Social Work Commons^™

Psu Student Housing Insecurity Interim Report, Jacen Greene, Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative, Portland State University

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project Background

This study on student housing insecurity and homelessness was funded as part of a HUD FY2023 Community Project Funding Opportunity awarded to Portland State University. Phase 1 of the study, which led to this report by PSU’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC), includes a literature review; a summary of PSU student survey results; a description of PSU programs based on interviews with staff and administrators; an analysis of programs at other institutions; and a set of recommendations for better addressing student housing needs. Phase 2 of the study will include the results of a comprehensive …

Latinx Students Higher Educational Trajectory Post Covid, Jonathan Felix-Martinez

University Honors Theses

COVID-19 caused many universities to go fully remote during the pandemic. Many Latinx students did not know how to navigate online learning. This paper examines the experiences of Latinx students in their university experiences while online to determine if their higher educational trajectory changed as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative project gathered data from 9 Latinx students using in-depth, in-person interviews. Recommendations are presented to help the university create resources that will help improve Latinx students' experiences within the context of online learning and the effects of the recent pandemic.

International Mental Health Education, Service, And Research: Working Across Cultural Boundaries With Humility, Creativity, And Perseverance [Keynote], Yun Shi, Zachary Pietrantoni, Maha Y. See

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This keynote presentation addresses doing International mental health education, services, and research with humility, creativity, and perseverance.

Teaching And Learning Social Change, Amie Thurber, Helen Buckingham, Jordenn Martens, Rebecca Lusk, Darrylann Becker, Stacey Spenser

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

How can social work courses prepare students to be scholars of social movements, and also to act in solidarity with movements for social justice? How can graduate programs reimagine the professional socialization of social work students from aspiring for expertise toward a stance of life-long learning? How can instructors more deeply leverage our teaching practice to advance justice in our communities? This paper traces one attempt to answer these questions through a three-quarter graduate social work course designed to deepen students’ skills and knowledge in practices for social transformation, while amplifying existing social justice movements. Drawing on reflections from the …

Data Files: Simulations In Pre-Service Child Welfare Training: Effects Of Moving From In-Person To Virtual Practice, Katie Street, Kirstin O’Dell, Kate Normand, Cassandra Anderson

Center for Improvement of Child and Family Services Datasets

No abstract provided.

"We Support You... To An Extent": Identities, Intersections, And Family Support Among First-Generation Students In A School Of Social Work, Miranda Mosier

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Family support is a critical part of college student retention. Given the strength of parental educational attainment in predicting access and persistence among college students (Choy, 2001), some have questioned the capacity for families to support first-generation college students. Family support may be especially critical for first-generation college students, who value interdependence more highly than continuing generation students (Stephens et al., 2012). This paper centers the perspectives of first-generation students in a school of social work and their experiences of family support. Focus group conversations were analyzed using the Listening Guide/Voice-centered relational data analysis (Brown & Gilligan, 1992). My interpretations …

Homeless Students' Barriers To Education: Before And After Covid-19, Linda M. Twidwell

University Honors Theses

This thesis is an examination of the barriers to education homeless youth may be faced with both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using past literature, this paper will focus on three main barriers homeless students may have faced before the pandemic. These are homeless students’ lack of support needed to succeed, how federal policy shapes homeless students’ opportunities and rights, and that the rate of children experiencing homelessness is rising, and little is being done about the fact. After discussing the literature before March 2020, this paper will examine the literature that has come out since the pandemic’s beginning, …

Evaluation Of Sex Education Curriculum And Policy Related To The Needs Of Lgbtq+ Latinx Youth, Olivia Nayler

University Honors Theses

Sex education is contentious and inconsistent in the United States but it is extremely necessary to address the health needs of young people and the adults they become. This study aims to evaluate how well comprehensive sex education curricula attend to the needs of high school age LGBTQ+ Latinx students. The curricula Our Whole Lives (OWL) and FLASH were chosen for the study as established sex education curricula based on their assertions of being factual and comprehensive, and for their adaptability in different settings and locations. A content analysis was performed on both curricula. In addition, an analysis of OAR …

Problematizing Perceptions Of Stem Potential: Differences By Cognitive Disability Status In High School And Postsecondary Educational Outcomes, Dara Shifrer, Daniel Mackin Freeman

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) potential of youth with cognitive disabilities is often dismissed through problematic perceptions of STEM ability as natural and of youth with cognitive disabilities as unable. National data on more than 15,000 adolescents from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 first suggest that, among youth with disabilities, youth with medicated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have the highest levels of STEM achievement, and youth with learning or intellectual disabilities typically have the lowest. Undergraduates with medicated ADHD or autism appear to be more likely to major in STEM than youth without cognitive disabilities, and youth …

“We’Re More Than A Daycare”: Reported Roles And Settings For Early Childhood Professionals And Implications For Professionalizing The Field, Rachel E. Schachter, Qingyu Jiang, Shayne B. Piasta, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the US, recent efforts have focused on professionalizing the field of early childhood. One way to indicate professionalism is through the terms used to describe both the field and the workers. However, few have examined how practitioners or researchers describe early childhood professionals’ work. Using multiple data sources and analytic strategies, we examined the ways that those working with young children described their role and setting, as well as how these were described in research and practitioner journals. “Teacher” was the preferred term for both journals and professionals, and terms for setting reflected traditional K-12 school structures. Professionals linked …

We Are Brave: Expanding Reproductive Justice Discourse Through Embodied Rhetoric And Civic Practice, Roberta Hunte, Catherine Ming T’Ien Duffly

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we share the example of our recent community-based performance project on reproductive justice, We are BRAVE, to serve as a model of how community-based performance can be an embodied strategy for social change. We draw from the work of scholars of feminist rhetoric, community-based performance, and reproductive justice. In sharing the example of We are BRAVE, we show how using communitycentered, performative storytelling as embodied rhetoric can be an effective mode of public and political persuasion.

Investigating A Multiple Mentor Model In Research Training For Undergraduates Traditionally Underrepresented In Biomedical Sciences, Thomas E. Keller, Jennifer Lindwall

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Models of persistence and success in undergraduate research training emphasize the importance of engagement and integration across social, educational, research, and career settings. Students are likely to benefit from multiple sources of mentoring to meet their multidimensional needs for support across these domains. As part of a comprehensive training initiative for traditionally underrepresented students aspiring to careers in biomedical research, BUILD EXITO implemented a multiple mentoring model matching each undergraduate scholar with a research mentor, a faculty mentor, and a peer mentor. By design, each mentor has a different functional role. This study investigates whether the nature of support scholars …

What Works In Education In Emergencies: Co-Researching And Co-Authoring, Staci B. Martin, Vestine L. Umubyeyi

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of our paper is to explore how innovative community-based action approaches such as co-researching, co-authoring, and co-presenting with participants-as-researchers, can deepen our understanding of ‘what works’ in education in emergencies (EiE). Our paper will offer insight into how co-researching supports participants in their self-determination, agency and creates space for them to speak for themselves, something that is often missing in research.

Data Needs For Children With Special Needs In Refugee Populations, Serra Acar, Ozden Pinar-Irmak, Staci B. Martin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the challenges that affect the identification and assessment of refugee children with special needs in Turkey and provides recommendations related to data collection and assessment of these learners that is broadly relevant in refugee settings.

Community-Engaged Teaching: Lessons From A Participatory History Project, Amie Thurber, Sarah V. Suiter

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

How can we create opportunities for students to gain experience in community-engaged scholarship that truly benefits the community given the constraints of the academic calendar, students’ varied capacity to develop reciprocal and responsive community relationships, and the tendency for community-engaged research to instrumentalize community partners in service to academic deliverables? This paper explores one attempt to meet this challenge: an experimental graduate course in community development that linked course content to a participatory history project. Designed as a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) study, instructors studied the instructional process as well as outcomes for students and community partners. We …

Building The Case For Culturally Specific P-3 Strategies In Oregon: Listening To Voices From The Field, Callie H. Lambarth, Amanda Cross-Hemmer, Lorelei Mitchell, Beth L. Green, Kate Normand

Early Childhood

Oregon’s early learning and K-12 systems require transformative changes to address racial disparities in school readiness and success. Prenatal-through-Grade-3 (P-3) initiatives are an innovative way to align, strengthen and expand supports for this goal.

Culturally specific organizations (CSOs) are uniquely poised and expertly prepared to meet the needs of communities of color while helping Oregon achieve its goals for reducing disparities in kinder­garten readiness and other educational outcomes.

The proposed Early Childhood Equity Fund, which is included in the governor’s recommended 2019 budget, would move Oregon closer to eliminating the opportunity gap in kindergarten readiness and school success by investing …

Building Successful P-3 Initiatives: Foundations And Catalysts For Systems Change, Lindsey Brianna Patterson, Beth L. Green, Callie H. Lambarth, Mackenzie Burton, Diane Reid

Early Childhood

Across the United States, there is a growing recognition that early education and K-12 systems require transformative changes to address racial, ethnic, linguistic and economic disparities in school readiness and success.

Prenatal-through-Grade-3 (P-3) initiatives address these disparities by coordinating, strengthening and aligning fragmented support systems for families and children from birth through third grade.

These increasingly popular initiatives:

• Are based on accumulating evidence that standalone early childhood and school-based programs are not sufficient to sustain long-term success for children facing early childhood inequities
• Take a collective impact approach that brings families, early childhood providers, K-12 staff and other partners together …

Student Legal Services, Richard Slottee, April Kuster

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

Student Legal Services offices across the country provide free legal assistance to students. This presentation will highlight typical legal issues faced by families, the applicable resolution processes, including the judicial system, and the challenges faced by many SLS offices.

Richard graduated from the University of Oregon Law School in 1972 and joined Multnomah County Legal Aid Services as a staff attorney. In 1978 he went to work at Lewis and Clark Law School as a professor and Director of the Lewis and Clark Legal Clinic. The Legal Clinic taught practical lawyering skills to law students through the pro bono representation …

Full Access: A Barrier Removal Approach To Accommodating Student Parents, Michelle Marie

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

This presentation suggests a barrier removal perspective for student parent advocacy which recognizes that colleges are designed to accommodate students whose family cultures reflect the expectations, values, and norms of dominant groups and to exclude students whose family cultures do not. Participants will be invited to explore ways that their campuses can move towards providing full access to ALL students.

Michelle Marie PhD- Michelle is a veteran student parent and student parent advocate who is celebrating her daughter's 18th year by learning to play roller derby. When she's not on skates, she can often be found asking facilitative, design-process-based, problem-solving …

The Lived Experiences Of Student Parents At A 4-Year Institution Of Higher Education, Nancy Dayne

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

College students who are parents are a unique population whose voices are not often represented. This session will look at the research results on the childcare needs of over 750 college students who are parents at a large 4-year Hispanic Serving Institution, on the West-Coast. This presentation will present the voices of student parents and their struggle with support services needed to succeed at an institution of higher education.

Dr. Nancy Dayne- Nancy is an assistant professor at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), in the area of Child Development and Family Studies. She has a BA in Child Development …

Aloha Fridays With Sp@M: Cultivating Social Capital And Fostering Peer Support Lifting Generations Together, Angie Solomon

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

The University of Hawaii-Mānoa (UHM) is a predominately commuter campus lacking dedicated family friendly spaces for student parents to gather hindering opportunities to connect, foster friendships, and cultivate social capital. Aloha Fridays with the Student Parents At Mānoa (SP@M) program is a successful engagement and retention activity providing student parents a supportive space on campus to engage and foster friendships.

Angelique Kealani Siga SolomonAngie is the coordinator for the Student Parents At Manoa (SP@M) program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Ms. Solomon is a proud mother of two young toddlers and holds a B.A. from UH-Hilo, in History …

Breaking Away From Poverty- One Kentucky Communities Partnerships, Robyn Moreland, Melissa Gross

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

Barriers to higher education are plentiful for low income single parents. This workshop will explore how one Kentucky community uses partnerships to reduce barriers to education through housing, child care and employment.

Robyn Johnson Moreland- Robyn is the Director of Eastern Kentucky University’s Education Pays Program. Education Pays is a grant funded program through the state of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Families Services that provides TANF recipients with work study placements, career development, academic support and supportive services to help meet personal and professional goals. The program is celebrating the 20th year on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. …

Intersecting Identities And Resiliency: Sharing Stories Of Student Mothers In Community College, Kamisha Sullivan

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

This presentation will share the stories of 23 student mothers enrolled in two community colleges. In their own words student mothers described their intersecting identities as both invisible and empowering. Findings from the study point to the resiliency of student mothers who utilized personal assets and institutional resources. Recommendations for community colleges include developing a strategic method to gather data to better serve this student population. Further, institutions are encouraged to re-examine child care services and supports on campus.

Kamisha Sullivan- Kamisha recently completed an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from CSU Long Beach. Dr. Sullivan has many years of teaching …

Buidling A #2gen Approach To State Policy: Georgia's Story, Kristin Bernhard

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

Over the past two years, senior leaders of Georgia's Department of Early Care and Learning, Technical College System, and University System have developed a unique partnership to implement a statewide two-gen approach for state policy to better coordinate service delivery for student parents. This session will explore the tactics, strategies, and approach Georgia's state agency leadership have used to connect child and parent outcomes.

Kristin Bernhard- Kristin is the Deputy Commissioner for System Reform at the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL), the state's stand-alone education agency for children from birth through age five. At DECAL, she leads …

The Life Impact Program: Supporting Student Parents Striving For Success, Natalie Reinbold

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

The innovative, comprehensive Life Impact Program provides substantial social and financial support to low-income student parents at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Using data from a recent program evaluation, we describe Scholars’ strong academic performance and graduation rates, and, drawing from in-depth interviews, we illustrate the lived experiences of Scholars as they navigate raising children while striving to complete college.

Natalie Reinbold-Natalie has 20+ years experience serving disadvantaged families in the Milwaukee area. She received her undergraduate degree from UW - Milwaukee in Psychology and her Master's degree in Community Counseling from UW - Whitewater. As the Life Coach …

The Two-Generation Classroom: Learning Together In The Gen Ed Core, Autumn Green

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

This workshop presents a new approach to post-secondary pedagogy referred to as, The Two Generation Classroom. The Two-Generation Classroom offers curricula for the general education core that facilitate parent/child inter-generational learning. Using hybrid online/in-person strategies, and a learning-buddy approach to integrated arts teaching/learning activities, the Two-Generation Classroom approach aims to address and reduce inequity in college access and success for student parents, while ensuring academic excellence and rigor.

Dr. Autumn R. Green is Founding Director of the National Center for Student Parent Programs, and is currently transitioning from Endicott College to join Wellesley Centers for Women as a Visiting Scholar …

Diapers To Degrees: Higher Education's Contribution To The Imposter Syndrome, Caroline Sanders, Shelley Wilson

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

Panel discussion with audience participation will focus on the barriers student-parents continue to encounter, despite the increasing number of their population, and how the often institutionally imposed imposter syndrome hinders and often discourages access to and success in obtaining a college degree. Participants will be encouraged to share best practices and improvement strategies.

Shelley Wilson Gentile- Shelly is the Program Manager for the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University in Florida. She has more than 30 years of experience in higher education that includes service to five very different campuses. Her longest tenure was at Eastern Michigan …

Building A Village: Developing A Student Parent Support Program, Amanda Wilcox-Herzig

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

In an effort to provide parents with social support and parenting skills, college students were provided with parenting workshops, a resource library, and online discussions. Initially, these endeavors were grant supported and participation was mandatory. Recently, services have been offered as a voluntary activity. Data from each time period will be compared to demonstrate the importance of funded student participation.

Amanda Wilcox Herzog, Ph.D. has taught at California State University Santa Barbara for the last 16 years. Dr. Wilcox Herzog is a Professor in the Psychology Department, where they offer a BA in Human Development and an MA in Child …

“Our Greatest Songs Are Still Unsung”: Educating Citizens About Schooling In A Multicultural Society, Simona Goldin, Erin E. Flynn, Cori Mehan Egan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines how a practice-based unit informs undergraduates’ understandings of the dynamics of teaching and learning in a multicultural society, and how these intersect with equity in U.S. classrooms. Citizens’ nuanced understanding of teaching and learning is increasingly important for their engagement with U.S. schools. Practice-based opportunities can allow students to “see” the complexity of teaching and to challenge assumptions about teaching and learning, which are central to preparing an informed citizenry. Findings further suggest that a single course is not sufficient to expand undergraduate students’ understanding of the role of diversity in social life. More concentrated and ongoing …

Peer Mentoring For Undergraduates In A Research-Focused Diversity Initiative, Thomas E. Keller, Kay Logan, Jennifer Lindwall, Caitlyn Beals

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

To provide multi-dimensional support for undergraduates from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds who aspire to careers in research, the BUILD EXITO project, part of a major NIH-funded diversity initiative, matches each scholar with three mentors: peer mentor (advanced student), career mentor (faculty adviser), and research mentor (research project supervisor). After describing the aims of the diversity initiative, the institutional context of the BUILD EXITO project, and the training program model, this article devotes special attention to the rationale for and implementation of the peer mentoring component within the context of the multi-faceted mentoring model.