David Shriberg

School Consultants as Agents of Social Justice: Implications for Practice: Introduction to the Special Issue

This article introduces the special topic issue “School Consultants as Agents of Social Justice: Implications for Practice.” In this overview, a brief history of recent developments in education and psychology as relates to social justice research and advocacy is provided and the argument is advanced that school consultants have much to contribute to this emerging social justice discourse. A brief overview of different definitions of social justice is provided and the guest editors provide their own definition, an adaptation of Norths (2006) conceptualization, as a frame for this issue. Finally, a preview of each article within this issue is provided. Collectively, these writings provide multiple perspectives on ways in which a social justice orientation can be translated to effective consultation practice as well as advice for future directions.

What's Gender Got to Do with It? Teachers' Perceptions of Situation Severity and Requests for Assistance.

There is currently a gap in the consultation literature related to how teacher and student gender may affect teacher perceptions of and responses to student behavior. In this study, 147 preservice and practicing teachers were presented with four “gender-neutral” student-centered problems in the form of short vignettes in which the gender of the student was rotated. Respondents rated these vignettes on problem severity, likelihood of seeking assistance, and from whom they would seek assistance. Data were analyzed by teacher status (preservice or practicing), teacher gender, and student gender. Results suggest teachers typically did not make different decisions based on student gender. However, female teachers often rated student situations as more severe than their male colleagues, with some differences between practicing and preservice teachers. The potential implication of this and related findings for the process of consultation are highlighted.

The application of social justice principles to global school psychology practice

In as much as school psychology practice is based on the goals of supporting the rights, access, and treatment of children as related to their education, social justice has the potential to be a moral framework for training, research, and practice in school psychology. Accordingly, this article seeks to achieve many objectives. First, a definition of social justice is provided. Second, a brief overview of school psychology research that overtly references social justice is offered. Third, essential precursors to action for individuals who seek to reflect social justice principles are highlighted. Fourth, key strategies for bringing social justice principles to practice are provided. Finally, this article closes with suggested next steps for further developing this framework globally.

Statement from Journal’s Editorial Leadership: Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation as an Interdisciplinary Outlet for Transformative Consultation Research From Across the Globe

ABSTRACT To aid potential authors, this statement is an overview of the core values and editorial goals of the current editorial leadership of Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation. The key pillars are that we value research that (a) supports culturally responsive practice and social justice, (b) reflects varied research methodologies and traditions, (c) originates and investigates consultation topics across multiple professional disciplines, and (d) reflects global practice.

Introduction: Refugee Teacher Consultation in Malaysia

ABSTRACT This is the introductory article to a journal theme issue on Refugee Teacher Collaboration in Malaysia. The origins of this issue are described, as well as the Editor’s hope that these articles will inspire additional consultation research using participatory approaches. A brief synopsis of the issue is provided.

Learning to Read in Spanish: Contributions of Phonological Awareness, Orthographic Coding, and Rapid Naming

During the past 2 decades, many respective reading processes have been delineated, and much is now known about reading acquisition in children. Most of this research has been completed using English-dominant subjects. As such, the literature focuses on an opaque orthography and aspects of learning to read in this context. In this study, predictors of early reading acquisition in a highly transparent language were researched. Phonological awareness, orthographic coding, and rapid naming tasks were administered to 57 native Spanish-speaking kindergarten children living in Colombia. Correlational analyses showed moderate relationships between all skills tasks and word reading and reading comprehension. Regression analyses showed that orthographic coding best predicted word and nonword reading, whereas naming tasks best predicted reading comprehension, although all measures were highly intercorrelated. Findings suggest that school psychologists must differently conceptualize assessment when working with Spanish language students because highly informative measures of English reading are not as relevant in Spanish.