Juggling personal life and professionalism: Ethical implications for rural school psychologists

Rural communities often contain unique features that separate them from more urban communities. Although a body of research is devoted to ethical considerations for psychologists working in rural communities as a whole, much less current research is focused on working in rural schools. This paper specifically highlights ethical considerations regarding competence, multiple relationships, and confidentiality. Given that access to services within the community may be limited, school psychologists may encounter cases that are outside of their area of competence. Furthermore, due to the interconnectedness present in many rural communities, psychologists frequently have multiple relationships with those whom they have professional contact. Confidentiality may be compromised when families and school personnel also have multiple relationships. These factors must be considered by psychologists working in rural schools, and steps must be taken at the outset of practice to ensure ethical compliance. More specific means of obtaining this compliance are discussed in this paper.     

Are they paying attention? Students’ lack of motivation and attention potentially threaten the utility of course evaluations

Student evaluations are a common source of information used by instructors and administrators, but their utility depends on students’ motivation and attention. This paper presents evidence from two studies indicating that insufficient effort responding and lack of motivation may be problems in course evaluations. In the first study, approximately one in four students responded in an improbable way to ‘catch items’ embedded in actual course evaluation instruments, suggesting a lack of attention. In the second study, students’ responses to an online survey indicated that they doubted that their responses to course evaluations would be used by instructors or administrators. The majority of students admitted to only occasionally putting sufficient effort into their responses. Potential means for identifying insufficient effort responding and mechanisms for increasing student attention and motivation during the course evaluation process are discussed.     

Within and beyond a grow-your-own-teacher program: Documenting the contextualized preparation and professional development experiences of critically conscious Latina teachers

ABSTRACT

This study provides an account of seven Latina teachers’ select educational, professional, and personal experiences over the past 10 years as they completed a grow-your-own-teacher program, became licensed teachers, and established themselves in Latinx minority–majority public schools within their rural, mid-western community. More specifically, as a Latina researcher and participant observer, I sought to better understand the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) Latina teachers’ process-oriented engagement and conscientization over time. Far from being ‘ready-made’ conscientized teachers, in this work I discuss the ways CLD Latina teachers’ multiple and developing identities as bilingual learners, mothers, racialized minorities in schools, and educated professionals serve as both burdens and gifts in their engagement and processes of conscientization for teaching CLD students. Through the use of critical literatures, and life and professional story methodologies informed by Chicana feminist epistemologies, I sought to privilege Latina teachers’ narratives as well as uncover the mechanisms and experiences that proved most impactful for their development and sustainment within white normative educational spaces. Findings illustrate an emergence of racialized, identitarian resources among Latinas and implicate a nuanced, culturally contextualized, pedagogical approach to pre-/in-service CLD teacher professional development that engages participants in reflective storying, critical inquiry, and restorative community building.     

Immigrant families’ use of early childcare: Predictors of care type

Early care and education (ECE) settings are important developmental contexts for young children, with nearly half of all U.S. children experiencing non-parental care during infancy and toddlerhood. However, there is little research examining patterns and predictors of ECE selection among immigrant families even though children of immigrants represent the fastest growing population in the U.S. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (N ≈ 10,700), including a diverse group of children with immigrant parents (N ≈ 2950), this study aims to fill gaps in the literature by examining predictors of the type of ECE (parent, relative, home-based, or center-based) children experience during infancy and toddlerhood (children aged 7–38 months). It examines how immigrant, family, child, and contextual characteristics predict ECE selection within immigrant families and whether these correlates of ECE selection differ across native and immigrant families. Results show distinct patterns of infant and toddler ECE related to immigrant status, particularly when it came to socioeconomic advantage predicting increased relative care for children of immigrants but not native families. Furthermore, several immigrant-specific characteristics, including region of origin, English proficiency, and availability of non-English ECE options, were associated with immigrant families’ ECE choices for their infants and toddlers.     

Changing Teacher–Child Dyadic Interactions to Improve Preschool Children's Externalizing Behaviors

A randomized controlled trial was used to examine the impact of an attachment‐based, teacher–child, dyadic intervention (Banking Time) to improve children's externalizing behavior. Participants included 183 teachers and 470 preschool children (3–4 years of age). Classrooms were randomly assigned to Banking Time, child time, or business as usual (BAU). Sparse evidence was found for main effects on child behavior. Teachers in Banking Time demonstrated lower negativity and fewer positive interactions with children compared to BAU teachers at post assessment. The impacts of Banking Time and child time on reductions of parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing behavior were greater when teachers evidenced higher‐quality, classroom‐level, teacher–child interactions at baseline. An opposite moderating effect was found for children's positive engagement with teachers.     

Developing a student veterans center: The confluence of academic and military cultures

Lynette Cook Francis and Amanda Kraus describe the benefits and challenges of working together with student veterans to develop a program that contributes to their successful transition to higher education.     

Shyness and Social Conflict Reduce Young Children's Social Helpfulness

This study examined social influences on 3‐year‐old children's decisions to help an experimenter gain another person's attention (N = 32). Children were slower to help the experimenter when the target had previously expressed disinterest in attending to her. Shy children were less likely to support the experimenter's attempts to communicate with the target; however, this association was not influenced by children's knowledge of the target's disinterest, and there was no relation between shyness and children's support for a separate physical goal. Therefore, young children's decisions to act helpfully incorporate consideration for others beyond a focal person with an unmet need, and they are further constrained by children's own comfort with the actions required to help.