Meeting the Challenges of the Future: Integrating Public Health and Public Education for Mental Health Promotion

The 2002 Future of School Psychology Conference called for reform of current models of professional school psychology, including a paradigm shift toward a public health model of practice. This article explores the role of school psychologists in efforts to achieve an integrated public health and public education model for delivering comprehensive school-based mental health services. Building on expertise as psychological and educational consultants, school psychooogists can play a unique role in facilitating the necessary systemic reform and capacity building for comprehensive mental health service delivery. This revised role requires redefining school-based consultation to include consultation for capacity building, and rethinking professional preparation to ensure expertise in public health models, inter-agency and interdisciplinary collaboration, participatory action research, and comprehensive service delivery.     

Communicating Campus Sexual Assault: A Mixed Methods Rhetorical Analysis

ABSTRACT

This article reports on a mixed methods rhetorical analysis of a data set of news reports on campus sexual assault. A macro-level qualitative analysis of narratives combined with micro-level quantitative content analysis of verb voice offers insight into how news media shapes perceptions of power, blame, and agency in reporting. These findings offer implications for how public actors discuss campus sexual assault and implications for the teaching and practice of research methods in technical communication.     

Research and Learning Information Resources

Abstract

In this first issue this section is limited to a book review, a selection of ERIC abstracts, and a listing of books recently published in the United States. Future issues will likely contain additional categories of learning resources. It is the intent of the journal to become a major source of information about community and junior college education. Comments regarding the usefulness of this section and recommendations for improving it are solicited.     

An Alumni Oriented Approach to Sport Management Curriculum Design Using Performance Ratings and a Regression Model

Abstract

Current methods employed for curriculum design fail to integrate the work demands placed on graduates of professional preparation programs. This is especially true of curricula which are designed using traditional and expert strategies. As an alternative, this present investigation proposes an alumni-based model to curriculum design. The alumni-based model relies on the assessment of curriculum by alumni. In addition, the alumni model utilizes performance ratings of employers and measures of satisfaction by alumni in a regression model to identify curricula leading to increased work performance and satisfaction. This model was tested with sport management alumni from the major sport management preparation programs. Surveys were sent to sport management alumni to assess their graduate training and work satisfaction. Surveys were also sent to employers of these graduates to assess sport manager performance. The regression analysis revealed that alternative curricular designs relate to manager performance and worker satisfaction. Results of the regression model and implications for sport management curriculum are discussed.     

School IS work: Work task learning in the classroom

Harold L. Munson, Ed.D., is Professor of Education Emeritus, Graduate School of Education and Human Development, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Bonnie J. Rubenstein, Ed.D., is Director of Guidance, Rochester City School District, Rochester, NY. Address correspondence to Harold L. Munson, 745 Thayer Road, Fairport, NY 14450.     

The black–white “achievement gap” as a perennial challenge of urban science education: A sociocultural and historical overview with implications for research and practice*

A perennial challenge for urban education in the United States is finding effective ways to address the academic achievement gap between African American and White students. There is widespread and justified concern about the persistence of this achievement gap. In fact, historical evidence suggests that this achievement gap has existed at various times for groups other than African Americans. What conditions prevailed when this achievement gap existed for these other groups? Conversely, under what conditions did the gap diminish and eventually disappear for these groups? This article explores how sociocultural factors involved in the manifestation and eventual disappearance of the gap for these groups may shed some light on how to address the achievement gap for African American students in urban science classrooms. Our conclusion is that the sociocultural position of groups is crucial to understanding and interpreting the scholastic performance of students from various backgrounds. We argue for a research framework and the exploration of research questions incorporating insights from Ogbu's cultural, ecological theory, as well as goal theory, and identity theory. We present these as theories that essentially focus on student responses to societal disparities. Our ultimate goal is to define the problem more clearly and contribute to the development of research‐based classroom practices that will be effective in reducing and eventually eliminating the achievement gap. We identify the many gaps in society and the schools that need to be addressed in order to find effective solutions to the problem of the achievement gap. Finally, we propose that by understanding the genesis of the gap and developing strategies to harness the students' responses to societal disparities, learning can be maximized and the achievement gap can be significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely, in urban science classrooms. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 1101–1114, 2001     

Analytic character learning in Chinese children: evidence from associative pseudocharacter learning paradigm

The present study investigated the children’s capabilities of utilizing analytic strategies in Chinese character learning using an associative pseudocharacter learning paradigm. The participants were 54 Chinese primary school children (26?second graders and 28 fifth graders) who completed a pseudocharacter learning task that was followed by a generalization test. Repeated measures ANOVA results showed a significant main effect of block and grade in pseudocharacter learning. One-sample t-test results indicated that generalization performance was significantly better than chance level in both grade levels. Findings from this study suggested that Chinese primary school children were able to identify print–sound–meaning regularities that were not explicitly taught and apply those rules to learning new pseudocharacters. They contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the character learning processes in Chinese children when encountering new characters.     

Commentary: Participatory Consultation for International Research and Development

ABSTRACT

In a series of three articles, O’Neal and colleagues describe the application of Participatory Culture-Specific Consultation (PCSC) with mixed methods research to explore the needs of a hidden population of teachers serving Burmese refugee students in unauthorized schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and develop and evaluate a culturally relevant and sustainable professional development program to prepare teachers in classroom management and self-care. Their work exemplifies the benefits of partnership, cultural humility, and reflective integration of research and practice in systems consultation. The scope and depth of their work presented across three articles provides a rich source for consultants who want to engage in similar work both at home and abroad.     

Prenatal prediction of child abuse and neglect: A prospective study

Five hundred eighty-seven women in a combined Maternity-Infant, Children and Youth project were interviewed at between 3 and 6 months of gestation by a skilled masters degree social worker (M.S.W.) using a Family Stress Checklist developed at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Only 7% of the women were scored as “high risk” for serious parenting problems. Neither single status nor teenage status increased the risk significantly. A review of charts of 100 of the children whose mothers had been considered “at risk” was conducted 2 to 2.5 years later, and compared with 100 charts on children whose mothers had been considered at “no risk,” giving the following results: Twenty-five children had experienced failure to thrive, neglect or abuse. Twenty of these were from the original high risk mothers, giving an incidence of neglect/abuse in that group of 52%. The no risk control group of 100 mothers showed a 2% incidence of abuse/neglect; a low risk group showed a 4% incidence of abuse/neglect; and a mid-score group had an abuse/neglect rate of 5%. The scale proved a remarkably accurate predictor, with a sensitivity (percent correct negatives) of 89%. The authors suggest use of such scales prenatally or even before conception as a step toward the development of true preventive measures.     

A study of student outcomes and teacher characteristics in exemplary middle and junior high science programs

Recent efforts of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) have encouraged collaborative “research partnerships” between university researchers and classroom science teachers. This research partners study, begun in 1987, examined student outcomes and teacher characteristics in middle/junior high exemplary programs identified by the NSTA's Search for Excellence in Science Education (SESE). A second year of the study has been completed involving SESE program teachers with similar instructional profiles. Using Iowa Test of Basic Skills and National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) items, key teachers in those SESE programs examined their seventh- and eighth-grade student outcomes in three domains: (a) knowledge, (b) attitudes, and (c) applications/connections. Results were compared with national populations. A similar study was conducted during the second year, involving teachers from the first year and additional teachers with instructional practice profiles similar to those in SESE programs. Teachers were surveyed using a questionnaire from the Report of the 1977 National Survey of Science, Mathematics and Social Studies Education Teachers (Weiss, 1978a) and supplemental questions (Bonnstetter, 1985). This study found that in exemplary middle/junior high programs: (a) as a group, students achieve high scores in science knowledge and maintain or develop positive attitudes toward science; and (b) students need opportunities to make connections between what they learn in science and personal responsibility.