This literature review highlights barriers to persistence, retention, and graduation for students of color at institutions of higher learning. Successful strategies, approaches, and initiatives are discussed with consideration to deficit and strengths-based approaches. It is also highlighted that universities may need to address programmatic barriers within the institutions that may exacerbate systemic barriers to success for students of color in higher education.

Teacher conceptualization of behavior problems is important in determining what strategies are used to prevent problematic classroom behavior. If teachers view a student's behavior as symptomatic of a poorly organized classroom, they may seek ways of reorganizing the environment to maximize occasions for occurrence of appropriate behavior and the prevention of behavior problems. That is, teachers consider antecedent approaches and attempt to set the occasion for appropriate behavior to occur. This article will describe approaches for setting up antecedent classroom strategies designed to prevent problematic behavior and subsequently enhance classroom management plans.

The present study examined the relation between teacher ratings of student social functioning and academic performance and teacher-student relationship quality. Data were collected from 230 students and 20 teachers in two high-poverty, low-performing schools in a large urban school district in the Midwest. Students were 93% African American. Teachers were 47.4% African American. Results indicated that the level of externalizing and prosocial behaviors demonstrated by students in kindergarten through third grade significantly influenced the student-teacher relationship quality as measured by the Student-Teacher Relationship Survey-short form. Teacher perceptions of students’ externalizing and prosocial behaviors were influenced, in part, by teacher race. Teacher-student relationship quality had a clinically significant effect on teacher academic ratings of children. Although not conclusive, results seem to indicate a link between externalizing behavior problems and poor student-teacher relationship ratings. Poor student-teacher relationship quality, in turn, is associated with lower academic ratings. Further investigation using larger sample sizes that allow more sophisticated analyses are needed.

No abstract

Mental health curriculum should be delivered in classroom settings to address and remediate the socio-emotional needs of students with and without disabilities. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is a comprehensive, universal, and humanistic approach that focuses on the emotional distress manifested by individuals has been used with children and adolescents in schools and found to be an effective intervention. This paper presents a brief rationale explaining how REBT can be implemented in concert with tiered academic and behavior intervention models, and provides applied examples of lessons detailing how special educators can apply REBT sessions in classroom environments.