socialization vary by both youth developmental levels and racial/ethnic groups. © 2019 Society for Research in Child Development

For three decades, motivation researchers have used the construct of engagement as a holistic lens for understanding how children interact with learning activities, highlighting that each child has a unique engagement profile comprised of behavioral, emotional/affective, cognitive, and social dimensions. As researchers continue to piece together the multifaceted nature of engagement, a pressing need has emerged for a synthetic, coherent review of the extant literature on engagement that clarifies its conceptualization, identifies its key facilitators and consequences, and delineates its functions. Using a developmental-contextual approach, this chapter presents an integrative theoretical perspective on engagement, emphasizing that engagement is the product of dynamic developmental and relational processes involving transactions across multiple ecologies. The integrative model of engagement offers a nuanced and comprehensive perspective on the multiple pathways-psychological, cognitive, and sociocultural-underlying the development of youth's engagement. The conceptualization and study of engagement as a multidimensional construct produced by an ongoing interaction between the individual and the environment informs the identification of the particular personal, contextual, and sociocultural factors that foster or undermine engagement, while increasing understanding of the psychosocial mechanisms through which the learning environment influences engagement.

Researchers have become interested in the school climate experiences of Black youth given findings of less positive evaluations of school climate in comparison to their other-race peers. School support for cultural pluralism, also referred to as school support for cultural diversity, has been regarded as one aspect of school climate, but is sometimes distinct from Black youth's ratings of general perceptions of school climate. This project sought to understand the relationship between Black students' perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism and perceptions of school climate. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to determine whether previous perceptions of school support for cultural pluralism predicted later perceptions of school climate in a sample of 336 Black adolescents (Mage = 13.74 years). Furthermore, racial identity was explored as the mechanism through which school support for cultural pluralism impacted school climate appraisals, and differences between Black boys (N = 151) and Black girls (N = 185) were tested. Results confirmed that Black youth who rated their school as being supportive of culturally pluralism had more positive ratings of school climate during the following school year after controlling for the previous year's school climate ratings. However, the mediating role of racial identity differed for Black boys and Black girls, underscoring the need for intersectional research for Black youth and the importance of racial identity. We conclude with a discussion regarding the importance of racial/ethnic identity and pluralism within the school context, as well as, the unique role of school psychologists as preventionists and advocates of change within schools. © 2020 Society for the Study of School Psychology

Mathematics learning, engagement, and performance are facilitated by quality interactions within the classroom environment. Researchers studying high-quality interactions in mathematics classrooms must consider adopting multiple methods of data collection so as to capture classroom quality from all perspectives. As such, this longitudinal study examined student, teacher, and observer perspectives of interaction quality in mathematics classrooms and their predictive associations with mathematics outcomes. Data were collected during the fall and spring semesters of the 2015-2016 school year from 1501 students in 150 mathematics classes (n = 499 fifth graders, 523 seventh graders, 479 ninth graders; 51% female; 51% European American, 30% African American, and 19% other ethnic background; 52% qualifying for free/reduced price lunch). Observer and aggregated student reports of interaction quality at the classroom level were moderately correlated with one another, and these reports predicted student mathematics engagement and performance. Individual student reports of interaction quality also predicted math engagement and performance; yet, teacher reports of interaction quality did not align with student or observer perspectives. Furthermore, teacher reports did not predict student mathematics outcomes. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Although minor misconduct is normative in adolescence, such behavior may be met with punishment in American schools. As part of a punitive disciplinary approach, teachers may give adolescents official infractions for minor misconduct-that is, a minor infraction-presumably to deter future problem behavior. This article investigates three arguments that challenge the wisdom of this assumption and considers the potentially detrimental effects of minor infractions: (a) minor infractions increase, rather than deter, adolescents' defiant behavior; (b) these effects are exacerbated among adolescents who are highly attached to school; and (c) teachers' punishment of minor misconduct may be racially biased, resulting in African American students receiving more minor infractions than White students. To test these hypotheses, 729 adolescents' school disciplinary records were analyzed over 1 academic year. Longitudinal multilevel analyses were conducted to assess (a) if receiving minor infractions predicted later increases in infractions for defiant behavior at the within-student level, (b) whether adolescents' attachment to school moderated this association, and (c) if a disparity existed between African American and White students' average level of minor infractions. Results indicated that minor infractions predicted subsequent rises in defiant behavior, and this link was exacerbated for adolescents who reported initially high levels, but not low levels, of school attachment. Furthermore, African American students received more minor infractions than White students, controlling for a host of risk factors for school misconduct. Findings are discussed in relation to American school discipline policies and African Americans' persistent over representation in school discipline and the criminal justice system.

This study uses a mixed-method sequential exploratory design to examine influences on urban adolescents' engagement and disengagement in school. First, we interviewed 22 middle and high school students who varied in their level of engagement and disengagement. Support from adults and peers, opportunities to make choices, and external incentives aligned with greater engagement. In contrast, a strict disciplinary structure, an irrelevant and boring curriculum, disengaged peers, and lack of respect by adults coincided with greater disengagement. From these interviews, we tested whether these factors were statistically significant predictors of engagement and disengagement in a sample of 611 middle and high school students. In the majority of models, these predictors were significantly related to engagement and disengagement in the expected direction. Implications of findings for educational practice are discussed.