**5. Practices to foster positive relationships**

As illustrated in previous sections, the fourth R is related to students' academic and mental health functioning in meaningful ways. Accordingly, we will now consider potential ways to support healthy peer and teacher relationships, and family involvement.

#### **5.1. Social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions**

SEL is an approach that aims to protect children and youth from maladaptive outcomes by supporting their mastery of a range of affective, behavioral, and cognitive competencies [12, 91]. Broadly speaking, these competencies fall under the groups of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making [92]. Within the school context, SEL programs are designed to complement the school curricula to foster the core competencies in two steps. The first step involves informing and modeling SEL skills to students, followed by opportunities for them to practice and apply these skills in developmentally, contextually, and culturally appropriate ways [12]. The second step involves creating a safe and caring environment through peer and family initiatives, improved classroom management, effective teaching approaches, and whole-school community building activities [12, 91].

School-based SEL interventions serve as a potential avenue to support peer-, teacher-, and school-family relationships for a variety of reasons. First, the core competency of relationship skills focuses on promoting students' efficacy in establishing and maintaining healthy relationships through effective communication, social engagement, relationship-building, and teamwork [92]. Accordingly, students will be more adept at creating trusting relationships with their peers and teachers. Second, by emphasizing teaching approaches that support the clear communication of expectations, cooperative learning, and classroom order [92], teachers can create a safe environment for students to become academically engaged. Third, interventions that invite the collaboration of family may also indirectly encourage more frequent home-school partnerships and better relationships.

A number of programs have been developed in line with the SEL approach. An exemplar is RULER [93], which equips primary and secondary school students with the competence to recognize and label emotions in oneself and others, understand potential causes and consequences of emotions, as well as express and regulate emotions in socially adaptive ways. By becoming emotionally literate, students will be able to interact with others more effectively; moreover, they will be able to problem-solve difficult emotional situations and have better mental health functioning [93]. Further, because RULER is incorporated into the English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, in which books are often used to exemplify emotions and relationships, RULER also predicts improved ELA achievement [93]. Other effective programs are KiVa [94] and Roots of Empathy [95]. For example, KiVa is an antibullying program that has been found to reduce negative perceptions of peers (e.g., peers are seen as reliable and supportive), anxiety, and depression among children and youth [94].

#### **5.2. Service learning programs**

At the same time, it is related to teachers' and parents' perceptions of one another's beliefs, attitudes, and values toward education and involvement [82–84]. To the extent that the parentteacher relationship quality serves as a stronger predictor for achievement and social adjustment than the frequency of home-school contacts [80, 84], an emerging line of research is emphasizing the need to examine the quality of the parent-teacher or parent-school relationship in relation to

When the quality of the parent-teacher relationship is favorable, student outcomes tend to be more positive. In the academic domain, the high-quality parent-teacher relationship is associated with better test scores and competence in language and math [82, 84], as well as overall school performance [80, 87] among kindergartners and primary and secondary school students. Further, although research regarding the role of the parent-teacher relationship on youth's mental health functioning is limited as compared to those on children (e.g., [88, 89]), available evidence underscores its importance. Among a group of secondary school students in the U.S., Froiland and Davison [87] found a negative association between a satisfying and trusting parent-teacher relationship and problematic behaviors. Similarly, a study conducted across 10 provinces in China found that the parent-teacher relationship was linked with better social (e.g., relationships) and career (e.g., goal-settings) outcomes among high school students [90]. Therefore, there is a need for schools to devote efforts to increasing the number of family-school contacts *and* enhancing the quality of the parent-teacher relationship as they

As illustrated in previous sections, the fourth R is related to students' academic and mental health functioning in meaningful ways. Accordingly, we will now consider potential ways to

SEL is an approach that aims to protect children and youth from maladaptive outcomes by supporting their mastery of a range of affective, behavioral, and cognitive competencies [12, 91]. Broadly speaking, these competencies fall under the groups of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making [92]. Within the school context, SEL programs are designed to complement the school curricula to foster the core competencies in two steps. The first step involves informing and modeling SEL skills to students, followed by opportunities for them to practice and apply these skills in developmentally, contextually, and culturally appropriate ways [12]. The second step involves creating a safe and caring environment through peer and family initiatives, improved classroom management, effective teaching approaches, and whole-school community building activities [12, 91].

School-based SEL interventions serve as a potential avenue to support peer-, teacher-, and school-family relationships for a variety of reasons. First, the core competency of relationship skills focuses on promoting students' efficacy in establishing and maintaining healthy

support healthy peer and teacher relationships, and family involvement.

developmental outcomes [83, 85, 86].

110 Health and Academic Achievement

both contribute to academic and mental health outcomes.

**5. Practices to foster positive relationships**

**5.1. Social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions**

Similar to SEL interventions, research also suggests that service-learning programs can enhance a range of competencies pertinent to academic and mental health functioning. By providing meaningful services to the community in ways that connect with the school curriculum, students are empowered with social (e.g., cultural competence and empathy), personal (e.g., self-esteem), civic (e.g., community behaviors), and academic (e.g., learning engagement) competencies [96]. With its emphasis on contributing to the community, service-learning programs are particularly suitable for older adolescents. As an example, college students who participated in a 12-week service learning program (Campus Corps) in which they mentored at-risk adolescents demonstrated improved interpersonal and problem-solving skills, community service self-efficacy, self-esteem, civic action, and political awareness [97]. These mentors were also adept at sustaining positive relationships with their mentees and families [97]. In view of this line of evidence, service-learning programs may also be a promising approach to equipping students with social competence that can benefit their peer and teacher relationships.

#### **5.3. Intervention programs and professional training for family and teachers**

To encourage family involvement, it is important to first consider the underlying factors that may motivate or hinder such involvement. At the family level, three major factors have been identified to drive involvement, including parents' motivational beliefs, perception of invitations, and perceived life contexts [85]. Specifically, family involvement is more likely to occur when parents hold a belief that they should be involved in education, feel efficacious that their involvement would promote better outcomes, perceive that they are welcomed by the school, teachers, and the child, as well as have the necessary skills, knowledge, time, and energy to become involved [85]. In support of this, children whose parents endorse the belief that it is their role to be involved in education and feel efficacious in doing so have more adaptive functioning [86]. When families feel that they are welcomed and respected, they are able to form more trusting relationships with schools; this is also especially true in inclusive [98] and culturally diverse schools [99].

**6. Conclusion**

In this chapter, we have discussed the fourth R as it pertains to youth's academic and mental health functioning. The first relationship that is tapped by this "R" is among those with peers. Indeed, given that peers take a particularly strong presence during adolescence, it is perhaps not surprising that peer relationships have implications on both academic and mental health outcomes. On the one hand, peer relationships that take the forms of bullying and victimization are associated with lower achievement and dysfunctional well-being [17], potentially because poor relationships interfere with youth's ability to focus on their academic endeavors by placing an emotional burden on them. On the other hand, healthier peer relationships may promote adaptive outcomes by providing youth with academic (e.g., homework assistance) and social-emotional resources (e.g., emotional support) [105]. Thus, efforts are needed to equip youth with the skills and competence to establish and sustain healthy peer relationships. The second relationship that pertains to the fourth R is manifested between students and teachers. In view of the established literature highlighting a link between different pedagogical approaches and academic achievement (e.g., [106]), the significance of the student-teacher relationship on academic achievement is particularly telling. This significance illustrates that it is not only important for teachers to adopt appropriate instructional approaches, but it is also critical to maintain a supportive relationship with their students. To the extent that teachers and school personnel often receive very little or no training in building successful alliances with families and supportive and warm relationships with students [102], these efforts are necessary. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for preservice teacher training programs to revamp their curriculum so as to better prepare teachers. Finally, the fourth R is reflected through family involvement, and in particular, home-school partnership and parent-teacher relationship quality. Of note is that although the benefits associated with positive parentteacher relationships are unlikely to differ as a function of age, the significance of specific types of family involvement may change over time [88]. For example, parents may provide less homework assistance as the adolescent grows older. Nonetheless, the positive association between family involvement and achievement may become stronger over time because older students become more adept at communicating to their parents regarding their learning needs, which can then facilitate more appropriate forms of involvement [63]. Moreover, recent studies have illustrated mental health benefits that accompany family involvement among youth. Given that adolescence is often marked by academic, social, and psychological challenges [107], it is of importance that efforts are dedicated to supporting policies that mandate family involvement in secondary schools, and perhaps even college. Similarly, it is critical to raise family's awareness regarding their significance in youth's learning and well-being. Ultimately, the concerted efforts of students, families, and school practitioners are needed to

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create a school climate where each member feels respected and supported.

**Conflict of interest**

We have no conflict of interest to declare.

At the school level, teachers and school personnel may face multiple barriers in their efforts to secure a family-school partnership. One of these salient barriers is the cultural differences that exist between families and schools. For example, African American parents often feel less welcomed in schools and experience barriers in securing resources for their child, possibly due to past and current discrimination [79]. Due to cultural differences in the conceptualization of parental roles or frustration that resulted from previous collaborative attempts, Latino families in the U.S., context may feel uncomfortable to participate in school events [100]. When schools and teachers do not share a common culture with the students and their families, it is also more difficult to establish a collaborative relationship that aims to support learning [101, 102]. In some cases, this collaboration is hindered by language barriers.

In light of the above, it would be important for school practitioners to offer training programs to families so as to heighten their confidence in their abilities to support learning. Moreover, given that some families may be more resistant to forming a coalition with schools, it is imperative that school psychologists provide teachers with assistance and guidance to develop individualized approaches [100]. Furthermore, training workshops that are tailored toward instilling teachers with a comprehensive understanding on different cultures and traditions are needed. Schools should also be prepared to include bilingual school personnel into the picture, who can help as an interpreter, or in preparing for bilingual signage and materials [100].

A plausible way to enhance more positive peer relationships, student-teacher relationships, and home-school partnerships is to provide relevant training opportunities to teachers and school personnel. First, given that some teachers may hold unfavorable views toward families who rarely participate in school events or whose child demonstrates academic and behavioral problems, intervention efforts are needed to challenge these beliefs [89]. Second, professional training workshops should aim to enhance teachers' efficacy in facilitating positive peer relationships, student-teacher relationships, and home-school partnerships in a welcoming manner. Third, educators, researchers, or other relevant providers should consider implementing intervention programs that target teachers' own social-emotional competence. Indeed, when teachers are socially and emotionally competent themselves, they are more effective in fostering and maintaining healthy teacher-student relationship, managing a safe classroom, and implementing quality SEL interventions [103]. Moreover, when teachers are comfortable with implementing SEL programs (i.e., an implicit indicator of their own social-emotional competence), they experience greater sense of teaching efficacy and job satisfaction, both of which are functional to more positive teacher-student relationships [104].
