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GSE&IS Emergency Information: (888) 473-4734 |
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GSE&IS Emergency Information: (888) 473-4734 |
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The ultimate goal of the Psychological Studies in Education (PSE) graduate program is to improve policies and practices that affect the welfare of children. Thus, students are trained to conduct research that has implications for policy and practice as well as theoretical significance. Students learn about children's cognitive and social development in real contexts, such as the home, school, day care programs, and the playground.
Currently, few psychologists are trained to consider the implications of research findings for policy and practice and to communicate effectively with policy makers and practitioners. Several decades of training students in research and application have allowed us to develop, evaluate, and maintain a program of study that effectively prepares participants to conduct distinguished research, consider the practical implications of findings, and communicate with both social policy makers and practitioners. The program has served as a model for training in applied research and the application of research to real-life settings.
The Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at UCLA, in which the PSE Program resides, offers a climate that values and supports the integration of theory, research, and application. Faculty colleagues and graduate students of the School serve as important resources and links to local education and other settings. GSE&IS includes a laboratory elementary school and is linked to infant and preschool programs and clinical services on and off campus. The faculty represent a wide range of interests and expertise, which fall under four broad themes: Children at Risk, Schooling, Learning Technology and Media, and Social Policy.
The PSE Program has always been concerned with children whose life circumstances or personal characteristics make them vulnerable to maladaptive achievement and social outcomes. The current focus, however, draws more explicitly on conceptual frameworks that have emerged in the study of risk and resiliency. Thus, we are concerned with the relationship between single and multiple risk factors, models of risk and their predictive utility, the processes that mediate the presence of a risk factor and later maladaptive outcomes, the developmental trajectories of children at risk, and the identification of protective factors that may alter or alleviate the impact of risk.
Several program faculty members address issues associated with risk and maladaptive child outcomes. For example, Professor Sandra Graham conducts research on the social cognitive risk factors that can lead to peer aggression and juvenile delinquency. Professor Connie Kasari examines developmental disabilities (autism and Down syndrome) as risk factors for dysfunctional social behavior and emotion regulation, and also examines the processes by which children come to the attention of special educators within the public school system. Professor Alison Bailey studies school age children with language disorders as well as developing screening assessments for kindergarten children at risk for later reading problems. Professor Howes studies early detection and prevention of maladaptive social development.
The focus on risk is enhanced by our link to a multidisciplinary interdepartmental program on training in the area of child maltreatment, administered by the Pediatrics department under the aegis of Professor Judy Howard. Nine departments participate (Education, Law, Pediatrics, Psychology, Public Health, etc.). Students register for a course in Education, but take the course in the Law School. Many of our students have been fellows in the program. Our focus on training students to conduct risk-related research is also strengthened by the methodological expertise of other GSE&IS faculty members. Professors Bengt Muthen and Michael Seltzer are recognized experts on statistical analyses that examine individual change over time (e.g., growth modeling) and the probability that a given risk factor will result in a negative outcome (e.g., survival analysis). Our risk focus is enhanced by links to UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI), a world-renowned department of psychiatry and child psychiatry. Over the past several years, our students have participated in clinical and school programs for children with severe emotional disorders and with different genetic disorders of mental retardation. They have learned about and tested children with conditions such as autism, obsessive compulsive disorder, Down syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorder, and they have interviewed their parents and caregivers. Our students also have assisted in interventions designed to help young children with autism; produced parent guides and articles on education-related issues; sat in on sibling support groups; and helped out parent groups by assisting at disability-related conferences and serving on boards of directors. Our students also have received awards from GSE&IS and from risk, health-care, and disability-related organizations for their research and policy-related efforts.
The risk focus of the new training program is also aided by the establishment of a research partnership with the Juvenile Court, Neuropsychiatric Institute, and Community Schools of Los Angeles (JCCS). JCCS services the more than 60,000 children and adolescents in Los Angeles County who annually are placed under the protection or authority of the Juvenile Court. Under JCCS jurisdiction are the County's juvenile detention centers, residential camps for adolescent offenders, and alternative day schools. Several program faculty and their graduate students have already begun collaborative research in partnership with JCCS. For example, Professors Graham, Kasari, Muthen, and Seltzer are using survival analysis to examine the predictors of recidivism among incarcerated adolescents.
Research conducted by faculty and students also addresses problems faced by administrators and practitioners in schools. Schooling topics addressed include basic curricular and instructional issues, such as using developmentally appropriate instructional methods to maximize children's learning of math and science concepts (Professors Noel Enyedy and Megan Franke) and of literacy skills (Professors Alison Bailey, Ron Gallimore and Kris Gutierrez); developing curriculum and teaching strategies that are effective with Latino, limited-English-speaking students (Professors Gallimore, Gutierrez, Bailey, and Concepcíon Valadez); and enhancing children's learning through the use of computers (Professors Dorr, Kafai, and Bill Sandoval). Faculty members also do school-based research relevant to children's social and motivational development, such as studies of the effects of social skills and academic motivation training on the achievement strivings and social behavior of middle school children (Professor Graham).
Early childhood education and issues related to preschool and day care are major strengths of the program. Professor Howes has done extensive research on the quality of infant, preschool, and after-school day care. Professor Kasari is currently conducting a large-scale intervention study on the social-communication skills of young children with autism. Professor Franke studies cognitive development in young children, focusing particularly on implications for mathematics instruction in preschool and the early grades. The schooling focus has been strengthened considerably in the last five years by the creation of the Urban Education Studies Center (UESC) at UCLA. The UESC and its laboratory elementary school provide opportunities for graduate students to develop their research ideas and their skills in collaborating and communicating with teachers and school administrators. Many PSE faculty and graduate students are involved in research and dissemination activities in the UESC.
Research on the use of educational technology and media for learning and teaching has been a stronghold in the history of GSE&IS. This field has gained renewed force in PSE through the addition of new faculty and the merger between the two departments of Education and Library and Information Science in 1994. The research interests of several PSE faculty members concern the impact of technology and media on learning and development, both inside and outside of school settings. Research topics addressed include the study of children's software design activities for mathematics and science learning (Professor Kafai), the design of technology-based learning environments in science education (Professor Sandoval), and the development of simulation environments for teaching and for measuring achievement in school subjects and for measuring cognitive learning processes and outcomes (Professor Baker). Faculty are also concerned with related aspects of technology and media use such as the emotional impact of television media (Professor Dorr), differences in access to technology and video games (Professor Kafai), technology as an instrument for reforming instructional practice (Professor Sandoval), and assessment of the impact of technology (Professor Baker). Furthermore, faculty investigate educational issues within the field of information studies, such as children's use and design of Internet resources (Professor Kafai), the design of on-line course programs (Professor Baker) and the design and implementation of information management programs for young children (Professor Dorr). A considerable number of technology research studies are conducted at (but not limited to) the University Elementaty School (UES), the laboratory school on campus, which features classrooms with computers and Internet access.
Both social policy makers and practitioners are considered eventual beneficiaries of research conducted by graduates of the program. Social policy has been a major focus since the program's inception. It was strengthened in 1978 when the GSE&IS received funding from the Bush Foundation to develop a center for the study of social policy and child development. The PSE Program played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of the Bush Program.
Several faculty members carry out policy-relevant research and have experience in the policy-making process. Dr. Dorr is active in the area of television policies for children. Dr. Howes is involved in day-care policy development at both the state and federal levels and was chair of the committee that designed the California state framework for Early Childhood Education. Professor Alison Bailey, through her work with CRESST, is interested in the development of english language development (ELD) assessments for several states, as well as conducting policy related research for the US Department of Education. Also relevant to educational policy is the work of Professor Kasari on the effect of various aspects of inclusive classrooms on the social and academic success of children with disabilties. PSE graduate students and post doctoral fellows are often involved in the policy-related activities of faculty. They take seminars on child development and social policy, help organize and attend meetings and prepare written materials for policy makers, and they discuss the potential implications of their research for social policy.