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UNITED WE LEARN: POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS AND RESPONSIBLE DECISIONS

RESOURCE BOOKLET

EFFECT SIZE FACTORS Effect Size

Impact

Example *Effect Size Factors

0.00 or less =

Negative effect

Students feeling disliked -.34 Retention -.32

0.00 — 0.20

Negligible, unclear effects

Teacher subject-matter knowledge +.09 Background music +.10

0.20 — 0.40

Small-moderate effects

Class size +.21 Homework +.29

0.40 — 0.60

Strong effects

Teacher-Student Relationships +.52 Positive Peer Influences +.53

0.60 — 2.00

Extreme positive effects

Feedback +.70 Summarization +.79

*Effect sizes vary in different studies Source: John Hattie, Visible Learning Plus 250+ Influences on Student Achievement

Resource Booklet — United We Learn: Positive Relationships and Responsible Decisions

Positive student-teacher relationships boost instructional quality Published April 8, 2022 DIVE BRIEF:

– Kara Arundel @KaraArundelß

• Positive student-teacher relationships not only help students but benefit teachers in an interesting way — by leading them to use more challenging instructional techniques, which in turn improves students’ academic achievement, according to research from the University of Missouri. • Using “prosocial classroom behaviors” like showing kindness and compassion increased teachers’ motivation and confidence, research from the University of Missouri shows. It also led teachers to use more challenging instructional techniques that make lessons interesting and relevant to students, said Christi Bergin, a research professor at Mizzou and co-author of the study, which will be published in the journal Learning and Instruction. • Understanding prosocial behaviors’ positive influences on teaching practices could support improved student outcomes, as well as help prevent teacher burnout and stem the tide of teacher shortages, Bergin said. DIVE INSIGHT: While research exists showing positive teacher-student relationships can boost students’ academic and social development, this is the first study to Bergin’s knowledge that shows how positive teacherstudent relationships can impact effective instructional practices. To better understand the influence of positive classroom relationships on teaching, the researchers analyzed survey data from the Network for Educator Effectiveness, a teacher growth and evaluation system developed at MU’s College of Education and Human Development.

B That system is used in more than 280 school districts in Missouri and evaluates teachers on high-impact teaching practices that can lead to student achievement. The data used in the analysis are based on the student survey of teaching effectiveness in the Network for Educator Effectiveness database. The survey asked students in grades 4-10 to evaluate their teachers on their instructional practices. It also asked students if they believed their teacher cared about them, was accessible to other students in class, and whether they enjoyed learning from that teacher. The researchers analyzed two sets of survey data from the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years for 844 general education teachers across grade levels, subject areas and in various stages of their teaching careers, said Bergin, who is also director of the Prosocial Development & Education Research Lab at MU. The study concluded that when teacher-student relationships are positive, teachers are more likely to use complex and high-impact instructional practices that support higher student achievement. Those high-impact instructional approaches are difficult to do on a consistent basis, said Bergin. “It’s just hard — really, really hard — and we don’t see a high frequency of those kinds of teaching behaviors, but we know they’re really effective,” she said. 2

Resource Booklet — United We Learn: Positive Relationships and Responsible Decisions

Positive Peer Relationships

https://ggie.berkeley.edu/school-relationships/positive-peer-relationships/#tab__1

What Are They?

Most people would agree that few things impacted their school lives as much as their relationships with their peers—friends, acquaintances, or otherwise. Peer relationships play an important role in children’s school lives, and relationships with peers become even more influential as children enter adolescence. Research on positive peer relationships often distinguishes between friendship and peer acceptance. High-quality friendships involve not only companionship, but also caring, validation, and support. In addition to playing together, good friends feel comfortable opening up to each other and are motivated to resolve conflicts that arise. Peer acceptance, sometimes referred to by researchers as popularity, focuses on how much students like or like to play with their classmates, and has been found to affect students’ sense of belonging in school and their academic achievement.

Why Are They Important?

Research shows that positive peer relationships benefit students in a myriad of ways, at school and in life. Both quantity and quality of relationships matter for kids. • Studies have found that young children with higher numbers of friends are less likely to be lonely, and more likely to like and be engaged at school. • In middle childhood, peer acceptance, friendship, and friendship quality all matter in terms of reducing a child’s chance of loneliness. • Positive peer relationships help make children more resilient, even when they face difficulties at home. Having one good friend can be enough. • Having just one close friend can be enough to protect kids from the negative effects of being treated badly by other peers. • Similarly, research shows that adolescents with at least one reciprocal friendship have higher selfesteem than those without one; on the other hand, having greater numbers of friendships doesn’t seem to further increase self-esteem. Especially for adolescents, positive relationships with peers make a big difference in other areas of life. • Peer acceptance relates positively to GPA in middle school; in fact, research shows that positive peer relationships can explain up to 40% of adolescents’ academic achievement. • Positive peer support also predicts adolescents’ health and well-being and their emotional and behavioral engagement with school, an effect that increases over time. • Likewise, teens whose close friends are prosocial are much more likely to set prosocial goals and behave prosocially themselves in the future. ©2022, KASC

Resource Booklet — United We Learn: Positive Relationships and Responsible Decisions

Status

Peer

This strategy would BEST promote which kind(s) of relationship?

Foundation

STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

EX 1. Incorporate authentic group projects — Students have an opportunity to bond, work towards a common goal, and share the satisfaction of achieving their group goal with a degree of autonomy and self-direction. EX 2. Acknowledge the students — Thank them for big and little things. Thank them for being in your life. Appreciate little things they do. Give verbal praise, write notes, and smile. A. Establish and hold classroom meetings — Create an effective setting for practicing social skills such as active listening, negotiation, and respectful disagreeing. B. Honor students’ interests equally — Show interest and respect for all students’ extracurricular and outside hobbies. Connect student interests to learning when possible so students can share knowledge and expertise. C. Listen to the students — Many students feel that no one listens to them—not parents, not teachers, and not even their friends. Even the seemingly little things are big things. If adults in the school can listen to the students with open-minds and openhearts, that will be a great gift in their lives. D. Create personal digital stories — When students create personal digital stories about their interests or aspects of their lives, they share themselves with other students. By sharing their stories, both during the making of their digital story and during its presentation, students can establish connections and new relationships. They get to know each other at a deeper level and also receive helpful feedback to enable self-reflection. E. Create random groups — When appropriate, use random groupings in which all students work in a group, or as a pair, with all other students throughout the year. This makes it more likely that students will get to know each other and have positive experiences together. F. Include and empower the students — Ask students for advice, let them participate in decision-making, and help them feel valued. Give options in how to do things as long as students are willing to produce results. Let students take the lead in areas where they have expertise. G. Learn about the students — Get to know individual students. Have them fill out surveys that tell about themselves as people. Important questions you can ask are: What is it like for them as a student? What’s important to them? H. Make small concessions — Grant some favors. Bring popular music to class. Do things that can make a big difference, even if it is letting class out thirty seconds early or giving no homework over the holidays; everything helps. I. Model respect — Include activities and strategies that include multiple cultures. Model understanding and respect for students, staff, and parents. J. Treat students as “possibilities” — Treat each student as a potential success, not as a past record. Consider the possibility of their greatness even if it is not evident at the moment or is currently disguised. Keep in mind that part of growing up is making mistakes and learning from them. Avoid seeing students as problems, and start seeing all students as grand possibilities. Source: brain-based learning work by Eric Jensen 4

Resource Booklet — United We Learn: Positive Relationships and Responsible Decisions