Chapter 12

Chapter Outline

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY INFLUENCES ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Introduction

Schools as Central Contexts of Development

Assumption 1: The Context of Schooling Involves Multiple Nested Levels of Organization Generically Called a “School System”

Assumption 2: Causal Chains of Influence Operate Within and Across Levels of the Context of Schooling to Affect Child and Adolescent Development

Assumption 3: The Structures, Processes, and Webs of Influence Associated With the Context of Schooling Change Across Development

Assumption 4: The Study of Development in School Contexts is also the Study of Cultural Diversity and Issues of Equity in Education

Assumption 5: Acts of Teaching and Learning Involve and Affect “Whole Persons”

Assumption 6: Children Co-construct Their Educational Lifepaths Through School by Making Meaning of Schools in Subjective Ways and Through their Own Agency and Characteristics

Assumption 7: Education is About Cultural Ways of Knowing and Qualities of Awareness

Levels of the Context of Schooling

Level 1: Academic Work

Level 2: Groups and Activity Structures

Level 3: Teachers, Instruction, and Classroom Climate

Teacher Professional Identity and Pedagogical Beliefs

Efficacy for teaching beliefs

Role beliefs

Differential expectations for student success

Pedagogical Goals

Teacher Qualifications and Quality of Instruction

Teacher qualifications

Instructional quality

Changes in teacher qualifications and instructional quality

Teacher–Student Relationships, Climate and Management

Classroom climate and teacher–student relationships

Developmental changes in classroom climate and teacher–student relationships

Classroom management

Developmental changes in classroom management

Motivational person–environment fit

Summary of Teacher and Classroom Level of Analysis

Level 4: Academic Tracks and Curricular Differentiation

Level 5: Schools as Organizations with Cultures

School Resources

School Size

School Culture

Unsupervised School Spaces

School Hours and Schedules

School start and end times

School calendar

Level 6: School–Home–Community Connections

Home–School Connections

School–Community Connections

School Transitions as Windows on the Influence of School Context Effects

Transition into Elementary School

The Middle Grades School Transition

Stage–environment fit and the transition to junior high or middle school

Teacher control

Teacher–student relationships

Teacher efficacy

Groups and activity structures

Grading practices

Pedagogical goals

School reform efforts

Summary

The High-School Transition

Summary of School Transitions Research

Neighborhood and Community Influences

Summary of Neighborhood and Community Influences

Community- and School-based Free-Time Activities

Peer Culture as a Primary Mediator of School, Community, and Free-Time Activity Effects

Peers as Co-Learners

Peer Group Influences

Peers’ Role in the Coordination of Multiple Goals

Summary of Peer Effects

Conclusions

Suggested Readings

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Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigfield, A., Buchanan, C. M., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C., & MacIver, D. (1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage–environment fit on adolescents’ experiences in schools and families. American Psychologist, 48, 90–101.

Eccles, J. S., & Templeton, J. (2002). Extracurricular and other after-school activities for youth. In W. S. Secada (Ed.), Review of Educational Research (Vol. 26, pp. 113–180). Washington DC: American Educational Research Association Press.

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Glossary

Achievement goal theory: A social–cognitive understanding of motivated behavior in achievement settings that posits that students’ responses to success and failure depend on the achievement goals they have. Students who have performance goals are most concerned with how well they do compared to others and are likely to select tasks on which they are certain they can succeed. In contrast, students with mastery goals are most concerned about learning and so are likely to select tasks from which they can learn the most even if they have difficulty succeeding.

Achievement: The attainment of specific academic and educational goals.

Agency: Individuals’ intrinsic curiosity, competence, motivation, and exploratory behaviors that promote their capacity to act in the world and contribute to their own development in school.

Agentic: A characteristic of a person who feels that they can influence their world and the behaviors of those around them and then acts accordingly.

Classroom climate: The general social-relational atmosphere of the classroom resulting from the organization and management of the learning environment as well as the character of teacher–student relationships.

Discrimination: The impugning of an individual’s intellectual ability based on ethnicity, race, or gender that may undermine the benefits of education by increasing mental health concerns and decreasing academic motivation and by anticipation of future discrimination in the labor market.

Efficacy: Generally, individual beliefs regarding the personal capability to causally effect a desired outcome. Teachers’ efficacy beliefs regarding their ability to perform the core tasks of teaching have been shown to be associated with their teaching behaviors in the classroom, professional achievement, and psychological well-being. Students’ confidence in their ability to succeed at a task predicts their engagement in that task.

Expectancy value theory: A theory of human motivation in which individuals’ choice, persistence, and performance are explained by their expectations for success, and the extent to which they value the activity.

Person–environment fit: A theory of human motivation that suggests students are maximally motivated to learn in situations that fit well with their own interests, current skill levels, and psychological needs.

School transitions: Changes in one’s school building that typically occur at elementary (ages 5–10), middle (ages 10–14), and high school (ages 14–18) that may result in either progressive or regressive developmental shifts.

Self-determination theory: A theory of human motivation and personality emphasizing individuals’ inherent growth tendencies and their innate psychological needs as well as the motivation behind their choices apart from external influences.

Social-emotional learning: Inter- and intrapersonal “non-content” domains – including self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, self-management, and relationship management – that relate to content learning. Research findings suggest that social and emotional learning programs delivered in classrooms are positively associated with a wide range of educational and developmental outcomes.

Stereotype: Commonly held beliefs about groups of people that may or may not be accurate, e.g., the belief that males are better at sports than females.

Tracking: The educational practice of grouping students by ability level within or between classroom settings which determines their educational opportunities, social relationships with peers, and self-evaluation of academic abilities.