School Psychology Commons^™

Student Mental Health During And After The Coronavirus Pandemic, Olivia Harner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The educational setting serves as an influential force when considering the impacts that school can have on student mental health. Following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, research revealed negative effects on mental health for a variety of populations across the globe; however, comprehensive reviews about the effect that the pandemic had on the mental health of American K-12 students are limited. Consequently, the purpose of this specialist project is to evaluate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the mental health of American students in grades K-12 through a review of literature. Utilizing PRISMA procedures, 19 articles were selected …

The Standards Will Never Be Enough: A Racial Justice Extension, Mya Poe, Maria Elena Oliveri, Norbert Elliot

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

Since 1952, the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing has provided criteria for developing and evaluating educational and psychological tests and testing practice. Yet, we argue that the foundations, operations, and applications in the Standards are no longer sufficient to meet the current U.S. testing demands for fairness for all test takers. We propose racial justice extensions as principled ways to extend the Standards, through intentional actions focused on race and targeted at educational policies, processes, and outcomes in specific settings. To inform these extensions, we focus on four social-justice concepts: intersectionality derived from Black Feminist Theory; responsibility derived …

Defining Twice Exceptional Learners: A Study Of Self-Concept, Alyssa D. Landau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2014, the first operational definition of twice exceptional (2e) learners was published in Gifted Child Quarterly to provide a clear and identifiable profile of the population (Reis, Baum, & Burke, 2014). The article defines 2e learners as, “students who demonstrate the potential for high achievement or creative productivity in one or more domains such as math, science, technology, the social arts, the visual, spatial, or performing arts or other areas of human productivity AND who manifest one or more disabilities as defined by federal or state eligibility criteria” (Reis et al., 2014, p. 222-223). Publishing an operational definition of …

State Level Mental Health Education Compared To Suicide-Related Behavior In Adolescents, 2019, Sonia Rao

Honors Theses

Objective: Determining correlations between state level mental and emotional health (M&E) education and suicide prevention (SP) education to suicide-related behaviors (I.e. feeling sad or hopeless, suicide ideation, making a suicide plan, suicide attempt, suicide attempt treated by medical personnel, and death by suicide) within high school adolescents aged 15-19 within the United States in 2019.

Methods: State level education policies, M&E and SP, were retrieved from the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). Self-reported adolescent suicide related behaviors were retrieved from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS). Data on deaths by suicide of youth aged 15-19 …

Assessing 4-H And Its Circle Of Courage In A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility: A Case Study, Elizabeth Steering

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

This 4-H case study takes place in a psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) in Kentucky. The PRTF provides clinical services to youth that are not able to be safely maintained in their homes due to having demonstrated unsafe or harmful behaviors. Youth admitted to the PRTF stay for an average of three to six months while they receive intensive therapeutic and psychiatric care as well as medical treatment and public schooling. The current case study incorporates programming from 4-H, which is the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension System (CES) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), …

K-5 Elementary Alternative Program: A Case Study, William E. Scheuer Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to examine how the K-5 elementary alternative program All Students Can Thrive (ASCT) used student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. There is a lack of research on K-5 elementary alternative programs, such as ASCT, and specifically those that integrate student-centered learning practices to influence the whole child. Literature does not contain universally accepted interventions that are effective in the elementary alternative setting to help students return to the mainstream classroom setting better prepared to display appropriate behaviors when a student is removed from a mainstream classroom setting due to disruptive behaviors. …

Applying Visual Methods To Document The History Of Psychological Testing: A Qualitative Approach, Analay Perez, Janet F. Carlson, Buros Center For Testing At The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

The history of psychological testing is critical to many areas of applied psychology. Assessment forms a mainstay of clinical practice, second only to psychotherapy (Meyer et al., 2001). In industrial/organizational psychological practice, employee selection depends on testing to assess applicant qualifications. In educational contexts, testing is central to the evaluation of academic performance and college readiness, in addition to determining eligibility for various types of special educational services.

The history of testing is deeply rooted in myriad psychological specialties (Carlson & Geisinger, 2021). This fact prompted a qualitative examination and integration of three distinct historical threads identified by the proposal …

What About The ‘R’ In Riot? : A Comprehensive Examination Of School Psychologists’ Record Review Processes, Hannah Luken

Thinking Matters Symposium

This poster aimed to describe part of a doctoral dissertation research study that comprehensively investigated school psychologists’ record review practices. Record reviews are a crucial part of the psychoeducational evaluation process (i.e., RIOT method), and there is relatively little previous research literature on this topic. This poster describes the following results: when record reviews are conducted, the amount of time is spent on each part of the RIOT method for initial and reevaluations, and record review approaches. The survey was distributed to school psychologists across the United States via school psychology state associations and Facebook. Results were analyzed via measures …

An Examination Of Mentoring As An Intervention For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Candace Michele Bone

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Despite evidence demonstrating that mentoring may be an effective intervention for neurotypical students, there is limited literature investigating the impact of mentoring on outcomes for those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using a comprehensive review of the available literature, the present specialist project provides a summary of available mentoring literature which implemented mentoring programs with students on the autism spectrum. After eliminating irrelevant literature from an initial search, a small sample of relevant articles were reviewed (N = 8). These studies demonstrated that ASD mentoring programs are often limited in scope to higher functioning young adults. Additionally, the reviewed articles …

Listening To Our Students: Fostering Resilience And Engagement To Promote Culture Change In Legal Education, Ann N. Sinsheimer, Omid Fotuhi

Articles

In this Article, we describe a dynamic program of research at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law that uses mindset to promote resilience and engagement in law students. For the last three years, we have used tailored, well-timed, psychological interventions to help students bring adaptive mindsets to the challenges they face in law school. The act of listening to our students has been the first step in designing interventions to improve their experience, and it has become a kind of intervention in itself. Through this work, we have learned that simply asking our law students about their experiences and …

Neo-Emancipatory Sex Education In Germany: Sexual Abuse And Gender Confusion, Bernd Ahrbeck, Karla Etschenberg, Marion Felder

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article focuses on two related areas of concern with regard to sex education and implications for children and youth in Germany. The first one is the history of the currently dominant neo-emancipatory sexual education and its implications for today. This direction of sex education is highly influenced by theories of Helmut Kentler who with the help of the German city of Berlin youth protection services department sent homeless and troubled boys to known pedophiles for care. This experiment went on for 30 years, ending in 2001. Only now has the extend of this horrific practice been fully discovered. The …

Work Environment And The Teacher: A Qualitative Case Study Of Public Secondary Schools In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Edomgenet Hiba Issa

The Qualitative Report

This study examined the nexus between the public secondary school teacher and his/her work environment. To capture the nature and substance of this nexus, the study was mainly directed towards answering the following two research questions: Which attributes of work environment matter most to the public secondary school teacher? And why do they matter? The study was conducted on teachers in public secondary schools of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It adopted a qualitative case study design where data were collected through semi-structured interviews and then analyzed using a thematic analysis technique. The results show that basic school facilities, teacher-principal and teacher-student …

Types Of Bias-Based Bullying And School Climate Perceptions, Attendance, And Grades, Erin Bonham, Meghan Cosier, Desiree Crevecoeur-Macphail

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Bias-based bullying relating to disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity has extremely detrimental effects on the victim’s school climate perceptions, attendance records, and academic achievement. This study used a cross-sectional research design to compare the self-reported school climate perceptions, attendance habits, and grades of student victims of disability-based bias-related bullying and sexual orientation- and gender identity-based bias-related bullying using secondary data from the California Healthy Kids Survey. Participants (N = 713,107) filled out the California Healthy Kids Survey self-report surveys in the years 2017, 2018, and 2019. Regression analyses and a two-sample t-test were used to analyze and compare the …

Examining The Efficacy Of An Intervention Package Delivered Via An Online Learning Tool To Improve Prerequisite Algebra Skill Fluency, Nicole Bricko

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation study investigated the efficacy of a multi-component intervention package delivered via an online learning tool on math fluency for prerequisite algebra skills for three 6^th-grade students. Students were referred by their math teacher due to concerns with academic performance. Target skills were individualized for each student based on screening assessments and measured continuously during both baseline and intervention. The multiple-probe across skills design demonstrated that students increased their math fluency on prerequisite skills. A staggered pattern of increases across skills for two participants indicated experimental control was achieved and student’s performance improved. The Quizlet^® intervention …

Teacher Perceptions Of Grade Retention: An Update, Jillian Brianne Kintner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of the current project was to replicate a previous study examining the beliefs and knowledge of grade retention (i.e., Witmer et al., 2004) and evaluate any changes in the past 17 years. Nineteen teachers completed all sections of the Teacher Retention Beliefs Knowledge Questionnaire (TRBKQ; Witmer et al., 2004). Support for the use of retention as an effective intervention was demonstrated. Influential factors differed by level of importance depending on the grade level the participant taught. Statistically significant correlations were also found between the practice of retention and propositional and practical knowledge before and during/after the Covid-19 pandemic. …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

When You Can’T R.I.O.T., R.I.O.: Tele-Assessment For School Psychologists, Michael R. Hass, Brian P. Leung

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The acronym R.I.O.T., record review, interview, observation, and test, is a well-known tool for conceptualizing a comprehensive assessment. With COVID-19 and the need to provide school psychological services virtually, it is important to reconsider R.I.O.T. in light of the limitations of virtual assessment. We describe the limitations of virtual assessment and argue that in spite of these barriers, the first three elements of R.I.O.T., record review, interviews, and observations, when used systematically, can provide useful comprehensive assessment data. Specific recommendations are provided for implementing assessment virtually.

School Psychologists And School Counselors’ Perceptions Of Preparation Received For The Provision Of School-Based Mental Health Services, Sherika Mckenzie

Education (PhD) Dissertations

School psychologists and school counselors are increasingly playing an essential role in the provision of school-based mental health services (SBMHS). This is especially true in California. Unfortunately, there are a few studies that have examined how California school psychologists and school counselors perceive their training to provide SBMHS, how they perceive their role in providing these services, and what they regard as their needs for professional development. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which California school psychologists and school counselors believe that their formal pre-service education and later in-service professional experiences have prepared them to …

Art Therapy In Public Education, Sophie Edelman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review explores the history of art therapy in education. By understanding the history it is clear that art therapy has always been a positive force for students. By learning from the successes and challenges in our history we are better able to plan for future programing and expansion of art therapy programs. Because art therapy was developed in part by educators, the history of art therapy itself is linked with the history of art therapy in schools. In today’s application of art therapy in education there are three models most typically used. The research discusses the strengths and …

Reliability Of Index And Subtest Discrepancy Scores On The Wj-Iv Cognitive, Kacy Stinson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Many guidebooks and publication manuals for intelligence tests recommend that practitioners calculate subtest and index level discrepancy scores along with many other types of scores. The reliability of the discrepancy scores, however, are not provided in the test manuals. The purpose of the study was to determine the reliability of the discrepancy scores in the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities (WJ IV COG, 2014). Using data from the WJ IV technical manual, the reliability of the discrepancy scores were examined at both the subtest and index level. The results were compared to the reliability criteria recommended by the assessment …

Promoting Mentally Healthy Classrooms: Evaluation Of Online Mental Health Literacy Instruction In Pre-Service Teacher Education, E. Robyn Masters

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

To better understand how to prepare large numbers of pre-service teachers for their role in creating and leading mentally healthy classrooms, this program evaluation explores outcomes related to an online mental health literacy course at a large central Canadian university. The course was delivered to 275 teacher education students simultaneously over 10-weeks and 20-hours of online instruction and professional reflection. Results indicated significant improvement in self-reported levels of mental health literacy, stigma toward mental illness, and self-efficacy for teaching students with diverse challenges. Qualitative reviews of participant feedback identified the most valuable aspects of the course and the ways in …

Context And Regulation Of Homeschooling: Issues, Evidence, And Assessment Practices, Janet F. Carlson

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

The article discusses salient factors that influence the current context within which homeschooling occurs. Individual states have applied various approaches to establish regulations that both preserve the rights of homeschooling parents and fulfill the state’s obligation to ensure that its residents receive the education to which they are constitutionally entitled. Case and ethnographic studies or research involving small and selected samples often appear in outlets associated with homeschool advocacy groups or in outlets that are not mainstream. The paucity of empirical evidence derived from methodologically strong research paradigms has led to little certainty about many aspects of homeschooling including its …

Human Learning, Memory, And Student Development, Alan R. Erickson

Contemporary Issues in Educational Leadership

My educational interests have largely been informed by my career in the sciences and medicine. My professional education has been both formative and transformative, opening doors to the joy of learning and a realization in the importance of memory. As an educator, clinician, and student, I have been greatly impacted by issues of curricular design, curricular development, learning and memory. My current responsibilities in student affairs also have exposed me to the delicate balance between student development, curricular design, learning and memory. Patton, Renn, Guido, and Quaye (2016) noted the importance of educators being able to use different literature sources …

Using Self-Regulation To Predict Preschoolers' Symptomology Of Disruptive Behavior Disorders, Andrew White

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The use of brief rating forms completed by caregivers to identify children at-risk for developing behavioral disorders is common (Lane et al., 2009). However, identifying a behavioral measure assessing child-level variables (i.e., temperamental traits) which predict later behavioral concerns has potential to improve universal screening practices in the context of a multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) framework. Self-regulation (Rothbart & Bates, 2006) is a trait that is related to externalizing problem behaviors (e.g., Espy et al., 2011), and may be useful as a means to predict young children at risk for developing behavioral disorders. The purpose of this study is …

Examining The Coping Resources Of Polyvictimized Youth And Young Adults, Zachary Robert Myers

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Bullying represents a significant concern for many youth and young adults in the United States and abroad. However, the growth of technology has allowed for new platforms in which perpetrators can engage in bullying behaviors, such as text and video messaging, social media applications, and online gaming. In addition, research has suggested that the majority of cyberbullied individuals experience co-occurring in-person victimization as well. These trends are concerning, given that findings within both the traditional and cyberbullying literatures place victimized youth at-risk for a host of social and emotional concerns. However, research has yet to fully explore the unique experiences …

Alcohol Expectancies Among Students In The City Of Pokhara, Nepal, Niran Tamrakar

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Alcohol plays a vital role in various aspects of Nepalese society. It also presents public health risks. Though adolescents in Nepal are at high risk for negative consequences from alcohol use, there is limited information available on their alcohol behaviors and beliefs. The present study aims to describe alcohol expectancies among a sample of secondary students in Nepal to identify and understand motivations underlying their alcohol-related behaviors. A self-report survey was administered to 591 students from different Englishmedium schools in the city of Pokhara. This study began with the Chinese Adolescent Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (CAAEQ), then used qualitative methods to …

Culturally Responsive Interviewing Practices, Michael Hass, Annmary S. Abdou

Education Faculty Articles and Research

As communities and school populations continue to become more culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse, the need for comprehensive training and explicit guidelines for culturally responsive school mental health practices also grows. School Psychologists are both expected and ethically responsible to competently assess and serve diverse student and family populations, regardless of potential language or cultural barriers. The current article is focused on describing background and rationale for culturally responsive interviewing practices as they pertain to the roles and responsibilities of School Psychologists. Building on the guidelines and principles of the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), developed by the American Psychiatric Association, …

A Comparison Of The Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test And The Wechsler Scales, Samantha Denhart

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The present study was designed to determine the correlation between a commonly used cognitive ability test (i.e., Wechsler) and a verbal memory test (i.e., Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test) by analyzing archival data from a clinical sample of adults. Many researchers have continued to establish the relationship between cognitive ability, or IQ, and learning and memory skills; however, there is little research regarding when differences between IQ and memory scores are statistically significant. Results of this study indicated 17 of 20 IQ index/memory correlations were statistically significant and a series of simple regressions generated standardized residuals. These residuals generated confidence bands …

Helping Young Adults With Depression, Yuvinny Delmar Serrano

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

Depression is situational sadness that lasts throughout the day, every day, for at least two weeks. The symptoms are distressing, and usually depression is caused by a negative impact on one's life. According to the Depression Hotline, many people with depression have one or more other mental disorders present. Depression can affect one’s ability to function at school, at work, or even at home. This discourages young adults from socializing, which is a major problem. One in four adolescents suffer from depression, which is why everyone should try to help young adults who suffer from this disorder.

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Entertainment-Education Videos As A Persuasive Tool In The Substance Use Prevention Intervention "Keepin' It Real", Youngju Shin, Michelle Miller-Day, Michael L. Hecht, Janice L. Krieger

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

Based on social cognitive theory and narrative engagement theory, the current study examined hypothesized indirect effects of engagement with keepin’ it REAL (kiR) curriculum entertainment–education (E–E) videos on youth alcohol use via youth drug offer refusal efficacy. Students in 7th grade (N = 1,464) at 25 public schools in two Midwestern states were randomly assigned to one of the two versions of the kiR curriculum, the kiR urban version and the kiR rural version. Each version had their own set of five culturally-grounded E–E videos depicting communicative skills to refuse drug offers. Differential effects for engagement components …