Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia College of Education’s doctoral program in school psychology is ranked among the best in the nation in research productivity and scholarly impact, according to a study published in the December 2011 issue of the Journal of School Psychology.
UGA’s school psychology program was ranked 8th in the nation in authorship credit, 10th in the number of journal article publications and 10th in the number of journal citations in major school psychology journals from 2005-09, according to the study. Core faculty members of American Psychological Association accredited doctoral programs in school psychology from 59 institutions were eligible for inclusion.
“When adjusted for the number of faculty in the program, UGA was ranked even higher: 4th in authorship credit per faculty, 6th in articles per faculty and 6th in citations per faculty,” said Amy Reschly, an associate professor and coordinator of the doctoral program in school psychology in the college’s department of educational psychology and instructional technology.
National rankings of doctoral training programs by the National Science Foundation, the National Research and the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics is an indicator of a graduate program’s performance in comparison to its peers across the country. However, none of these national organizations rank doctoral programs in school psychology.
The new study, led by University of Florida school psychology professor John Kranzler, examined the research productivity and scholarly impact of faculty using data in the PsycINFO database. In addition, the study examined the primary publication outlets of school psychology program faculty members and the major themes of research during this time period.
According to the study, the range of research productivity should also be considered when evaluating school psychology programs. The study indicated that an “…optimal combination would be for a program to have a high total, high average and a small range of productivity across its faculty.” Three programs, Louisiana State University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Georgia, ranked in the top 10 on research productivity and met all three of the criteria. When scholarly impact was considered, only Louisiana State University and the University of Georgia met all of these criteria.
The core school psychology faculty members whose research was included in this analysis are Scott Ardoin, Jonathan Campbell, Michele Lease and Reschly. “The academic tradition of the UGA school psychology program has been one that values empirical research, evidence-based practices and independence in faculty research programs relevant to the school-age population. This tradition is apparent in the faculty’s current research,” said Reschly.
Ardoin studies the application of principles of applied behavior analysis in the development of improved intervention and assessment techniques within educational settings, which includes developing improved measures for monitoring reading performance, promoting fluency generalization through reading interventions and developing school-based behavioral interventions. Campbell is an expert in autism spectrum disorders. He studies screening, assessment and treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders, and attitudes of peers and educators toward children with autism in inclusive settings. Lease studies issues related to the perceived organization of children’s peer groups and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding types of popular children, including influence strategies used by popular children and their impact on same-age peers in the school setting. Reschly studies student engagement and dropout prevention, including working with families to promote student success, measuring academic progress and problem-solving methodology.
Additional information and specific publications can be found at
www.coe.uga.edu/epit/about/faculty-staff-directory/.
The Journal of Psychology article can be found at www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022440511000847.
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