Mary M Mccaslin

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Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Mccaslin, M. M. (2016). Commentary: The co-regulation of cultural, social, and personal sources of influence on student emotional adaptation and achievement. In Handbook of social influences in school contexts(pp 329 - 346). New York, NY: Taylor and Francis Group Publishers.
• Mccaslin, M. M., Sotardi, V., & Vega, R. I. (2015). Self-regulation and self-monitoring in classroom management.. In Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice,and contemporary issues, 2nd ed.(pp 322-341). Taylor and Francis Group Publishers.
• Mccaslin, M. M., & Vega, R. I. (2013). Peer co-regulation of learning, emotion, and coping in small-group learning. In Constructing educational achievement: A sociocultural perspective(pp 118-135). London/New York: Routledge.
• Mccaslin, M. M., & Vriesema, C. C. (2015). Interpersonal attribution theory and classroom management. In Classroom management: An A-Z guide(pp xxxxx). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Journals/Publications

• McCaslin, M. M., Vriesema, C. C., & Burggraf, S. (2016). Making mistakes: Emotional adaptation and classroom learning. Teachers College Record, 118 (2)., 118(2).
• Mccaslin, M., & Burross, H. L. (2011). Research on individual differences within a sociocultural perspective: Co-regulation and adaptive learning. Teachers College Record, 113(2), 325-349.
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  Abstract: Background/Context: Research is presented on teacher-centered instruction and individual differences among students within a sociocultural perspective-specifically, within a coregulation model. Purpose of Study: To determine the utility of a co-regulation model for understanding teacher and student adaptation to the press of cultural and social demands for student achievement. Research Design: Multiple methods were used and quantitative procedures applied to data obtained in Grades 3-5 classrooms (N = 47) in schools (N = 5) that primarily served students living in poverty and were engaged in comprehensive school reform. Data sources include observation of classroom practices (N =108; mean = 2 observations per classroom) to identify differences in instructional opportunity within teacher-centered instruction; students'(N = 439) reported self-monitoring of their classroom activity to ascertain individual differences among them in their adaptation to classroom demands; and student performance on classroom-like tasks (story writing; individual student unit of analysis) and standardized tests (SAT9 language, math, and reading subtests; grade-level unit of analysis) to illuminate the dynamics of opportunity, activity, and adaptation in student achievement. Conclusions/Recommendations: Results support the potential of a co-regulation model to understand and enhance teacher-centered instruction of students who differ in adaptation to classroom demands and achievement expectations in nontrivial ways. The practicable instructional opportunities that most aligned with cultural demands for improving student performance on mandated tests was a basic form of direct instruction. Direct instruction appears to cast a wide safety net, including students who are and are not yet ready to profit from this mode of instruction as expressed by mandated test performance. Students not yet ready for culturally mandated performances are nonetheless acquiring desirable and personally meaningful adaptations to learning challenges that are co-regulated by direct instruction opportunities. Unfortunately, these students remain largely invisible to sociocultural policy makers who portray them as uninvested in, if not resistant to, school learning. It is reasonable to ask how long students will continue to participate in and adapt to classroom demands without cultural validation of that participation and recognition of the learners these students are and wish to become. It is time for deliberate examination of cultural beliefs and regulations that equate student performance on mandated tests with meaningful learning a prepared future citizenry, and the effectiveness of the public school Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University.
• McCaslin, M., & Lavigne, A. L. (2010). Social policy, educational opportunity, and classroom practice: A co-regulation approach to research on student motivation and achievement. Advances in Motivation and Achievement, 16 PARTB, 211-249.
• McCaslin, M. (2009). Co-regulation of student motivation and emergent identity. Educational Psychologist, 44(2), 137-146.
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  Abstract: In this article I outline a co-regulation model of identity that is based on an emergent interaction perspective derived from Vygotskian theory. I use this model to suggest the role of motivation in identity development. The co-regulation approach is one of many modern attempts (e.g., social cognitive, social constructivist, sociocultural) to understand how social and cultural influences might impact the development of the individual or perhaps transcend the individual. This article articulates a co-regulation model of emergent identity and provides an illustration of its potential for understanding how students might make school personally meaningful.
• Dolan, A. L., & Mccaslin, M. (2008). Student perceptions of teacher support. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2422-2437.
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  Abstract: Background/Context: Working theories about student goal orientation, understanding of intelligence, and affective mediation of task engagement inform current beliefs about students and learning and motivation. Much research has focused on identifying effective teaching strategies to raise the achievement of disadvantaged students; however, less is known about how students who attend high-poverty schools conceptualize school and teachers, and motivation and learning. Our study draws from literature on student motivation and learning to understand how students who attend Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) schools think about motivation and learning. Research Question: We examined students' responses to pictures of student-teacher interaction to understand how students who attend CSR schools think about motivation and learning. Story analysis was guided by the following questions: How do student stories portray student-teacher interaction ? Specifically, what interpersonal supports and opportunities do they describe? What motivational systems are attributed to story characters? What are their challenges, behaviors, and goals ? How do the story characters feel and manage their emotions ? Population: Students (N = 174) in Grades 3-5 who attended three CSR schools. Research Design: Data collection consisted of student stories in response to a picture of student-teacher interaction. Project instruments and procedures are an adaptation of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Conclusions: Results suggest that students in these CSR schools held positive beliefs about their teachers and classroom learning. Story content analyses indicated that students' perceptions of student-teacher interaction reflect a concern with achievement rather than affiliation. Achievement goals of story characters primarily concerned correctness; understanding and volitional engagement also were expressed. Story characters primarily were portrayed as compliant, optimistic, and relatively positive about their interaction with their teacher and their learning. In approximately one third of the narratives, story characters struggled with problems of varied magnitude; however, in half of these stories, characters were able to navigate solutions and overcome negative emotions and obstacles. Copyright © by Teachers College.
• Florez, I. R., & Mccaslin, M. (2008). Student perceptions of small-group learning. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2438-2451.
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  Abstract: Background/Context: Elementary school teachers regularly arrange students in small groups for learning activities. A rich literature discusses various types of small-group learning formats and how those formats affect achievement. Few studies, however, have examined students' perceptions of small-group learning experiences. Our work extends the small-group literature by studying stories written in response to a picture of children in a small group by students who attend Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) schools about learning in small groups. Research Question: We examined students' responses to pictures of small-group situations. Story analysis was guided by the following questions: How do student stories portray small-group experiences? Specifically, do students' representations focus on achievement or affiliation? Are their representations positive and optimistic, or negative and pessimistic? What motivational systems are attributed to story characters? What are their challenges, behaviors, and goals? What do story characters feel, and how do they manage emotions? Population: Students (N = 183) in Grades 3-5 who attended three CSR schools. Research Design: Data collection consisted of student stories in response to a picture of three children working in a group in a classroom. Project instruments and procedures are an adaptation of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Conclusions: Results suggest that students in these CSR schools held positive beliefs about their small-group learning experiences. The stories portrayed students as active, compliant participants who supported one another's learning, sometimes found their experiences personally meaningful, and were concerned with both achievement and affiliation. Students rarely represented competitive themes and never described rejection, being ignored, or giving up. Students told stories about small-group learning in school that sound like a typical day in most schools: They portray students who work together, support one another, and get the job done. Copyright © by Teachers College.
• Good, T. L., & Mccaslin, M. (2008). What we learned about research on school reform: Considerations for practice and policy. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2475-2495.
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  Abstract: Background/Context: The U. S. federal government has been interested in improving the performance of students who come from low-income homes since the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" initiatives in the 1960s. The current administration strongly supports the belief that good schools can be created and has funded the Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program to support these beliefs. This article provides information about recent school reform research and conditions of schooling. The article then reviews our research findings (drawing on all the preceding articles in the special issue) and considers implications for policy makers, principals, teachers, teacher educators, and researchers. Purpose: The basic intent of this study was to inform working theories of learning, motivation, and social/emotional development in school contexts in Grades 3-5. We hoped that an emphasis on theory, contextual enactment, and participant mediation would yield a richer picture of classroom practices and motivational dynamics that might underlie student achievement and CSR effectiveness. This study focused in particular on perspectives (principals and students) and classroom practices associated with CSR programs in elementary schools in the state of Arizona. Research Design: The research program includes interview (with principals), observation (of classroom practices), and survey measures, and an adaptation of Thematic Apperception Test procedures (with students). Conclusion/Recommendations: School reform initiatives can profit from more research on participant perceptions, actual classroom practices, and student mediation of those practices. These understandings can better link program design and student achievement to enhance the effectiveness of CSR initiatives. We believe that it is now possible to conduct field experiments for improving normative (typical) practice in elementary school classrooms. We offer considerations for doing this research and suggest the need for attention to students, both as social beings and learners, while altering classroom practices in small measured steps. Copyright © by Teachers College.
• Mccaslin, M., & Burross, H. L. (2008). Student motivational dynamics. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2452-2463.
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  Abstract: Background/Context: Student motivation typically has been studied as it relates to extrinsic (e.g., reinforcement) or intrinsic (e.g., personal choice) sources of influence, with scant attention to sociocultural context. This article builds on a previous article in this special issue that (1) addresses the role of opportunity in the motivation of students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) and (2) presents the results of survey measures designed to capture student understandings of school. Findings suggested that students differentiate the social (school, teacher, classmates) from the academic (math, reading) domains of school. This article explores individual differences in students' global understandings of, and dispositions toward, school. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if and how students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in CSR differ in their understandings of, and dispositions toward, school. Research Design: Students in Grades 3-5 who live in poverty and attend schools engaged in CSR completed the "The thing about my school is..." measure. Study 1 involved 464 students in spring 2004, Study 2 involved 328 students in fall 2004, and in Study 3, a subgroup of 101 participants was tracked from one school year to the next. Conclusions/ Recommendations: Exploratory factor analyses revealed individual differences in student dispositions toward school that refined global reports in ways that may prove amenable to motivational interventions. Findings suggest that the central motivational process for these students resides in a need for interpersonal validation in which achievement and affiliation concerns are mediated by participation-isolation tensions. These patterns also suggest the role of adaptation in motivation; participation and validation are central motivational processes for students in Grades 3-5 who cope with the challenges of poverty and mobility and who attend schools engaged in comprehensive reform. Copyright © by Teachers College.
• Mccaslin, M., & Good, T. L. (2008). A study of comprehensive school reform programs in Arizona. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2319-2340.
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  Abstract: Background/context The U.S. federal government has been interested in improving the performance of students who come from low-income homes since the time of Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" initiatives in the 1960s. The current administration strongly supports the belief that good schools can be created and has funded the Comprehensive School Reform Program (CSR) to support these beliefs. This article briefly reviews literature related to school reform throughout this period, describes our research plan to study CSR elementary schools in the state of Arizona, and introduces the articles included in this special issue. Focus of Study: The basic intent of this study was to inform working theories of learning, motivation, and social/emotional development in school contexts in Grades 3-5. We hoped that an emphasis on theory, contextual enactment, and participant mediation would yield a richer picture of classroom practices and motivational dynamics that might underlie student achievement and CSR effectiveness. This study focused in particular on participant perspectives (principals and students) and classroom practices associated with CSR programs in elementary schools in the state of Arizona. Research Design: The research program includes interview (with principals), observation (of classroom practices), and survey measures and an adaptation of Thematic Apperception Test procedures (with students). Conclusions/Recommendations: School reform initiatives can profit from more research on participant perceptions, actual classroom practices, and student mediation of those practices. These understandings can better link program design and student achievement to enhance the effectiveness of comprehensive school reform initiatives. Copyright © by Teachers College.
• Mccaslin, M., & Good, T. L. (2008). School reform matters. Teachers College Record, 110(11), 2317-2318.
• Good, T. L., McCaslin, M., Tsang, H. Y., Zhang, J., R., C., Bozack, A. R., & Hester, W. (2006). How well do 1st-year teachers teach: Does type of preparation make a difference?. Journal of Teacher Education, 57(4), 410-430.
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  Abstract: The authors present a program of research on the teaching practices of 1st-year teachers that has evolved within a partnership between and among a university and area school districts. The research links observed 1st-year teaching practices with school level (elementary, middle, high school) and type of teacher preparation (traditional bachelor's degree or nontraditional master's degree or postbaccalaureate certification). This study was conducted during 3 consecutive years, and results suggest that 1st-year teachers, as a group, performed adequately. School-level analyses reveal higher quality classroom management practices at the elementary level. Type of preparation analyses reveal higher quality management practices among teachers who attended traditional programs. The potential interaction between school level and type of preparation was not definitive but suggests further research is needed on the match between type of preparation and school level as expressed in quality of teaching practices. © 2006 by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
• McCaslin, M. (2006). Student motivational dynamics in the era of school reform. Elementary School Journal, 106(5), 490-497.
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  Abstract: This article traces the conception of "the problem with the public school" as represented in 3 reform documents: A Nation at Risk (1983), the National Education Summit Policy Statement (1996), and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). I examine the problem definitions and solutions manifested in each reform for beliefs about student motivation to learn. These beliefs in turn are compared to research illustrations of student motivation obtained in each reform period. The article ends with suggestions for "small changes" in classroom practices that might improve student motivation to learn, promote the goals of NCLB, and enhance the healthy development of children. © 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
• McCaslin, M., Good, T. L., Nichols, S., Zhang, J., R., C., Bozack, A. R., Burross, H. L., & Cuizon-Garcia, R. (2006). Comprehensive school reform: An observational study of teaching in grades 3 through 5. Elementary School Journal, 106(4), 313-331.
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  Abstract: This observational study involved literacy and mathematics instruction of 145 teachers in grades 3 through 5 in 20 low-income schools enrolled in the U.S. government's Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) Demonstration program. Observed curriculum and instructional practices were primarily and coherently focused on acquisition of basic facts and skills and related elaborations and thinking. With few exceptions, students were on task and productive and teacher-student relationships were friendly and mutually supportive. Observations were compared with normative teaching practices. This comparison supported the conclusion that instruction in CSR classrooms did not differ from instruction typically observed in elementary school. Recommendations for enhancing normative practice within the constraints of modern school reform are made. © 2006 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
• Good, T. L., Burross, H. L., & McCaslin, M. M. (2005). Comprehensive school reform: A longitudinal study of school improvement in one state. Teachers College Record, 107(10), 2205-2226.
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  Abstract: We report on comprehensive school reform (CSR) reform in 48 schools over 6 consecutive years. In 1998, a total of 24 schools received CSR awards to improve student achievement. Control schools were carefully matched on 26 demographic variables to form a comparison group. Students' average performance, as represented in publicly available school report card data, increased across the combined sample of CSR and non-CSR schools in nontrivial ways. CSR and non-CSR schools, however, were not differentiated on the basis of a discriminant analysis function both in terms of achievement (Stanford 9) and demographic variables. To examine effects over time, a mixed-design multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test was performed for third- through ninth-grade scores for each performance level on the Stanford 9 achievement test (reading, language, and math). In all three performance areas, the mean NCE scores for CSR and non-CSR schools had significant within-subject effects for all 6 years. However, there were no between-subjects effects in any performance areas for CSR or non-CSR schools. The combined gains for CSR and non-CSR schools across time were notable; average math performance increased 1.0 standard deviation. Mean scores in reading and language also increased (.62 and.11, respectively), with language performance the least malleable area. Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University.
• McCaslin, M., Burross, H. L., & Good, T. L. (2005). Change and continuity in student achievement from grades 3 to 5: A policy dilemma. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 13, 1-21.
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  Abstract: In this article we examine student performance on mandated tests in grades 3, 4, and 5 in one state. We focus on this interval, which we term "the fourth grade window," based on our hypothesis that students in grade four are particularly vulnerable to decrements in achievement. The national focus on the third grade as the critical benchmark in student performance has distracted researchers and policy makers from recognition that the fourth grade transition is essential to our understanding of how to promote complex thinking and reasoning that is built upon a foundation of basic skills that maybe necessary, but are not sufficient, for the more nuanced learning expected in subsequent grades. We hypothesized that the basic skills that define a successful third grade performance do not predict successful performance in subsequent years. We examined student performance over time using two measures of student success: the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS), a standards-based test; and the Stanford 9 (SAT9), a norm-referenced test. Three groups of schools were included in these analyses. Schools were individually matched to the original sample of interest, which were schools serving students of poverty that received state funding to implement Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) models that emphasize continuity across grade levels. The first comparison sample includes schools that abo serve students of poverty but did not receive CSR funding, "nonCSR" schools. The second comparison sample includes schools individually matched on all variables except economic status. These schools, which we term "low poverty" schools, are the wealthiest public schools in the state, with less than 10% of attending students receiving free or reduced lunch. Student test scores in math, reading, and writing (AIMS) or language (SAT9) were analyzed for the years 2000-2003. These intervals allowed the analysis of two cohorts of the fourth grade window. Our results suggest that the reliance on third grade performance to label students and schools is untenable.
• McCaslin, M. (2003). Elementary School Journal: Introduction. Elementary School Journal, 103(4), 313-316+430.
• McCaslin, M., & Hickey, D. T. (2001). Educational psychology, social constructivism, and educational practice: A case of emergent identity. Educational Psychologist, 36(2), 133-140.
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  Abstract: Psychology has long been a field beset with identity crises of one sort or another. At midcentury, -sychology openly struggled with self-definition - what is psychology? - and the role - whom or what does it serve? - it was to play in individual and societal issues. Educational psychology has suffered similar identity issues. This article examines briefly the history and futility of educational psychology's in-house fights over mission and contests for theoretical dominance, allegedly in the name of unity. This article suggests instead the desirability of collaboration among diverse participants and theoretical integration for the improvement of educational practices. This article illustrates this goal with discussion of current work within a social constructivist framework.
• McCaslin, M., & Infanti, H. (1998). The generativity crisis and the "scold war": What about those parents?. Teachers College Record, 100(2), 275-296.
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  Abstract: The role of parent is a societal construction that is influenced by an array of messages from cultural sources as diverse as formal social policy documents of the U.S. government and the everydayness of popular media. This article examines the multiple messages about parents and what it means to be an effective parent as evidenced in educational policy documents, popular women's magazines, academic research, and educational practice. One common theme emerges: Too many parents are either incompetent or unwilling to parent effectively, defined by a child's compliance with civil authority and success in school, Erikson's (1950/1963) psychosocial theory of life-span development guides the analysis of these messages and their relation to parent identity. Erikson's notion of "generativity crisis," the individual's struggle between self-indulgence and care for another, is a useful metaphor for understanding society's role in caring for the next generation. Societal messages that parents are inadequate are self-fulfilling and self-defeating. Parents are more important as members of a generativity alliance for the betterment of children than they are as scapegoats for societal stagnation. Cultural generativity does not bypass, scold, or blame parents; it includes supporting parents and their children.
• McCaslin, M. (1996). The problem of problem representation: The Summit's conception of student. Educational Researcher, 25(8), 13-15.
• Rohrkemper, M. (1985). Individual Differences in Students' Perceptions of Routine Classroom Events. Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(1), 29-44.
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  Abstract: One hundred forty-four elementary school students, 72 boys and 72 girls across Grades 1 through 5, who differed in classroom adjustment were presented with three written vignettes portraying inappropriate student behavior. Interviews probed students' predictions of their teacher's motivation and response to the three vignette characters as well as students' own understanding of and response to the vignette characters. Student reports varied across vignettes and, within this, differed primarily by grade level. Older students' responses were typically more elaborated and differentiating. Younger students' constructs tended to be more global, emotional, and value-laden. Girls evidenced more elaborated understanding of their teacher's motivation and behavior than boys. Nonproblem students' working knowledge of the classroom, including discussion of their teacher, the vignette characters, and their reaction to them, did not differ from that of students who had a range of difficulties in the classroom. Of the troublesome students, only the hyperactive students were notable for their differential responses. © 1985 American Psychological Association.
• Brophy, J., Rohrkemper, M., Rashid, H., & Goldberger, M. (1983). Relationships between teachers' presentations of classroom tasks and students' engagement in those tasks. Journal of Educational Psychology, 75(4), 544-552.
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  Abstract: Correlated the presence/absence of various teacher task-presentation statements with measures of subsequent student task engagement to investigate the possibility that expectations about classroom tasks that teachers communicate to students in the process of presenting those tasks might affect student engagement in the tasks. Reading and math lessons were observed (8-25 times each) in 2 4th-grade, 2 5th-grade, and 2 6th-grade classes. Typically, each reading or math period was subdivided into 2-4 tasks. For example, a math period might begin with a review of the previous day's seatwork/homework assignment, followed by presentation of a new concept or skill, followed by presentation of a new assignment. Teacher-presentation data and student-engagement data were collected for each task observed. Contrary to expectation, student engagement was generally higher when teachers moved directly into tasks than when they began with some presentation statement. Within the subset of tasks that were begun with teacher-presentation statements, those presentation statements classified as likely to have negative effects on student engagement were associated with lower student engagement, but there was no corresponding tendency for teacher-presentation statements classified as likely to have positive effects on student engagement to be associated with high rates of student engagement. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1983 American Psychological Association.
• Brophy, J. E., & Rohrkemper, M. M. (1981). The influence of problem ownership on teachers' perceptions of and strategies for coping with problem students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 73(3), 295-311.
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  Abstract: 98 elementary school teachers read vignettes depicting incidents involving (fictional) students who presented chronic behavior problems and then told how they would respond if the incidents occurred in their classrooms. Responses were coded for attributions about the students and about the Ss' roles in causing and correcting the problems. Ss attributed controllability and intentionality to students presenting teacher-owned problems but not to students presenting student-owned problems. Students presenting shared problems often were seen as able to control their behavior but not as misbehaving intentionally. The contrasting patterns of attribution seen in these 3 levels of problem ownership were associated with contrasting patterns of goals and strategies, as well. The data bear out expectations based on attributional analyses of helping behavior but raise questions about teachers' preparedness to cope with problem students. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1981 American Psychological Association.

Presentations

• Mccaslin, M. M., Vriesema, C. C., & Vega, R. I. (2015, August). Co-regulation of elementary students' motivation and emotion in small-group learning. Biennial meetings of the European Association of Learning and Instruction (EARLI). Limossol, Cyprus: EARLI.