Sara E Rimm‐kaufman
Biographic Data
| ID | 3458185 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sara E Rimm‐kaufman |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sara E |
| FAMILY NAME | Rimm‐kaufman |
| SIGNATURE | KAUFMAN S E R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Virginia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1354-8249 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 32 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 410 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
A mixed methods study examining how classroom experiences cultivate respect in Middle school students
Belonging contributes to compassion
Crucial skills for early adolescents to develop include respecting people from different backgrounds, showing empathy and compassion, and making ethical decisions in challenging situations. This exploratory study aims to understand the extent to which students' perceptions of teacher caring and belonging related to changes in their self-reported prosocial competencies ( i.e. , cultural respect, empathy, compassion, integrity)? We conducted a mult…
“The most important part of empathy is…being able to help”
This qualitative study explored the relationship between EL Education and Comparison school students' definitions of empathy and educators' teaching practices. We interviewed 23 5th and 6th grade students and 18 educators from nine middle schools across the United States. Students were asked to define empathy and educators described empathy teaching practices. Three themes appeared in student definitions: empathy, prosocial behavior, and empathy-…
Empowering community-changers
This study examined the effects of behavioral and social engagement and classroom supportiveness on the development of civic efficacy in fourth-grade science classrooms. We define civic efficacy as children's beliefs that they are not only capable of making a difference in their community, but they also feel a responsibility to do so. This study enrolled 815 students (48% female) across 39 classrooms, including 31 fourth-grade teachers at 25 scho…
Promoting fourth-grade students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness through service-learning
This project reports on focus groups conducted as part of a larger RCT of the science curriculum Connect Science. This study examines students perspectives of the program in a series of focus groups through the lens of Self-Determination Theory
Igniting kid power
Schoolwork With Purpose
Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet what is considered meaningful, meaningful to whom, and why, leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education schools compared to comparison schools, and (2) How adolescents describe meaningful schoolwork. Survey responses were gathered from 258 stude…
Revisiting Jerome Kagan and his research legacy
This special issue of Developmental Psychology is dedicated to the legacy of Jerome Kagan, whose pioneering work profoundly shaped the field of developmental psychology. Kagan's groundbreaking research on temperament, emotional development, and the role of biology in shaping human behavior provided a foundation for understanding individual differences across the lifespan. The 20 articles featured in this issue reflect the breadth and depth of Kag…
Social and emotional competency development from fourth to 12th grade
Educators have become increasingly committed to social and emotional learning in schools. However, we know too little about the typical growth trajectories of the competencies that schools are striving to improve. We leverage data from the California Office to Reform Education, a consortium of districts in California serving over 1.5 million students, that administers annual surveys to students to measure social and emotional competencies (SECs).…
They’re Going Through Something, Too
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental period. This study aims to fill this gap. Sixteen sixth-grade students from two middle schools in a…
Teachers’ Beliefs About Inclusive Education and Insights on What Contributes to Those Beliefs
Teachers’ belief systems about the inclusion of students with special needs may explain gaps between policy and practice. We investigated three inter-related aspects of teachers’ belief systems: teachers’ cognitive appraisals (e.g., attitudes), emotional appraisal (e.g., feelings), and self-efficacy (e.g., agency to teach inclusive classrooms). To date, research in this field has produced contradictory findings, resulting in a sparse understandin…
Empirical benchmarks for changes in social and emotional skills over time
This study provides empirical benchmarks that quantify typical changes in students’ reports of social and emotional skills in a large, diverse sample. Data come from six cohorts of students (N = 361,815; 6% Asian, 8% Black, 68% White, 75% Latinx, 50% Female) who responded to the CORE survey from 2015 to 2018 and help quantify typical gains/declines in growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness. Results show fluctuations …
English learners' achievement in mathematics and science
A Partnered Approach to School Change in a Rural Community
With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany F…
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
Do student self-efficacy and teacher-student interaction quality contribute to emotional and social engagement in fifth grade math?
To what extent do teacher–student interaction quality and student gender contribute to fifth graders’ engagement in mathematics learning?
This study examines concurrent teacher–student interaction quality and 5th graders’ (n = 387) engagement in mathematics classrooms (n = 63) and considers how teacher–student interaction quality relates to engagement differently for boys and girls. Three approaches were used to measure student engagement in mathematics: Research assistants observed engaged behavior, teachers reported on students’ engagement, and students completed questionnaires. …
Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Standards-Based Mathematics Teaching Practices, and Student Achievement in the Context of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This study investigates the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach, a social and emotional learning intervention, on changing the relations between mathematics teacher and classroom inputs (mathematical knowledge for teaching [MKT] and standards-based mathematics teaching practices) and student mathematics achievement. Work was conducted in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Participants were 88 third-grade teachers a…
Using Indices of Fidelity to Intervention Core Components to Identify Program Active Ingredients
Identifying the active ingredients of an intervention—intervention-specific components serving as key levers of change—is crucial for unpacking the intervention black box. Measures of intervention fidelity can be used to identify specific active ingredients, yet such applications are rare. We illustrate how fidelity measures can be used to identify program active ingredients in the context of a social-emotional learning intervention ( Responsive …
Efficacy of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach on student achievement. Schools ( n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at schools assigned to the control condition in math or reading achievement. Use of RC practices mediated …
Relationships Among Informant Based Measures of Social Skills and Student Achievement
Children's social skills are an important class of learned behaviors that facilitate success in the classroom; the primary method used in the assessment of social skills involves having parents or teachers complete standardized checklists using judgments of frequency or intensity. Children's (N = 1,102) social skills were modeled as time-varying predictors of student achievements within a latent growth curve model that allowed for estimation of s…
Contexts of reading instruction
Teacher–child interactions and children’s achievement trajectories across kindergarten and first grade.
This study examined the extent to which the quality of teacher-child interactions and children's achievement levels at kindergarten entry were associated with children's achievement trajectories. Rural students (n = 147) were enrolled in a longitudinal study from kindergarten through first grade. Growth trajectories (initial level and slope) were modeled with hierarchical linear modeling for 3 areas of achievement: word reading, phonological awar…
Teacher–child relationship quality
The contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive function to children's academic achievement, learning-related behaviors, and engagement in kindergarten
An Ecological Perspective on the Transition to Kindergarten
The contribution of children’s self-regulation and classroom quality to children’s adaptive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom
In this study, the authors examined the extent to which children's self-regulation upon kindergarten entrance and classroom quality in kindergarten contributed to children's adaptive classroom behavior. Children's self-regulation was assessed using a direct assessment upon entrance into kindergarten. Classroom quality was measured on the basis of multiple classroom observations during the kindergarten year. Children's adaptive classroom behavior …
Teachers’ judgments of problems in the transition to kindergarten
The contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive function to children's academic achievement, learning-related behaviors, and engagement in kindergarten
Teacher–child relationship quality
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
Collaboration in building partnerships between families and schools
Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Standards-Based Mathematics Teaching Practices, and Student Achievement in the Context of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This study investigates the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach, a social and emotional learning intervention, on changing the relations between mathematics teacher and classroom inputs (mathematical knowledge for teaching [MKT] and standards-based mathematics teaching practices) and student mathematics achievement. Work was conducted in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Participants were 88 third-grade teachers a…
Efficacy of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach on student achievement. Schools ( n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at schools assigned to the control condition in math or reading achievement. Use of RC practices mediated …
Contexts of reading instruction
Using Indices of Fidelity to Intervention Core Components to Identify Program Active Ingredients
Identifying the active ingredients of an intervention—intervention-specific components serving as key levers of change—is crucial for unpacking the intervention black box. Measures of intervention fidelity can be used to identify specific active ingredients, yet such applications are rare. We illustrate how fidelity measures can be used to identify program active ingredients in the context of a social-emotional learning intervention ( Responsive …
Social and emotional competency development from fourth to 12th grade
Educators have become increasingly committed to social and emotional learning in schools. However, we know too little about the typical growth trajectories of the competencies that schools are striving to improve. We leverage data from the California Office to Reform Education, a consortium of districts in California serving over 1.5 million students, that administers annual surveys to students to measure social and emotional competencies (SECs).…
Maternal Sensitivity and Child Wariness in the Transition to Kindergarten
Objective. This study tested maternal sensitivity as a moderator of the stability of wary behavior between 15 months and the transition to school. Design. Observational data from 15-month-old children and their mothers, kindergarten teacher reports, and maternal reports during the transition to kindergarten from 215 children from 3 sites (North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICH…
Igniting kid power
Schoolwork With Purpose
Making school meaningful is a widely accepted goal in education, yet what is considered meaningful, meaningful to whom, and why, leaves room for interrogation. This sequential explanatory mixed methods study aims to understand: (1) The extent to which students experience meaningful education at EL Education schools compared to comparison schools, and (2) How adolescents describe meaningful schoolwork. Survey responses were gathered from 258 stude…
They’re Going Through Something, Too
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental period. This study aims to fill this gap. Sixteen sixth-grade students from two middle schools in a…
Teachers’ judgments of problems in the transition to kindergarten
An Ecological Perspective on the Transition to Kindergarten
Collaboration in building partnerships between families and schools
Maternal Sensitivity and Child Wariness in the Transition to Kindergarten
Objective. This study tested maternal sensitivity as a moderator of the stability of wary behavior between 15 months and the transition to school. Design. Observational data from 15-month-old children and their mothers, kindergarten teacher reports, and maternal reports during the transition to kindergarten from 215 children from 3 sites (North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICH…
The Contribution of Classroom Setting and Quality of Instruction to Children’s Behavior in Kindergarten Classrooms
The present article examined 2 questions about the relation between kindergarten classroom processes (setting and quality) and children’s engagement in activities, compliance with teachers’ requests, and interactions with peers. First, how do children’s engagement, compliance, and cooperation vary as a function of teachers’ use of classroom settings, and second, how does classroom quality moderate the co‐occurrence between teachers’ choice of cla…
Ideology and Intuition in Moral Education
We propose that social psychological findings on the intuitive bases of moral judgment have broad implications for moral education. The “five foundations theory of intuitive ethics” is applied to explain a longstanding rift in moral education as an i
Teacher–child interactions and children’s achievement trajectories across kindergarten and first grade.
This study examined the extent to which the quality of teacher-child interactions and children's achievement levels at kindergarten entry were associated with children's achievement trajectories. Rural students (n = 147) were enrolled in a longitudinal study from kindergarten through first grade. Growth trajectories (initial level and slope) were modeled with hierarchical linear modeling for 3 areas of achievement: word reading, phonological awar…
Teacher–child relationship quality
The contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive function to children's academic achievement, learning-related behaviors, and engagement in kindergarten
The contribution of children’s self-regulation and classroom quality to children’s adaptive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom
In this study, the authors examined the extent to which children's self-regulation upon kindergarten entrance and classroom quality in kindergarten contributed to children's adaptive classroom behavior. Children's self-regulation was assessed using a direct assessment upon entrance into kindergarten. Classroom quality was measured on the basis of multiple classroom observations during the kindergarten year. Children's adaptive classroom behavior …
Relationships Among Informant Based Measures of Social Skills and Student Achievement
Children's social skills are an important class of learned behaviors that facilitate success in the classroom; the primary method used in the assessment of social skills involves having parents or teachers complete standardized checklists using judgments of frequency or intensity. Children's (N = 1,102) social skills were modeled as time-varying predictors of student achievements within a latent growth curve model that allowed for estimation of s…
Contexts of reading instruction
Using Indices of Fidelity to Intervention Core Components to Identify Program Active Ingredients
Identifying the active ingredients of an intervention—intervention-specific components serving as key levers of change—is crucial for unpacking the intervention black box. Measures of intervention fidelity can be used to identify specific active ingredients, yet such applications are rare. We illustrate how fidelity measures can be used to identify program active ingredients in the context of a social-emotional learning intervention ( Responsive …
Efficacy of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This randomized controlled field trial examined the efficacy of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach on student achievement. Schools ( n = 24) were randomized into intervention and control conditions; 2,904 children were studied from end of second to fifth grade. Students at schools assigned to the RC condition did not outperform students at schools assigned to the control condition in math or reading achievement. Use of RC practices mediated …
Do student self-efficacy and teacher-student interaction quality contribute to emotional and social engagement in fifth grade math?
To what extent do teacher–student interaction quality and student gender contribute to fifth graders’ engagement in mathematics learning?
This study examines concurrent teacher–student interaction quality and 5th graders’ (n = 387) engagement in mathematics classrooms (n = 63) and considers how teacher–student interaction quality relates to engagement differently for boys and girls. Three approaches were used to measure student engagement in mathematics: Research assistants observed engaged behavior, teachers reported on students’ engagement, and students completed questionnaires. …
Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Standards-Based Mathematics Teaching Practices, and Student Achievement in the Context of the Responsive Classroom Approach
This study investigates the effectiveness of the Responsive Classroom ( RC) approach, a social and emotional learning intervention, on changing the relations between mathematics teacher and classroom inputs (mathematical knowledge for teaching [MKT] and standards-based mathematics teaching practices) and student mathematics achievement. Work was conducted in the context of a randomized controlled trial. Participants were 88 third-grade teachers a…
Does professional development reduce the influence of teacher stress on teacher–child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms
A Partnered Approach to School Change in a Rural Community
With so many education policies and practices made at the local level, community-based foundations are in a unique position to support their local school districts in taking a comprehensive, systematic approach to improving the lives of young people. This article describes a research–practice partnership designed to produce school improvement in a rural community in western Virginia and reflects on a three-year collaboration among The Alleghany F…
English learners' achievement in mathematics and science
Teachers’ Beliefs About Inclusive Education and Insights on What Contributes to Those Beliefs
Teachers’ belief systems about the inclusion of students with special needs may explain gaps between policy and practice. We investigated three inter-related aspects of teachers’ belief systems: teachers’ cognitive appraisals (e.g., attitudes), emotional appraisal (e.g., feelings), and self-efficacy (e.g., agency to teach inclusive classrooms). To date, research in this field has produced contradictory findings, resulting in a sparse understandin…
Empirical benchmarks for changes in social and emotional skills over time
This study provides empirical benchmarks that quantify typical changes in students’ reports of social and emotional skills in a large, diverse sample. Data come from six cohorts of students (N = 361,815; 6% Asian, 8% Black, 68% White, 75% Latinx, 50% Female) who responded to the CORE survey from 2015 to 2018 and help quantify typical gains/declines in growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness. Results show fluctuations …
“The most important part of empathy is…being able to help”
This qualitative study explored the relationship between EL Education and Comparison school students' definitions of empathy and educators' teaching practices. We interviewed 23 5th and 6th grade students and 18 educators from nine middle schools across the United States. Students were asked to define empathy and educators described empathy teaching practices. Three themes appeared in student definitions: empathy, prosocial behavior, and empathy-…
Empowering community-changers
This study examined the effects of behavioral and social engagement and classroom supportiveness on the development of civic efficacy in fourth-grade science classrooms. We define civic efficacy as children's beliefs that they are not only capable of making a difference in their community, but they also feel a responsibility to do so. This study enrolled 815 students (48% female) across 39 classrooms, including 31 fourth-grade teachers at 25 scho…
Promoting fourth-grade students’ autonomy, competence, and relatedness through service-learning
This project reports on focus groups conducted as part of a larger RCT of the science curriculum Connect Science. This study examines students perspectives of the program in a series of focus groups through the lens of Self-Determination Theory
Psychology (30 works) · Early Childhood Education and Development (25 works) · Developmental psychology (20 works) · Mathematics education (18 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (9 works) · Pedagogy (9 works) · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development (8 works) · Social Psychology (8 works) · Academic achievement (6 works)