Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro

The dimensions and measurement of school culture: Understanding school culture as the basis for school reform

Abstract The current focus on the idea that schools should be communities rather than only educational institutions is just beginnning to generate research. This chapter considers community as an expression of positive school culture, thus it is focused on past and current thinking and research about school culture. Specifically, it presents a new measure, the School Culture Scale (SCS), and results from two studies. Arguments are made that the concept of school culture as operationalized by the SCS should be beneficial in planning and evaluating school reform efforts, especially those with the goal of building a school community. Although the SCS was designed using American samples, it should be easily adapted for European schools and perhaps those in more diverse cultures since the theory, practice, and qualitative research of the Just Community on which it is based have proven they can be exported with some adaptations.

Moral reasoning and empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: implications for moral education

A mixed methods approach was used to understand moral reasoning and empathy in 12- to 18-year-old adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD) compared to same age typically developing (TD) youth. Adolescents completed measures assessing empathy (perspective-taking, personal distress, and empathic concern), and moral reasoning, as well as a qualitative interview asking them to discuss a challenging sociomoral situation and recount their moral competencies and strengths in difficult situations. For quantitative results, both groups demonstrated similar empathic concern, but adolescents with HF-ASD had significantly higher personal distress and lower moral reasoning than TD youth. Qualitative results suggest that adolescents with HF-ASD perceived themselves as having empathic concern but struggled to use these feelings to support their actions in spontaneous challenging sociomoral situations. Results suggest that teachers should be educated in providing specific guidance to adolescents with HF-ASD about how to express empathic concern in ways that promote mutually rewarding relationships.

Ego and Moral Development in University Contexts The Value Consistency Thesis Extended

The Value Consistency Thesis (VCT) proposed and empirically tested by Levine, Jakubowski, and Côté predicts associations between ego and moral functioning by identifying humanistic value orientations common to dimensions of both domains. With hypotheses based on Erikson’s notion of institutionalized moratorium, the present 2-year longitudinal study of 58 undergraduate students investigates the VCT as a function of participation within humanistic and technological university faculties. The findings replicate the initial test of the VCT and indicate that both ego and moral development and the ability to coordinate these developmental domains are gains more likely for students enrolled in humanistic faculties.

Lawrence Kohlberg’s Legacy: Radicalizing The Educational Mainstream

Kohlberg made two radical claims: One, development should be the aim of education, and two, education should have an explicit focus on the moral, which can be non-indoctrinative when embedded in fair and open school structures, notably democracy. Kohlberg’s moral education has two idealized goals, to transform schools into just communities, and to use schools as a force to create a more just and compassionate society.

Dancing up a Spiral Staircase: Learning How Best Practices and Policies Intertwine Lifelong Moral Development with Education.

My professional and personal lives have always intertwined; as someone who works in moral education and psychology—fields defined by historical and socio-political contexts—the political sphere has also surrounded my career. Being a researcher, interventionist and evaluator has taught me that it is very easy to lose one or more of the necessary, but often too loosely woven, threads of educational practice and policy with human development and culture. Based on my own professional experiences, I discuss two sets of issues that inform my current political stance on school reform. Currently in the USA and elsewhere, school reform efforts focus almost exclusively on learning and short-term goals to the neglect of lifelong developmental goals. Development and learning are not considered equally important educational goals. These issues form the threads of my narrative; the dance up the spiral staircase is my career.

School safe driving climate: theoretical and practical considerations for promoting teen driver safety in school settings

Abstract Objective: The aims of this study were to extend the current literature on school climate that is focused on understanding how teacher, administrator, and student perceptions about driving-focused aspects of the social, educational, and institutional climate of schools can affect students’ achievement, behavior, and adjustment toward the development of the concept of a school safe driving climate (SSDC) and initiate the development of tools and processes for assessing SSDC. Methods: A mixed methods approach was used to develop an initial version of a survey-based measure of SSDC that involved self-report surveys (students) and in-depth interviews (teachers). Exploratory factor analytic procedures identified SSDC constructs and a regression framework was used to examine associations among SSDC constructs and self-reported driving behaviors. Qualitative data were subjected to inductive analysis, with a goal of elucidating teachers’ perspectives on SSDC and an SSDC intervention. Results: The study sample consisted of 947 adolescents (48% male) from one large high school and 44 teacher advisors. Participants were recruited from a school participating in a state-wide effort to promote transportation safety through peer-led programming. Two SSDC factors were identified—Administrative contributions to school safety and value of school safety—that were associated with adolescents’ perceptions of their driving behaviors. Adolescents perceived that the intervention affected administrative safety. Teacher interviews contextualized these results and provided guidance on program revisions. Conclusions: Safe driving climate may be an important, modifiable, and measurable aspect of school climate. Additional research is needed to refine the assessment tool and to use it in longitudinal and experimental studies.

A Longitudinal Study of Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder Before Age Three: School Services at Three Points Time for Three Levels of Outcome Disability

This study follows 70 children determined to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) before age three (Time 1). Parents filled out questionnaires and standardized measures about their child when he/she was school-aged (Time 2), including information about their children’s preschool, kindergarten, and grade school educational settings. At Time 2, the researchers placed children in three diagnostic groups of No ASD, ASD-Higher Functioning, and ASD-Lower Functioning. Retrospective results showed that most children were receiving intensive services at the preschool level. In kindergarten, there was some divergence among the three groups, with more intensive services continuing for the ASD groups. At school age, classroom placement and services reflected service patterns that were consistent with these three levels of disability.

Field Training in Applied Developmental Psychology: Fordham University’s Expanding Community Partnerships

Graduate study in Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) at Fordham University was begun ten years ago to develop shared expertise and collaborative service and systems change efforts between the university and the multiple communities in which it lives. The ADP graduate program added courses to its advanced developmental psychology curriculum, specifically, a course in the approach and issues of Applied Developmental Psychology and revamped courses in research design, developmental psychopathology, and assessments to address applied work. The Fordham ADP doctoral program is uniquely defined, however, by its field experience courses—ADP Research Apprenticeship, ADP Practicum, and ADP Internship. The history and challenges of our ADP curriculum and field experiences are detailed in Higgins-D’Alessandro, Fisher, and Hamilton (1998) and Fisher, Rau, and Colapietro (1993).