President’s Special Strands: Competence, Capacity, and Opportunities

The President’s Special Strands will help to carry out the 2010 convention theme, Promoting Competence, Creating Capacity, and Expanding Opportunities, and offer convention attendees a variety of exceptional continuing professional development sessions that relate to a particular theme. A select number of sessions that exemplify each presidential strand were selected from the nearly 1,000 proposals accepted for presentation via the NASP 2010 Annual Convention Call for Presentation Proposals review system. The goal in making the selection was to offer a diversity of perspective, format, and focus (e.g., research versus skills development) within each of the three President’s Special Strands.

Strand 1 – Promoting Competence for Children, Families, and Schools: Direct Outcomes of School Psychologists’ Services

The ability to demonstrate measurable, positive impacts of school psychologists’ services and evidence-based practices for children, families, and schools is critical to promoting the important role of school psychologists in education today. Presentations within this strand will highlight research studies related to interventions for learning and behavior, RTI, assessment and data-based decision-making, prevention and responsiveness, consultation and collaboration, and other topics.

• Promoting Academic Competence and Achievement Motivation in Urban Youth (Karen Stoiber, Jessica L. Brumm, Steven L. Smith)
• Evidence-Based Social Skills Interventions: Mediators, Moderators, and What Really Works (Elizabeth Godbold, Michael Vance, Jeffrey Chenier, Jessica Rodriguez, Frank Gresham)
• Monitoring Multiple Dimensions of Intervention Integrity in Applied Research (Patricia Manz, Thomas Kratochwill, Thomas J. Power, Stephen Leff , Catherine B. Bracaliello, Jennifer Mautone , Stephen Soffer , Rebecca Gullan, Angela T. Clarke, Heather A. Jones, Melanie Freedman, Betsy E. Feinberg, Brooke Paskewich)
• The Effect of Instructional Consultation Teams on Teacher Efficacy (Jessica Koehler, Sylvia Rosenfield, Gary Gottfredson, Kate Bruckman, Phuong Vu)
• Instructional Level Academic Interventions: Evidence for Skill By Treatment Interactions (Matthew Burns, David C. Parker, Courtenay Barrett, Robin Codding, Gracia Lukito, Theodore J. Christ)

Strand 2 – Creating Capacity: School Psychology Services for the 21st Century

Professional excellence does not occur by happenstance at the individual, group, or profession-wide levels. Rather, it requires intentionality across a set of capacities that create the scaffolding for effective training and practice and help to ensure the continued strength of our field. Presentations within this strand will address protection of positions and services; advocacy for essential roles and functions; supervision and mentorship; legal, ethical, and professional practice; credentialing; graduate education; early career activities; and other topics.

• Evaluating School Psychological Services Post-RTI Implementation (Leah Nellis,  Shelly Mabee, Toni Skaggs, Jason Cochran, Melanie Davis, Leah Jesse)
• Developing Positive Working Relationships With Administrators (Louis Kruger, Joan Struzziero, Regina Watts)
• Decisional Capacity: What School Psychologists Should Know (Tiffany Chenneville, Audra Walsh
• School Psychology and RTI: Preservice, Certification, and Employment (David Prasse, George Batsche, Judy Elliott, Diane Morrison, Judy Hackett, Chris Koch, Bambi Lockman, Amelia Van Name)

Strand 3 – Expanding Opportunities: Comprehensive Academic and Mental Health Practices for Diverse Schools

School psychologists serve at the nexus of diverse issues that children and families face today and, importantly, can be leaders in helping to implement critical comprehensive and integrated learning and mental health practices in schools. Presentations within this strand will cover promotion of effective instructional, mental health, and safety practices; collaboration between schools, families, and community agencies; family financial issues and other impacts on children; multicultural competence in schools; development of children’s social and life skills; crisis preparation and response; and other topics.

• Critical Issues of Equity: Creating Capacity to Serve Diverse Students (Amanda Sullivan, Elizabeth A’Vant, Edward McKinney, John Baker, Tremaine Sayles, D’Andre Jacobs, LeResa Gray, Charles Bartholmew, Denise Daniels)
• Prevention Science: Advancing Research and Practice in the Schools (Wendy Reinke, Keith C. Herman, Kent McIntosh,  Joanna Bennett, Kenneth Merrell, Melissa Stormont, Dana Darney, Kevin Filter, Carolyn Webster-Stratton)
• HOT DOCS: Promoting Caregiver Competence and Creating Community Capacity (Heather Curtiss Agazzi, Kathleen H. Armstrong, Jillian L. Williams)
• Illinois Statewide Implementation of the Problem Solving/RTI Initiative (Mark Swerdlik, Gary L. Cates, Kathryn A. Cox, Sara Golomb, David Bell, Ben Ditkowsky)
• CBITS: Tier II Implementation in a Large School System (Cynthia Morgan-DAtrio, LaCresiea R. Olivier, Mark Cheramie)