Overcoming inequality in schooling: a call to action for community psychology

Building Resilience After School for Early Adolescents in Urban Poverty: Open Trial of Leaders @ Play

Leaders @ Play is a park after-school program for urban middle school youth designed to leverage recreational activities for social emotional learning. Mental health and park staff co-facilitated sports and games to teach and practice problem solving, emotion regulation, and effective communication. Additional practice occurred during multi-family groups and summer internships as junior camp counselors. We examined feasibility and promise via an open trial (n = 3 parks, 46 youth, 100 % African American, 100 % low-income, 59 % female, M = 13.09 years old). Improvements in social skills and reductions in problem behaviors lend support to after school programs as a space for mental health promotion.

Educational Restructuring from a Community Viewpoint: A Case Study of School Closure from Invercargill, New Zealand

Beyond their educational function, schools are frequently a focal point for community life. We argue that this latter role was compromised in New Zealand by a decade of neoliberal realignments within education policy. During the 1990s the abolition of school zones, the commodification of education, and the drive for efficiency in the allocation of educational resources undermined the place of school in community life. In this paper we explore the impacts of a school closure on an urban neighbourhood in Invercargill, New Zealand. We present and interpret narratives gathered during an interview-based study of the closure of Surrey Park Primary School. Our analysis highlights parents' perspectives on the role of the educational bureaucracy in the closure debate, the ambiguous role assigned to ‘community’ within the restructured system, the impact of the closure for low-income families, and the place of schools in contributing to the neighbourhood social cohesion. Our analysis concurs with international research suggesting that breaking links between schools and communities has potentially significant educational impacts on children.

Race, Exclusionary Discipline, and Connectedness to Adults in Secondary Schools

This study examines racial differences in students' connectedness to school adults and considers the possibility that disparities in exclusionary discipline practices may reduce all students' sense of connection to educators, not just those who have been disciplined or are from racial groups overrepresented in out-of-school suspensions. Data sources include a self-report survey of secondary school students (n = 29,148) linked to administrative data (n = 107 schools) from a large urban district. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to estimate the relationships between students' racial background, youths' connection to school adults, and school-level racial discipline gaps. Controlling for school racial composition, gender, grade level and other covariates, students of color were significantly less likely to feel connected to school adults than their White peers. Additionally, the racial discipline gap was significantly and negatively associated with connectedness for all students. Results indicate that strategies to improve educational outcomes for youth of color need to attend to relational dynamics between students and school adults. Research findings also suggest that efforts to reduce discipline disparities may improve all students' connectedness.

The Racial School Climate Gap: Within-School Disparities in Students' Experiences of Safety, Support, and Connectedness

This study used student and teacher survey data from over 400 middle schools in California to examine within-school racial disparities in students' experiences of school climate. It further examined the relationship between a school's racial climate gaps and achievement gaps and other school structures and norms that may help explain why some schools have larger or smaller racial disparities in student reports of climate than others. Multilevel regression results problematized the concept of a "school climate" by showing that, in an average middle school, Black and Hispanic students have less favorable experiences of safety, connectedness, relationships with adults, and opportunities for participation compared to White students. The results also show that certain racial school climate gaps vary in magnitude across middle schools, and in middle schools where these gaps are larger, the racial achievement gap is also larger. Finally, the socioeconomic status of students, student-teacher ratio, and geographic location help explain some cross-school variation in racial climate gaps. These findings have implications for how school climate in conceptualized, measured, and improved.

The effects of social connections on self-rated physical and mental health among internal migrant and local adolescents in Shanghai, China

BACKGROUND

China is in the midst of history's largest flow of rural-urban migration in the world; a flow that includes growing numbers of children and adolescents. Their health status is an important public health issue. This study compares self-rated physical and mental health of migrant and local adolescents in China, and examines to what extent layered social connections account for health outcomes.

METHODS

In 2010, we conducted a cross-sectional study among middle school students in Pudong New Area, Shanghai. Information about health status, social connections, and demographic factors were collected using a questionnaire survey. After controlling for sociodemographic factors, we used the t-test, Chi-square analysis, and a series of regression models to compare differences in health outcomes and explore the effects of social connections.

RESULTS

Migrant adolescents reported significantly higher rates of good physical health. However, they also had significantly fewer social connections, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of depression than their native peers. Family cohesion was associated with depressive symptoms and low self-esteem among all adolescents; peer association and social cohesion played major roles in migrants' well-being. Gender, age, and socioeconomic (SES) factors also affected adolescents' self-rated physical and mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-rated data suggest that migrant adolescents enjoy a physical health advantage and a mental health disadvantage. Layered social connections, such as peer association and social cohesion, may be particularly important for migrants. A public health effort is required to improve the health status of migrant youth.

Participatory action research (PAR) in middle school: opportunities, constraints, and key processes

Late childhood and early adolescence represent a critical transition in the developmental and academic trajectory of youth, a time in which there is an upsurge in academic disengagement and psychopathology. PAR projects that can promote youth's sense of meaningful engagement in school and a sense of efficacy and mattering can be particularly powerful given the challenges of this developmental stage. In the present study, we draw on data from our own collaborative implementation of PAR projects in secondary schools to consider two central questions: (1) How do features of middle school settings and the developmental characteristics of the youth promote or inhibit the processes, outcomes, and sustainability of the PAR endeavor? and (2) How can the broad principles and concepts of PAR be effectively translated into specific intervention activities in schools, both within and outside of the classroom? In particular, we discuss a participatory research project conducted with 6th and 7th graders at an urban middle school as a means of highlighting the opportunities, constraints, and lessons learned in our efforts to contribute to the high-quality implementation and evaluation of PAR in diverse urban public schools.

Social-Emotional Factors Affecting Achievement Outcomes Among Disadvantaged Students: Closing the Achievement Gap

Despite concentrated efforts at improving inferior academic outcomes among disadvantaged students, a substantial achievement gap between the test scores of these students and others remains (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; National Center for Education Statistics, 2000a, 2000b; Valencia & Suzuki, 2000). Existing research used ecological models to document social-emotional factors at multiple levels of influence that undermine academic performance. This article integrates ideas from various perspectives in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary model that will inform policy makers, administrators, and schools about the social-emotional factors that act as both risk and protective factors for disadvantaged students' learning and opportunities for academic success. Four critical social-emotional components that influence achievement performance (academic and school attachment, teacher support, peer values, and mental health) are reviewed.

A concepção de educadores sobre violência doméstica e desempenho escolar

Como parte de um estudo que caracterizou o desempenho escolar da criança vítima de violência doméstica, as respectivas professoras e as diretoras das escolas onde estudavam crianças vitimizadas foram convidadas a participar da pesquisa. O objetivo de tal participação foi identificar as concepções das educadoras sobre violência doméstica e desempenho escolar da criança vitimizada. Participaram do estudo 18 professoras e 10 diretoras que responderam, na escola, a uma entrevista semi-estruturada, versando sobre questões pertinentes ao objetivo do trabalho. Os dados obtidos revelaram que as educadoras possuem noções sobre violência doméstica e como devem proceder com as vítimas. O número de casos de crianças vitimizadas identificados na escola foi expressivo. Tal identificação deve-se tanto à observação das educadoras, como ao relato espontâneo do aluno (vítima). Mesmo com suas limitações, a escola se apresenta como um espaço de segurança para a criança vitimizada, podendo ser considerada um local de proteção para essas.

The effects of school gardens on students and schools: conceptualization and considerations for maximizing healthy development

There are thousands of school gardens in the United States, and there is anecdotal evidence that school garden programs can enhance students' learning in academic, social, and health-related domains. There has been little rigorous research, however, on the effects of school gardens or on the factors that promote the sustainability of these programs. This review draws on ecological theory to conceptualize school gardens as systemic interventions with the potential for promoting the health and well-being of individual students in multiple interdependent domains and for strengthening the school environment as a setting for positive youth development. This review (a) summarizes the small literature regarding the impact of school garden curricula on student or school functioning, (b) provides a conceptual framework to guide future inquiry, (c) discusses implications of this conceptualization for practice, and (d) suggests further research needed to better inform practice.

A community practice model for community psychologists and some examples of the application of community practice skills from the Partnerships for Success initiative in Ohio

This paper provides an opportunity to consider the concept of community practice from the vantage point of community psychology. The author argues that community psychology has significant potential to change organizations, communities, and other settings to benefit setting occupants. However, it is the author's contention that the full realization of this potential is contingent upon an organized effort to engage in formal community practice. The author defines community practice in terms of four skill sets related to mobilization, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The author also describes settings that might support community practice and discusses implications for training and the field of community psychology in general. Finally, the author illustrates several community practice skills and roles in the context of a local community-based initiative in Ohio called Partnerships for Success.

Reaching higher in community psychology: social problems, social settings, and social change

Forty years after the founding of community psychology, we have yet to deliver on the full promissory note of our birth, where we were poised to address social problems, social settings, and social change. Despite some success, we are at risk for selling ourselves short, for dying out in the discipline of psychology, and for failing to improve the common good. Given changes in demographics and in the safety net, the problem of entrenched disparities is even more urgent-in perception of the other, in the provision of opportunities for development, and in outcomes. Envisioning and enabling will be critical as we work with unified purpose toward a cumulative science where failure will not be predictable.

Intractable self-fulfilling prophecies fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education

The civil rights struggle for equal educational opportunity has yet to be achieved at the start of the 21st century. Inequality persists but problem and remedy are refrained from integrating schools, to ensuring equal access in resegregated settings, to closing the performance gap. As seen through ecological theory (R. S. Weinstein, 2002b), complex, multilayered, and interactive negative self-fulfilling prophecies create or perpetuate educational inequities and unequal outcomes. Society has failed to grapple with its entrenched roots in the achievement culture of schools. If this insidious dynamic is to be changed, an educational system that sorts for differentiated pathways must be replaced with one that develops the talents of all. Psychology has a critical role to play in promoting a new understanding of malleable human capabilities and optimal conditions for their nurturance in schooling.

Crianças expostas à violência conjugal: avaliação do desempenho acadêmico

O trabalho avaliou o desempenho acadêmico de 30 crianças em pares, sendo 15 crianças do Ensino Fundamental expostas à violência conjugal e 15 crianças não expostas à violência, do mesmo sexo e idade, escolhidas nas mesmas salas de aula do respectivo par. Os professores responderam à Escala de Avaliação da Performance Acadêmica (EAPA) e forneceram o Boletim Escolar dessas crianças. O TDE - Teste do Desempenho Escolar foi aplicado para constatar as áreas acadêmicas em que estas crianças apresentavam dificuldades. Das 15 crianças expostas avaliadas, 14 presenciaram pelo menos um episódio de agressão da mãe e sete estavam convivendo com violência conjugal há mais de cinco anos. Os resultados da EAPA foram significativamente menores para o grupo exposto, com a média de 52,9 pontos contra 67,8 do grupo de crianças não expostas. Nas análises dos resultados dos conceitos do Boletim Escolar e do TDE, as diferenças não foram significativas.