Assistant professors of school psychology: A national survey of program directors and job applicants

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the nature of academic position openings in the field of school psychology and to gather information about the characteristics sought and attributed to those individuals who were hired at the assistant professor rank. Survey methodology was used to gather information from both program directors and new assistant professor hires about the job‐search process. A total of 178 program directors in school psychology from the United States were sent surveys in the fall of 1998. One hundred twenty‐six of the program directors responded (71%). Fifty‐five (44%) program directors reported their program had an assistant professor job opening within the last 2 academic years. Of the 55 program directors that reported having job openings, five of these reported that they had two position openings in the last two academic years. Thus, data were gathered on a total of 60 job openings at 55 schools. Information about the job search process and characteristics sought in applicants, from the program directors perspective, are described. In addition, demographic data, prior teaching and research experiences, and information about the new hires' job‐search process is presented. Recommendations are provided to help graduate students, faculty advisors, and future applicants with the job‐search process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 40: 691–698, 2003.     

Mirror Worlds: Examining the Affordances of a Next Generation Immersive Learning Environment

As technologies continue to develop and evolve, it is imperative that instructional technologists, learning scientists, and educators involved with examining learning affordances of emerging technologies investigate the potential of innovative environments to promote and facilitate learning. This paper, as such, will describe a newly developed immersive, mixed-reality learning environment at Virginia Tech. The Mirror Worlds project, a cutting edge mixed-reality virtual world will be described in terms of the potential for this type of environment to engage participants in authentically situated social and embodied learning activities.     

Child level correlates of teacher–student relationships: An examination of demographic characteristics,academic orientations,and behavioral orientations

The purpose of this investigation was to examine associations between different child characteristics and conflict, closeness, and dependency within teacher–student relationships. The participants were primarily students of color from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds in a large urban school district. The strength of associations between student demographic variables, academic orientations, behavioral orientations, and aspects of teacher–student relationships was examined. Findings indicated that these variables accounted for a significant amount of variance in teacher ratings of conflict and dependency in teacher–student relationships. Externalizing and internalizing symptomology demonstrated the strongest associations with the conflict and dependency relationship constructs. Preliminary implications of these findings for teachers and school psychologists are explored. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 751–762, 2004.     

Perfecting Lessons Learned for Criminal Justice Online Graduate Education: Reflection,Integration, and Application

Criminal justice programs are seeing an increase in the number of online classes both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. At the graduate level, criminal justice online education requires students to achieve mastery of higher ordered thinking and advanced analytic skills. Some students may believe that online education is simply a matter of reading postings and writing simple responses to queries. In order to counter the view that modern online courses, particularly those at the graduate level, are not academic enough, online graduate faculty must find ways to engage students through useful course design and meaningful assessments that promote deep learning. Such engagement requires faculty and students to show reflection in design as well as the integration and application of course materials in a consistent and significant way. This paper will discuss our attempts to reframe graduate criminal justice online classes in order to enhance student engagement and, ultimately, their deeper learning.     

Supporting Diverse Young Adolescents: Cooperative Grouping in Inclusive Middle-level Settings

The middle level classroom presents unique challenges to educators who strive to provide opportunities that acknowledge learner diversity in terms of social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development. This is confounded even further within inclusive middle-school classrooms where the responsibility to differentiate instruction is even more critical. One way to meet the needs of all students is through cooperative grouping. Through cooperative grouping, middle-level educators can differentiate instruction and promote active learning by leveraging the naturally social nature of young adolescents. In this article, the authors present research on cooperative grouping as well as several considerations for effectively designing and implementing cooperative grouping for middle-level learners in an inclusive setting. Suggestions and examples with regard to group size, membership, group structure and roles, and classroom management and clear expectations are provided. Additionally, the four-clue group strategy is presented as a specific instructional method to support effective group learning experiences in the inclusive middle-level classroom.     

Using Mentoring,Coaching, and Self-Mentoring to Support Public School Educators

Assimilating new teachers into schools is a critical component of administrative responsibility and sustainability. About 580 000 teachers (17% of all teachers) were newly hired at their school, according to the US Department of Education. Most of these positions were created because of “teacher turnover.” Some of these newly hired teachers filled new teaching positions in the workforce as well—which grew by three percent over the previous two years. As this number rises, there is a concentrated effort by building administrators to provide support and resources for beginning teachers to help eliminate teacher turnover and strengthen staffing at schools. Support for new teachers varies from district to district and even from school to school. Traditional induction programs offer mentoring and coaching methods. More recently, the concept of self-mentoring emerged. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of self-mentoring as a tool for beginning teachers.     

The influences of integrating reading,peer evaluation,and discussion on undergraduate students’ scientific writing

Scientific writing is related to the practice of communicating scientific knowledge. This study treats scientific writing as a social practice, taking as its premise the notion that participating in related activities such as reading, peer evaluation, and discussion would positively affect the competence of students’ scientific writing, by developing their epistemic cognition regarding scientific knowledge communication and legitimation. An empirical study was conducted with twenty-two Chinese undergraduate students to test this premise. These students were majoring in chemistry and undertook a researcher-designed intervention course (Advanced Organic Chemistry Experiment), which embodied the integrated strategy of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion on scientific writing. Based on data pertaining to those students’ performance in terms of the normativity, objectivity, and logicality of scientific writing drawn from a previous study by the current author (Deng, Kelly, & Xiao, 2019. The development of Chinese undergraduate students’ competence of scientific writing in the context of advanced organic chemistry experiment course. Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 20, 270–287), alongside data drawn from students’ written texts in reading reflections and on-line discourse related to peer evaluation and discussion, this study claimed that the tasks of reading, peer evaluation, and discussion were seen gradually to lead to the development of Chinese undergraduate students’ greater competence in scientific writing regarding the synthetic experiments of organic chemistry.