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Abstract
Student-teacher relationships are critical to ensuring successful transitions to high school, but programs focused on building strong relationships have been concentrated at younger school levels. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to gather feedback from ninth grade students, teachers/staff, and administrators regarding an existing student-teacher relationship intervention, Establish-Maintain-Restore (EMR), to inform a "scaling-out" adaptation of EMR for high schools. Data were collected from 7 administrators, 8 teachers/staff, and 10 ninth-grade students from diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds. Participants quantitatively rated the acceptability and effectiveness of EMR strategy for the high school context and then described their rationale for their ratings in focus groups. ANOVAs were used to examine differences in appropriateness and effectiveness of EMR strategies across participant groups. We then used content analysis to explore identified problems and recommendations regarding discrepant strategies. We discuss implications for relationships at the high school level and for scaling-out interventions to novel developmental contexts.
Keywords: student-teacher relationship, adolescence, high school, intervention, adaptation
Larissa M. Gaias
Positive student-teacher relationships are indicated by close, trusting, and supportive relationships between students and teachers. Positive relationships are fostered by teachers' ability to express care and interest in a student as a learner and person overall, provide structure and outline clear, achievable expectations, support student autonomy, and restore conflict or negative interactions with respect and empathy (Scales et al., 2020). These relationships are critical in adolescence, as they guard against the effects of stress and negative emotions and facilitate positive development across social, emotional, behavioral, and academic domains (Martin & Collie, 2019; McGrath & Van Bergen, 2015; Sulkowski & Simmons, 2018). A growing body of research indicates that the student-teacher relationship is especially important during specific developmental transitions, such as when adolescents begin high school (Longobardi et al., 2016, 2016; Roorda et al., 2011; Roorda & Koomen, 2021). Student-teacher relationships also appear to be particularly crucial for youth from marginalized racial/ethnic groups, who often report lower school belonging (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2015). Effective relationship-focused interventions as adolescents transition into high school are imperative, as this is a time when youth are at high risk of dropping out (Stearns & Glennie, 2006).
One method for creating effective prevention programs is to scale-out existing interventions, which involves adapting effective interventions for use in...