Improving School Readiness in Preschoolers with Behavior Problems: Results from a Summer Treatment Program

To examine a) the feasibility of delivering a summer treatment program for pre-kindergarteners (STP-PreK) with externalizing behavior problems (EBP) and b) the extent to which the STP-PreK was effective in improving children’s school readiness outcomes. Participants for this study included 30 preschool children (77 % boys; Mean age?=?5.33 years; 77 % Hispanic background) with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. The STP-PreK was held at an early education center and ran for 8-weeks (M-F, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.) during the summer between preschool and kindergarten. In addition to a behavioral modification system and comprehensive school readiness curriculum, a social-emotional curriculum was also embedded within the STP-PreK to target children’s self-regulation skills (SR). Children’s pre- and post-school readiness outcomes included a standardized school readiness assessment as well as parental report of EBP, adaptive functioning, and overall readiness for kindergarten. SR skills were measured via a standardized executive functioning task, two frustration tasks, and parental report of children’s emotion regulation, and executive functioning. The STP-PreK was well received by parents as evidenced by high attendance and satisfaction ratings. Additionally, all school readiness outcomes (both parent and observational tasks) significantly improved after the intervention (Cohen’s d effect sizes ranged from 0.47 to 2.22) with all effects, except parental report of emotion regulation, being maintained at a 6-month follow-up. These findings highlight the feasibility and utility of delivering an early intervention summer program that can successfully target multiple aspects of children’s school readiness, including behavioral, social-emotional/self-regulation, and academics.     

A Mother-Child, Multiple-Family, Counseling Program: Procedures and Results

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a family counseling program on the following variables: (a) parents' family satisfaction, perceived integration, and family congruence; (b) the number of positive and negative responses communicated among family members; and (c) an undesirable behavior exhibited by one child in the family. The sample consisted of 14 families in the experimental condition and 11 families in the control condition.
Mother and one child had responsibility for teaching other family members the principles taught during the multiple-family category sessions.
The findings indicated: (a) parents receiving family counseling increased significantly their family-satisfaction and perceived-integration scores as compared to the parents not receiving counseling; (b) families receiving counseling increased significantly the number of positive responses among them compared with the control families; (c) children receiving counseling decreased significantly the frequency of exhibiting a specific undesirable behavior; and (d) no significant differences were found between the groups of families in parents' family-congruence scores and in the number of negative responses communicated among family members.     

School Families: Implementation and Evaluation of a Middle School Prevention Program

The authors describe a school prevention program called School Families that emphasizes normal developmental needs of middle school students. In addition, the results of an in-depth qualitative evaluation of the program are presented. The School Families groups comprised middle school students, teachers, and adults from the university and community who meet weekly during the school day to process issues related to academic performance, decision making, self-esteem, and social skills. On the basis of written narratives, individual interviews, and focus-group discussions, the 35 participants (12 middle school students, 14 teachers, and 9 university students) reported that the School Families program largely had a beneficial influence on them.     

Using Curriculum-Based Measurements for Program Evaluation: Expanding Roles for School Psychologists

Educators increasingly need to evaluate schoolwide reform efforts; however, complex program evaluations often are not feasible in schools. Through a case example, we provide a heuristic for program evaluation that is easily replicated in schools. Criterion-referenced interpretations of schoolwide screening data were used to evaluate outcomes associated with participation in four-year-old kindergarten. Nonparametric analyses allowed for group comparisons across early literacy screening outcomes. Risk ratios demonstrated that four-year-old kindergarten participants were less likely to score “at-risk” on kindergarten and first grade screenings. The methods employed meaningfully addressed local program effectiveness questions. Further, they were easily determined and disseminated. Implications for extensions of the heuristic to other evaluation questions and data sources as well as limitations of the approach are discussed.     

A Focus for Public School Guidance Programs: A Model and Proposal

This article represents an attempt to provide an adequate theoretical basis for the development of guidance programs. Three important questions essential to any planning of guidance programs are discussed: (1) scope of responsibility, (2) developmental timing, and (3) focus of guidance activity. A model is proposed in an attempt to conceptualize the relationship between these three important questions of emphasis. The basic problem of the purpose of guidance programs is discussed, and a proposal relevant to the model and the assumed purposes is made. The proposed objective focuses on the environment of the learner, in an effort to prepare him to actively and effectively appropriate and apply new knowledge and skills. The implications that such an objective has for the role of the guidance specialist, as well as for education in general, are discussed.     

A Program Intervention for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Preliminary Results

The effectiveness of a behaviorally based day treatment program for young children diagnosed with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) was evaluated using pretreatment and posttreatment mean scores from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Data were evaluated in aggregate and using the clinically significant change method for children diagnosed with PBD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Adjustment Disorder, and no diagnosis/clinical and subclinical groups. Significant effects were found for all groups except the no diagnosis/subclinical group on the Internalizing scale and for all groups on the Externalizing scale. Clinically significant change was supported for the PBD, ADHD, ODD, and Adjustment Disorder groups. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Multiple Authorship in the Personnel and Guidance Journal: A 12-Year Study

The increase of multiple authorship in the Personnel and Guidance Journal over a 12-year period is explored. Reasons for the growth are examined.     

A Career Awareness Program for High School Dropouts

The Career Awareness Program for High School Dropouts was an experimentally funded project to determine the effect of a concentrated vocational assessment and vocational counseling program on the employability of high school dropouts. Various aspects of CAP included individual and group counseling, vocational-educational assessment and diagnosis, job attitude training, vocational guidance, and career exploration. The results of a follow-up survey showed that approximately 60% of the dropouts were still employed six months after completion of the program. In addition, the dropouts reported benefiting from the program through increased awareness of their own needs, abilities, and interests as well as through better awareness of the types of skills and behaviors desired by employers.     

The Impact of More Fully Implemented Guidance Programs on the School Experiences of High School Students: A Statewide Evaluation Study

Relationships between the statewide implementation of comprehensive guidance programs and the school experiences of high school students were explored. Data from 22,964 students attending 236 Missouri high schools were analyzed by using hierarchical linear modeling. Schools with more fully implemented model guidance programs had students who were more likely to report that (a) they had earned higher grades, (b) their education was better preparing them for their future, (c) their school made more career and college information available to them, and (d) their school had a more positive climate. Positive program effects were found after removing differences due to school enrollment size, socioeconomic status, and percentage of minority students in attendance. Results highlight the important roles school counselors play in promoting the central educational goals of their schools and support a comprehensive guidance program focus for university counseling faculty who train school counselors.     

Including Both Voices: A New Bidirectional Framework for Understanding and Improving Intergroup Relations

Methods: If successful intergroup harmony is to be achieved between two groups, then both groups' voices must be heard. Despite this, 60 years of social psychological “intergroup” prejudice research has tended to adopt a solely majority‐centric perspective, with the majority group portrayed as the active agent of prejudice, and the minority group as passive targets. Objective: This paper critically reviews relevant literature, highlighting this unidirectional imbalance, and proposes a new, two‐stage bidirectional framework, where we encourage researchers and educators to first understand how minority and majority groups' intergroup attitudes and emotions impact intergroup dynamics, before tailoring and implementing contact and recategorisation strategies to improve intergroup relations, nationally and internationally. Conclusion: We argue that the interactive nature of the intergroup dynamic needs to be better understood, and each group's voice heard, before prejudice can be effectively reduced. Lastly, we describe an Australian study, the Dual Identity and Electronic‐contact (DIEC) programme, that has been conducted and has successfully applied this bidirectional framework.     

Genetic Counseling Milestones: A Framework for Student Competency Evaluation

Graduate medical education has recently increased focus on the development of medical specialty competency milestones to provide a targeted tool for medical resident evaluation. Milestones provide developmental assessment of the attainment of competencies over the course of an educational program. An educational framework is described to explore the development of Genetic Counseling Milestones for the evaluation of the development of genetic counseling competencies by genetic counseling students. The development of Genetic Counseling Milestones may provide a valuable tool to assess genetic counseling students across all program activities. Historical educational context, current practices, and potential benefits and challenges in the development of Genetic Counseling Milestones are discussed.     

Training District Personnel as Peer Consultants and Inservice Leaders: Implementation and Evaluation of a Training Program

For several years, Furman University has offered training for special educators to develop skills as peer inservice providers and as peer consultants to general education personnel. By means of a personnel preparation grant, School Initiated Teacher Education (SITE) Outreach, 61 special education teachers, speech therapists, and curriculum specialists have been involved in a series of three graduate level courses designed to address development of skills in inservice content and presentation and peer consultation. Evaluation data were collected to determine the impact of the training program, perceived benefits to the participants, and the receptiveness of the participating school districts in terms of the incorporation of peer inservice and consultation activities into the ongoing instructional program.     

Emerging School Refusal: A School-Based Framework for Identifying Early Signs and Risk Factors

A student’s academic and social-emotional development is increasingly jeopardized with mounting absence from school. School refusal (SR) is one type of school attendance problem (SAP) that is often associated with absence from school. Once established, it can sometimes be difficult to treat. To prevent established SR and associated problems, indicators of emerging SR and risk for SR should be efficiently identified and acted upon. Risk factors are often discussed in relation to SAPs generally rather than considering risk for specific types of attendance problems. Based on literature review, this paper provides an account of the likely signs and risks for emerging SR. A school-based framework is provided to support school personnel and parents in working together to identify these signs and risks. Several challenges associated with the implementation of the framework are discussed.