Chair: Shane R. Jimerson (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) <Jimerson@education.ucsb.edu>
Deputy Chair: Eve Kikas (University of Tartu, Estonia) <eve@psych.ut.ee>

The ISPA Research Committee had a productive meeting in July 2005 in Athens, Greece at the ISPA Colloquium. This report provides an overview and update on ISPA Research Committee activities during 2004-2005.

Update on 2004-2005 Activities

1. Update on the International School Psychology Survey (ISPS) Project

As related to 2004-2005 Goals I & II. It is with great excitement that I am able to communicate that following the outstanding efforts of our colleagues in gathering the ISPS data. We now have two manuscripts that have been published in the School Psychology International journal.

Jimerson, S. R., Graydon, K., Yuen, M., Lam, S-F., Thurm, J-M., Nadejda, K., Coyne, J., Loprete, L. J., Phillips, L., & The ISPA Research Committee (2006). The International School Psychology Survey: Data from Australia, China, Germany, Italy, and Russia. School Psychology International.

Jimerson, S. R., Graydon, K., Farrell, P., Kikas, E., Hatzichristou, C., Boce, E., Bashi, G. & The ISPA Research Committee (2004). The International School Psychology Survey: Development and Data from from Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece and Northern England. School Psychology International.

We also prepared and presented ISPS sessions at the following conferences;
National Association of School Psychologists, USA
California Association of School Psychologists, USA

We are working on the ISPS data from three additional countries into the database; (Georgia - Anna Kanjaradze; Switzerland - Jürg Forster, Finland - Vesa Nevalainen, and United States – Shane Jimerson, Michael Curtis, and Kelly Graydon).
In addition, ISPS Country Coordinators continue efforts to translate, distribute, and gather the ISPS in several additional countries including; (Austria - Josef Zollneritsch, Belgium - Marianne Kant-Schaps, , Ireland - Catherine Maunsell, Israel - Sharone Maitals, Japan - Kunio Shiomi, Macedonia - Olivera Nikolova, Malaysia – Siti Raudzah Ghazali, Netherlands - Helen Bakker; Romania - Delia Breban;, Turkey - Ebru Baykoca, United Arab Emirates - Mohammad Adnan Alghorani, and Yugoslavia - Ivana Mihic). Through their ongoing efforts our dedicated colleagues, we hope to have information from each of these countries within the next six months. Kudos to each of the Country Coordinators who have worked diligently during the past year.
It is clear that the continued success of the ISPS Project will be dependent upon our success in recruiting additional Country Coordinators to provide the leadership in translating, distributing, collecting, and returning the ISPS in their country. Thus, I propose that we continue to provide an update in the ISPS WGR at least once a year, and that we also encourage the ISPA EC to distribute an e-mail message to members, sharing the update and encouraging members to serve as Country Coordinators... it is important that we continue to provide information and attempt to identify additional Country Coordinators to gather information in additional countries during the upcoming year.
In addition, I have prepared a proposal to develop the ISPS as a web-based survey hosted by UCSB. It is anticipated that this will be completed by the end of summer. This would allow country coordinators to simply e-mail their country colleagues and encourage them to complete the survey on the web. For those countries where school psychologists have considerable access to computers and the web, this should reduce the cost and increase the response rates on the ISPS. The data from the web-based survey will be downloaded to the ISPS dataset at UCSB and we will continue to prepare manuscripts that will provide this information to colleagues around the world. This is an exciting development and hopefully this will encourage future country coordinators to provide leadership in their country to gather the ISPS. If you are interested in gathering data from colleagues in your country please contact Dr. Jimerson at Jimerson@education.ucsb.edu

2. Update on the Teachers’ Perspectives of School Psychologists manuscript

As related to 2004-2005 Goal III, this was an ISPA Research Committee activity under the leadership of Dr. Peter Farrell. This information was presented at several conferences, including the NASP conference and the ISPA colloquium and during the past year we have been successful in preparing this information for publication in a professional journal. This manuscript recently appeared in the School Psychology International journal!

Farrell, P., Jimerson, S., Kalambouka, A., & Benoit, J. (2005). Teachers’ Perceptions of School Psychologists in Different Countries. School Psychology International

3. Update on the Description of School Psychology Internationally Project (Jimerson & Oakland), which has evolved to The Handbook of International School Psychology (Jimerson, Oakland, and Farrell)

This is related to our 2003-2004-2005 "Goal V. Develop a mechanism to systematically gather information from “country experts” who may be able to provide information about the profession of School Psychology in their country (this could be a series of questions that can be responded to in written form)." It is anticipated that ultimately this would provide additional unique information for each country (given that the ISPS provides information directly reported by the school psychologists about specific elements, the "country expert" would provide information addressing the bigger picture. ISPA Research Committee members provided timely reviews of the proposed questions and format and several colleagues agreed to participate in the pilot phase (Albania - Gladiola Bashi (University of Tirana, Albania); Estonia - Eve Kikas (University of Tartu, Estonia); Italy - Julia Coyne Carlo Trombetta (University of Rome, Italy); United States – Shane Jimerson and Tom Oakland (U of California – Santa Barbara, U of Florida - Gainesville). Based upon the successful completion of the manuscripts from Albania, Estonia, Italy, and United States, Tom Oakland, Peter Farrell and I collaborated to prepare a proposal for The Handbook of International School Psychology. This handbook is currently in development with authors from over 40 countries agreeing to contribute. The chapters will be submitted this fall, and following reviews, revisions, and resubmissions, the handbook is scheduled to appear in 2007. This will continue as The Handbook of International School Psychology (Jimerson, Oakland, & Farrell). Special thanks to Tom Oakland for his pioneering efforts that led to this collaborative endeavor.

4. Update on ISPA Research Column

We have continued to develop a review of research relevant to promoting the well being of youth around the world. Recent columns have focused on both broad areas and also have have themes, the two recent themes included one on depression, one on bullying, and most recently, one on the education of children in foster care. Special thanks to Dr. Tracey Scherr of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater for her leadership on the recent special topic column. I welcome additional contributions to the ISPA Research Column, if you are inclined to share a summary of a wonderful article that you believe would be important for our international colleagues to be aware of please submit summaries to me, including the reference and the format appropriate for the Research Column.

5. Update on the International Violence Against Children research pilot project (Hart and Jimerson)

The Study on Violence Against Children was initiated by the UN Secretary General of the United Nations following upon a recommendation by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and a request from the UN General Assembly. The Study has the cooperation and support of WHO, UNICEF, and OHCHR, and assistance from an international NGO Advisory Panel and many other interested organizations, agencies, and experts, including the International School Psychology Association (Stuart Hart & Shane Jimerson). An overview on the Study on Violence Against Children can be found at the website of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/crc/study.hytm). The International Study of Violence Against Children in the School Community was initiated to make contributions to the UN Secretary General’s Study It has been endorsed by the Secretariat for the UN Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children. Members of the International School Psychology Association (ISPA), Education International (EI), and International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) are encouraged to participate in providing valuable information. Researchers and professionals from each of the three associations, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development of the University of Victoria, BC Canada, and the University of California at Santa Barbara Center for School-Based Youth Development helped design the survey, and it is being hosted by the UCSB Social Science Survey Center.
During the past year, we have posted the two surveys online (a community version and a school version), gathered data from international colleagues, and completed data analyses, summary, and preparing materials for the pilot phase of the project. The next phase of the project is to target data collection is specific countries, including; Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Nepal, Portugal, Switzerland, South Africa, Thailand. ISPA members who are interested in contributing leadership to gathering this information should contact; Stuart Hart (UVIC) <shiicrd@uvic.ca> and Shane Jimerson (UCSB) <Jimerson@education.ucsb.edu>