February 2000 Progress Update
Prepared by: Robyn S. Hess
University of Colorado at Denver
APA Interdivisional School Completion Work Group
Members (in alphabetical order): Jean Baker, Ron Brown, Sandy Christianson, Beth Doll, Jean Elbert, Robyn Hess, Patricia Keith, Robert Marcus, S. Hector Ochoa, Jim Paavola, Pauline Pagliocca, Scott Solberg, Marv Wilson, Frank Worrell
Progress Update
Since our last progress report dated 1/14/99, the APA Interdivisional School Completion Work Group has completed the following activities:
- A symposium entitled Psychology's Role in Dropout Prevention and Practice was held at the annual conference of the National Association of School Psychologists in Las Vegas, NV in April 1999.
- A National Conversation was held on August 21, 1999 at the annual American Psychological Association convention in Boston, MA. Thirteen individuals representing six different divisions of APA were in attendance. The Work Group decided to change its name from School Dropout to School Completion Work Group to better reflect the philosophy and goals of our efforts.
- A cross-divisional mini-series "Fostering School Completion: Enhancing Psychology's Contribution to Keeping Kids in School" was accepted by the Division 16 periodical, School Psychology Quarterly. The special edition will be edited by Robyn Hess, Beth Doll and Hector Ochoa. All articles except one are being written by Work Group members.
- Work Group members, Robyn Hess, Beth Doll, and Sandy Christianson have been working closely with Karen Anderson at the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education to create a stronger partnership and to work toward funding an invitational conference on school completion.
- Work Group members, Beth Doll and Sandy Christianson have compiled a comprehensive list of references related to school completion and this list has been made available to other Work Group members.
Next Steps:
This past year, much energy has been directed toward the proposal and now completion of the mini-series. In the coming year, the group has established the following goals:
- Complete the mini-series, Fostering School Completion. Our Work Group would like to create a strategy for marketing this special edition at future APA conventions.
- Working with the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education, our Work Group will be writing a grant to fund a national invitational conference representing several divisions of APA to discuss perspectives on school completion. From this event, there are plans to develop conference proceedings that would bring together these different perspectives and research efforts into a cohesive document.
- Create a website for the School Completion Work Group that will be linked to the Center for Psychology in Schools and Education website.
- This year another National Conversation will be hosted in the Division 16 Hospitality Suite at the upcoming APA Convention in Washington DC in August.
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