The March 2016 edition of the American Psychological Association’s journal School Psychology Quarterly features UC Santa Barbara ranked as 13th out of all school psychology programs for the number of publications focused on school psychology in the Science Citation Index during the period of 1907-2014. The study included over 4,806 scholars who contributed 3,260 articles in 311 journals. In addition, to top honors as a program, UCSB school psychology professor Dr. Shane Jimerson was recognized as one of the top 20 most prolific scholars and also one of the top 20 most cited authors in the field of school psychology during the past 100 years. The scientometric (the study of measuring and analyzing science) analyses reported by Lin and Oakland (2016), examined the growth and development of scholarly literature on “school psychology” in the Science Citation Index from 1907 through 2014.
Dr. Jill Sharkey, academic coordinator for the School Psychology program, observes, “The high ranking of our program as a leading contributor among school psychology programs during the past 100 years is particularly notable considering that the UCSB school psychology program was established in 1990, a relatively recent program among the top 20 programs in the world.”
The UCSB school psychology program, established by Dr. Michael Furlong and Dr. Gale Morrison as part of the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology within the Gevirtz School, has rapidly established a tradition of excellence and distinction, with numerous contributions advancing science, practice, and policy. The current UCSB school psychology faculty – Erin Dowdy, Michael Furlong, Shane Jimerson, Jill Sharkey, and Matthew Quirk – continue to be highly engaged in research and service locally, nationally, and internationally, with an emphasis on promoting healthy development and success of all students at school. Their scholarship includes community-based and school-based research with underrepresented and vulnerable populations of children on topics including screening and identification of early academic skills, collaborations with schools throughout the county and southern California to promote the social and cognitive competence of underrepresented students, and work with local community organizations and juvenile justice agencies to help meet the needs of youth involved in these systems. The school psychology faculty collaborates with many talented colleagues and students through the International Center for School-Based Youth Development (iCSBYD), also within the Gevirtz School at UCSB.