Examining the role of school psychologists as providers of mental and behavioral health services

The school setting represents the most common setting by which youth receive mental and behavioral health (MBH) services (Farmer et al., 2003, Psychiatr Serv, 54, 60–66). Nevertheless, many school psychologists are not providing MBH services despite the high prevalence of need. Additional research is needed to understand factors leading to these deficits, as well as potential solutions to ameliorate these concerns. The current study surveyed 341 school psychologists across seven states and found current ratios are one school psychologist for every 1,500–2,000 students. Study results suggest school psychologists are providing a half to full day of universal, prevention-oriented MBH services each week whereas more targeted, direct services (e.g., individual or small group counseling) are offered 1–4 hr each week. The school psychologist-to-student ratios also demonstrated a statistically significant and inverse association with the provision of targeted MBH services, with higher ratios resulting in fewer MBH services. Respondents provided potential solutions for how to expand the delivery of MBH services within schools, including increased awareness and support among school and district administrators, as well as access to training and professional development related to MBH services.     

Faculty and Technology: Implications for Faculty Training and Technology Leadership

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors affecting ICT adoption process and the implications for faculty training and technology leadership. Respondents represented a wide range of academic and professional positions. They identified themselves as Assistant, Associate, and Professor as well as Instructional Designer, Director of Technology, Information Manager, eLearning Manager, Assistant Department Chair, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Consultant. The respondents identified Organizational Support, Leadership, Training and Development, and Resources as the predominate themes affecting Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption process in higher education. Evidence from this study offers insights on how higher education administrators and technology leaders could help their faculty and staff to implement appropriate ICT tools and practices to improve student learning.     

Classroom computer experiences that stick: Two lenses on reflective timed essays

Testing the hypotheses that reflective timed-essay prompts should elicit memories of meaningful experiences in students’ undergraduate education, and that computer-mediated classroom experiences should be salient among those memories, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods paints a richer, more complex picture than either method would independently. A quantitative approach appears to provide support for the hypotheses, revealing that students mention media-related experiences three times as often as they mention specific professors. A qualitative, close-reading approach both challenges and supports the hypotheses. The construct of media-related experiences includes mundane, instrumental encounters with computers as well as transformative experiences with them. This hybrid research methodology supports the identification of those transformative experiences and thus provides validity evidence for the use of reflective timed-essay responses in guiding endorsements of specific classroom practices.     

Community violence,school‐related protective factors,and psychosocial outcomes in urban youth

This study examined the relationship of two putative school‐based protective factors—student identification with school and perceived teacher support—to psychosocial outcomes in a sample of urban youth exposed to community violence. Participants were 175 high school students ages 14–19 in grades 9–12 from a large urban school district. Results indicated that exposure to violence was positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, identification with school and teacher support were related to higher hope and lower psychosocial distress. Adolescents who reported higher identification with school and higher teacher support reported higher hope, regardless of the level of violence exposure. Results emphasize the importance of school factors, particularly feeling connected to and supported in school, in promoting hope and minimizing psychosocial distress for youth exposed to community violence. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Different levels of leadership for learning: investigating differences between teachers individually and collectively using multilevel factor analysis of the 2011-2012 Schools and Staffing Survey

This study investigated the differences between how individual teachers perceive leadership for learning and how teachers collectively perceive leadership for learning, using a large nationally generalizable data-set of 7070 schools from the National Center for Education Statistics 2011–2012 Schools and Staffing Survey. This study used cross-validation multilevel factor analysis to find that individual teachers view leadership for learning as consisting of six factors (school influence, classroom control, collegial climate, student attendance, neighbourhood context, teacher commitment) whereas teachers collectively (e.g. as a faculty) perceive three factors that are non-isomorphic with the individual-level factors (instructional leadership, management, social environment). These results imply that teachers collectively have a functional view of leadership, while individual teachers have views more aligned to specific areas of influence. This article provides the beginning of a theoretical framework for future multilevel educational leadership research into teacher leadership and leadership for learning.     

Running economy,mechanics, and marathon racing shoes

ABSTRACT

The choice of marathon racing shoes can greatly affect performance. The purpose of this study is to metabolically and mechanically compare the consumer version of the Nike Vaporfly 4% shoe to two other popular marathon shoes, and determine differences in running economy. Nineteen subjects performed two 5-minute trials at 4.44m/s wearing the Adidas Adios Boost (AB), Nike Zoom Streak (ZS), and Nike Vaporfly 4% (VP) in random order. Oxygen uptake was recorded during minutes 3–5 and averaged across both shoe trials. On a second day, subjects wore reflective markers, and performed a 3-minute trial in each shoe. Motion and force data were collected over the final 30 seconds of each trial. VP oxygen uptake was 2.8% and 1.9% lower than the AB and ZS. Stride length, plantar flexion velocity, and center of mass vertical oscillation were significantly different in the VP. The percent benefit of the VP over AB shoe was predicted by subject ground time. These results indicate that use of the VP shoe results in improved running economy, partially due to differences in running mechanics. Subject variation in running economy improvement is only partially explained by variation in ground time.     

Systematically increasing contextual interference is beneficial for learning sport skills

Abstract

To better understand the contextual interference effect, in two experiments we investigated a form of practice schedule that provided novices with systematic increases in contextual interference. This new type of practice schedule was compared with traditional blocked and random scheduling for two types of sports skills. In Experiment 1, we tested the hypothesis that practising variations of the same task with systematic increases in contextual interference would lead to superior performance compared with blocked or random scheduling. Participants practised golf putting tasks following a blocked, random or increasing schedule, which involved initial blocked trials, followed by serial practice trials, and ended with random scheduling. Participants who followed the increasing schedule had superior retention test performance. In Experiment 2, we tested if these learning benefits were observed when learning tasks controlled by different generalized motor programs. Participants practised three different basketball passes (chest, overhead, single arm) in a blocked, random or increasing schedule. Participants practising with gradual increases in contextual interference performed better on retention and transfer tests than participants practising with blocked or random scheduling. The results of these two experiments indicate that a practice schedule offering systematic increases in contextual interference facilitates skill learning.     

The digital course training workshop for online learning and teaching

A primary concern with Information Technology (IT) training has been that IT-based training focuses upon the technical or point and click aspects of learning management system (LMS) platforms and pedagogy-enhancing software without any concern for the content of the courses. The Digital Course Training Workshop (DCTW) approach examined in this article addresses this concern by supporting a content-first approach. The DCTW approach—an initiative at a Midwestern University—is aimed at supporting faculty through the process of transitioning from face-to-face (F2F) courses to online teaching. Participating faculty enter the week-long seminar with traditional course content and leave with digital content transitioned into the appropriate LMS platform. This article is intended to stimulate reflections on the need for systematic faculty professional development programs and activities to help higher education faculty in the transition process from traditional to online courses.     

Is It Good to Share? An Effectiveness Study of the Indiana Share Program

This article reports the results of an effectiveness study conducted on the Indiana Share Program, a collective interlibrary loan borrowing program managed by the Indiana State Library. A subset of interlibrary loan departments in Indiana was surveyed regarding satisfaction with the interlibrary loan process. Filled request and turnaround time statistics for the year 2010 were also collected. These were compared with the same survey and statistics gathered from the Share Program group. The study found that Share fared well in the statistics. The survey answers were also very similar, showing no statistically significant difference.