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Crime victims rely on the expertise of nationally recognized victim advocates to navigate the complex criminal justice process that includes reporting the crime and participating in the criminal legal system while recovering from trauma. People indirectly involved in traumatic events can also experience adverse effects. Providing direct services to traumatized crime victims may increase an advocate’s risk of developing secondary traumatic stress and negatively affect client services. This study was designed to examine the occurrence of specific symptoms matching the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale to establish a baseline of secondary traumatic stress among a sample of nationally credentialed victim advocates working with military or civilian communities. The data identified potential risk factors, including victim advocates’ caseload volume and frequency, personal history of trauma, the nature of support from their employing organizations, long-term engagement with trauma victims, and demographic variables of gender, age, and ethnicity. This study was quantitative, descriptive, and exploratory. Results indicated secondary traumatic stress is a genuine phenomenon that affects victim advocates working with traumatic crime victims, that advocates working in military or civilian communities did not differ in terms of the impact of indirect trauma exposure and secondary traumatic stress, and that caseload volume was a minor risk factor. Of the 59 respondents, 43 experienced at least one symptom of secondary traumatic stress in the previous 7 days. Comparing advocates working with the military to those working with the civilian community showed half reported high to severe symptoms based on the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the decision-making process of graduates of National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) approved programs who are eligible for the National Certification of School Psychologists (NCSP). Having graduated from a NASP approved program, graduates have met all prerequisites for the NCSP, but some still choose not to receive the certification. This research centers on the monetary value—including the application fee—of the certification; applicants have expressed indifference to receiving the NCSP because it will not provide an advantage, monetarily or otherwise, for advancement in their careers. Current New Jersey Association of School Psychologists (NJASP) members who have also graduated from NASP approved programs but do not possess the NCSP were surveyed. The data received from the sample is then evaluated against comparable certifications in other career fields. The findings indicated that those surveyed decided against receiving their NCSP because the value of the certification has little direct effect on career opportunity, placement, or advancement. The implications of this research suggest that higher application numbers for the NCSP may be possible if NASP approved programs made application for the certification a requirement upon graduation.

Abstract Public health is a profession that typically provides services through government and is complex, expensive, and often political. The public health profession usually consists of professionals, such as nurses and health educators. Evaluation is a component of public health services and is often conducted to demonstrate the value of a program’s services. The evaluation field exists as its own practice that also has professionals, competencies, and ethics. Evaluation in public health may be conducted by public health staff or may be contracted to another party. It is important that evaluations of public health programs be conducted with rigor and expertise because of the potential impact to society and the magnitude of costs if they are not. The purpose of this study was to find out what public health professionals think are the most important competencies for those who conduct evaluations for public health programs. The methodology of qualitative inquiry included focus groups of public health professionals in Minnesota with oversight of evaluators and evaluation. The methodology of quantitative inquiry consisted of an electronic survey of members of the Minnesota Public Health Association. Results of this study show varying opinions of what is most important in public health evaluator competency traits and that all are important. The results have implications for public health practice and future research of evaluator competencies.

This critical policy analysis, informed by a qualitative content analysis, examines the ideological orientation of Florida’s A++ Plan (2006), and its incumbent impact upon social reproduction in the state. Utilizing a theoretical framework that fuses together critical theory (Horkheimer, 1937; Marcuse, 1964; Marshall, 1997), Bernstein’s (1971, 1977) three message systems of education and dual concepts of classification and frame, and Collins‘ (1979, 2000, 2002) notion of the Credential Society, the study examines the ideological underpinnings of the A++ Plan’s statutory requirements, and their effects on various school constituencies, including students, teachers, and the schools themselves. The study’s findings show that neoliberal and neoconservative ideological tenets buttress much of the A++ legislation, advancing four particular ideological imperatives: an allegiance to workforce readiness, a burgeoning system of standardization and accountability, the elevation of traditional values and nationalism, and the championing of individual responsibility. Through the control of Bernstein’s three message systems of education, these ideological imperatives deeply impact public education in Florida, and in particular have a disproportionately negative impact upon schools serving high-poverty, high-minority student populations. New initiatives such as the Major Areas of Interest mandate and the Ready-to- Work Program, both of which are heavily influenced by corporate interests, elevate an ethic of economy that commodifies students. At the same time, the legislation ushers in unprecedented levels of curricular and pedagogical standardization that makes comparisons between students and teachers a reality, while commensurately creating a more competitive climate between schools as a means of promoting school choice throughout the state. Further, the legislation advances a vision of society that is strikingly conservative in tenor through the deliberate manipulation of the state’s History and Health curricula, while simultaneously creating programs such as the Character Development Program that espouse a narrowly construed vision of character. Finally, each of the legislative moves described above are undergirded by an increasing reliance not upon the state, but upon the individual who comes to see her or his choices as the sole arbiters of her or his success or failure, absent any possible mitigating, external factor(s). The study concludes with recommendations for further research addressing the manifest effects of neoliberal and neoconservative axioms in education, and a call to action targeted at progressive educators to confront these types of “reforms.” It further recommends that policymakers acknowledge that handing the governance of schools and the curriculum therein over to neoliberal and neoconservative ideologues will result in schools that both overtly value instrumental, corporatist outcomes, and purposefully advance a myopic vision of our nation’s collective memory and system of governing values. The marriage of neoliberalism and neoconservatism is positioned as antithetical to progressive education, and stands to turn back the clock on issues of equity, social justice, and social mobility.

Alternative certification programs for primary and secondary school teachers face a difficult challenge: they must develop highly qualified and high quality teachers while adapting to the unique on-the-job training needs of their participants. Research literature indicates that many programs suffer from a lack of cohesion between coursework and fieldwork, with a resulting sense of fragmentation on the part of participating teachers. The literature points to relevant and applied coursework combined with mentoring as possible remedies. However, little in the research literature describes the actual mentor practices and program design features that can accomplish this integration. This study addresses that gap, describing mentor practices and program design elements that foster theory and practice integration in effective alternative certification programs. Utilizing a cross case study design, I studied four mentor-novice pairs in two alternative teacher credential programs. Drawing conceptually on the theoretical literature on situated learning in communities of practice, I develop a means of categorizing mentor and novice practices as planned integration boundary practices, emergent integration boundary practices, program practices, and school site practices. I found that the mentors in this study, to varying degrees and with varying consistency, engaged in boundary practices that assisted novices in connecting coursework with fieldwork. Integration was most pronounced when mentors used their knowledge of the program's practices, their knowledge of classroom instruction generally, and their novice's instruction and teaching context specifically, to capitalize on opportunities for integration. Mentors made both spontaneous and structured connections between instruction and school site demands on the one hand; and coursework, assignments, and program conceptions of effective teaching on the other hand. Mentor practices were shaped by the design of the programs in several ways, including: programs sparing use of prescribed activities, intentional inclusion of mentors in the program community, flexible and adaptive protocols guiding mentor and novice interactions, and relevant and applied coursework. These conclusions have implications for program leaders seeking to foster deeper integration between theory and practice in alternative teacher certification programs.

In the Western world, and specifically in New Zealand, a major impetus for retraining has arisen quite recently and gone largely unnoticed. The new social phenomenon, retraining in the sense of education for occupational change, is examined in this study. Alongside the three traditionally recognised groups of adult learners: those learning for leisure; second chance learners who have been previously educationally disadvantaged; and upskillers who seek to enhance their existing credentials through further tertiary education; is a fourth; the reskillers, those who are seeking education for occupational change. Women are shown to be pioneers in leading social change in this area of retraining. The key questions investigated in this thesis concern the existence of this new phenomenon in New Zealand; whether it is national or worldwide; and whether its origins are local or international. Whether there are distinctive characteristics to the manifestation of this phenomenon in New Zealand is investigated by examining current policy and practice. Additional questions concern whether there are feature of New Zealand employment or education which make upskilling and reskilling more or less likely in this country; the significance of women being the first to take up education for occupational change and what can be learnt from comparison with other countries specifically the Netherlands and England. Education takes place within a set of intersecting socio-political contexts. In the modern world these are simultaneously international, national, local and institutional. They impact on participants in a course of study yet are not often manifest to the individual. 'Learning for life’ is a significant area of both international and national socio-political concern, manifesting itself in a significant set of public discourses and in social phenomena which, as in this case of education for occupational change, are little researched or understood. The historical evolution of public policy relating to adult learners, internationally, and in New Zealand, is documented, with a particular focus on the period from the 1960s onwards. The major theoretical and ideological constructs are outlined and critiqued particularly with reference to public policy in New Zealand. Analysis shows an inexorable shift over time away from knowledge and skills attained through praxis, to knowledge and skills attained through formal institutionalised learning. At the same time as this change was taking place, participation rates in first secondary, and then tertiary, education rose. Concurrently more and more women entered tertiary education in order to make their way into an increasingly credentialised workforce. It is suggested that, credentials are used for screening purposes in addition to providing individuals with knowledge and skills needed for the occupations they enter. Case studies are used to illustrate and document these changes. Policies relating to learning for life are examined with reference to three different countries: New Zealand, England and the Netherlands. Provision of tertiary education for adults is investigated, and then illustrated through the coverage provided by institutions in three cities, Christchurch, Leicester and Utrecht. These studies show that different countries are subject to international geo-political and ideological forces but respond to them in locally and historically determined ways. The case study/qualitative analysis of the Christchurch Polytechnic’s Next Step Centre for Women and the New Outlook for Women courses illustrates the ways in which the twists and turns of public policy in New Zealand over thirty years have affected women wishing to seek education for occupational change. A quantitative study of mature students and their motivations for returning to study at the Christchurch Polytechnic allows for the impact of public policy and institutional provision on a group of mature individuals to be assessed. The study concludes that education for occupational change appears to be more advanced in New Zealand than in the European countries chosen for comparison. This may result more from individual initiative and the conditions which promote this, than from state policy direction or institutional provision. Policy consequences are proposed on the basis of these findings.