Research & Action Report, Spring/Summer 2013
Lies About My Family: A Memoir
Amy Hoffman, M.F.A.
Available from WCW Publications SKU #1031 for $22.95
This family memoir is about the stories that are told and the ones that are not told, and about the ways the meanings of the stories change down the generations. It is about memory and the spaces between memories, and about alienation and reconciliation. All of Amy Hoffman’s grandparents came to the United States during the early twentieth century from areas in Poland and Russia that are now Belarus and Ukraine. Like millions of immigrants, they left their homes because of hopeless poverty, looking for better lives or at the least a chance of survival. Because of the luck, hard work, and resourcefulness of the earlier generations, Hoffman and her five siblings grew up in a middle-class home, healthy, well fed, and well educated. An American success story? Not quite—or at least not quite the standard version. Hoffman’s research in the Ellis Island archives along with interviews with family members reveal that the real lives of these relatives were far more complicated and interesting than their documents might suggest.
“After School Gets Moving” Leader’s Training Guide & DVD
Emily Ullman, M.A.
Available from WCW Publications SKU #M20 for $79.00
The Leader’s Training Guide is a companion to the “After School Gets Moving” DVD program. It is a resource for afterschool program directors to train program staff, paraprofessionals, and volunteers who work in afterschool programs serving children in grades K-5. Together, the DVD and Leader’s Training Guide show how to promote more safe and healthy physical activity in afterschool—particularly in environments where space and other resources are limited.
Findings from The Apt Validation Study
Allison Tracy, Ph.D., Wendy Surr, M.A., Amanda Richer, M.A.
Available from WCW Publications SKU #FD208 for free
The Assessment of Afterschool Program Practices Tool (APT) is an observational instrument designed to measure the aspects of afterschool program quality that research suggests contribute to the 21st century skills, attitudes, and behaviors youth need to be successful in school and the workplace. Based on observations of 25 afterschool programs serving grades K–8 in Massachusetts, this study provides scientific evidence that the APT possesses many strong technical properties. Among the study’s many findings, researchers found that the APT captures key aspects of quality, such as whether a program is offering a welcoming environment or promoting youth engagement, which were found to be connected with positive youth program experiences and beliefs about themselves. The study suggests that the APT is an appropriate measure for examining afterschool program quality and is suitable for a number of lower-stakes purposes such as self-assessment and program support.
Afterschool Matters Journal
Afterschool Matters is a national, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in the field of afterschool education. The journal serves those involved in developing and managing programs for youth during the out-of-school-time (OST) hours and those engaged in research and in shaping youth development policy. Afterschool Matters is part of the Afterschool Matters Initiative and is published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women with support from the Robert Bowne Foundation.
The fall 2012 issue of Afterschool Matters features articles on how programs can improve quality; sports programs that influence girls’ self-esteem; helping youth prepare for careers; ways to support youth with special needs; and staffing OST programs. The issue also features articles, supported by the Noyce Foundation, on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including a focus on pathways for youth development; and scaling and sustaining an afterschool computer science program for girls.
The spring 2013 issue of Afterschool Matters, supported by the Noyce Foundation, is dedicated to STEM issues, with articles focused on competing models of STEM learning in afterschool; integrating mathematics into public library programs for the elementary grades; effective STEM programs for adolescent girls; and implementing OST STEM resources. The issue also includes articles examining the characteristics of OST science programs in various organizations, bringing STEM to scale through expanded learning systems; and getting intentional about STEM learning. View the issues online at www.niost.org/AfterschoolMattersJournal or request a copy from niost@wellesley.edu.
Other Publishing News
Linda Charmaraman, Ph.D., Ashleighe Jones, M.S., Nan Stein, Ed.D., and Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., authored “Is It Bullying or Sexual Harassment? Knowledge, Attitudes, and Professional Development Experiences of Middle School,” published in the June 2013 issue of Journal of School Health from the American School Health Association. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining how school staff members view bullying and sexual harassment and their role in preventing both.
Tracy Gladstone, Ph.D. co-authored “Prevention of depression in at-risk adolescents: Longer-term effects” (Beardslee, WR, Brent, DA, Weersing, VR, Clarke, GN, Porta, G, Hollon, SD, Gladstone, TRG, Gallop, R, Lynch, FL, Iyengar, S, DeBar, L and Garber, J), for the Journal of the Medical Association Psychiatry, in press. She also coauthored “Randomized clinical trial of a primary care Internet-based intervention to prevent adolescent depression: One-year outcomes” (Saulsberry, A, Marko-Holguin, M, Blomeke, K, Hinkle, C, Fogel, J, Gladstone, T, Bell, C, Reinecke, M, Corden, M, and Van Voorhees, BW) for the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, also in press.
Jennifer Grossman, Ph.D. and Michelle Porche, Ed.D. authored “Perceived gender and racial/ethnic barriers to STEM success,” published in the April 2013 issue of Urban Education. This mixed-methods study examined urban adolescents’ perceptions of gender and racial/ethnic barriers to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) success, and how they understand and cope with these experiences. Logistic analysis showed that higher science aspirations significantly predicted perceived support for girls and women in science. Analysis of interviews showed themes of microaggressions, responses to microaggressions, and gender- and race-based support.
Judith Jordan, Ph.D. edited with Jon Carlson, Psy.D., Ed.D., Creating Connection: A Relational-Cultural Approach with Couples, published by Routledge in June 2013. As a model, Relational- Cultural Theory (RCT) is ideal for work with couples: it encourages active participation in relationships, fosters the well-being of everyone involved, and provides guidelines for working with disconnections and building relational resilience. Creating Connection helps readers to understand the pain of disconnection and to use RCT to heal relationships in a variety of settings, including with heterosexual couples, stepparents, lesbian and gay couples, and mixed race couples.
Sari Pekkala Kerr, Ph.D. and William Kerr, Ph.D. authored an article on the Immigration and Employer Transitions for STEM Workers project funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which will be included in the Papers and Proceedings issue of the American Economic Review. Pekkala Kerr also contributed book chapters for a book series, The History of Education and Schooling in Finland, edited by Pauli Kettunen and Hannu Simola. The chapters are, “Education expenditures and the evolution of the educational level in the 20th century” and, co-authored with Risto Rinne, “Schooling and social mobility in the 20th century.”
Layli Maparyan, Ph.D. wrote the foreword for Ain’t I a womanist, too?: Third wave womanist religious thought, edited by Monica Coleman and published by Fortress Press. This volume gathers essays from established and emerging scholars whose work is among the most lively and innovative scholarship today.
Nan Stein, Ed.D. co-authored “Shifting Boundaries: An Experimental Evaluation of a Dating Violence Prevention Program in Middle Schools” (Taylor, B, Stein, N, Mumford, E, Woods, D) for the February 2013 issue of Prevention Science. The research team randomly assigned the Shifting Boundaries interventions to 30 public middle schools in New York City, enrolling 117 sixth and seventh grade classes (over 2,500 students) to receive a classroom, a building, a combined, or neither intervention. Student surveys were implemented at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and six-months post-intervention. As hypothesized, behaviors improved as a result of the interventions.
