Papers by Christina Theokas
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 2021
Abstract A focus on intraindividual change and person-specific pathways is a necessary starting p... more Abstract A focus on intraindividual change and person-specific pathways is a necessary starting point for developmental science inquiries. However, research often relies on ergodicity-based assumptions about group averages and other variable-centered approaches. Using ideas associated with relational developmental systems metatheory, such as the Bornstein Specificity Principle, we re-examine the ergodicity assumption using Executive Functioning (EF) data from the Measures and Methods Across the Developmental Continuum Project. Participants from Grades 4 to 12 (M age = 14.60) completed three behavioral EF tasks (i.e., working memory, response inhibition, and cognitive flexibility). The final analytic sample included 64 participants who provided data on 30 measurement occasions. Intraindividual and interindividual EF latent constructs appeared to be different, and we identified a wide range of person-specific EF trajectories. These findings challenge the ergodicity assumption framing variable- and group-oriented approaches to individual development. This study demonstrates the feasibility of collecting intensive longitudinal data to understand youth development on an individual level as an alternative to immediate data aggregation and as means to illuminate the use of the specificity principle in understanding human development and in applications pertinent to enhancing the lives of diverse youth across specific times and places in their specific developmental pathways.
The Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students, pre-kindergarten thr... more The Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students, pre-kindergarten through college. Our goal is to close the gaps in opportunity and achievement that consign far too many young people-especially those from low-income families or who are black, Latino, or American Indian-to lives on the margins of the American mainstream. Research and Data Analysis: We analyze local, state, and national data to build a broader understanding of achievement and opportunity gaps and the actions needed to close them. We draw lessons from schools and districts that are dispelling the myth that that there is little schools can do to help students overcome the barriers of poverty and discrimination.
This study is designed to test a measure of students' perceptions of school conditions in ord... more This study is designed to test a measure of students' perceptions of school conditions in order to include student voice in creating a school that supports healthy whole child learning and development.
Using two randomly selected separate subsamples of 50,000 middle or high school stu-
The positive youth development (PYD) perspective is a strength-based conception of adolescence. D... more The positive youth development (PYD) perspective is a strength-based conception of adolescence. Derived from developmental systems theory, the perspective stressed that PYD emerges when the potential plasticity of human development is aligned with devel-opmental assets. The research reported in this special issue, which is derived from col-laborations among multiple university and community-based laboratories, reflects and extends past theory and research by documenting empirically (a) the usefulness of apply-ing this strength-based view of adolescent development within diverse youth and commu-nities; (b) the adequacy of conceptualizing PYD through Five Cs (competence, confi-dence, connection, character, and caring); (c) the individual and ecological developmental assets associated with PYD; and (d) implications for community programs and social policies pertinent to youth.
positive youth development presented in this chapter have been derived from Lerner (2004). The da... more positive youth development presented in this chapter have been derived from Lerner (2004). The data presented in this chapter were reported originally in Lerner, et al. (2005). 1 How do we know if adolescents are doing well in life? What vocabulary do researchers, parents, teachers, policy makers, and often young people themselves, use to describe a young person who is showing successful development? All too often in the United States and internationally, we discuss positive development in regard to the absence of negative or undesirable behaviors. Typically, such descriptions are predicated on the assumption that children are “broken ” or in danger of becoming broken (Benson, 2003), and thus that young people are “problems to be managed ” (Roth, Brooks-Gunn, Murray, & Foster, 1998). As such, when we describe a successful young person we speak about a youth whose problems have been managed or are, at best, absent. We might say, then, that a youth who is manifesting behavior indicati...
Using two randomly selected separate subsamples of 50,000 middle or high school stu-
Five Practices for Improving the Success of Latino Students, 2018
Five Practices for Improving the Success of Latino Students, 2018
Five Practices for Improving the Success of Latino Students, 2018
Despite the rhetoric around college and career readiness for all students, just 8 percent of hi... more Despite the rhetoric around college and career readiness for all students, just 8 percent of high school graduates complete a full college-and career-preparatory curriculum. Nearly half of graduates complete neither a college-nor career-ready course sequence. Rather than aligning high school coursework with students' future goals, high schools are prioritizing credit accrual, which treats high school graduation as the end goal. College and career readiness is still a new expectation that will require significant change to school structures, culture, and instruction to prepare students for postsecondary study aligned with their interests. We highlight school-and districtbased levers for practitioners to consider in order to maximize postsecondary readiness among students.
Pediatrics, 2007
OBJECTIVE. Emerging evidence about optimal youth development highlights the importance of both re... more OBJECTIVE. Emerging evidence about optimal youth development highlights the importance of both reducing negative behavior and promoting positive behavior. In our study we tested a contextual model derived from positive youth-development theory by examining the association of family, school, and community risk and promotive factors, with several outcome indices of both positive and negative adolescent development.METHODS. A sample of 42305 adolescents aged 11 to 17 (51% girls) was drawn from the 2003 National Survey of Children's Health. Survey item composites were formed representing promotive and risk factors in the family (eg, closeness, aggression) and school and community (eg, community connectedness, school violence). Outcome composites reflected positive (social competence, health-promoting behavior, self-esteem) and negative (externalizing, internalizing, academic problems) developmental outcomes. Ordinary least squares regression was used to test the overall model.RESULT...
Comprehensive handbook of personality and …
... Development: A Developmental Systems Perspective RICHARD M. LERNER, JACQUELINE V. LERNER, JAS... more ... Development: A Developmental Systems Perspective RICHARD M. LERNER, JACQUELINE V. LERNER, JASON ALMERIGI, AND CHRISTINA THEOKAS Understanding ... press; Brandtstadter & Lerner, 1999; Lerner & Busch-Rossnagel, 1981; Lerner, Theokas, & Jelicic, inpress ...
This study is designed to test a short, individual assessment of student wellbeing for use by cla... more This study is designed to test a short, individual assessment of student wellbeing for use by classroom teachers.
Five Practices for Improving the Success of Latino Students, 2018
Chapter to appear in: Little, T. D., Bovaird, J. A., & Card, N. A.. (In preparation). Modeling ec... more Chapter to appear in: Little, T. D., Bovaird, J. A., & Card, N. A.. (In preparation). Modeling ecological and contextual effects in longitudinal studies of human development. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum 1The preparation of this chapter was supported in part by grants from the National
Ap and iB courses are a powerful means of disrupting high-end achievement gaps, but too many lo... more Ap and iB courses are a powerful means of disrupting high-end achievement gaps, but too many low-income students and students of color are missing out. expanding access to more schools is needed, but if every school with an existing Ap program focused on finding its own "missing students," we could almost entirely eliminate participation gaps. Many schools have successfully eliminated inequitable patterns in students taking advanced courses. Their stories offer lessons for others ready and willing to take action.
This scatterplot shows the elementary schools in a state arrayed by percentage of students who re... more This scatterplot shows the elementary schools in a state arrayed by percentage of students who receive free and reduced-price lunch on the x-axis and achievement on the y-axis. It's a pretty typical pattern. But look at this graph again-and notice something differentit shows a few schools clearly performing above their peers.
Gaps between student groups at the below basic level of performance have narrowed over time, wh... more Gaps between student groups at the below basic level of performance have narrowed over time, while gaps at the advanced level of performance have widened. Gap-widening between white students and students of color at the advanced level is more pronounced among higher income groups. educators looking to close gaps, must: Set meaningful goals for students at different levels Raise the bar for all students Mine every source of data for signals identify and attend to the gaps between groups
Uploads
Papers by Christina Theokas