Jill Sharkey of the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara is PI of an adolescent delinquency study that wins the 2008 Michael Goodman Memorial Research Award

Jill Sharkey, School Psychology Coordinator for UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School, is co-Principal Investigator (PI) for the 2008 Michael Goodman Memorial Research Award to be presented at the 2008 California Association for School Psychologists (CASP) Convention in Burlingame, CA, on March 15. Along with PI Janay B. Sander, University of Texas at Austin, and senior graduate assistants Diane Tanigawa of UC Santa Barbara and Roger Olivarri University of Texas at Austin, Sharkey will present results of their study, “An Innovative Model to Enhance Response to Adolescent Delinquency.”

The California Association for School Psychologists presents the Michael Goodman Memorial Research Award annually to an unpublished study that must specifically answer research questions that are new, unique, and not examined previously. The work must focus on a problem or question that clearly relates to the practice of school psychology.

“We are thrilled to be honored for our work to understand how schools and communities can more effectively intervene with at-risk youth,” Jill Sharkey says. “We are passionate about our research and will continue rigorous study, policy advocacy, and practitioner collaboration to uncover ways to improve system response to youth with maladaptive behavior.”

The winning paper examines how numerous individual, family, school, and community factors relate to delinquency. The research team adopted an ecological, systemic, and relational approach to build a model of systemic responsiveness to learning, behavioral, and emotional needs of delinquent adolescents. This mixed-methods, multi-site study included 40 youths, parents, and relevant professionals. Qualitative interviews and self-report measures inform strategies to be implemented collaboratively across settings to enhance outcomes for delinquent youth. Implications for gender-specific needs, school discipline policies, and learning interventions are highlighted. The work was funded by the Society for the Study of School Psychology; its principal investigators are scholars of the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference.

[Jill Sharkey is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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Jill Sharkey of the Gevirtz School at UC Santa Barbara is PI of an adolescent delinquency study that wins the 2008 Michael Goodman Memorial Research Award