elementary school students research paper

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School educational models and child mental health among K-12 students: a scoping review

1 The International Peace Maternity & Child Health Hospital, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 910 Hengshan Road, Shanghai, 200030 China

Yining Jiang

Xiangrong guo.

2 MOE-Shanghai Key Laboratory of Children’s Environmental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Healthcare, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200092 China

Associated Data

The data analysed in this review are available from the corresponding author upon request.

The promotion of mental health among children and adolescents is a public health imperative worldwide, and schools have been proposed as the primary and targeted settings for mental health promotion for students in grades K-12. This review sought to provide a comprehensive understanding of key factors involved in models of school education contributing to student mental health development, interrelationships among these factors and the cross-cultural differences across nations and societies.

This scoping review followed the framework of Arksey and O’Malley and holistically reviewed the current evidence on the potential impacts of school-related factors or school-based interventions on student mental health in recent 5 years based on the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and PsycExtra databases.

Results/findings

After screening 558 full-texts, this review contained a total of 197 original articles on school education and student mental health. Based on the five key factors (including curriculum, homework and tests, physical activities, interpersonal relationships and after-school activities) identified in student mental development according to thematic analyses, a multi-component school educational model integrating academic, social and physical factors was proposed so as to conceptualize the five school-based dimensions for K-12 students to promote student mental health development.

Conclusions

The lessons learned from previous studies indicate that developing multi-component school strategies to promote student mental health remains a major challenge. This review may help establish appropriate school educational models and call for a greater emphasis on advancement of student mental health in the K-12 school context among different nations or societies.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13034-022-00469-8.

Introduction

In recent years, mental health conditions among children and adolescents have received considerable attention as a public health concern. Globally about 10–20% of children and adolescents experience mental health problems [ 1 , 2 ], and mental health problems in early life may have the potential for long-term adverse consequences [ 3 , 4 ]. In 2019, the World Health Organization has pointed out that childhood and adolescence are critical periods for the acquisition of socio-emotional capabilities and for prevention of mental health problems [ 5 ]. A comprehensive multi-level solution to child mental health problems needs to be put forward for the sake of a healthier lifestyle and environment for future generations.

The school is a unique resource to help children improve their mental health. A few generations ago, schools’ priority was to teach the traditional subjects, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, children are now spending a large amount of time at school where they learn, play and socialize. For some students, schools have a positive influence on their mental health. While for others, schools can present as a considerable source of stress, worry, and unhappiness, and hinder academic achievement [ 2 ]. According to Greenberg et al., today’s schools need to teach beyond basic skills (such as reading, writing, and counting skills) and enhance students’ social-emotional competence, characters, health, and civic engagement [ 6 ]. Therefore, universal mental health promotion in school settings is recognized to be particularly effective in improving students’ emotional well-being [ 2 , 7 ].

Research evidence over the last two decades has shown that schools can make a difference to students’ mental health [ 8 ]. Previous related systematic reviews or meta-analyses focused on the effects of a particular school-based intervention on child mental health [ 9 , 10 ] and answered a specific question with available research, however, reviews covering different school-related factors or school-based interventions are still lacking. An appropriate model of school education requires the combination of different school-related factors (such as curriculum, homework, and physical activities) and therefore needs to focus on multiple primary outcomes. Thus, we consider that a scoping review may be more appropriate to help us synthesize the recent evidence than a systematic review or meta-analysis, as the wide coverage and the heterogeneous nature of related literature focusing on multiple primary outcomes are not amenable to a more precise systematic review or meta-analysis [ 11 ]. To the best of our knowledge, this review is among the first to provide a comprehensive overview of available evidence on the potential impacts of multiple school-related factors or school-based interventions on student mental health, and identify school-related risk/protective factors involved in the development of mental health problems among K-12 students, and therefore, to help develop a holistic model of K-12 education.

A scoping review was systematically conducted following the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley [ 12 ]: defining the research question; identifying relevant studies; study selection; data extraction; and summarizing and reporting results. The protocol for this review was specified in advance and submitted for registration in the PROSPERO database (Reference number, CRD42019123126).

Defining the research question (stage 1)

For this review, we sought to answer the following questions:

• What is known from the existing literature on the potential impacts of school-related factors or school-based interventions on student mental health?
• What are the interrelationships among these factors involved in the school educational process?
• What are the cross-cultural differences in K-12 education process across nations and societies?

Identifying relevant studies (stage 2)

The search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science and Embase electronic databases, and the dates of the published articles included in the search were limited to the last 5 years until 23 March 2021. The PsycExtra database was also searched to identify relevant evidence in the grey literature [ 13 ]. In recent 5 years, mental disorders among children and adolescents have increased at an alarming rate [ 14 , 15 ] and relevant policies calling for a greater role of schools in promoting student mental health have been issued in different countries [ 16 – 18 ], making educational settings at the forefront of the prevention initiative globally. Therefore, limiting research source published in the past 5 years was pre-defined since these publications reflected the newest discoveries, theories, processes, or practices. Search terms were selected based on the eligibility criteria and outcomes of interest were described as follows (Additional file 1 : Table S1). The search strategy was peer-reviewed by the librarian of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Study selection (stage 3)

T.Y. and Y.J. independently identified relevant articles by screening the titles, reviewing the abstracts and full-text articles. If any disagreement arises, the disagreement shall be resolved by discussion between the two reviewers and a third reviewer (J. X.).

Inclusion criteria were (1) according to the study designs: only randomized controlled trials (RCT)/quasi-RCT, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies; (2) according to the languages: articles only published in English or Chinese; (3) according to the ages of the subjects: preschoolers (3.5–5 years of age), children (6–11 years of age) and adolescents (12–18 years of age); and (4) according to the study topics: only articles examining the associations between factors involved in the school education and student mental health outcomes (psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety, stress, self-injury, suicide; and/or psychological well-being, such as self-esteem, self-concept, self-efficacy, optimism and happiness) in educational settings. Exclusion criteria: (1) Conference abstracts, case report/series, and descriptive articles were excluded due to overall quality and reliability. (2) Studies investigating problems potentially on a causal pathway to mental health disorders but without close associations with school education models (such as problems probably caused by family backgrounds) were excluded. (3) Studies using schools as the recruitment places but without school-related topics were also excluded.

Data extraction (stage 4)

T.Y. and Y.J., and X.G., Y. Z., H.H. extracted data from the included studies using a pre-defined extraction sheet. Researchers extracted the following information from each eligible study: study background (name of the first author, publication year, and study location), sample characteristics (number of participants, ages of participants, and sex proportion), design [intervention (RCT or quasi-RCT), or observational (cross-sectional or longitudinal) study], and instruments used to assess exposures in school settings and mental health outcomes. For intervention studies (RCTs and quasi-RCTs), we also extracted weeks of intervention, descriptions of the program, duration and frequency. T.Y. reviewed all the data extraction sheets under the supervision of J. X.

Summarizing and reporting the results (stage 5)

Results were summarized and reported using a narrative synthesis approach. Studies were sorted according to (a) factors/exposures associated with child and adolescent mental health in educational settings, and (b) components of school-based interventions to facilitate student mental health development. Key findings from the studies were then compared, contrasted and synthesized to illuminate themes which appeared across multiple investigations.

Search results and characteristics of the included articles

The search yielded 25,338 citations, from which 558 were screened in full-text. Finally, a total of 197 original articles were included in this scoping review: 72 RCTs (including individually randomized and cluster-randomized trials), 27 quasi-RCTs, 29 longitudinal studies and 69 cross-sectional studies (Fig.  1 for details). Based on thematic analyses, the included studies were analyzed and thematically grouped into five overarching categories based on the common themes in the types of intervention programs or exposures in the school context: curriculum, homework and tests, interpersonal relationships, physical activity and after-school activities. Table ​ Table1 1 provided a numerical summary of the characteristics of the included articles. The 197 articles included data from 46 countries in total, covering 24 European countries, 13 Asian countries, 4 American countries, 3 African countries, and 2 Oceanian countries. Most intervention studies were conducted in the United States of America (n = 16), followed by Australia (n = 11) and the United Kingdom (n = 11). Most observational studies were conducted in the United States of America (n = 19), followed by China (n = 15) and Canada (n = 8). Figure  2 illustrated the geographical distribution of the included studies. Further detailed descriptions of the intervention studies or observational studies were provided in Additional file 1 : Tables S2 and S3, respectively.

Study selection process

Summary of the included articles

Geographical distribution of included studies: A intervention studies; B observational studies

The association between school curriculum and student mental health was investigated in four cross-sectional studies. Mathematics performance was found to be adversely associated with levels of anxiety or negative emotional responses among primary school students [ 19 ]. However, in middle schools, difficulties and stressors students may encounter in learning academic lessons (such as difficulties/stressors in taking notes and understanding teachers’ instructions) could contribute to lowered self-esteem [ 20 ] and increased suicidal ideation or attempts [ 21 ]. Innovative integration of different courses instead of the traditional approach of teaching biology, chemistry, and physics separately, could improve students’ self-concept [ 22 ].

To promote student mental health, 64 intervention studies were involved in innovative curricula integrating different types of competencies, including social emotional learning (SEL), mindfulness-intervention, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based curriculum, life skills training, stress management curriculum, and so on (Fig.  3 ). Curricula focusing on SEL put an emphasis on the development of child social-emotional skills such as managing emotions, coping skills and empathy [ 23 ], and showed positive effects on depression, anxiety, stress, negative affect and emotional problems [ 23 – 37 ], especially in children with psychological symptoms [ 24 ] and girls [ 23 , 27 ], as well as increased prosocial behaviors [ 38 ], self-esteem [ 39 – 42 ] and positive affect [ 43 ]. However, four programs reported non-significant effects of SEL on student mental health outcomes [ 44 – 47 ], while two programs demonstrated increased levels of anxiety [ 48 ] and a reduction of subjective well-being [ 49 ] at post-intervention. Mindfulness-based curriculum showed its potential to endorse positive outcomes for youth including reduced emotional problems and negative affect [ 50 – 56 ] as well as increased well-being and positive emotions [ 51 , 52 , 57 – 60 ], especially among high-risk children with emotional problems or perceived stress before interventions [ 50 , 53 ]. However, non-significant effects were also reported in an Australian study in secondary schools [ 61 ]. Curricula based on CBT targeted children at risk or with early symptoms of mental illness [ 62 – 67 ], or all students regardless of symptom levels as a universal program [ 68 – 70 ], and could impose a positive effect on self-esteem, well-being, distress, stress and suicidality. However, a universal CBT trial in Swedish primary schools found no evidence of long-term effects of such program on anxiety prevention [ 71 ]. Five intervention studies based on life-skill-training were found to be effective in promoting self-efficacy [ 72 , 73 ], self-esteem [ 73 , 74 ], and reducing depression/anxiety-like symptoms [ 72 , 75 , 76 ]. Courses covering stress management skills have also been reported to improve life satisfaction, increase happiness and decrease anxiety levels among students in developing countries [ 77 – 79 ]. In practice, innovative teaching forms such as the game play [ 67 , 80 , 81 ] and outdoor learning [ 82 , 83 ] embedded in the traditional classes could help address the mental health and social participation concerns for children and youth. Limited evidence supported the mental health benefits of resilience-based curricula [ 84 – 86 ], which deserve further studies.

Harvest plots for overview of curriculum-based intervention studies, grouped by different types of curriculum-based interventions. The height of the bars corresponded to the sample sizes on a logarithmic scale of each study. Red bars represented positive effects of interventions on student mental health outcomes, grey bars represented non-significant effects on student mental health outcomes, and black bars represented negative effects on student mental health outcomes

Large cluster-randomized trials utilizing multi-component whole-school interventions which involves various aspects of school life (curriculum, interpersonal relationships, activities), such as the Strengthening Evidence base on scHool-based intErventions for pRomoting adolescent health (SEHER) program in India and the Together at School program in Finland, have been proved to be beneficial for prevention from depression [ 87 – 89 ] and psychological problems [ 90 ].

Homework and tests

The association between homework and psychological ill-being outcomes was investigated in four cross-sectional studies and one longitudinal study. Incomplete homework and longer homework durations were associated with a higher risk of anxiety symptoms [ 91 , 92 ], negative emotions [ 93 – 95 ] and even psychological distress in adulthood [ 96 ].

Innumerable exams during the educational process starting from primary schools may lead to increased anxiety and depression levels [ 97 , 98 ], particularly among senior students preparing for college entrance examinations [ 99 ]. Students with higher test scores had a lower probability to have emotional and behavioral problems [ 100 ], in comparison with students who failed examinations [ 93 , 101 ]. Depression and test anxiety were found to be highly correlated [ 102 ]. In terms of psychological well-being outcomes, findings were consistent in the negative associations between student test anxiety and self-esteem/life-satisfaction levels [ 103 , 104 ]. Regarding intervention studies, adolescent students at a high risk of test anxiety benefited from CBT or attention training by strengthening sense of control and meta-cognitive beliefs [ 105 , 106 ]. However, more knowledge about the criteria for an upcoming test was not related to anxiety levels during lessons [ 107 ].

Interpersonal relationships

School-based interpersonal (student–student or student–teacher) relationships are also important to student mental health. Low support from schoolmates/teachers and negative interpersonal events were reported to be associated with psychosomatic health complaints [ 108 – 113 ]. In contrast, positive interpersonal relationships in schools could promote emotional well-being [ 114 – 117 ] and reduce depressive symptoms in students [ 118 – 120 ].

Student–teacher relationships

Negative teaching behaviors were associated with negative affect [ 121 , 122 ] and low self-efficacy [ 123 ] among primary and high school students. Student–teacher conflicts at the beginning of the school year were associated with higher anxiety levels in students at the end of the year, and high-achieving girls were most susceptible to such negative associations [ 124 ]. Higher levels of perceived teachers’ support were correlated with decreased risks of depression [ 125 ], mental health problems [ 126 ] as well as increased positive affect [ 127 , 128 ] and improved mental well-being [ 129 , 130 ]. Better student–teacher relationships were positively associated with self-esteem/efficacy [ 131 ], while negatively associated with the risks of adolescents’ externalizing behaviors [ 132 ] among secondary school students. Longitudinal studies demonstrated that high intimacy levels between students and teachers were correlated with reduced emotional symptoms [ 133 ] and increased life-satisfaction among students [ 134 ]. In addition, more respect to teachers in 10th grade students was associated with higher self-efficacy and lower stress levels 1 year later [ 135 ].

A growing body of research focused on the issue of how to increase positive interactions between teachers and students in teaching practices. Actually, interventions on improving teaching skills to promote a positive classroom atmosphere could potentially benefit children, especially those experiencing a moderate to high level of risks of mental health problems [ 136 , 137 ].

Student–student relationships

Findings were consistent in considering the positive peer relationship as a protective factor against internalizing and externalizing behaviors [ 138 – 142 ], depression [ 143 – 145 ], anxiety [ 146 ], self-harm [ 147 ] and suicide [ 148 ], and as a favorable factor for positive affect [ 149 , 150 ], increased happiness [ 151 ], self-efficacy [ 152 ], optimism [ 153 , 154 ] and mental well-being [ 155 ]. In contrast, peer-hassles, friendlessness, negative peer-beliefs, peer-conflicts/isolation and peer-rejection, have been identified in the development of psychological distress among students [ 141 , 143 , 149 , 156 – 165 ].

As schools and classrooms are common settings to build peer relationships, student social skills to enhance the student–student relationship can be incorporated into school education. Training of interpersonal skills among secondary school students with depressive symptoms appeared to be effective in decreasing adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms [ 166 ]. In addition, recent studies also identified the effectiveness of small-group learning activities in the cognitive development and mental health promotion among students [ 87 – 90 , 167 ].

Physical activity in school

Moderate-to-high-intensity physical activity during school days has been confirmed to benefit children and adolescents in relation to various psychosocial outcomes, such as reduced symptoms of depression [ 168 ], emotional problems [ 169 ] and mental distress [ 170 ] as well as improved self-efficacy [ 171 ] and mental well-being [ 172 , 173 ]. In addition, participation in physical education (PE) at least twice a week was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of suicidal ideation and stress [ 174 ].

A variety of school‐based physical activity interventions or lessons have been proposed in previous studies to promote physical activity levels and psychosocial fitness in students, including integrating physical activities into classroom settings [ 175 – 178 ], assigning physical activity homework [ 178 ], physically-active academic lessons [ 179 , 180 ] as well as an obligation of ensuring the participation of various kinds of sports (such as aerobic exercises, resistance exercises, yoga) in PE lessons [ 181 – 192 ]. Although the effectiveness of these proposed physical activity interventions was not consistent, physical education is suggested to implement sustainably as other academic courses with special attention.

After-school activities

Several cross-sectional studies have synthesized evidence on the positive effects of leisure-time physical activity against student depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological distress [ 193 – 199 ]. Extracurricular sport participation (such as sports, dance, and martial arts) could foster perceived self-efficacy, self-esteem, improve mental health status [ 200 – 203 ], and reduce emotional problems [ 204 ] and depressive symptoms [ 205 ]. Participation in team sports was more strongly related to beneficial mental health outcomes than individual sports, especially in high school girls [ 199 ]. Other forms of organized activities, such as youth organizations and arts, have also been demonstrated to benefit self-esteem [ 201 ], self-worth [ 206 ], satisfaction with life and optimism [ 207 , 208 ].

However, different types of after-school activities may result in different impacts on student mental health. Previous studies demonstrated that students participating in after-school programs of yoga or sports had better well-being and self-efficacy [ 209 ], and decreased levels of anxiety [ 210 ] and negative mood [ 211 ], while another study showed that the after-school yoga program induced no significant changes in levels of depression, anxiety and stress among students [ 212 ]. Inconsistent findings on the effects of participation in art activities on student mental health were also reported [ 213 , 214 ]. Another study also highlighted the benefits of after-school clubs, demonstrating an improvement in socio-emotional competencies and emotional status, and sustained effects at 12-month follow-up [ 215 ].

Based on the potential importance of the five school-based factors identified in student mental development, a multi-component school educational model is therefore proposed to conceptualize the five school-based dimensions (including curriculum, homework and tests, interpersonal relationships, physical activity, and after-school activities) for K-12 students to promote their mental health (Fig.  4 ). The interrelationships among the five dimensions and cross-cultural comparisons are further discussed as follows in a holistic way.

The multi-component school educational model is proposed to conceptualize the five school-based dimensions (including curriculum set, homework and tests, physical activity, interpersonal relationships and after-school activities) for K-12 students to promote student mental health

Comprehensive understanding of K-12 school educational models: the reciprocal relationships among factors

Students’ experiences in the school educational context are dynamic processes which englobe a variety of educational elements (such as curriculum, homework, tests) and social elements (such as interpersonal relationships and social activities in schools). Based on the educational model proposed in this review, these educational/social elements are closely related and interact with each other, which play an important role in students’ psychosocial development.

Being aware of this, initiatives aimed to improve student social and emotional competencies may certainly impact student psychological well-being, at least in part, in a way of developing supportive relationships between teachers-students or between peers [ 35 , 89 ]. On the other hand, the enhancement of interpersonal relationships at school could serve as a potent source of motivation for student academic progress so as to further promote psychological well-being [ 131 , 132 ]. In addition, school education reforms intended to provide pupils with more varied teaching and learning practices to promote supportive interpersonal relationships between students and teachers or between peers, such as education programs outside the classroom [ 82 ], cooperative learning [ 167 ] and adaptive classroom management [ 136 , 137 ], have also been advocated among nations recently.

Our findings also suggested that participation in non-academic activities was an important component of positive youth development. Actually, these school-based activities in different contexts also require teacher–student interactions or peer interactions. Social aspects of physical activities have been proposed to strengthen relationship-building and other interpersonal skills that may additionally protect students against the development of mental health problems [ 130 , 203 ]. Among various types of sports, team sports seemed to be associated with more beneficial outcomes compared with individual sports due to the social aspect of being part of a team [ 194 , 199 ]. Participation in music, student council, and other clubs/organizations may also provide students with frequent connections with peers, and opportunities to build relationships with others that share similar interests [ 201 ]. Further, frequent and supportive interactions with teachers and peers in sports and clubs may promote student positive views of the self and encourage their health-promoting behaviors (such as physical activities).

However, due to increasing academic pressure, children have to spend a large amount of time on academic studies, and inevitably displace time on sleep, leisure, exercises/sports, and extracurricular activities [ 92 ]. Although the right amount of homework may improve school achievements [ 216 ] and higher test scores may help prevent students from mental distress [ 100 – 102 ], over-emphasis on academic achivements may lead to elevated stress levels and poor health outcomes ultimately. The anxiety specifically related to academic achievement and test-taking at school was frequently reported among students who felt pressured and overwhelmed by the continuous evaluation of their academic performance [ 98 , 103 , 104 ]. In such high-pressure academic environments, strategies to alleviate the levels of stress among students should be incorporated into intervention efforts, such as stress management skill training [ 77 – 79 ], CBT-based curriculum [ 62 , 64 , 66 , 105 ], and attention training [ 106 ]. Therefore, school supportive policies that allow students continued access to various non-academic activities as well as improve their social aspect of participation may be one fruitful avenue to promote student well-being.

Cross-cultural differences in K-12 educational models among different nations and societies

As we reviewed above, heavy academic burden exists as an important school-related stressor for students [ 91 , 92 , 94 – 96 ], probably due to excessive examinations [ 97 – 99 ] and unsatisfactory academic performance [ 100 – 102 ]. Actually, extrinsic cultural factors significantly impact upon student academic burden. In most countries, college admission policies affect the entire ecological system of K-12 education, because success in life or careers is determined by examination performance to a large extent [ 217 ]. The impacts of heavy academic burden may be greatest in Asian cultures where more after-school time of students is spent on homework, exam preparations, and extracurricular classes for academic improvement (such as in Korea, Japan, China and Singapore) [ 92 , 95 , 218 ]. As a consequence, the high proportion of adolescents fall in the “academic burnout group” in Asian countries [ 219 ], which highlights the need to take further measures to combat the issue. As an issue of concern, the “double reduction” policy has been implemented nationwide in China since 2021, being aimed to relieve students of excessive study burden, and the effects of the policy are anticipated but remain unknown up to now.

Other factors such as school curriculum and extra-curricular commitments, vary among societies and nations and may explain the cross-cultural differences in educational models [ 220 ]. For example, in Finland, the primary science subject is as important as mathematics or reading, while Chinese schools often lack time to arrange a sufficient number of science courses [ 221 ], which could be explained by different educational traditions of the two countries. In addition, approximately 75% of high schools in Korea failed to implement national curriculum guidelines for physical education (150 min/week), instead replacing that time with self-guided study to prepare for university admission exams [ 174 ]. In terms of the arrangement of the after-school time, Asian students spend most of their after-school time on private tutoring or doing homework [ 222 ], 2–3 times longer than the time spent by adolescents in most western countries/cities [ 92 ]. However, according to our analyses and summaries, most intervention studies targeting the improvement of mental health of students by school education were conducted in western countries (Fig.  2 ), suggesting that special attention needs to be paid to the students’ mental health issue on campus, especially in countries where students have heavy study-loads. Merits of the different educational traditions also need to be considered in the designs of educational models among different countries.

Strengths and limitations

This study focuses on an interdisciplinary topic covering the fields of developmental behavioral pediatrics and education, and the establishment of appropriate school educational models is teamwork involving multiple disciplines including pediatrics, prevention, education, services and policy. Although there are lots of studies focusing on a particular factor in school educational processes to promote student mental health, comprehensive analysis/understanding on multi-component educational model is lacking, which is important and urgently needed for the development of multi-dimensional educational models/strategies. Therefore, we included a wide range of related studies, summarized a comprehensive understanding of the evidence base, and discussed the interrelationships among the components/factors of school educational models and the cross-cultural gaps in K-12 education across different societies, which may have significant implications for future policy-making.

Some limitations also exist and are worth noting. First, this review used the method of the scoping review which adopted a descriptive approach, rather than the meta-analysis or systematic review which provided a rigorous method of synthesizing the literature. Under the subject (appropriate school education model among K-12 students) of this scoping review, multiple related topics (including curriculum, homework and tests, physical activities, interpersonal relationships and after-school activities) were included rather than one specific topic. Therefore, we consider that the method of the scoping-review is appropriate, given that the aim of this review is to chart or map the available literature on a given subject rather than answering a specific question by providing effect sizes across multiple studies. Second, we limited the study search within recent 5 years. Although we consider that the fields involved in this scoping review change quickly with the acquisition of new knowledge/information in recent 5 years, limiting the literature search within recent 5 years may make us miss some related but relatively old literature. Third, we only included studies disseminated in English or Chinese, which may limit the generalizability of our results to other non-English/Chinese speaking countries.

This scoping review has revealed that the K-12 schools are unique settings where almost all the children and adolescents can be reached, and through which existing educational components (such as curriculum, homework and tests, physical activities, interpersonal relationships and after-school activities) can be leveraged and integrated to form a holistic model of school education, and therefore to promote student mental health. In future, the school may be considered as an ideal setting to implement school-based mental health interventions. Our review suggests the need of comprehensive multi-component educational model, which involves academic, social and physical factors, to be established to improve student academic achievement and simultaneously maintain their mental health.

However, questions still remain as to what is optimal integration of various educational components to form the best model of school education, and how to promote the wide application of the appropriate school educational model. Individual differences among students/schools and cross-cultural differences may need to be considered in the model design process.

Acknowledgements

We thank the librarian of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine for their help.

Abbreviations

Author contributions.

JX conceived the scoping review, supervised the review process and reviewed the manuscript. TY conducted study selection and data extraction, charted, synthesized the data, and drafted the manuscript. YJ conducted study selection and data extraction. XG, YZ and HH conducted data extraction. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 81974486, 81673189) (to Jian Xu), Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant Support (20172016) (to Jian Xu), Shanghai Sailing Program (21YF1451500) (to Hui Hua).

Availability of data and materials

Declarations.

Not applicable.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Elementary Education Research Paper Topics

This comprehensive guide to elementary education research paper topics is designed to assist students and researchers in the field of education. The guide provides a wide array of topics divided into ten categories, each with ten unique topics, offering a diverse range of areas to explore in the field of elementary education. Additionally, the guide offers expert advice on how to choose a research topic and how to write an elementary education research paper. The final sections of the guide introduce iResearchNet’s professional writing services and encourage students to take advantage of these services for their research needs.

100 Elementary Education Research Paper Topics

Elementary education is a broad field with numerous areas to explore. Whether you’re interested in teaching methods, curriculum development, educational technology, or the social aspects of elementary education, there’s a research topic for you. Here, we present a comprehensive list of elementary education research paper topics, divided into ten categories. Each category contains ten unique topics, offering a diverse range of areas to explore in your research.

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1. Teaching Methods and Strategies

• The effectiveness of Montessori methods in elementary education.
• The role of play in learning in the early years.
• The impact of differentiated instruction on student achievement.
• The benefits and challenges of cooperative learning in the elementary classroom.
• The role of feedback in promoting student learning.
• The impact of teaching strategies on students’ motivation.
• The effectiveness of inquiry-based learning in science education.
• The role of storytelling in teaching literacy skills.
• The impact of technology on teaching and learning in the elementary classroom.
• The role of creativity in teaching and learning.

2. Curriculum and Instruction

• The impact of curriculum design on student learning.
• The role of interdisciplinary teaching in elementary education.
• The effectiveness of project-based learning in teaching science.
• The role of cultural relevance in curriculum design.
• The impact of standardized testing on curriculum and instruction.
• The role of critical thinking in the elementary curriculum.
• The effectiveness of integrating arts in the curriculum.
• The impact of curriculum alignment on student achievement.
• The role of experiential learning in the elementary curriculum.
• The challenges of teaching social studies in the elementary classroom.

3. Educational Technology

• The impact of digital technology on student learning.
• The role of educational games in teaching math.
• The effectiveness of using iPads in the classroom.
• The role of virtual reality in teaching science.
• The impact of technology on student engagement.
• The challenges of integrating technology in the classroom.
• The role of technology in promoting collaborative learning.
• The effectiveness of using technology in teaching reading skills.
• The impact of technology on teacher-student communication.
• The role of technology in personalized learning.

4. Social Aspects of Elementary Education

• The impact of classroom climate on student learning.
• The role of social-emotional learning in elementary education.
• The effectiveness of character education programs.
• The role of peer relationships in student learning.
• The impact of school culture on student achievement.
• The challenges of teaching diversity and inclusion in the elementary classroom.
• The role of student-teacher relationships in student learning.
• The effectiveness of anti-bullying programs in elementary schools.
• The impact of parental involvement on student achievement.
• The role of community partnerships in promoting student learning.

5. Special Education

• The effectiveness of inclusive education in the elementary classroom.
• The role of individualized education programs in supporting students with special needs.
• The impact of teacher training on the success of inclusive education.
• The challenges of teaching students with learning disabilities.
• The role of assistive technology in supporting students with special needs.
• The effectiveness of earlyintervention programs for students with special needs.
• The impact of classroom accommodations on the academic success of students with special needs.
• The role of collaboration between general and special education teachers.
• The effectiveness of behavior management strategies for students with emotional and behavioral disorders.
• The impact of special education policies on student outcomes.

6. Early Childhood Education

• The impact of early childhood education on academic success.
• The role of play in early childhood education.
• The effectiveness of early literacy programs.
• The role of parental involvement in early childhood education.
• The impact of early childhood education on social skills development.
• The challenges of teaching math in early childhood education.
• The role of creativity in early childhood education.
• The effectiveness of early intervention programs.
• The impact of early childhood education on cognitive development.
• The role of teacher-child relationships in early childhood education.

7. Educational Policies and Reforms

• The impact of No Child Left Behind on elementary education.
• The role of Common Core State Standards in curriculum development.
• The effectiveness of school choice policies.
• The role of educational policies in promoting equity in education.
• The impact of teacher evaluation policies on teaching and learning.
• The challenges of implementing educational reforms in elementary schools.
• The role of educational policies in promoting teacher quality.
• The effectiveness of policies aimed at reducing the achievement gap.
• The impact of educational funding policies on student achievement.
• The role of educational policies in promoting parental involvement.

8. Teacher Education and Professional Development

• The impact of teacher education programs on teacher effectiveness.
• The role of ongoing professional development in promoting teacher quality.
• The effectiveness of mentorship programs for novice teachers.
• The role of reflective practice in teacher professional development.
• The impact of teacher beliefs on teaching practices.
• The challenges of teaching in high-needs schools.
• The role of teacher collaboration in professional development.
• The effectiveness of teacher induction programs.
• The impact of teacher leadership on school improvement.
• The role of teacher autonomy in promoting job satisfaction.

9. Classroom Management

• The impact of classroom management strategies on student behavior.
• The role of positive reinforcement in promoting appropriate behavior.
• The effectiveness of classroom rules and procedures.
• The role of teacher-student relationships in classroom management.
• The impact of classroom environment on student learning.
• The challenges of managing disruptive behavior.
• The role of behavior management strategies in promoting a positive classroom climate.
• The effectiveness of conflict resolution strategies in the classroom.
• The impact of classroom management on student engagement.
• The role of classroom routines in promoting student responsibility.

10. Assessment and Evaluation

• The impact of formative assessment on student learning.
• The role of feedback in student assessment.
• The effectiveness of performance-based assessment.
• The role of self-assessment in promoting student learning.
• The impact of standardized testing on teaching and learning.
• The challenges of assessing student learning in diverse classrooms.
• The role of assessment in curriculum planning.
• The effectiveness of portfolio assessment.
• The impact of grading policies on student motivation.
• The role of assessment in identifying students at risk of academic failure.

This comprehensive list of elementary education research paper topics provides a wide range of areas to explore. Whether you’re interested in teaching methods, curriculum development, educational technology, or the social aspects of elementary education, there’s a research topic for you. Remember, the best research topic is one that you’re genuinely interested in and passionate about.

Elementary Education Research Guide

Elementary education, also known as primary education, is a crucial stage in the educational journey of a child. It is during these formative years that children acquire foundational skills in areas such as reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Additionally, they develop critical thinking skills, creativity, and social competencies that are essential for their overall growth and development.

Elementary education serves as the building block for all future learning. The experiences and knowledge gained during these years can significantly influence a child’s attitude towards learning, their academic success, and their lifelong learning habits. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that children receive quality education during these years.

Research in elementary education is of paramount importance. It helps educators, policymakers, and stakeholders understand the best practices, methodologies, and strategies to enhance learning outcomes in primary education. It also provides insights into the challenges faced in elementary education and how to address them effectively.

Elementary education research paper topics can span a wide range of areas, including teaching methods, learning styles, the impact of technology on learning, educational policies, classroom management, and many more. Choosing a research topic in this field requires careful consideration of various factors, including your interests, the relevance of the topic, and the availability of resources.

In the following sections, we provide a comprehensive list of elementary education research paper topics, expert advice on choosing a topic and writing a research paper, and information about iResearchNet’s professional writing services. Whether you are a student embarking on your first research project or a seasoned researcher looking for new areas to explore, this guide is designed to assist you in your research journey.

Choosing Elementary Education Research Paper Topics

Choosing a research topic is a critical step in the research process. The topic you select will guide your study, influence the complexity and relevance of your work, and determine how engaged you are throughout the process. In the field of elementary education, there are numerous intriguing topics that can be explored. Here are some expert tips to assist you in this process:

• Understanding Your Interests: The first step in choosing a research topic is to understand your interests. What areas of elementary education fascinate you the most? Are you interested in how teaching methods influence student learning, or are you more intrigued by the role of technology in the classroom? Reflecting on these questions can help you narrow down your options and choose a topic that truly engages you. Remember, research is a time-consuming process, and your interest in the topic will keep you motivated.
• Evaluating the Scope of the Topic: Once you have identified your areas of interest, the next step is to evaluate the scope of potential elementary education research paper topics. A good research topic should be neither too broad nor too narrow. If it’s too broad, you may struggle to cover all aspects of the topic effectively. If it’s too narrow, you may have difficulty finding enough information to support your research. Try to choose a topic that is specific enough to be manageable but broad enough to have sufficient resources.
• Assessing Available Resources and Data: Before finalizing a topic, it’s important to assess the available resources and data. Are there enough academic sources, such as books, journal articles, and reports, that you can use for your research? Is there accessible data that you can analyze if your research requires it? A preliminary review of literature and data can save you from choosing a topic with limited resources.
• Considering the Relevance and Applicability of the Topic: Another important factor to consider is the relevance and applicability of the topic. Is the topic relevant to current issues in elementary education? Can the findings of your research be applied in real-world settings? Choosing a relevant and applicable topic can increase the impact of your research and make it more interesting for your audience.
• Seeking Advice: Don’t hesitate to seek advice from your professors, peers, or other experts in the field. They can provide valuable insights, suggest resources, and help you refine your topic. Discussing your ideas with others can also help you see different perspectives and identify potential issues that you may not have considered.
• Flexibility: Finally, be flexible. Research is a dynamic process, and it’s okay to modify your topic as you delve deeper into your study. You may discover new aspects of the topic that are more interesting or find that some aspects are too challenging to explore due to constraints. Being flexible allows you to adapt your research to these changes and ensure that your study is both feasible and engaging.

Remember, choosing a research topic is not a decision to be taken lightly. It requires careful consideration and planning. However, with these expert tips, you can navigate this process more effectively and choose an elementary education research paper topic that not only meets your academic requirements but also fuels your passion for learning.

How to Write an Elementary Education Research Paper

Writing a research paper is a significant academic task that requires careful planning, thorough research, and meticulous writing. In the field of elementary education, this process can be particularly challenging due to the complexity and diversity of the field. However, with the right approach and strategies, you can write a compelling and insightful research paper. Here are some expert tips to guide you through this process:

• Understanding the Structure of a Research Paper: A typical research paper includes an introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion, and conclusion. The introduction presents your research question and its significance. The literature review provides an overview of existing research related to your topic. The methodology explains how you conducted your research. The results section presents your findings, and the discussion interprets these findings in the context of your research question. Finally, the conclusion summarizes your research and suggests areas for future research.
• Developing a Strong Thesis Statement: Your thesis statement is the central argument of your research paper. It should be clear, concise, and debatable. A strong thesis statement guides your research and helps your readers understand the purpose of your paper.
• Conducting Thorough Research: Before you start writing, conduct a thorough review of the literature related to your topic. This will help you understand the current state of research in your area, identify gaps in the literature, and position your research within this context. Use academic databases to find relevant books, journal articles, and other resources. Remember to evaluate the credibility of your sources and take detailed notes to help you when writing.
• Writing and Revising Drafts: Start writing your research paper by creating an outline based on the structure of a research paper. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that you cover all necessary sections. Write a first draft without worrying too much about perfection. Focus on getting your ideas down first. Then, revise your draft to improve clarity, coherence, and argumentation. Make sure each paragraph has a clear topic sentence and supports your thesis statement.
• Proper Citation and Avoiding Plagiarism: Always cite your sources properly to give credit to the authors whose work you are building upon and to avoid plagiarism. Familiarize yourself with the citation style required by your institution or discipline, such as APA, MLA, Chicago/Turabian, or Harvard. There are many citation tools available online that can help you with this.
• Seeking Feedback: Don’t hesitate to seek feedback on your drafts from your professors, peers, or writing centers at your institution. They can provide valuable insights and help you improve your paper.
• Proofreading: Finally, proofread your paper to check for any grammatical errors, typos, or inconsistencies in formatting. A well-written, error-free paper makes a good impression on your readers and enhances the credibility of your research.
• Incorporating Elementary Education Concepts: When writing an elementary education research paper, it’s crucial to accurately incorporate elementary education concepts. Make sure you understand these concepts thoroughly and can explain them clearly in your paper. Use examples where appropriate to illustrate these concepts.
• Analyzing and Interpreting Data: If your research involves data analysis, be sure to explain your analysis process and interpret the results in a way that is understandable to your readers. Discuss the implications of your findings for the broader field of elementary education.
• Discussing Real-World Applications: Elementary education is a practical field with many real-world applications. Discuss how your research relates to these applications. This can make your research more interesting and relevant to your readers.

Remember, writing a research paper is a process that requires time, effort, and patience. Don’t rush through it.Take the time to plan your research, conduct thorough research, write carefully, and revise your work. With these expert tips, you can write an elementary education research paper that is insightful, well-structured, and contributes to the field of elementary education.

Custom Research Paper Writing Services

Writing a research paper is a significant undertaking that requires a deep understanding of the topic, strong writing skills, and the ability to conduct thorough research. At iResearchNet, we understand the challenges that students face when writing a research paper, and we are here to help. We offer a range of professional writing services designed to support students in their academic journey.

• Expert Degree-Holding Writers: Our team of writers are not just experts in their respective fields, but they also hold advanced degrees. They understand the intricacies of academic writing and are adept at writing research papers in various fields, including education.
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At iResearchNet, we are committed to helping you succeed in your academic journey. We understand the challenges of writing a research paper and are here to support you every step of the way. Whether you need help choosing a topic, conducting research, writing your paper, or editing and proofreading your work, our expert writers are ready to assist you. With our professional writing services, you can focus on learning and leave the stress of writing to us.

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ChatGPT for Teachers

Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, five ways to teach research skills to elementary school children.

Search engines can streamline the process of teaching basic research to elementary schoolchildren who require expert guidance on how to navigate the Web — and the earlier, the better.

Elementary school is when kids first begin to learn how to learn. Kids start using search engines quite early on, making elementary school the perfect time to teach research skills that become a foundation for a lifetime of learning.

The base skill for all schoolchildren is the ability to sift content for relevance and accuracy. Here are five ways teachers can help improve this skill in elementary-age children.

1. Define the task

What exactly must be researched? It’s very easy to get lost if children do not know precisely what they are looking for. In elementary school the subjects may be relatively simple, but they still must be defined accurately to aid in the search.

Teachers should talk with students about what they will be looking for and how to get specific results. The more specific they can get, the easier it will be to come up with search terms.

2. Discover keywords

Elementary school students may not fully grasp the concept of keywords, so they’ll need to be instructed in this foundational aspect of search technology. Search engines perform well only if correct keywords are used, and students need to learn how to come up with those words to get the results they need.

Keywords are typically based upon the most common approach to discussing a subject. Often, it will take some trial and error to discover just what keyword combination yields the desired results. Teachers can create a whole lesson around keywords, including what they are, how they work and how to find them.

3. Use appropriate tools

Google and Bing are probably the most popular search engines, but they may not be the best for teaching research skills to young people. Teacher Mary Beth Hertz recommends one of the more popular search engines for students, Sweet Search, whose results are screened by experts. Using something like Sweet Search may make it easier to teach research skills by weeding out a lot of the chaff that so often comes up on the more popular engines.

4. Teach about source hierarchy and evaluation

Elementary students can comprehend the tiers of legitimacy related to information-gathering. Teachers can explain about primary sources, original research and the reliability of information found on the Web. Kids can learn about how information travels from research papers to news sources to blogs and so on.

By going through examples, teachers can demonstrate the way various information sources find their information and present it to the public, and how to determine which information is best to use for their projects.

Children may not need to cite abstracts from scientific research papers, but they can learn to seek information more intelligently.

5. Take notes and compile information

The complexity of note-taking skills will depend on the students’ grade level, but even kids in the younger grades can learn to take pencil to paper and record the most important pieces of information they gather. The better they get at finding quality sources, the easier the note-taking will become.

Students should also learn how to cite their sources appropriately.

Setting up a lifelong skill

Learning research skills at a young age will give students a skill that will serve them over a lifetime. This skill will not only be useful in school, but in their everyday lives as they attempt to absorb ever-increasing amounts of information. Teachers will do their students a great service in teaching these skills.

You may also like to read

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• Three Tips for Quality Assessment in Elementary School
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Partnering with Educators to Iteratively Co-create Tools to Support Teachers’ Use of Equity-Focused Positive Behavioral Supports

• Original Research
• Open access
• Published: 22 April 2024

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Julie Sarno Owens   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4674-9637 1 ,
• Deinera Exner-Cortens   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2021-1350 2 ,
• Elise Cappella   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3768-6443 3 ,
• Madeline DeShazer   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7774-6466 1 ,
• Natalie May   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4580-702X 3 ,
• John Seipp 1 ,
• Caroline Claussen 2 ,
• Nicholas Zieg   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0002-8490-2361 1 &
• Maria Garcia 3  

In the Maximize Project, we are engaging in a research-practice partnership to co-create implementation strategies to facilitate elementary school teachers’ use of equity-focused positive behavior supports (EF-PBS). In this paper, we describe the processes used to build an interactive, technology-based platform to enhance teachers’ use of EF-PBS via self-reflection, self-assessment, goal setting, and goal review. We describe how we established a multi-disciplinary, multi-state community advisory board to collaborate on Version 1 of platform (Phase 1). We explain how we obtained quantitative and qualitative feedback about the platform from educators in three partnering schools, and how we used those data to produce Version 2 of the platform (Phase 2). Platform use data suggested high utilization in Quarter 1 (August–October) of the school year, when there was protected time to complete activities. However, platform use was moderate in Quarter 2 (October–December) and low in Quarters 3 and 4 (January–May). Educator feedback revealed moderate acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of the platform and highlighted ways to improve the user experience (e.g., streamlining steps in goal setting, making resources about strategy implementation easier to find). We discuss lessons learned to inform school mental health co-creation endeavors, including strategies for supporting diverse perspectives, for enhancing advisory board members’ voices and confidence, and for creating practical and feasible methods for teachers to benefit from co-created technology-based implementation strategies. Our processes offer guidance for others engaging in research-practice partnerships, developing education technologies and/or supporting teachers’ use of equity-focused practices to improve daily school experiences for all students.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

Disruptive behavior—that which interferes with academic instruction—is a common challenge faced by teachers (Aloe et al., 2014 ; DeShazer et al., 2023 ). These behaviors may manifest as a function of student mental health challenges and/or student stress related to inequities facing their communities, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic (Deng et al., 2023 ; Institute of Education Sciences, n.d.). Although teachers’ use of positive behavior supports can reduce disruptive classroom behavior (Korpershoek et al., 2016 ; Nisar et al., 2022 ), teacher preparation for and implementation of such supports varies (Owens et al., 2017 ). Barriers that teachers may face when implementing these supports include limited time and access to professional development (Collier-Meek et al., 2019 ), insufficient knowledge and skills related to strategy use (Owens et al., 2017 ; Sutherland et al., 2019 ), and inadequate implementation strategies and accountability (DeFouw et al., 2023 ; Long et al., 2016 ).

In addition, there is concern that teachers have received insufficient training on how to implement these supports equitably and with sensitivity to student culture (Gaias et al., 2019 ). We draw from Exner-Cortens et al. (Exner-Cortens et al., 2022 ) and define equitable implementation as implementing supports equally when there is equal need across students (i.e., horizontal equity) and with enhancements when there is greater need among some students (i.e., vertical equity). For example, horizontal equity occurs when all students receive a personalized greeting each day with their preferred name. Vertical equity occurs when certain students (e.g., those who need deeper connection to support their self-regulation and student–teacher relationship) receive a greeting plus a brief check-in about their emotions or goal for the day. Implementation of positive behavior supports without attention to equity or sensitivity to students and their culture is a concern, as students with marginalized identities experience higher rates of exclusionary discipline (Annamma et al., 2019 ; U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2016 ), less positive student–teacher relationships, and micro-aggressions that devalue their identities, families, and cultures (Butler-Barnes & Inniss-Thompson, 2020 ; Collins et al., 2023 ; Okoroji & Oka, 2021 ), as compared to their non-marginalized peers. These cumulative experiences of exclusion and isolation can ultimately contribute to students’ school disengagement (Voight et al., 2015 ), and pushout via exclusionary discipline (Novak, 2021 ). Notably, these experiences can occur even when traditional positive behavior supports (i.e., supports as typically used and that do not center equity) are implemented (e.g., Bradshaw et al., 2010, 2015). Thus, research on implementation strategies that (1) facilitate the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for equity-focused positive behavioral supports and (2) address common barriers to implementation (i.e., limited time and access to professional development; insufficient knowledge and skills to use the practices; inadequate implementation supports and accountability) is needed.

The Maximize Project uses a research-practice partnership to co-create implementation strategies to increase teachers’ use of equity-focused positive behavior supports (EF-PBS). EF-PBS represent an expansion of traditional positive behavior supports. EF-PBS are classroom practices that include equity features and are implemented within a specific equity/social justice framework, with the intention of making all students feel valued and able to thrive each day. We use Gorski and Swalwell’s (Gorski & Swalwell, 2015 ) Equity Literacy framework, as it is appropriate for designing practices that advance intersectional equity (i.e., equity across multiple intersections of marginalization). The Equity Literacy framework encourages educators to go beyond cultural competence by developing the skill and will to engage in critical actions, including recognizing when inequities are occurring, responding in the moment, and dismantling procedures that support inequity.

We hypothesized that we could (1) develop a core set of EF-PBS features using the Equity Literacy framework and then (2) address common barriers to educators’ implementation of EF-PBS by leveraging interactive technology and the organization’s social network via peer leaders (see Fig.  1 ). Emerging literature suggests that interactive technology can facilitate use of best practices for targeted interventions (e.g., Owens et al., 2022 ; Scheibel et al., 2023 ); yet it is unrealistic to assume that access to technology will lead to sustained implementation for all teachers without additional supports. Thus, by enhancing the capacity of peer leaders identified by mapping the school social network (Atkins et al., 2015 ; Neal et al., 2011 ), we may be able to develop a feasible, contextually and culturally relevant (i.e., in-house) mechanism to further the impact of the technology in facilitating adoption and implementation of EF-PBS, with the goal of ultimately enhancing equitable student outcomes.

Theory of change for maximizing teachers’ use of equity-focused positive behavior supports (EF-PBS), professional learning (PD)

The goal of this paper is to describe the collaborative research-practice co-creation of EF-PBS, as well as an interactive technology-based platform to support their use, referred to as the Maximize platform (we describe the peer leader component in a separate paper). We are following a co-creation process in the context of a research-practice partnership to ensure that diverse educator voices and perspectives are meaningfully represented and integrated into the products developed (Bammer, 2019 ; Pellecchia et al., 2018 ; Weisz et al., 2005 ). In this paper, we describe (1) how we engaged our community advisory board, which is comprised of educators representing diverse lived experiences, positions, student populations, and geographic locations, to co-design our EF-PBS practices and features, and the initial content and processes on the Maximize platform (Phase 1), (2) how we used mixed methods data from educators at three partnering elementary schools to co-produce the second iteration (Version 2) of the Maximize platform (Phase 2), and (3) lessons learned to inform future research.

The Maximize Platform: EF-PBS Practices and Implementation Strategies

Ef-pbs practices.

To design our EF-PBS practices for the Maximize platform, we used systematic reviews of existing classroom management practices, positive behavioral supports, and social-emotional programs to identify and prioritize 10 positive behavior supports that have consistent evidence of effectiveness in improving student performance among the samples studied (McLeod et al., 2017 ; Nisar et al., 2022 ; Simonsen et al., 2008 ). However, given well-documented inequities in discipline referrals (Annamma et al., 2019 ; U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, 2016 ), and negative interpersonal experiences among marginalized students and educators (Butler-Barnes & Inniss-Thompson, 2020 ; Kohli & Solórzano, 2012 ), we acknowledged the need to modify the implementation of these 10 practices to be more equity-focused (Exner-Cortens et al., 2022 ). Thus, we co-developed equity-focused features for each practice using the Equity Literacy framework ( www.equityliteracy.org ) as a guide. For example, through the Maximize platform, we aim to help teachers (a) understand the difference between traditional approaches to establishing classroom expectations (e.g., teacher driven with the goal of obtaining student compliance) and equity-focused approaches that consider student voices when co-creating classroom expectations that focus on improving prosocial behavior via relationships and accountability to the peer group; (b) consider how to individualize praise based on student preference (e.g., public versus private compliments) and ensuring that all students receive praise; and (c) recognize their own stress in the presence of challenging behavior, the biases this stress may invoke, and effective ways to respond to challenging behavior without excluding students from the classroom. See Supplemental Material for Version 1 and 2 all 10 practices and their equity-focused features. Although efforts to improve teachers’ use of culturally responsive practices to reduce disproportionality in office discipline referrals are emerging (Bradshaw et al., 2018 ; McIntosh et al., 2021 ), there is still much to be learned about how to integrate this professional learning into the typical practice of schools.

Implementation Strategies

Implementation strategies are methods or techniques designed to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and sustainment of an evidence-based practice (Cook et al., 2019 ; Proctor et al., 2013 ). For the Maximize platform, we focused on implementer- (i.e., teacher) level strategies and prioritized ways to collect data via the platform to advance our understanding of teachers’ reaction to the implementation strategies in the moment. Below, we describe the components of the platform and note in parentheses how each is connected to an implementation strategy or behavior change technique (Carey et al., 2019 ; Cook et al., 2019 ); see Fig.  1 ).

To address barriers of access and time for professional development (Collier-Meek et al., 2019 ), the Maximize platform allows teachers to review content at their own time and pace. To enhance knowledge and skills, the platform includes interactive “wizards,” guided user journeys, and autonomy in the learning process. As a first step, teachers complete a self-assessment of their use of 10 priority EF-PBS: Personalized Greetings, Student Check-ins, Community Circles, Establishing Classroom Expectations, Acknowledge Positive BehaviorPraise, Corrective Feedback, Teaching Prosocial Skills, Classroom Routines, Effective Questioning, and Student Choice. Responses from this process create a personalized teacher profile, and teachers are encouraged to learn more about practices in their profile that were designated as an Area for Potential Growth (IS: test-drive and select practices) . To address limitations in teacher knowledge and skills (Owens et al., 2017 ; Reinke et al., 2011 ), the Learn More pages of the Maximize platform include the definition of each EF-PBS practice, equitable implementation features, and handouts and video models for implementation (IS: Develop an implementation glossary; Instruction on how to perform the behavior). Building on the benefits of the presentation of new perspectives and self-reflection (Okonofua et al., 2016 ; Sellars, 2012 ) and to enhance knowledge and attitudes (e.g., empathy, openness, curiosity), teachers are also directed to complete brief self-reflection activities focused on equity-related topics (e.g., implicit biases, equity versus equality). Given varied reactions to equity-focused initiatives (Muhammad, 2009 ), the platform provides a private space for learning and self-reflection. In content development, we made continuous efforts with our advisory board to balance meeting educators “where they are,” being provocative enough to disrupt the status-quo, and being realistic about what new practices teachers could adopt given the stress they experience as part of their work.

We also developed several features for improving implementer buy-in and motivation (Carey et al., 2019 ; Cook et al., 2019 ). Following the self-assessment process, teachers are encouraged to set a goal for strategy improvement (IS: Goal setting). Given the promise of motivational ruler ratings (Owens et al., 2022 ), teachers are then asked to rate the importance of the goal and their confidence in carrying out their selected goal. Teachers are prompted to consider possible barriers to achieving their goal and identify actions to take if that barrier emerges (IS: Action planning). Following goal setting, teachers are prompted weekly to complete a goal review until they reach perceived mastery of the goal (IS: Self-monitoring; Prompts and cues). Teachers also received email reminders to engage with the platform (IS: Reminders, nudges, prompts and cues). In the Method section, we describe the processes used with our community advisory board to co-create these platform components. In the Results section, we share data on platform acceptability, feasibility, and utility obtained from educators in our partner schools, and how we used these data to co-produce the platform's second iteration (Version 2).

To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of an interactive platform with embedded implementation strategies designed to facilitate knowledge, skills, and attitudes aligned with EF-PBS. The focus of the current paper is to share the processes used to co-create the platform. We hope the data captured from the Maximize platform (e.g., how teachers rate their use of skills, the goals they select; their reactions to equity-related self-reflection activities) can provide valuable insights about ways to engage teachers in this work and to ultimately impact student outcomes.

Co-creation Approach

We adopted a co-creation approach to the platform design process (Craig et al., 2021 ; Greenhalgh et al., 2016 ; Moll et al., 2020 ; Nguyen et al., 2020 ), which centered the “collaborative generation of knowledge by academics working alongside stakeholders from other sectors” (Greenhalgh et al., 2016 ). The goal of this process is facilitating efficient and meaningful research-practice knowledge translation. Co-creation draws on principles from other design processes and knowledge mobilization approaches, including community-based participatory research (Greenhalgh et al., 2016 ), integrated knowledge translation (Jull et al., 2017 ), and user-centered design (Lyon & Koerner, 2016 ). Co-creation approaches also make space for multiple epistemologies, as all actors involved in the process can contribute knowledge that reflects their own lived and practice experiences. Per Greenhalgh et al. ( 2016 ), three processes are necessary for effective co-creation work: (1) a systems perspective, such that the process is non-linear, iterative, and adaptive to local context; (2) a creative endeavor, where the end product is not predetermined and depends on individual needs, experiences, and creative ideas; and (3) a focus on process, such that processes used to create knowledge (e.g., relationship building approaches, leadership style, and governance) are equal in importance to the ultimate knowledge product. Co-creation also involves critical reflexivity (Moll et al., 2020 ), as well as acknowledgement of power differentials among the decision-makers (i.e., researchers, community partners, end users) (Leask et al., 2019 ). In this project, and per Bammer’s stakeholder involvement spectrum (Bammer, 2019 ), our community advisory board members took on a co-design ‘collaborator’ role by providing expertise and advice on the development of the Maximize platform in Phase 1. Educators at participating schools (the end users) were in an ‘involved’ role, as their input directly influenced the iterative design of the Maximize platform and procedures through co-production processes in Phase 2. Our plan was to partner with two local elementary schools and an advisory board to co-develop the first version of the platform. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic-related school closings, we were unable to secure local partnering schools for Year 1. Thus, our Year 1/Phase 1 work described below was conducted with our advisory board members only and we included partnering schools in Year 2/Phase 2.

Positionality Statement & Context

Our investigative team is led by White, cisgender women who strive to be allies in equity-focused initiatives. We approach this work with humility and reflexivity and have been intentional to seek the opinions and insights of advisory board members from diverse backgrounds while developing this project and expanding our perspectives on this topic. We acknowledge and celebrate the long history of scholars of color doing this work, and we wish to build upon their prior work and continuing contributions as we engage in this work.

In this section, we describe our Phase 1 work with the advisory board (recruitment, demographic information, and co-design procedures) and Phase 2 work with educators in partnering schools (recruitment, demographic information, implementation of the Maximize platform, and multi-method approach to data collection).

Phase 1: Co-Design with Community Advisory Board Members

Recruitment.

In July of 2021 (Study Year 1), the principal investigators discussed which educators within their local and national networks to invite to the board. We considered individuals with expertise in equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives in schools and/or positive behavioral supports, as well as persons representing diverse lived experiences, positions in schools, community types (rural, urban, suburban), and students served. We sent invitation letters to all potential advisory board members that (a) oriented them to the project (link to a video overview), (b) highlighted the expertise we thought they would bring, (c) described the responsibilities (10 hour commitment from October-June reviewing materials and/or participating in virtual meetings; one-year appointment with opportunity to renew), and (d) noted the potential benefits (compensation of $40/hour; their name listed on our website, conversations with educators, and the opportunity to list this experience on their resume). Following acceptance, we sent a demographic survey and a poll to schedule the first meeting.

Demographic Characteristics

In Study Year 1 (2021–2022), the advisory board consisted of 11 members. In Study Year 2 (2022–2023), 6 members recommitted for a second year and 2 new members joined; the members who did not recommit cited new work responsibilities. Over the two years, the membership included 3 teachers, 2 assistant principals, 2 school social workers, and 6 in other positions (e.g., Director of diversity/equity/inclusion, teacher equity and diversity trainer, and instructional consultants). Advisory board members described primary job activities as focusing teaching, coaching on culturally responsive teaching, co-leading equity-focused staff training, and providing social-emotional support in elementary schools. Across all members for both years ( n  = 13), 100% identified as a cisgender woman, and 23.1% identified as Hispanic/Latina. With regard to racial identity, 15.4% identified as Black or African American, 15.4% as multiracial, 7.7% as Middle Eastern, and 61.5% as white. The membership represented schools in urban, rural, and suburban communities in Ohio, Maryland, New York, and Alberta, Canada. Ten members were parents, and six reported that they were parents of children with special needs.

Study Year 1 (2021–2022) Procedures

Our goal was to collaborate with this advisory board to co-design the first version of the Maximize platform. All community advisory board meetings were virtual, given that members spanned three time zones. We used pre-work activities to maximize meeting time for exchange of ideas. In Table  1 , we highlight the pre-work activities, content, and co-design processes used during advisory board meetings, as well as the products that resulted. To build relationships and trust, we opened each meeting with “a connector” or “ice breaker.” In alignment with Greenhalgh et al.’s ( 2016 ) recommendations for developing a shared vision through relationship building and trust, we discussed communication norms and procedures during our first meeting and revisited these norms in the next three meetings, asking for modifications as needed (few changes were requested via this format). Investigators communicated with advisory board members between meetings (e.g., via email or when we crossed paths as a function of other work) to process group dynamics and obtain perceptions of the climate. We used a variety of technologies to facilitate the work, including Qualtrics surveys, Google Docs, Jamboards, PowerPoint slides, chat boards, and Zoom break-out rooms. In break-out rooms, we designated a note taker and identified ways to signal agreement (e.g., green checkmark) with the content being written on the shared document or if an idea warranted more discussion (e.g., question mark). Relevant to this paper, collaborative meetings were spent (a) identifying the positive behavior supports to prioritize on the Maximize platform, (b) developing the key features for equitable implementation, and (c) developing the self-reflection activities for the platform. Periodically, we asked members to complete a survey to provide constructive meeting feedback.

Although we initially focused on building trust, we also received early feedback from some members via individual communications that made us reflect on the extent to which the “space” felt too academic (e.g., based on language used during the meeting). With this feedback, we reduced our reliance on PowerPoint slides and academic terms and started using more break-out rooms to foster more connected conversations. In addition, as we met with advisory board members individually, we learned more about the expertise some members could provide outside of meetings. Thus, we started sharing requests for co-design via email between meetings and allowed board members to self-select the topics and activities they most preferred to collaborate on.

Study Year 2 (2022–2023) Procedures

As we obtained quantitative and qualitative data during the first year of Maximize implementation in schools (2022–2023), we shared data with advisory board members and co-created modifications for the next iteration (Version 2) of the platform (for 2023–2024). In spring 2023, the investigative team updated the equity-focused features based on data from the first iteration (Version 1). First, advisory board members rated each new key feature on Equity Impact, Feasibility, and Novelty ( 0  =  Strongly Disagree; 4  =  Strongly Agree ). Then, we discussed the ratings, which informed refinement of (a) the key features and their order (higher impact first), (b) the self-assessment activities, and (c) the resources on the Learn More pages, all of which are now incorporated into the second iteration (Version 2) of the Maximize platform to be evaluated in 2023–2024. Some advisory board members also continued to be active between meetings, co-creating the next iteration of platform features (e.g., Goal Builder) and new self-reflection activities.

Phase 2: Feedback and Co-Production with Partnering Elementary Schools

After developing the Maximize platform with the advisory board, our goals were to partner with elementary schools, share Version 1 of the platform, observe use of the platform, assess feasibility, acceptability, and utility, and collaborate to co-produce the Version 2 of the platform.

Investigators obtained study approval from their universities’ institutional review boards and participating school districts. To recruit schools to use the Maximize platform, investigators distributed project flyers during the winter of 2021 to elementary schools in districts in Central Ohio. We then met with interested principals to describe the project; principals from three elementary schools representing two districts consented to participate. In August 2022, we held a 2-hour project orientation meeting with all staff in each building; teachers were compensated for participation ($30/hour). During this meeting, we described the project goals and procedures, Equity Literacy framework, and rationale for focusing on EF-PBS. Teachers were given the opportunity to ask questions and consent to the project. We oriented teachers to all aspects of the Maximize platform and asked them to complete an initial self-assessment. We encouraged teachers to connect to the platform once each week for 10–15 min. All teachers could earn contact hours toward continuing education credits for completing platform activities that they then could submit to their local education authority, as relevant to their professional needs.

In Study Year 2 (2022–2023), 123 educators from the three schools consented to participate (84% response rate across schools). Participants included 57 general education teachers, 34 other teachers (i.e., special education, allied arts [music, art, PE], and English language learner teachers), and 32 other staff (e.g., principals, assistant principals, school counselors, school social workers, aides). Ninety-one participants provided demographic data (see Table  2 ). Our sample is relatively equally divided across all grade levels and is similar in racial and gender distribution to teachers across Ohio (Ohio Education by the Numbers, n.d.). In this project, we view general education teachers as distal end users of the Maximize platform. Although not discussed in this paper, we also used social network analyses to identify peer leaders in each building and provided consultation to these peer leaders to raise their capacity to provide implementation supports and facilitative coaching to general education teachers (See Fig.  1 ). Thus, peer leaders are also end users, but are more proximal to the study team than classroom teachers. These peer leaders are included in the total educators count listed above.

The students in participating schools are somewhat more racially diverse than student bodies across the state of Ohio ( Ohio Education by the Numbers , n.d.): 18–25% White, 42–59% Black, 9–13% Hispanic/Latine, 2–14% Asian, and 10–14% multiracial. In addition, about 13–24% of students identify as English language learners, 14–17% have an identified disability, and 50–58% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Maximize Technology Platform Procedures

After viewing a brief platform orientation video, all users were routed to complete an initial self-assessment of the 10 practices (they are referred to as strategies on the platform), rating their frequency of use and interest in improving implementation of each (see Owens et al., 2023 for outcomes). Based on their ratings, teachers were presented with a personalized strategy profile, which displayed the practices in one of three columns: Areas of strength, Doing well enough, and Potential areas for growth (see Owens et al., 2023 for visual images). For each practice, teachers could explore the Learn More pages to find the definition of the practice and its equity-focused key features and resources for implementation (see Fig.  2 for a guided user journey on the platform). Teachers and peer leaders had access to the same technology platform.

Initial maximize platform user journey and key features. Note. Once the educator completes the initial self-assessment, they can navigate to all content in any order and re-take a self-assessment at any time

Based on their personalized profile, teachers were encouraged to set a goal using the Goal Builder , an interactive ‘wizard’ that first prompted teachers to select which strategy they wanted to improve, and then to rate their use or interest in improving their equitable implementation of it. The equity-focused features they were interested in improving auto-populated into a list, and they were asked to select one feature for their goal. The Goal Builder then created a specific goal statement for this feature. For example, if a teacher chose the Corrective Feedback strategy and selected the equity-focused feature for improvement to be Considering a wide range of effective responses to disruptive behavior, including offering choices, providing opportunities for skill development, and engaging in problem solving discussions or restorative justice conversations with peers , the Goal Builder would auto-populate the statement: I am improving my use of corrective feedback by using a wide range of effective responses to disruptive behavior. Teachers could accept this goal statement or edit it for individualization. Lastly, consistent with principles of motivating change behavior (Miller & Rollnick, 2012 ), educators were asked to complete Motivational Ruler ratings. For importance  of their goal they were asked Among all other things you have to do, how important is this goal?). Then they were asked to describe why they did not choose a lower number. They were also asked to rate their confidence in carrying out the goal ( How confident are you that you can improve this practice in the next week? and one thing that would raise their confidence.  Responses are on a 10-point scale, from 1 =  not at all important/confident to 10 =  very important/confident . After setting a goal, it was populated onto their primary dashboard on the platform.

At the end of each week, teachers received a prompt on the platform to review their goal. In the Goal Review survey, teachers were first asked: How have you done with your goal since your last review date ? Response options include (1) Oops I forgot, (2) I made a little progress, or (3) I made a lot of progress . If they selected Oops I forgot , the Goal Review wizard inquired about the barriers that got in the way and what the teacher might do to work on their goal in the next week. If they selected, I made a lot of progress , the Goal Review wizard asked them to describe the progress they had made. Regardless of the first response, they were then asked, “What do you want to do with this goal?” Response options include: (1) Stop working on it , (2) Modify it and keep working on i t, (3) Keep working on it with no changes , and (4) I’ve mastered this one! Let’s consider it an achievement . If they selected “ I’ve mastered this one…” prior to a month’s time elapsing, they were encouraged to keep working on it for four weeks in order make the practice a habit. If they selected this option after a month had passed and they had completed two goal reviews, they were then asked with whom they might share this success to promote collaboration and celebration. Outcomes of the initial Goal Builder and Goal Reviews are reported in Owens et al., (2023).

Teachers were also prompted twice per month to complete self-reflection activities . For each activity, participants were first asked to watch a brief video or read a vignette and answer initial self-reflection questions. The next section, Learning Moment, provided information about the self-reflection topic, which was followed by some final self-reflection questions about how to move from knowledge to action. Self-reflection topics focused on Equity Literacy concepts (Gorski & Swalwell, 2015 ), as well as equity versus equality, student–teacher relationships, intersectionality, implicit bias when responding to challenging behavior, and navigating emotions during equity work. Descriptions of additions made for Version 2 of the Maximize platform are presented in the Results section.

On a monthly basis, the primary investigator (1st author) and other research team members met with each team of peer leaders (for training and capacity building purposes) and each principal (for project leadership purposes). Other research team members were in each school one-half day/week to meet with peer leaders (details related to capacity building for peer leaders presented in a separate manuscript). To obtain contextual information to inform project development and data interpretation, we engaged in informal classroom walk-throughs and kept field notes about challenging behavior in the classroom and situations that produced concerns about equity. We used this information to inform the development of additional self-reflection activities for Version 2 of the platform. Research team members did not directly coach teachers, so as not to interfere with the peer coaching process.

Finally, in the fall, winter, and spring of the 2022–23 school year, teachers were asked to complete surveys via REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) (Harris et al., 2009 ). In the winter and spring, surveys included an assessment of teacher perceptions of feasibility, acceptability, appropriateness, and usability of the Maximize platform. In the spring, teachers (platform users and non-users) were randomly selected and invited to participate in a 30–60-min virtual key informant interview conducted by two of the authors.

Phase 2 Quantitative Measures

Maximize platform use.

Via the backend of the platform, investigators tracked teacher completion of self-assessments, self-reflections, and goals by quarter, as well as goals reviewed and mastered for those who set goals.

Acceptability, Feasibility, and Usability

In January and April 2023, teachers were asked to complete items from the Acceptability of Intervention Measure (AIM), Intervention Appropriateness Measure (IAM), and Feasibility of Intervention Measure (FIM), all developed by Weiner (Weiner et al., 2017 ), and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Chow et al., 2012 ); all were modified slightly for relevance to the Maximize platform. The Weiner measures have evidence of acceptable internal consistency and construct validity (Weiner et al., 2017 ). The AIM, IAM, and FIM scales consist of 4 items rated on a 5-point scale (from “completely disagree” to “completely agree”). Cronbach’s alpha values for the current sample are 0.91 (AIM), 0.85 (IAM), and 0.68 (FIM).

The TAM scale consists of 16 items rated on a 7-point scale (from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”). It has 4 subscales assessing general self-efficacy for using technology (α = 0.55), perceived usefulness (α = 0.93) and ease of use (α = 0.88) of the Maximize platform, and a subscale assessing intention to use the Maximize platform (α = 0.93). Previous research shows that items on the TAM have acceptable internal consistency (all α’s > 0.80) and evidence for predictive validity of acceptance and actual usage of technology (Venkatesh & Davis, 2000 ). Cronbach’s alpha for the current sample of the full TAM measure is 0.91.

As another indicator of acceptability, at each time point, teachers were asked an anticipated use question, How likely are you to log into the Maximize platform in the next week? (1 = not at all likely to 10 = very likely ). During the winter and spring time points, teachers were also given the opportunity to respond to two open field questions: Tell us what you like about the platform and Tell us what you think could be improved about the platform. Winter responses to the two open field questions were used as qualitative data sources for this paper (see below).

Phase 2 Qualitative Measures

Self-reflection data.

Within each self-reflection activity, educators were asked to respond to a set of self-reflection questions (e.g., How do you learn about your students’ identities? Can you think of any invisible barriers to learning that students face? Has there ever been a time where you sounded like the adults in the video? What do you think contributed to your behavior at that time? ). At the end of each self-reflection, we also asked a micro-feedback question that stated: “We are open to learning and growing. Please provide any feedback you have about this activity (e.g., anything you particularly liked or did not like about it).” Data from the qualitative self-reflection questions and the micro-feedback question were used as qualitative data sources for this paper.

Interviews and Focus Groups

In spring 2023, two to four teachers per school, including platform users and non-users, and all peer leaders ( n  = 16) were invited to participate in an interview (teachers) or focus group (peer leaders) to discuss their experiences with the Maximize platform over the 2022–2023 school year. The recruitment emails described the interview or focus group topics, location, and length, and noted that participation was voluntary and confidential. Despite multiple follow-ups, only three teachers from two schools participated in the interviews (two users and one non-user), and eight peer leaders participated in four focus groups. All interviews and focus groups were conducted via Teams, audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. Participant responses to questions focused on the Maximize platform were used as qualitative data sources for this paper.

With the platform use and survey data, we examined descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies), Pearson correlations (between platform use and survey data), and one-tailed directional t-tests, expecting those with higher acceptability/appropriateness/feasibility ratings to be higher users of the platform. Teacher self-report measures were collected in winter (January 2023) and spring (April 2023). However, for three reasons, we only present winter data. First, there were more respondents in winter ( n  = 79 for AIM/IAM/FIM; n  = 77 for TAM) than spring ( n  = 65 for AIM/IAM/FIM; n  = 63 for TAM). Second, the responses and related conclusions are similar across time points. Third, most platform engagement occurred between August and December (see Results); thus, winter responses are more closely connected to the time of user engagement than spring responses. Differences in sample sizes between AIM/IAM/FIM and TAM measures reflect some teachers only completing a partial number of measures included in the survey battery.

Qualitative data obtained via the winter acceptability open field responses, self-reflection activities, micro-feedback question, interviews, and focus groups were cleaned and de-identified prior to analysis by the 7th author and three research assistants. We used codebook thematic analysis, as outlined by Braun and Clarke (Braun & Clarke, 2021 ) to analyze all qualitative data. This approach was chosen because it is a flexible, qualitative method that enables exploration of meaningful patterns within a dataset, which fit the goals of this paper. To analyze qualitative data, the 7th author developed two codebooks (one for the self-reflection, micro-feedback and open field data, and one for the interview and focus group data) from concepts based on a review of project goals. In thematic analysis, codes are the smallest unit capturing interesting features of the data potentially relevant to the research question (Braun & Clarke, 2021 ).

The interviews and focus groups were coded using Dedoose, a web application for mixed-methods research. A draft codebook was first tested to ensure applicability, and additional codes were added as needed.

Once a final version of the codebook was established, the 7th author coded all interview and focus groups transcripts. Before secondary coding on the interviews and focus groups was initiated by the research assistants, a coding application test was conducted in Dedoose to ensure good coding agreement among the qualitative research team for the interviews and focus groups. Dedoose calculates inter-rater reliability using Cohen’s kappa statistic (Cohen, 1960 ), for which a value of 0.61–0.80 indicates good agreement (Landis & Koch, 1977 ). The coding application test conducted on the interviews and focus groups resulted in a kappa value of 0.74, meeting the threshold of good agreement. Once all secondary coding was completed, the 7th author met with the research assistants to review their coding and discuss anywhere there was uncertainty or disagreement to reach consensus.

The self-reflection, micro-feedback, and open field data were coded in Excel. A research assistant did an initial round of coding for the self-reflection activity, micro-feedback, and open field data. Codes were then refined in the codebook in collaboration with the 7th author before research assistants completed and finalized the coding. The team—led by the 7th author—then created themes from all coded material related to Maximize users’ and non-users’ perceptions of acceptability, feasibility, and appropriateness of the platform.

The result of our Phase 1 work with advisory board members was Version 1 of the Maximize platform, as described above. Below, we describe quantitative and qualitative data collected in Phase 2, as well as how the findings informed the second iteration of the platform (Version 2) which is being tested in the 2023–24 school year.

Maximize Platform Use: Self-Assessments and Self-Reflections

Platform use data showed that 109 educators (89%) completed a self-assessment in Quarter 1 (August–October 2022) and 52 (42%) completed a self-assessment in Quarter 2 (October–December 2022). Very few educators completed a self-assessment in Quarter 3 (January–March 2023) or Quarter 4 (March–May 2023; see Table  3 ). Regarding goal setting, 69 (56%) educators set a goal in Quarter 1, 31 (25%) set a goal in Quarter 2, and the numbers declined thereafter (see Table  3 ). Throughout the year, educators set a variety of goals: 20 participants focused on Effective Questioning, 20 focused on Student Choice, 17 on Teaching Prosocial Skills, 16 on Corrective Feedback, 16 on Student Check-ins, 11 on Acknowledging Positive Behavior, 8 on Personalized Greetings, 7 on Community Circles, 7 on Classroom Routines, and 4 on Establishing Classroom Expectations.

Regarding self-reflection activities, 67 (54%) participants completed at least one self-reflection during the 2022–23 school year (range: 1–12; M  = 3.21, SD  = 3.03; see Table  4 for completion by quarter). Qualitative data from the self-reflection activities revealed three key themes related to overall perceptions of these activities. The first theme reflected comments about the importance of self-reflection as a specific activity on the Maximize platform. Open-ended responses to self-reflection activities demonstrated how educators used the reflection process as a tool to build their understanding of a given topic. Indeed, many participants wrote about how the activities created new levels of awareness related specifically to their social identities. For example:

It makes me realize that I maybe do not align with my students very well as far as identity goes. And that means it is even more important for me to learn about them and the different assets that they have. [Teacher A] I have never thought about all of those [social identities]. I feel like as a teacher we focus on gender and culture (more visible identities). It makes me think that I have a lot to discover about my students. [Teacher B]

A second theme found in the self-reflection data was that, overall, end users were generally satisfied with the content and activities. For example: This was a great video and activity. It reminded me of how important it is to keep positive relationships with all of those around me…even on my tough days. That’s when it’s the most important. [Peer Leader A] To this end, several participants specifically referenced the impact of learning about their own power and privilege. As described by one end user, “I enjoyed the activity. The [power and privilege] wheel makes it easy to identify your privilege” [Teacher C].

The last theme emphasized a desire for more detailed content and tools to support end users in taking action following the learning. For example, one participant wrote that they “ would like to learn more about these things through articles ” [Teacher D] as well as access to other sources of information to build their knowledge base. Another participant stated: I have always felt like I do these things well. I am EXTREMELY passionate about this type of work. Having more resources and factual information of what actually [should] take place in the classroom would be beneficial. [Teacher E] Other participants indicated that more direct support would be needed to help them move from knowledge to action in the classroom: I would love to see some examples of how teachers implement student-guided class expectations in their own classrooms. [Peer Leader B].

Overall, these themes suggest that participants valued the opportunities for self-reflection embedded within the Maximize platform and were generally satisfied with the content and activities. However, more concrete examples and tools are needed so that end users can move the ideas and concepts presented into action.

Additional feedback on Maximize self-reflection activities comes from the micro-feedback question on content presented in the self-reflection activities (i.e., what users liked/did not like about the activity). Substantive feedback was offered following six of the ten self-reflections, with 25 total users providing responses. The self-reflection activity on teacher and student identities resulted in the highest number of responses. Many users had positive feedback (e.g., stated the activity was “thought provoking” and “almost like therapy”). There were also a handful who suggested that some of the questions were rather personal and elicited guilt (e.g., “makes me feel bad for being a heterosexual, cisgender [person]”).

Overall Acceptability, Appropriateness, Feasibility, and Ease of Use

As an initial indicator of acceptability, in August, 94 educators (47 general education teachers; 47 other educators) rated the likelihood (between 0 and 10) that they would use the platform in the next week: 56.4% provided a response between 7 and 10, 36.2% between 4 and 6, and 7.5% responded between 0 and 3. The average across all educators was 6.74 ( SD  = 2.19). The anticipated use rating was correlated ( r  = 0.31, p  = 0.003) with total engagement with the platform (i.e., the sum of completed self-assessments, self-reflections, goals set, and goals reviewed). In winter, educators again rated the likelihood (on a scale of 0 to 10) that they would use the Maximize Platform in the next week, and 77 educators responded at this time point (45 general education teachers; 32 other educators); 38.9% provided a response between 7 and 10, 29.9% between 4 and 6, and 24.7% responded between 0 and 3, and the average score across educators was 5.22 ( SD  = 3.04). This anticipated use rating was also correlated ( r  = 0.44, p  < 0.001) with total engagement with the platform. See Table  5 .

In winter, 79 educators (46 general education teachers; 33 other educators) completed measures assessing overall acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the Maximize platform; average scores on the AIM, IAM, FIM (on a 5-point scale) were 3.63 ( SD  = 0.64), 3.72 ( SD  = 0.60), and 3.66 ( SD  = 0.55), respectively (see Fig.  3 for distribution of responses for example items of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility). For the TAM, 77 educators (45 general education teachers; 32 other educators) responded in the winter, and the average reported computer self-efficacy was 6.00 ( SD  = 0.92) on a 7-point scale. Computer self-efficacy was not related to AIM or FIM measures ( r s < 0.15), suggesting that limitations in acceptability and feasibility were not related to general computer self-efficacy; this gives us greater confidence that ratings are related to the Maximize platform itself and not technology in general. The average perceived ease of use was 5.76 ( SD  = 1.02), aligning with a rating of somewhat agree to moderately agree . The average perceived usefulness was 4.79 ( SD  = 1.14), which aligns with a rating of neutral to somewhat agree . Lastly, the averages for behavioral intention to use and perceived influence were 4.51 ( SD  = 1.35) and 4.51 ( SD  = 1.38), respectively. Correlations between subscales of the TAM (other than general computer self-efficacy) and winter measures of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility ranged from 0.23 to 0.79 ( ps  from <.05 to < 0.001).

Educator Perceptions of Acceptability, Appropriateness and Feasibility of the Maximize Platform

We also examined acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility among high and low users (high use was defined by a total platform use score at the 75th percentile of the distribution). High and low users did not differ on ratings of acceptability or appropriateness; however, high users ( M  = 3.80; SD  = 0.48) reported marginally higher feasibility scores than low users ( M  = 3.58; SD  = 0.58); t (76) = − 1.70, p  = 0.05).

Open-field data from the winter acceptability measure indicated that, for the most part, users appreciated the convenience of the overall Maximize platform as well as the resources and classroom management strategies provided. For example, one user indicated, “ I like that the platform is able to be utilized at our convenience .” Another user wrote, “ I can log on and use it when I have time .” In particular, a few users appreciated the convenience of setting goals at their own pace, as explained by one user. “ I like how you are [able] to reflect on your goals and it is at our pace, but you can get information for helping with your goal .” Many users (about one-third) commented that they appreciated the resources, tools, and strategies found on the platform. As described by one user, “ I enjoy watching the videos and seeing it done in ‘real life’. The teachers are positive and it is easy to understand .” Other users appreciated not having to hunt around the platform looking for tools and strategies. For example, one user explained, “ I like that all the tips and strategies are in one place to easily find .” The ease of use in finding resources was noted by another respondent, who stated, “ I like that the platform is easy to navigate and provides a lot of valuable resources for teachers to use with students .”

Qualitative data from interviews and focus groups also revealed constructive feedback about the Maximize platform. Some end users we spoke with found the platform to be somewhat confusing and not as user-friendly as it could be. As described by one educator, “ it seems like so many steps being in, it seems like it’s kind of hard to navigate at first…you look at one day and the next day you are like ‘how did I get here?’” A peer leader described missing important elements of the Maximize platform due to their lack of visibility. The Toolkit, in particular, was a feature noted for its lack of visibility.

I don’t know. There’s something about I feel…for a long time I neglected the toolkit portion of it across the top. And I am not sure how to make that more pronounced. [Peer Leader] Peer Leader: There is something about the toolkit portion that is chock full of good information… Interviewer: But it’s not popping out…? Peer Leader: Yeah…and I am not really sure why. I don’t know if it is because it’s the last tab…I don’t know what makes it so that people don’t notice it.

A second theme identified in the interview and focus group data were suggestions from end users on how to potentially simplify the platform and subsequently increase its use. Several participants suggested that having fewer “clicks” in the system to get to what they needed would be a useful change.

I think it [increased use] comes with the simplicity of the website, like it needs to be a little bit quicker…I think any easier route to get there is [beneficial] and eventually getting to the point of ‘hey, it’s only two clicks’. [Peer Leader] But if you are looking for a specific strategy, you would have to click through all of those domains. You know what I mean? Like reflecting on biases doesn’t really help me when I am like ‘what do I do with this kid’? [Teacher]

In sum, many users appreciated the convenience offered by the platform as well as the helpfulness of the resources and strategies. However, other users suggested simplifying the platform and enhancing functionality to support future teachers in utilizing and appreciating the benefits of what the Maximize platform has to offer.

Revisions to the Platform Based on end user Feedback: Second Iteration (Version 2)

Self-assessment.

In the Version 1 of the platform, the self-assessment included traditional definitions of the 10 practices, and teachers were encouraged to visit the “Learn More” pages to learn about the equity-focused features for each. We chose this process for three reasons. First, we wanted to highlight the equity-focused features as an important expansion of traditional positive behavioral supports. Second, we wanted the self-assessment to be in the early stage of the user journey to guide areas for learning and goal setting, and we wanted all users to be engaged with the technology so we could observe user choice as it related to goal setting. We were concerned that sharing the equity-focused features from the start might dissuade some users, and we wanted to maximize the number who we ‘called in’ to this work. Third, we wanted to be able to compare our self-assessment data to previous work on teachers’ use of traditional behavior supports and expand upon it (See Owens et al., 2023  for review).

In hindsight, we regret only including traditional definitions of practices in the self-assessment process, as it did not allow us to assess all teachers’ reported use of all equity-focused features; instead, this information was gathered during the Goal Builder process. Because teachers chose different goals, we only obtained self-report on equity-focused features for any given practice on a subset of teachers. In addition, by putting the equity-focused features on the “Learn More” pages and in the Goal Builder, we may have ‘buried’, rather than highlighted , the equity-focused features, as suggested by the qualitative feedback (i.e., difficulty finding things). Thus, for Version 2, we included each equity-focused feature directly in the self-assessment process.

Equity-Focused Key Features

In Version 1 of the platform, each strategy had 5 to 13 key features, some of which were demonstrable (e.g., Work to reduce the use of consequences that exclude students from the classroom environment ) and some of which were not (e.g., Teachers engage in ongoing self-reflection to become aware of situations that trigger their own biases. ). See Supplemental Material. Although some teachers reported liking the resources provided on the platform, themes from the qualitative data revealed that teachers wanted resources that would help them move from knowledge to action that were more tightly connected to the challenges teachers were facing or more tightly connected to the Maximize goals teachers were setting. Thus, for Version 2, we made two modifications. First, we reduced the number of equity-focused key features for each practice to range from 3 to 6, prioritizing action-oriented features. We integrated the less demonstrable features into the self-reflection activities. Advisory board members rated the equity impact, novelty, and feasibility of the revised features, which led to discussion around prioritizing features with the most potential for equity impact. Thus, key features on Version 2 of the platform are now organized in a way that emphasizes perceived equity impact. Second, we restructured our “Learn More” pages by connecting resources to each equity-focused feature. For example, for a teacher working on “ Asking caregivers about student interests to facilitate meaningful check-ins,” we now provide resources specific to actions for this feature, including (1) an editable letter that teachers can send home to caregivers, (2) a website with 21 questions teachers can ask students during check-ins, and (3) videos demonstrating check-ins.

Goal Builder

In Version 1, the Goal Builder contained five steps. To enhance feasibility, we streamlined the Goal Builder in Version 2 to three steps, and gave users more concrete ways to move from idea to action. Namely, in addition to auto-populating a goal statement, we also auto-populate SMARTIE (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-limited, Inclusive, and Equitable) steps to provide teachers with specific demonstrable steps to achieve their goal; both can be edited by the teacher for individualization.

Self-Reflections

Version 1 of the platform contained 10 self-reflection activities. Using qualitative feedback, informal observations, and conversations with advisory board members, we designed 5 new self-reflection activities for Version 2. These include topics such as alternatives to exclusionary discipline, addressing micro-aggressions, modifying deficit thinking, enhancing cultural sensitivity in responding to challenging behaviors, and reflecting on how misunderstandings emerge when we have differing experiences.

In this paper, we describe how we leveraged the expertise and perspectives of a community advisory board to co-design Version 1 of the Maximize platform (Phase 1), and how we used quantitative and qualitative data from end users to co-produce Version 2 (Phase 2). Data on platform use revealed that educators used the platform most in Quarters 1 and 2 of the school year; however, there was very little platform use in Quarters 3 and 4. Relatedly, ratings of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the initial iteration (Version 1) of the platform were moderate not strong. However, educators who completed nine or more activities on the platform reported significantly higher ratings of feasibility than those who completed fewer than nine activities. Further, ratings of likelihood of use in fall and winter were moderately correlated with actual platform use. Qualitative data revealed that teachers viewed self-reflection as a useful tool for learning about equity-focused content and appreciated both the self-reflection activities and overall Maximize platform. However, they also wanted more concrete tools and resources to help translate this learning into action and wanted actionable resources to be easier to find on the platform. These data informed Version 2 of the platform, which will be evaluated in 2023–2024. Below, we expand upon lessons learned and highlight implications for co-design and co-production processes in school mental health.

Co-design with Advisory Board Members (Phase 1)

In following the principles of co-creation (Greenhalgh et al., 2016 ), we structured our advisory board meetings with the goal of developing group norms for communication, a shared vision for the work, and a supportive and stimulating environment to maximize creative idea sharing. Through these processes, we hoped to reduce power differentials between members and facilitate trust within the group. We believe our processes produced successful outcomes, as evidenced by positive relationships that emerged between investigators and advisory board members and among advisory board members, and the novel content and procedures generated that would not have been produced without the contribution of our advisory board members. Thus, our experience and outcomes align with the reported benefits of community-engaged research (Luger et al., 2020 ).

Along with these successes came rich learning opportunities. We hope the following lessons inform the work of other research-practice partnerships focused on educational equity. First, it is of great value to have diverse perspectives on the advisory board. For example, there were times when an innovative idea emerged from those in an administrative role. With further discussion, however, other advisory board members in roles that held less power (e.g., teachers) were able to share concerns. Allowing time to dive more deeply into ideas, and actively valuing all contributions, was key to surfacing these different perspectives. We recognize that the time it takes to work in this way can be in conflict with the fast-paced timelines of typical  education research; however, the perspectives and opinions that emerged led to rich discussions, learning experiences for all members, and the development of content and processes for the Maximize platform that balanced the needs and views of multiple educator groups.

Second, in order for diverse perspectives to emerge, it requires group leaders to constantly attend to power relations. From our (White, academic) perspective we felt we had created a space where all voices were equal. However, in a rich (and brave) one-on-one conversation, an advisory board member who is a self-identified person of color shared that she considered leaving the board because the space still felt white-centric, academic, and thus “not her space” (e.g., given her practice background, she felt unsure within an environment led by university professors; she did not see many others who looked like her). Thus, it is important for investigators to continually acknowledge the power and privilege we hold. Even if we are not exercising that power personally or in the moment, in the eyes of new collaborators, such power may be ascribed to us because we represent those who hold (and have exercised) such power (Sue & Zane, 1987 ). Following conversations with this member (of which we are deeply appreciative, as we recognize the emotional labor required), the first author reflected on the intangibles she brought to the room as a function of multiple identities (e.g., being a highly educated White person) and acknowledged that the language and processes used to facilitate the meetings did not align with the member’s anticipations of the experience.

Thus, as dominant-group investigators working in research-practice partnerships, it is critical to take time to develop meaningful relationships with our advisory board members, critically reflect on their feedback, and act on feedback from those whose voices are often silenced in educational spaces (Glass, 2001 ). Given feedback from our members, we recommend the following strategies to facilitate community members’ comfort and confidence when serving on a research-practice advisory board: (1) orient members to procedures prior to the first meeting, (2) pair advisory board members with a mentor so they can ask questions in a safer space; our members suggested pairing persons of color with mentors of color, if possible, (3) check in with members between meetings, (4) weigh practice-based evidence as much as research-based evidence, (5) listen to and honor each other’s experiences when there is dissatisfaction, confusion, or concern, (6) approach conversations with humility and non-defensiveness, and (7) if possible, have in-depth representation of various identities, as one member stated: “It is hard to be the only one, or one of just a few; it constantly tests you and creates doubt about belonging.” We also witnessed benefits when members of the research team put themselves in the role of the learner. For example, the Ohio research team visited the school of one advisory board member in New York to learn about what she had created in her school that could inform our work. Thus, we encourage other dominant-group investigators to consistently acknowledge explicit and implicit power dynamics between research and practice communities, to make self-reflection about one's own words and actions an ongoing practice, and to take time to connect with advisory board members between meetings. When critical feedback is offered, it is important to view it as a transformational learning experience and an opportunity to grow in a way that will enhance the co-design process, the partnership, and the research.

Third, we note that the way we developed our advisory board was through personal networks. Given strong racial segregation within social groups (Allport, 1954 ), it is perhaps not surprising that many of our advisory board members were White women. Although we focused on intersectional equity, which our members represented, given the entrenched racial disparities in educational outcomes, we recognize that is especially critical to center the voices of racialized and colonized peoples. Thus, with each additional year, we intentionally expand our network by leveraging the networks of our advisory board members so we can further diversify perspectives on the board.

Lastly, we learned that different members preferred to engage in the work via different formats (e.g., verbal expression, collaborative efforts, with or without technology, thinking before meetings via pre-work, engaging in work in between meetings). Once we established connections among all group members, we learned there were benefits to holding smaller group meetings (e.g., break-out rooms or smaller meetings when we could not find a time for the whole group), offering options for collaboration between meetings, and letting members decide what activities and what time frame best suit them. We perceive that this choice allowed members to engage in work with which they had the most confidence, expertise, and excitement, and therefore provide the richest contributions.

Co-production with Educators (Phase 2)

Quantitative and qualitative data from educators revealed moderate acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the initial iteration (Version 1) of the Maximize platform. Given that such ratings were not correlated with general computer self-efficacy, we have greater confidence that ratings were related to the Maximize platform itself and not technology use in general. In addition, we recognize that equity-focused professional learning, particularly in the current social and political climate, can be challenging, and engagement in equity-focused initiatives is often variable across members in any organization (Goldmann, 2012 ; Romijn et al., 2021 ). Thus, the finding that about two thirds of educators agreed or strongly agreed (see Fig.  3 ) with statements about the platform’s acceptability and appropriateness is encouraging.

However, platform use data revealed a significant decline over time. This is critically important. It could suggest that users got what they needed from the platform and did not see a need to return. However, given the intent of the platform to encourage ongoing self-reflection and goal setting, these dwindling numbers suggest barriers to use, such as lack of time and other competing priorities, challenges commonly shared by our partnering educators. When we reflected on these declining usage numbers, we identified several lessons. First, we saw that the strongest use of the platform occurred when there was structured time to use it (e.g., protected time in the orientation meeting to complete the self-assessment; time during district-sanctioned professional learning days for platform exploration and collaborative reflections). Thus, although interactive technology that uses strategic design flows has the capacity to overcome some barriers and facilitate teachers’ use of evidence-based strategies (e.g., Owens et al., 2022 ), additional facilitators must be present. Important facilitators include principal support (Locke et al., 2019 ), teacher consultation (DeFouw et al., 2023 ; Nadeem et al., 2013 ), and nudges within the technology (Lawson et al., 2022 ). In our second year of implementation, we are working closely with principals to further enhance their promotion of platform use and to find more protected time for teachers to use the platform. In addition, as part of the larger project, we are examining the role peer leaders can play in supporting teacher platform engagement and implementation of EF-PBS. Similarly, given that the correlation between intended use and actual use was moderate, we will continue to look for ways that high platform users can champion the benefits of the platform.

Second, when considering the context of participating schools (high stress, staff turnover, student mobility), we acknowledge that engaging in self-paced voluntary learning about equity may be viewed as a luxury rather than a direct solution to the challenges they are experiencing. Thus, although the platform offers guidance on practices that can improve student behavior, foster student–teacher relationships, and reduce teacher stress, perhaps it was not viewed that way by teachers. Thus, we made changes to the platform (e.g., streamlining wizards, better connecting equity features to actionable steps, offering initial SMARTIE steps) to make it more accessible and relevant to educators’ daily experiences, while maintaining our overall focus on the root causes that drive disruptive behavior and educational inequities. We argue that balancing practicality with the science of effective approaches should be a high priority for education researchers. It is encouraging that those who completed more activities on the platform reported higher ratings of feasibility than those who completed fewer activities. However, we cannot know the directionality of this relationship. On one hand, if high users find the platform feasible, we do not need to modify platform features that are working. Instead, we need to think through approaches to get more teachers over the initial “hump” of engagement. On the other hand, we need to acknowledge that we are not reaching a substantial portion of teachers, thus continued modification to enhance perceived relevance and practicality may be needed.

Third, qualitative data revealed important themes that guided our co-production of Version 2 of the platform. Given that teachers generally appreciated the self-reflection activities, we added additional self-reflection activities for the second iteration. To make these new activities relevant to participating teachers, the new self-reflections focus on topics that emerged in the qualitative data, during our informal observations in schools, and in conversations with peer leaders and principals. Additionally, the qualitative feedback indicated that we needed to streamline some aspects of the platform and provide more concrete tools and resources to help translate this learning into action. Thus, as described in the Results section, we made modifications to several components of the platform to address this feedback. Our insights on new activities also came from the time we spent just being in the schools. Although spending time at schools is, again, in tension with standard research timelines, we learned the critical importance of “being present” in schools. Having a presence affords us a richer understanding of the school context, which contributed meaningfully to our interpretations of the data. Consistent with recommendations in the literature (Cook et al., 2019 ), it also facilitated the development of trust with educators in the participating schools, which we found served to reduce power differentials and enhance the honesty with which they shared feedback.

Lastly, our data have implications for the measurement of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility in school mental health research. Although the gap between intentions and actions is well documented, given that our anticipated use rating was moderately correlated with actual platform use, this rating of intent may be useful in other projects. For education technology endeavors, it may also be useful to assess general computer self-efficacy to confirm that this is not influencing ratings of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility of the intended content or processes. Additionally, it may be helpful to examine these constructs among high and low users, as feasibility may be best realized once users gain minimal proficiency with the system.

Limitations

We acknowledge that although our completion rate for the quantitative surveys was respectable, the responses of teachers in this sample may not represent all teachers in the sample and do not represent other areas of the country. In addition, our response rate for teacher interviews was low, which may be because of their timing at the end of the year or because the researchers who led qualitative data collection and analysis were not part of the local investigative team. We thought their removed position would offer enhanced confidentiality so educators would feel comfortable sharing candid feedback; however, teachers may have been more invested in the process if the invitations came from the local team who had built relationships with these teachers. Lastly, we recognize that most feedback is coming from teachers who are likely highly interested or disinterested in learning about equity-focused practices. Thus, their feedback may not help us make modifications to better engage those who are only moderately interested in this work. Relatedly, teachers may have engaged in self-reflection outside of the platform (e.g., conversations with colleagues) that we did not capture with our data collection procedures.

Conclusions and Future Directions

The co-creation approach to the development of the Maximize platform that we review in this paper has led to a novel tool grounded in the lived experiences of educators that, in its initial iteration, was viewed as moderately feasible, acceptable, and useful. Although co-creation is a slower process than traditional intervention development, we believe our data highlight how the benefits of this approach outweigh the drawbacks, and how it created a richer end product than if the work came from academia alone. We also acknowledge that co-creation is an learning journey, especially for White researchers who have been socialized to believe their Eurocentric, science-based perspective is the ‘right’ one. We continue to deconstruct our own biases in this work and encourage other dominant-group investigators to do the same. We are grateful to our advisory board for sharing their vast knowledge and hope the recommendations help others effectively elevate community members’ voices and confidence in the context of school mental health research-practice partnerships. We also hope this article adds to the body of work in school mental health calling for approaches to intervention design, development, and testing that center the needs of end users and actively engage with practitioners and others with lived experience to co-create interventions.

Feedback from our advisory board and school staff using the Maximize platform guided the co-production of Version 2, which aims to improve the platform toward supporting equitable educational experiences for all children. Our work shared here represents the first step in a long process. We are currently engaging in another round of assessment with the three partnering schools as well as one new elementary school to observe responses to the second iteration of the platform. Because our qualitative data suggest that brief episodes of guided private self-reflection are a welcomed tool for professional learning related to equity-focused topics, in our current evaluation, we are assessing the relationship between completion of self-reflection activities and change in teacher perceptions of EF-PBS. We are also examining the extent to which goal setting and ongoing goal review relates to actual change in teacher practices and student outcomes, and hope the enhanced prominence of the equity-focused features and clear connection between the features and actionable implementation strategies will facilitate such change. Lastly, although interactive technology can help to overcome barriers to implementation, technology alone is likely insufficient. In the larger project, we are evaluating the impact of the combination of Version 2 of the platform and the use of peer leaders in the school to support teachers’ use of EF-PBS. We hope that in sharing our experiences and lessons learned, other researchers may better understand how to effectively engage in this type of community-oriented co-creation work in school mental health, toward moving the needle on teachers’ use of equity-focused positive behavioral supports.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate and value the contributions of our community advisory board members (listed in alphabetical order): Lindsey Apel, Brenda Aviles, Christine Caruso, Michelle Flemen-Tung, Maria E. Garcia, Sandy Hardee, Symone James, Lynn Maynard, Erin Pennington, Hilary Sloat, Tammy Tait, Rita Valenzuela, and Ama Nsia Willock. We are grateful for the time and contributions of all educators in the participating schools. We also want to acknowledge the contributions of three research assistants at the University of Calgary who contributed to the coding of our qualitative data: Jenna Himer, Jordan Keough, and Ceilidh McConnell.

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R350A210224 to Ohio University. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

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Owens, J.S., Exner-Cortens, D., Cappella, E. et al. Partnering with Educators to Iteratively Co-create Tools to Support Teachers’ Use of Equity-Focused Positive Behavioral Supports. School Mental Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-024-09653-x

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Finally, a guide for upper elementary teachers that will show you how to teach research reports in a step-by-step format!

If you are struggling with teaching the research report process, you are not alone. Seriously, we’ve all been there!

I spent several years avoiding research reports for my 5th grade writers or simply depending on the Library-Media Specialist to teach the research process.

One year, I decided to take the plunge and teach my students how to research a topic and write a research report.

The process was clunky at first, but I learned a lot about how students approach research and how to guide them from choosing a topic to completing their final copies.

Before we discuss the HOW , let’s talk about the WHY .

Why You Should Be Assigning Research Reports to Your 5th and 6th Grade Students

I have three main reasons for assigning research reports to my students.

First, the skill involved in finding reliable sources and citing sources is valuable.

Beginning in 5th grade, and possibly even before, students need to be able to discern the reliability of a source . They should be able to spot propaganda and distinguish between reputable sources and phony ones.

Teaching the procedure for citing sources is important because my 5th grade students need to grasp the reality of plagiarism and how to avoid it.

By providing information about the sources they used, students are consciously avoiding copying the work of authors and learning to give credit where credit is due.

Second, by taking notes and organizing their notes into an outline, students are exercising their ability to find main ideas and corresponding details.

Being able to organize ideas is crucial for young writers.

Third, when writing research reports, students are internalizing the writing process, including organizing, writing a rough draft, proofreading/editing, and writing a final draft.

When students write research reports about topics of interest, they are fine-tuning their reading and writing skills.

How to Teach Step-By-Step Research Reports in Grades 5 & 6

As a veteran upper elementary teacher, I know exactly what is going to happen when I tell my students that we are going to start research reports.

There will be a resounding groan followed by students voicing their displeasure. (It goes something like this…. “Mrs. Bazzit! That’s too haaaaaaard!” or “Ugh. That’s boring!” *Sigh*  I’ve heard it all, lol.)

This is when I put on my (somewhat fictional) excited teacher hat and help them to realize that the research report process will be fun and interesting.

Step 1: Help Students to Choose a Topic and Cite Sources for Research Reports

Students definitely get excited when they find out they are allowed to choose their own research topic. Providing choice leads to higher engagement and interest.

It’s best practice to provide a list of possible research topics to students, but also allow them to choose a different topic.

Be sure to make your research topics narrow to help students focus on sources. If students choose broad topics, the sources they find will overwhelm them with information.

Too Broad: American Revolution

Just Right: The Battle of Yorktown

Too Broad: Ocean Life

Just Right: Great White Shark

Too Broad: Important Women in History

Just Right: The Life of Abigail Adams

Be sure to discuss appropriate, reliable sources with students.

I suggest projecting several examples of internet sources on your technology board. Ask students to decide if the sources look reliable or unreliable.

While teaching students about citing sources, it’s a great time to discuss plagiarism and ways to avoid it.

Students should never copy the words of an author unless they are properly quoting the text.

In fact, I usually discourage students from quoting their sources in their research reports. In my experience, students will try to quote a great deal of text and will border on plagiarism.

I prefer to see students paraphrase from their sources because this skill helps them to refine their summarization skills.

Citing sources is not as hard as it sounds! I find that my students generally use books and internet sources, so those are the two types of citations that I focus on.

How to cite a book:

Author’s last name, First name. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Date.

How to cite an internet article:

Author’s last name, First name (if available). “Title of Article or Page.” Full http address, Date of access.

If you continue reading to the bottom of this post, I have created one free screencast for each of the five steps of the research process!

Step 2: Research Reports: Take Notes

During this step, students will use their sources to take notes.

I do provide instruction and examples during this step because from experience, I know that students will think every piece of information from each source is important and they will copy long passages from each source.

I teach students that taking notes is an exercise in main idea and details. They should read the source, write down the main idea, and list several details to support the main idea.

I encourage my students NOT to copy information from the source but instead to put the information in their own words. They will be less likely to plagiarize if their notes already contain their own words.

Additionally, during this step, I ask students to write a one-sentence thesis statement. I teach students that a thesis statement tells the main point of their research reports.

Their entire research report will support the thesis statement, so the thesis statement is actually a great way to help students maintain a laser focus on their research topic.

Step 3: Make a Research Report Outline

Making an outline can be intimidating for students, especially if they’ve never used this organization format.

However, this valuable step will teach students to organize their notes into the order that will be used to write the rough draft of their reports.

Because making an outline is usually a new concept for my 5th graders, we do 2-3 examples together before I allow students to make their outlines for their research reports.

I recommend copying an outline template for students to have at their fingertips while creating their first outline.

Be sure to look over students’ outlines for organization, order, and accuracy before allowing them to move on to the next step (writing rough drafts).

Step 4: Write a Research Report Draft

During this step, each student will write a rough draft of his/her research report.

If they completed their outlines correctly, this step will be fairly simple.

Students will write their research reports in paragraph form.

One problem that is common among my students is that instead of writing in paragraphs, they write their sentences in list format.

I find that it’s helpful to write a paragraph in front of and with students to remind them that when writing a paragraph, the next sentence begins immediately after the prior sentence.

Once students’ rough drafts are completed, it’s time to proofread/edit!

To begin, I ask my students to read their drafts aloud to listen for their own mistakes.

Next, I ask my students to have two individuals look over their draft and suggest changes.

Step 5: Research Reports – Students Will Write Their Final Drafts! 

It’s finally time to write final drafts!

After students have completed their rough drafts and made edits, I ask them to write final drafts.

Students’ final drafts should be as close to perfect as possible.

I prefer a typed final draft because students will have access to a spellchecker and other features that will make it easier to create their final draft.

Think of a creative way to display the finished product, because they will be SO proud of their research reports after all the hard work that went into creating them!

When grading the reports, use a rubric similar to the one shown in the image at the beginning of this section.

A detailed rubric will help students to clearly see their successes and areas of needed improvement.

Once students have completed their first research projects, I find that they have a much easier time with the other research topics assigned throughout the remainder of the school year.

If you are interested in a no-prep, step-by-step research report instructional unit, please click here to visit my Research Report Instructional Unit for 5th Grade and 6th Grade. 

This instructional unit will guide students step-by-step through the research process, including locating reliable sources, taking notes, creating an outline, writing a report, and making a “works cited” page.

I’d like to share a very special free resource with you. I created five screencast videos, one for each step of the research report process. These screencasts pair perfectly with my Research Report Instructional Unit for 5th Grade and 6th Grade! 

Research Report Step 1 Screencast

Research Report Step 2 Screencast

Research Report Step 3 Screencast

Research Report Step 4 Screencast

Research Report Step 5 Screencast

To keep this post for later, simply save this image to your teacher Pinterest board!

Hi, If i purchase your complete package on grade 5/6 writing does it come with your wonderful recordings on how to teach them? Thanks

Hi Gail! The recordings on this blog post can be used by anyone and I will leave them up 🙂 The writing bundle doesn’t come with any recordings but I did include step-by-step instructions for teachers. I hope this helps!

Thank you for sharing your information with everyone. I know how to write (I think, haha), but I wanted to really set my students up for success with their research and writing. Your directions and guides are just what I needed to jar my memory and help my students become original writers. Be blessed.

You are very welcome, Andrea! Thank you for this comment 🙂

Hi Andrea, I am a veteran teacher who has taught nothing but primary for 25 years. However, this is my first year in 5th. I’m so excited to have found your post. Can you direct me to how I can purchase your entire bundle for writing a 5-paragraph essay. Thanks, Sue

Sure, Susan, I can help with that! Here is the link for the 5th Grade Writing Bundle: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5th-Grade-Writing-Bundle-3611643

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Research Project Template For Elementary Students

Hey teachers! Are you searching for one easy resource that keeps on giving, all year long? My Research Project Template for Elementary Students is perfect for you!

We all know that research skills are super important for students to have, but some of you may be wondering how best to fit research into a younger student’s curriculum. Typically when you think of research, you think of long hours in a college library and tons of citations. Well, it’s easier than you might think!

Seriously, you can do a simple research problem on pretty much anything. I’m talking bugs, states, countries, plants… you name it. And since younger kids are naturally super curious, they always get excited to embark on the quest to find out more about the things they like — and learning about completely new things, too!

It’s key for students to start to get some research experience while they are in elementary school because this will build their ability to question the world around them while they are young. It also helps them develop note taking skills and write out their ideas and observations, both of which are essential parts of good communication and good classroom habits. They will take these skills with them for the rest of their lives, so it’s never too early to start!

Here’s the good news: research projects for elementary students don’t have to get fancy at all. In fact, my Research Project Template is both incredibly simple for you to prep, and comprehensive on the students’ side of things. Plus, you can use it again and again all year round because it’s totally editable. Yay for reusable resources!

How does this Research Project Template for Elementary Students work?

It doesn’t get much easier for you and your students than this research project flip flap! All you have to do is print it for your students and you’re ready to roll. As easy as the prep is for you, students still get the opportunity to cut, color, and write about any research topic they’re assigned or that sparks their curiosity.

The research project template is a Powerpoint file, and complete instructions are included for you. This way, you can easily edit the text to suit your classroom’s needs!

Students will pick a topic that interests them, or you can assign a topic based on any unit your class is currently studying. Then, according to the topic, students will record their observations and more, including…

●       3 Interesting Facts

●       Vocabulary word with pictures

●       Illustrate what you learned

●       Create a poem

●       Can, Have, Are activity

The combination of writing, observations, and illustrations make this a comprehensive activity that covers ELA skills, STEM skills, and creative expression. And since it is customizable in the Powerpoint document, you can choose which sections to use and leave some out if they don’t best suit your lesson.

How can I use this Research Project Template in the classroom?

My favorite part about this research project template for elementary students is that you can reuse it in the classroom all school year long! Since it is a generic template and completely editable, it can easily fit with any kind of research project or activity you have in mind, from geography, to science, to art, and more.

Students can even pick their own topic they would like to research and complete their own mini project themselves! This option is great for centers. Flip flaps are amazing for centers because once students observe how to complete the flip flap once or twice, they can easily do it on their own in groups. You can assign a topic for the group to research or let students go their own way and work independently.

They can keep their research projects in their folders all year long if it’s important stuff to know, or they can bring them home and proudly show them off to their families. If you’d like, you could even have a research day where students present their findings to their classmates at the end of the day!

Download the No-Prep Research Template:

Click here to download a copy for your students.

This Research Project Template for younger students is totally worth returning to all year round! It’s super simple to prep, easy to edit, and can be used for any topic that you or your students want to cover. They will be able to practice their questioning, observational, note taking, and written communication skills, while everything stays low prep on your end. Have fun researching with your class, and enjoy!

What kinds of research do you like to do in your class? Do you plan on using this research project template? I’d love to hear from you all!

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You may also like, making winter count with the polar bear place value scoot game, fun testing treats for students, using forensics in your science experiments, student teacher mentor pack, growth mindset activity – craft and writing.

• Sample Research

FREE 10+ Elementary Research Report Samples in PDF | MS Word

The book “ Practical Steps to the Research Process for Elementary School ” stated that elementary students usually feel bored in doing research projects. Due to the students being greatly influenced by streaming media, it appears to be really challenging for them to focus on doing educational tasks. Are you an elementary student who needs to accomplish a research report for your class? In this article, we have some informative guide and downloadable elementary research report templates to guide you in being successful in learning the processes of research. Keep on reading!

Elementary Research Report

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An elementary research report is a beneficial document made by the elementary or grade school students (typically in Grade 4-6), applying what they learned in performing basic research. This report appears to be a stepping stone for children in improving their skills and abilities to learn and process information, and promoting growth in their research study.

In this section, we provide  you some easy-to-follow tips  that indicate how to design an elementary report, as well as managing different kinds of phases in writing an effective research project report for elementary school students: 

The most important step in the process of developing a plan for your report is selecting a topic. A good topic is both feasible and a little bit difficult to the student’s evaluated capabilities. Search for ideas or concepts in a specific list made by your teacher. or look for your grade-level textbooks or other library sources. Also, include several good subtopics that will help you to dig deeper on your primary topic.

The second step in your research work is taking some ample time to research important information that you will use for your report . Some examples of sources that you can use for research are books , references, magazines, newspapers, videos, internet, and many more. By doing effective research, your comprehension and evaluation skills may potentially improve.

Carefully read the entire materials or sources that you have chosen for your research work prior to selecting facts. Look for the significant points of your reading material. Then, organize the highlighted points you found, analyze them, and select key facts from each part to align your subtopics.  

Last but not the least, you should develop a well-designed outline of specific actions or tasks for your elementary research report. Go back from your notes in your research study. Then, sort the notes into subtopic sections and arrange them in a basic outline order. Move the notes into a logical pattern for writing. Use numbers and bullets while arranging the methods and tasks. 

The format of the research report contains a list of primary sections consisting page numbers, tables, illustrations, reference list, and appendices. Also, it provides an abstract that shows a clear overview of goals, methods, outcomes, and conclusions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 [/ns_row ] 

There are different kinds of research skills such as analyzing information, asking questions, respecting ownership, using networks, and many more.  

Make research fun by writing a quiz, creating a collage, going for a photo scavenger hunt, transforming research into art, and designing a magazine.

First, you need to identify the task significance for the research, look for top keywords, utilizing proper tools, taking notes, and collecting data.

Thus, elementary school students will fully benefit throughout their education by means of developing their research skills. This will help them instill an insight of academic research and establish a solid foundation for their future research projects when they enter middle school, high school, and college or university, especially when they got hired from work.  Here are some of our downloadable and printable report samples available in different kinds of formats. Simply click the templates in this article and start downloading now!

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