The Black Church and Family Support Programs

Abstract

The churches in the African American community have traditionally played many important supportive roles to families in many areas. Churches today are becoming more involved in the provision of services to the community members in response to many of the changes that are occurring in families, in employment, and in areas of increased poverty. Churches play important supportive roles by caring for children after school. Project SPIRIT is a program in which instructions are given in homework assistance, cultural continuity, African American history, and self esteem. These programs provide social support to all family members.     

浅析教师职业自尊

专业发展的原动力源于职业的自尊。教师的人格魅力是教师职业自尊的基石，教师的学识魅力是教师职业自尊之源泉，教师的人格魅力与学识魅力是师德的最高境界。教师的职业自尊，关系到教师的生存状态，关系到学生的健康成长，关系到优质教育能否实现，关系到教育的今天和未来。     

Easing Postpartum School Transitions Through Parent Mentoring Programs

Summary

Alternative schools offer pregnant and parenting high school students smaller classes, a less stigmatizing environment, and specialized health and social services. Most alternative schools require that students return to their regular public high schools soon after they have delivered. Although students making this postpartum transition face extraordinary challenges, few supportive services are available. As a result, the academic performance of many postpartum students suffers and may eventually lead to high school drop out. Mentoring programs, which are initiated while students are still pregnant, may provide an important bridge between the alternative and regular school settings. Mentoring relationships can ease the stress associated with postpartum school transition and, ultimately, forestall or prevent the academic and social problems typically associated with adolescent pregnancy and parenthood.     

论现代文学叙述中妓女形象谱系与话语模式

在现代中国,妓女形象成为一种隐喻,一种表达思想意识、建构社会性别身份的媒介.人们通过对妓女形象的认知和想像来表达他们对民族现代性、社会关系和妇女解放等重大社会命题的思考,以此建立自我想像,寻求自我认同.对中国现代文学中精英知识分子笔下的妓女形象作-个谱系来考察,可以了解中国现代精英知识分子如何通过"这个媒介展开有关政治权力和文化转型,国民性和文化归依感等等问题的讨论",检视创作主体的社会性别和社会身份对妓女话语系统建构影响.     

Promoting Critical Consciousness in Young,African-American Men

SUMMARY

In the U.S. as young African-American men in urban areas mature, they face oppressive social forces as well as the normative developmental challenges of adolescence. Nonetheless, much of psychology focuses on personal rather than sociopolitical development. As a basis for interventions aimed at sociopolitical awareness and action, this article presents a theory of oppression and sociopolitical development based on the work of Serrano Garcia, Freire and others. According to this theory, critical consciousness (i.e., critical awareness about one's political, social and cultural condition) is an essential skill for sociopolitical development. This article also describes the “Young Warriors” program for building critical consciousness in high school aged young men. The results of this action-research project suggest that critical consciousness can be enhanced through a brief, eight-session intervention with the aid of Rap video, film and other products of mass culture.     

Stress management training for low income women

Summary

Stress Management Training for Low Income Women, a time‐limited psychoeducational intervention directed at both cognitive and behavior change, was developed as a prevention model for the Michigan Department of Mental Health. It has been evaluated with 5 populations: white women in smaller communities in Michigan (3) and Connecticut, and inner‐city black women.

Across five projects and various measures, these evaluations show a significant decrease in depression, an increase in the sense of mastery and an increase in self‐esteem.     

Enhancing Family Competence Through Literacy Activities

SUMMARY

The present paper describes the range of positive family outcomes found when the parents of low-income preschoolers engage in literacy activities with their children. One hundred parents attended a series of family literacy workshops designed to instruct parents on the use of effective book sharing techniques to use with their children. The goal of the program was to increase the children's school readiness and emergent literacy skills by training parents to be more effective and self-confident “first teachers” of the type of literacy skills necessary for early school success. Parents reported that both the amount of parent-child book sharing increased and the time spent reading was more interesting and enjoyable. Children's language skills as well as their interest in books and learning increased. Personal benefits to the parent included enhanced self-esteem and self confidence, increased knowledge of normative child development and sense of efficacy as a parent, heightened understanding of the importance of parental involvement, increased feeling of literacy competence and interest in improving their own education, and sense of increased social support. Other family members (spouses and siblings) also increased their literacy activities. Family relationships, communication, and feelings of togetherness were also enhanced. Implications for individual and family competency enhancing interventions are discussed.     

How Does Professional Education Impact the Job Outlook of Public Child Welfare Workers?

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine how public child welfare employees perceive their graduate social work education, whether they use the knowledge and skills gained, their work satisfaction, and their future plans. It was designed to examine the experiences of the New York City Administration on Children's Services (ACS) employees who were participants in the Professional Development Program and received support to study for their master's degrees in social work. The total number of respondents surveyed was 153, the vast majority of whom were people of color. In considering their motives for attending graduate school, 96 percent emphasized their desire to serve children and families better. These graduates were very positive about their academic and field experiences, with almost all saying they would recommend MSW training to others. There was a constant progression in their perceived knowledge and skill level over time. They expressed a mid-level of satisfaction with their current jobs, but higher satisfaction with the nature of the work itself. It was striking to note the respondents' attitudes about remaining employed at ACS. Only 13 percent of those who responded said they planned to leave within the next two years Almost a third (32.6%) said they thought they'd stay at least 5-9 years, and 39.8 percent said they would probably stay 10 years or longer. Satisfaction with the nature of the work and pay were the two strongest predictors of the length of time respondents planned to stay at ACS. These are important findings because they demonstrate that public investment in MSW education can have significant pay-off by increasing the knowledge and skills of public child welfare workers and encouraging long-term commitment to the work.     

Including All Staff in an Alternative School's Effort to Reduce Violence

ABSTRACT

Interview data from non-teaching staff at Garfield alternative school revealed how the entire staff-including custodians, secretaries, and hall monitors-contributed to the success of the school's violence prevention efforts. The school functioned democratically: non-teaching staff attended violence prevention workshops offered to all staff; the non-teaching staff's opinions about students' behavior were constantly solicited by teachers and administrators. By employing the skills and cultural competence of all staff members, the school's administrators encouraged democratic, non-hierarchical behavior among the staff in order to reduce violence in the students' lives. The authors recommend studies be conducted at other schools to expand our knowledge of the ways non-teaching staff may enhance a whole school approach to violence prevention.     

School Disorder and Student Achievement

Abstract

The study develops a school safety and student achievement model, incorporating the concepts of student background, school structure, school culture, school disorder, and student academic achievement, and fits it to 613 elementary schools in New York City, using Structural Equations Modeling technique. The model fits the data well based on both Chi-square test statistic and goodness of fit indexes. The model accounts for 71% of school variance in student achievement. The study confirms that student background is associated with student behavior and student learning. School disorder affects student achievement negatively directly and indirectly mediated by student attendance. The study suggests that policy initiative could be implemented to improve school climate, therefore reduce school disorder and improve student achievement.     

中国学术界有关治理研究的回顾与前瞻

我国学术界对治理的研究可以主要从内涵、背景、内容、研究方法、评价五个方面加以把握，并形成了“国家-社会”研究范式，它在治理中的展开代表了学术的进步。无论是全球治理还是国家内治理，我们均需要在哲学认知、政治发展潮流、社会本质属性、文化心理意识及治理评估等方面继续深化。     

Memories

SUMMARY

The Hawaiian Studies Program (HSP) integrates the learning of Hawaiian culture with more traditional secondary curriculum in science, social studies, and English. Students also participate in weekly community service-learning sessions. Fifty-five HSP students and 29 peers (who were not involved in the program), completed a survey measuring: students' connection to, pride in, and responsibility for their community; civic attitudes; and career knowledge and preparedness. HSP teachers, community members, and students were also interviewed about program outcomes. Compared to other peers, HSP students tended to report feeling more connected to their community and school and to agree that they had career-related skills. Participants believed that service-learning contributed to these outcomes by making connections between school and community life and by exposing students to a variety of careers.     

Restructuring the Ecology of the School as an Approach to Prevention During School Transitions

Summary

Normative school transitions are often accompanied by deterioration in students' socio-emotional, behavioral and academic adjustment, and poorer outcomes in later adolescence and young adulthood. The current paper describes a preventive intervention for students experiencing normative transitions into middle grade schools and junior and senior high schools-the School Transitional Environment Project (STEP). The program is based on a transactional-ecological model of preventive intervention that employs a school restructuring and transformation approach in order to prevent the deleterious effects of school transitions and create school environments that are developmentally enhancing. Core features of STEP seek to change the ecological characteristics of the school setting in ways that: (a) reduce the adaptational demands of coping with flux and complexity in new school settings; (b) increase access to and the provision of important emotional and academic/instrumental support and guidance from school staff and other students; and (c) increase the students' sense of connectedness and belonging within the school. The present paper reviews findings from prior trials of the School Environment Transition Project, and presents the results of two additional STEP studies. The first reports on a long-term follow-up of STEP students who received the project in a large, urban high school that served students whose families were largely on public assistance. Results of this study revealed approximately 50% reductions in drop-out rates and significant positive effects on school performance and attendance patterns. The second study reports on an extension of STEP to junior high schools and middle grade students. Consistent with earlier studies, during the transition year, students in STEP schools reported more positive experiences in school environment dimensions that STEP sought to impact, and better adjustment outcomes than non-STEP students across academic, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains.     

School Principals’ Perceptions of Crime Risk and Academic Climate: Links to School Safety Practices

ABSTRACT

Little is known about principals’ perceptions and their links to how school safety practices operate. Using data from School Survey on Crime and Safety from 2,009 public schools in the US, the current study examines the extent to which principals/administrators’ perceptions of academic climate and crime risk are related to school practices regarding safety and discipline. Results show that principals’ perceptions directly relate to school safety practices when controlling for school characteristics, and also explain how selected school characteristics relate to safety practices.Overall, the present study highlights the importance of principals’ perceptions of crime risk and academic climate in school safety practices. Policy implications and potential limitations of the study are discussed.     

School Violence in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

This article reviews school violence prevention programs that were published between the years of 1990 and 1999. All the interventions fitting inclusion criteria involved being implemented in a school setting, using a control group, and including a quantitative methodology. Effect sizes were calculated for the final sixteen articles that were reviewed in the meta-analysis. A process of inspection was used in order to come up with treatment characteristics most common to each prevention program. Each study was thus described according to six categories: theoretical base, setting, age group, leader training, duration, and random assignment. Four studies resulted with strong effect sizes; however, a regression analysis was not conducted due to inadequate sample size. A review of the literature suggested that program impact could be significantly affected by the use of cognitive-behavioral strategies, multi-setting atmosphere, and primary (elementary school) prevention. In addition, intuitive support (common knowledge in the social science field) indicated that a qualified program leader and longer length of program could also contribute to the influence of a program. Future researchers are encouraged to use a more comprehensive literature review (e.g., past 20 years) in terms of conducting meta-anal-yses in order to provide a larger sample size adequate enough to see the true effects of different intervention components on outcomes (regression analysis; i.e., additive component effects).     

Socioeconomic Status and Behavior Problems

Abstract

Violence in the schools is a fundamental concern for students, educators and communities as they collectively address issues that make schools safer. A longitudinal analysis of disciplinary referrals was conducted with a large countywide school district to measure differences across socioeconomic status and school level. These variables proved to be critical in identifying and targeting schools that may need to be the focus of prevention and intervention efforts. Other suggestions related to the effects of school violence on academic instruction and methods for the targeting of services are discussed along with implications for educators and mental health professionals in school based settings.     

Early childhood education and primary prevention

Summary

Early childhood education is emerging as a major method of primary prevention of social and personal problems. Studies of early childhood programs, such as the Ypsilanti Perry Preschool Project, have found positive long‐term consequences for participating children with significantly improved educational performances including high school graduation rates and college attendance; improved rates of employment and self‐support; and reduced rates of crime, teen pregnancy, and welfare utilization. This paper gives a brief overview of the research project and the curriculum methods employed. As the country becomes aware of the need for prevention rather than correction, high quality early childhood education will be employed widely.     

Advancing a Conceptual and Empirical Model of School Climate for School Staff in California

ABSTRACT

School climate is increasingly intertwined with efforts to create safe schools and improve social-emotional learning and academic outcomes. While current definitions of school climate implicate the decisions and actions of school staff members, the majority of school climate research focuses on the perspectives of students. This study presents an adapted model of school climate that focuses on the experiences of school staff members, and is one of the first empirical studies to explore a statewide data set of responses from staff members in California public schools. Results suggest that there are meaningful differences in the experiences of school climate for different staff members and that these differences should guide the assessments of school climate and changes to policies and procedures that may influence climate.     

Afrocultural Integrity and the Social Development of African-American Children

SUMMARY

In this paper the role of culture in the social development of African-American youth was explored, and an Afrocultural social ethos was advanced as a concept for investigating the social functioning. Study 1 found no significant gender differences on the social ethos variable in third and sixth graders (47 boys, 43 girls) ratings of self, family or friends. However, boys reported more delinquent behaviors than did girls, and friend's social ethos was predictive of fewer aggressive and delinquent behaviors. Although no significant gender differences on social ethos emerged among the sixth and seventh graders (54 boys, 47 girls) in Study 2, family ethos was predictive of empathic concern while the ethos of friends predicted greater perspective taking. Gender was the only significant predictor of peer-rated helping behavior, with girls judged to demonstrate such behaviors more than boys. Discussion focused on directions for basic and applied research, with an emphasis on African-American men and the importance of mobilizing indigenous community resources.