Counseling and Guidance
@tanks_rinata
Dr. Rinta Tanks
Title: Coordinator Re-engagement Center & AOP Support Baltimore City Public Schools
Research Topic: The Effectiveness of Intervention Strategies on Severely Emotionally Disturbed Students
Institution: Nova Southeastern University
Committee Chair: Meline Kevorkian, EdD
Abstract: This research study analyzed the results of daily point sheets, referrals, and timeouts at an Excel program for students labeled severely emotionally disturbed in a southeastern school district. According to current classroom data, over one third of students in the Excel program had dropped at least 1 letter grade in history since the beginning of the school year, and the number of referrals and time-outs had increased significantly. Its purpose was to determine whether multicomponent interventions or individual token economies were more effective in minimizing off-task behaviors and maximizing students’ academic achievement with students exhibiting serious emotional disturbances.
Specifically, this action research study had 3 main foci: (a) to decrease the number of off-task behaviors by at least 60%, (b) to decrease the number of referrals by at least 50%, and (c) to decrease the number of both in-class and out-of-class timeouts by at least 50%.
The following research questions were addressed:
1. How effective are individual intervention strategies?
2. How effective are multicomponent strategies?
3. What are the effects of individual intervention strategies in comparison to multicomponent intervention strategies?
A quantitative methodology was employed by the researcher to find answers to these research questions. The token economy alone reduced off-task behaviors marginally. However, the implementation of the multicomponent intervention strategy revealed the most significant decreases in off-task behaviors.
Title: Coordinator Re-engagement Center & AOP Support Baltimore City Public Schools
Research Topic: The Effectiveness of Intervention Strategies on Severely Emotionally Disturbed Students
Institution: Nova Southeastern University
Committee Chair: Meline Kevorkian, EdD
Abstract: This research study analyzed the results of daily point sheets, referrals, and timeouts at an Excel program for students labeled severely emotionally disturbed in a southeastern school district. According to current classroom data, over one third of students in the Excel program had dropped at least 1 letter grade in history since the beginning of the school year, and the number of referrals and time-outs had increased significantly. Its purpose was to determine whether multicomponent interventions or individual token economies were more effective in minimizing off-task behaviors and maximizing students’ academic achievement with students exhibiting serious emotional disturbances.
Specifically, this action research study had 3 main foci: (a) to decrease the number of off-task behaviors by at least 60%, (b) to decrease the number of referrals by at least 50%, and (c) to decrease the number of both in-class and out-of-class timeouts by at least 50%.
The following research questions were addressed:
1. How effective are individual intervention strategies?
2. How effective are multicomponent strategies?
3. What are the effects of individual intervention strategies in comparison to multicomponent intervention strategies?
A quantitative methodology was employed by the researcher to find answers to these research questions. The token economy alone reduced off-task behaviors marginally. However, the implementation of the multicomponent intervention strategy revealed the most significant decreases in off-task behaviors.
| nelsonrinatadiss11-9_use_this_one__1_.pdf |
@raiseurvisions
April J. Lisbon-Peoples, Ed.D.
Title: Certified School Psychologist
Research Topic: Reclaiming our identity: school psychologists' perceptions of their roles in education based on social, political, and economic changes.
Institution: Northeastern University
Committee Chair: Dr. Karen Reiss Medwed
Abstract: Although the roles of school psychologists have been investigated for several years, there is limited qualitative research as to how school psychologists perceived their roles in special education within the social, political, and economic changes associated with education. This interpretative phenomenological analysis examined the inner thoughts of how school psychologists made sense of and attached meaning to these changes. Five school psychologists, two from the west coast of the United States and three from the east coast of the United States, participated in this study. Four salient super-ordinate themes emerged from the research including: (1) The Lost Identity, (2) Reframing the Identity of School Psychologists, (3) Dealing with Tensions, and (4) Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas. Participants voiced strong opinions throughout, but the desire to engage in duties beyond those of testing and serving as gatekeepers for special education services was an overwhelming trend. However with their job duties already ascribed based on district and school needs, the participants believed that their identities were already shaped by others' perceptions of their roles. The findings were significant in that the study first described there was a disconnect in how school psychologists' perceived their roles in education compared to the perceptions of other educational stakeholders. This disconnect explains some of the external and internal tensions school psychologists face in the field. The results of this study can serve as a conversational tool to assist graduate training programs, national and state organizations, and school psychologists in better defining the roles of school psychologists and moving towards reclaiming the identity of school psychologists in a time of educational change.
Title: Certified School Psychologist
Research Topic: Reclaiming our identity: school psychologists' perceptions of their roles in education based on social, political, and economic changes.
Institution: Northeastern University
Committee Chair: Dr. Karen Reiss Medwed
Abstract: Although the roles of school psychologists have been investigated for several years, there is limited qualitative research as to how school psychologists perceived their roles in special education within the social, political, and economic changes associated with education. This interpretative phenomenological analysis examined the inner thoughts of how school psychologists made sense of and attached meaning to these changes. Five school psychologists, two from the west coast of the United States and three from the east coast of the United States, participated in this study. Four salient super-ordinate themes emerged from the research including: (1) The Lost Identity, (2) Reframing the Identity of School Psychologists, (3) Dealing with Tensions, and (4) Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas. Participants voiced strong opinions throughout, but the desire to engage in duties beyond those of testing and serving as gatekeepers for special education services was an overwhelming trend. However with their job duties already ascribed based on district and school needs, the participants believed that their identities were already shaped by others' perceptions of their roles. The findings were significant in that the study first described there was a disconnect in how school psychologists' perceived their roles in education compared to the perceptions of other educational stakeholders. This disconnect explains some of the external and internal tensions school psychologists face in the field. The results of this study can serve as a conversational tool to assist graduate training programs, national and state organizations, and school psychologists in better defining the roles of school psychologists and moving towards reclaiming the identity of school psychologists in a time of educational change.
| lisbon-peoples_doctoral_thesis.pdf |