Rethinking the Relationship Between Reading and Behavior in Early Elementary School

Considerable research has investigated the link between academic achievement and social behavior. The authors set the context for their work by reviewing some of the research that has been done. To address similarities and limitations in previous research, they included concurrent ratings of behavior from teachers and children's performance on multiple measures of reading in their analyses. The authors provide an empirical analysis of the relationship between behavior and achievement using structural equation modeling that illustrated comparable outcomes to previous research and discuss their findings as a base for directing attention to the importance of teaching behavior as well as academic skills in efforts to prevent learning problems and failure in school.