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There is a nationwide shortage of school psychologists, and while NASP has recommended ways to increase recruitment and retention, the research on recruiting and retaining school psychologists, especially in high-need areas, is limited. Teacher education researchers have begun to address teacher shortages through "grow your own" training programs, but the research on these programs is also limited. A team of university school psychology faculty and regional education agency administrators developed a "Grow Your Own" school psychologist re-specialization training program to support recruiting and retaining school psychologists in rural areas. It is difficult for rural education agencies to recruit young professionals to their area, but it may be possible to recruit professionals currently living in the area to school graduate training programs. The partnership between the university school psychology training program and the regional education agencies addresses the school psychology shortage in one Midwestern state by recruiting special education and related educational professionals to school psychology. A focus of this program is to place more mental health professionals (i.e., school psychologists) in rural schools, therefore addressing the deficiency of mental health services in these rural areas. The partnership and the program are described, as are opportunities and challenges that the team has experienced to date.

Students are struggling with mental health difficulties that impact their ability to learn while in school, and many students lack access to mental health providers in their communities. School administrators are in a prime position to lead systemic change aimed at supporting student mental health. The purpose of this paper is to provide secondary school leaders with a primer for developing and implementing universal screening and comprehensive systems to support student mental health.

The provision of school-based mental health services (SBMHS) to students with disabilities is inadequate and insufficient. We propose that this failure to provide SBMHS to students with disabilities is due to (a) mental health services not consistently recognized as a related service under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (b) a failure of the evaluation provisions of IDEA to include the assessment of mental health needs as an area "related to the suspected disability," and (c) the poorly conceptualized and fragmented existing approach of assessment and provision of SBMHS for students with disabilities. These factors limit access to adequate SBMHS, particularly for students with ASD and EBD who present immediate and significant mental health needs. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual model for the assessment of mental health needs and the provision of SBMHS for students with disabilities. We offer several recommendations to promote the provision of SBMHS.

The goal of this project was to substantiate a more positive conceptualization of adolescent risk behavior and to compare adolescent viewpoints of risk behavior to the items on the Prosocial and Health Adolescent Risk Behavior Scale (PHARBS). A total of 57 high school students participated in the research. Researchers recruited students from an Advanced Placement (AP) Psychology course at a large Midwestern high school. The high school serves approximately 1,750 students in grades 9 through 12. The university Institutional Review Board approved the study procedures. Families provided informed consent, and students assented to participating in one of eight focus group discussions. The focus groups were audio taped, transcribed, and coded. Researchers analyzed the coded data using word count analysis. Students discussed prosocial risk behaviors in addition to health risk behaviors, providing support for the PHARBS and suggesting that adolescents view taking some risks as positive. A more positive conceptualization of risk behavior may better align with how adolescents view risk behavior. Researchers and clinicians might approach adolescent risk behavior measurement and research on the importance of understanding risk behaviors as a normal and potentially positive aspect of adolescent development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aimed to investigate emotional intelligence as a predictor of adolescent risk participation and risk perception. While research has suggested that certain personality traits relate to adolescent risk behavior and perception, the extent to which emotional intelligence relates to risk behavior participation and perception is unknown. In addition, it is unknown to what extent emotional intelligence provides incremental validity over personality traits in the explanation of adolescent risk behavior participation and perception. The study included 171 students between the ages of 15 and 24 from Midwestern educational settings. Students reported risk behavior on the Adolescent Risk Behaviour Questionnaire. Emotional intelligence was measured using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, and personality traits were measured using the NEO-PI R. The results showed that the predictive validity of emotional intelligence differs in relation to age and the incremental validity of emotional intelligence over personality traits also differs across the age range. The relationship of emotional intelligence with risk behavior participation and risk perception revealed that despite higher levels of emotional intelligence and similar endorsement of risk perception, college-aged students reported higher levels of risk behavior participation. Implications for educational intervention and future study are discussed.

This manuscript offers an approach to secure needed SBMHS for students with disabilities through unique applications within the IEP development process, informed by an analysis of recent case law. We will discuss six components of this approach. First, the need for SBMHS must be established through evaluation data. Data sources to confirm the need for services include record review, interview, observation, and testing. Second, the evaluation data must be presented in the Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance (PLAAFP) section of the IEP. This section will also describe how a child's educational performance is adversely affected by mental health issues. Third, annual goals must be developed for areas adversely affected by a child's mental health status. The goals must be measurable and include performance targets established by criteria and matched to the baseline data and skills targets for intervention. Fourth, the specially-designed instruction (SDI) and related service intervention (RSI) must be planned for each goal area. The SDI must specify the methodology and strategies to be provided to address the child's mental health needs. The RSI must explicitly describe the nature of the strategies or approaches planned. Fifth, progress monitoring plans must be described, including the metrics matched to baseline data and the goal, a timetable, and reporting options. Sixth, and importantly, the IEP SBMHS must be implemented as planned and revised if progress toward the goals is not satisfactory. One unique contribution of this IEP approach to securing needed SBMHS is the integration of recent case law to illustrate how courts relied on specification of the six components in confirming the need for SMBHS. A second contribution is providing specific examples of IEP statements for the six components when mental health needs must be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this series, we highlighted the importance of addressing the mental health needs of students with disabilities. The purpose of this final article in the series is to briefly summarize each article's recommendations for addressing children's mental health needs and to provide a compelling rationale for adopting those recommended practices. The rationale is introduced through a series of "why" questions, and those questions are then answered in sections addressing professional ethics and advocacy ethics. By focusing on practices, policies, and professional standards related to mental health among students with disabilities, school professionals adopt vital roles, responsibilities, and opportunities to assure access to school-based metal health supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IDEA requires schools to evaluate and provide services to students who have a mental health issue that is deemed an educational disability or a mental health issue that is comorbid with an educational disability. Etscheidt and colleagues (this issue) propose a six component approach to securing school-based mental health services for students with disabilities. This article illustrates the six component approach using two vignettes. The first vignette involves a preschool student referred due to aggression who has not been previously identified as eligible for special education. The second vignette involves a 5th grade student who was receiving special education services under the category of SLD who's academic progress had plateaued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through collaborative consultation with school staff, school psychologists have increasingly helped schools add bullying prevention and intervention programming to their service delivery systems. As schools search for ways to lessen the impact of bullying on the social-emotional health and academic achievement of students, forgiveness education is an area that may offer another perspective to bullying prevention and intervention. In order to infuse forgiveness education into schools' current tiered-service delivery systems, school psychologists and their district partners can use the frameworks of collaborative strategic planning (CSP) and the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) in tandem to guide the development and implementation of forgiveness-focused bullying interventions at the core, supplementary, and intensive levels of a multitiered system of service delivery.

This study explored outcomes in a constructivist career course. Using a pretest-posttest design, the authors assessed the empowerment (operationalized as career decision self-efficacy) and career indecision of 82 culturally diverse college students at a large, midwestern university. Data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicated that students reported significant increases in empowerment with no commensurate decreases in career indecision. In addition to shedding light on the nuanced relationship between empowerment or career decision self-efficacy and indecision, results indicate the potential constructivist career development has to empower culturally diverse college students. (Contains 2 tables.)

Although constructivist career theory is routinely discussed in the literature, links between theory and practice in education are lacking. The current study focused on the potential of a constructivist curriculum to empower at-risk culturally diverse college students by increasing career self-efficacy and reducing dysfunctional career thoughts. Using a pre/post-test design, 75 under-prepared undergraduates who were enrolled in six sections of a constructivist career course at a large Midwestern university completed the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale Short-Form (CDSE-SF) and the Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI). The sample was 45% students of color and 55% White. Multivariate analysis of variance with follow-up univariate analyses revealed significantly higher CDSE-SF scores and significantly lower CTI scores. These results suggest that a constructivist career development course may be a viable educational vehicle for empowering at-risk culturally diverse college students by increasing career self-efficacy and decreasing self-defeating thoughts, particularly thoughts associated with decision-making confusion and commitment anxiety. (Contains 2 tables.)

In times of uncertainty and change where the job market is fluid and the U.S. economy is weak, students need to feel empowered to construct their lives and forge their career paths. Constructivism has been suggested as one way to empower people. The current study explored outcomes in constructivist career courses using a quasi-experimental pre/post-test design. The empowerment, indecision, and certainty of 115 culturally diverse college students were measured using the Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form (CDSE-SF) and the Career Decision Scale (CDS). Results indicated that students in the career courses showed significant increases in empowerment and certainty and significant decreases in indecision. Those in the comparison group did not. Implications for constructivist career development are discussed along with recommendations for future research.

Within each state there is a patchwork of residential educational programs that are affiliated with youth shelters, detention centers, hospitals, mental health facilities, and other settings. In Iowa, the local school district, an area education agency (AEA), the Department of Human Services, and others provide educational services. Heartland AEA's Shelter Care Educational Program (SCEP) provides the educational program in six central Iowa youth shelters and Iowa's largest juvenile detention center. SCEP, mandated by Iowa law, is funded by appropriations from local school districts and monitored by the Iowa Department of Education. SCEP's mission is to provide an effective learning environment to meet the individual educational needs of youth in shelter and detention through a comprehensive model of educational assessment and instruction in core content areas and essential skills. In this article, the authors propose a model for effective assessment in residential academic programs. This effective assessment model developed for a residential educational program has a solid foundation in research-based assessment methods. The model proposed for effective assessment and the rationale for developing the tools to measure reading, mathematics, and writing, while still under revision and evaluation, have yielded some positive results in teacher perspective and preliminary student outcomes.

The provision of school-based mental health services (SBMHS) to students with disabilities is inadequate and insufficient. We propose that this failure to provide SBMHS to students with disabilities is due to (a) mental health services not consistently recognized as a related service under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), (b) a failure of the evaluation provisions of IDEA to include the assessment of mental health needs as an area "related to the suspected disability," and (c) the poorly conceptualized and fragmented existing approach of assessment and provision of SBMHS for students with disabilities. These factors limit access to adequate SBMHS, particularly for students with ASD and EBD who present immediate and significant mental health needs. The purpose of this article is to propose a conceptual model for the assessment of mental health needs and the provision of SBMHS for students with disabilities. We offer several recommendations to promote the provision of SBMHS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through collaborative consultation with school staff, school psychologists have increasingly helped schools add bullying prevention and intervention programming to their service delivery systems. As schools search for ways to lessen the impact of bullying on the social-emotional health and academic achievement of students, forgiveness education is an area that may offer another perspective to bullying prevention and intervention. In order to infuse forgiveness education into schools' current tiered-service delivery systems, school psychologists and their district partners can use the frameworks of collaborative strategic planning (CSP) and the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) in tandem to guide the development and implementation of forgiveness-focused bullying interventions at the core, supplementary, and intensive levels of a multitiered system of service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the theory-based Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). It says that the test involves a series of tasks wherein an individual will solve emotion-related problems to measure his emotional intelligence abilities. It states that the examination can be used by school psychologists to determine students who have trouble with social relationships.