Serving on an Editorial Board Pretenure

November 17, 2016

Michelle K. Demaray, Ph.D. Professor, Northern Illinois University; Editor, Journal of School PsychologyThe SSSP Early Career Forum invited me to speak to early career scholars about the editorial process at the 2016 APA convention.  I am following up on that meeting with a blog about getting involved with journal editorial boards.  To organize the blog, I wrote it around several questions that I think early career scholars may have about involvement with editorial boards.Should I be involved with a journal’s editorial board pretenure?Yes, I would recommend getting involved with an editorial board pretenure.  However, I think it is especially important to balance your time in this stage of your career.  So, serving on an editorial board should not take precedent over developing your own research program.  I can remember being frustrated at certain times pretenure because I was spending valuable time completing a review and not working on my own research.  Another consideration is if you want to serve on one or multiple boards given your time constraints – I recommend one pretenture.  If you are focusing on your research, there should be a natural progression to being involved with editorial boards as you will be invited to review given your developing expertise in your research area.  If you are able to find the balance, however, having editorial board experience may help demonstrate your leadership in the field at a national level when you go up for tenure.  It is also a great way to get to know others in the field.  Additionally, I think it is an excellent learning experience.How can I get involved with an editorial board?  Editors are always looking for good reviewers.  If you are interested in getting involved with a board, I recommend emailing or talking to an Editor and letting them know about your willingness to review and your areas of expertise.  Don’t be offended if they do not put you on the board right away.  They may ask you to serve as an ad hoc reviewer.  Serving as an ad hoc reviewer is one way to demonstrate your reviewing skills and get a “foot in the door.”  I also think it is helpful to contact Associate Editors (AE) that do work in your area and let them know that you are willing to review for them.  The AEs will be the ones inviting reviewers and would love to know of someone who is eager to review and who has expertise in a specific area.  Often AEs will pass on the names of strong ad hoc reviewers to the journal’s editor and ask for them to be added to the board.What are Associate Editors/Editors looking for in a good reviewer?  This is a broad question and the answer may vary across editors.  However, in general, I think two things are important: (a) promptness and editorial board etiquette, and (b) quality reviews.I think promptness is really important.  Associate Editors are handling many papers so they really appreciate it when someone responds to an invitation to review a manuscript quickly and turns in a review on time.  Sometimes the worst part of the job for me is finding people to agree to do the reviews or following up with people who were late.  So, being timely is much appreciated.  I also had no idea until I was an Associate Editor that all those details of your performance are tracked (e.g., how long it takes you to respond to an invite, how many times you decline invites, how many days, on average, it takes you to complete a review).  Thus, you want to be sure to perform in a timely manner if you want to continue to be utilized on the board.  Other good editorial board etiquette is to make sure you are completing the expected number of reviews in a year as a board member.  It is fine to decline invitations to review (and maybe even a good decision at times), but you do not want to over decline and not compete the expected number of reviews. Lastly, it is highly expected that you complete a review for a resubmission when you reviewed the original submission.  It can be frustrating for AEs when reviewers decline to review a resubmission because they rely on the follow up feedback from initial reviewers.  Promptness and good etiquette will make you a well-liked and utilized board member.The other really important part of being a successful reviewer is completing a quality review.  A helpful review makes the AEs job so much easier.  For me, the most helpful reviews are thorough and written in a constructive and positive tone.  It is not helpful if you are overly negative or rude in the feedback.  In fact, it is appreciated if you point out a few strengths of the manuscript.  I also find reviews that focused on many minor details (e.g., grammar and APA style) not as helpful as reviews that focused on the big picture – the overall quality of the paper--and raised specific issues or concerns in each section of the paper.After you compete a review be sure to read over the other reviewers’ comments to compare your feedback to the other reviewers.  I always find reading through the decision letters and other reviewers’ feedback an excellent learning experience. To become a better reviewer you may want to get some mentorship.  For example, have a colleague provide you feedback on your review.  Feel free to ask an Editor or AE for some sample reviewer letters that they view as a good strong examples. In addition, you are welcome to ask an AE for feedback on your review.If you are prompt and provide a quality review, I can almost guarantee that Editors will want you on their board forever!

Fall is in the Air: It's Hiring Season for Academic Positions!

October 10, 2016

Tis the season for the faculty job search. Universities have been announcing openings for faculty positions since mid-summer, but now is the time that the job market really heats up. If you are a member of professional listservs for Division 16, Trainers in School Psychology, or CDSPP, you likely receive multiple position announcements each week. One upside of our field is that there tend to be an abundance of open positions. So what can you do to enhance your competitiveness for your dream job?1. Reflect carefully on your goals and preferences before applying.Beginning the academic job search can be an intimidating process. There are numerous opportunities in institutions, units, and programs that vary widely. Few people will move into positions exactly like those of the programs from which they graduate, so it is essential to consider what you want in a position. Future faculty may ask themselves:

• What do I know about potential academic careers and what additional information do I need? Because of the variety of opportunities available in school psychology, it is important to think carefully about the options available and engage in some fact-finding. Talk to your professors and other researchers. Make use of the networking opportunities provided at local, regional, and national conferences to talk with people in different types of positions, programs, departments/units, and universities. The goal is to ascertain the type of position you think will fit best.
• What aspects of faculty roles do I enjoy most or do I most want to focus on? What are my long-term goals? Where do I want to be five, ten, or twenty years from now? These goals are important because, ideally, you will pursue positions conducive to meeting goals, particularly as they relate to research and teaching since these are the primary domains of academics’ work. Different types of positions and institutions place varying degrees of emphasis on research, teaching, and service. If the idea of spending the majority of your time designing, conducting, and disseminating research is thrilling, a research position or traditional tenure-track position at a research-intensive university will likely be a good fit. Conversely, if you have little interest in conducting research, a teaching intensive position is probably a better fit. After these big-picture questions have been considered, there a number of more narrow considerations that might be made.
• What types of positions will I consider? You should consider the variety of dimensions of available positions including: (a) tenure-track assistant professorships versus non-tenure track (instructor, adjunct, researcher positions); (b)  discipline (e.g., school psychology, educational psychology, psychology, special education, interdisciplinary); (c) program type (e.g., master’s, specialist, PhD, PsyD, EdD; APAand/or NASP-accredited); (d) research expectations; (e) teaching load; (f) administrative and service requirements; and (g) institution type (e.g., research intensivity, public v. private, size).
• What, if any, are my geographic restrictions (e.g., region, state, weather, and urbanicity)? What other personal considerations (e.g., family, partner, lifestyle) will influence my search?

It can also be useful to talk through some of these considerations with advisors, mentors, and peers. The goal is to identify your parameters for the job search. Everyone’s goals, priorities and preferences will be slightly different and will likely fluctuate throughout one’s career. Be prepared to be flexible. The available positions will be different each year and while you may have a handful of preferred universities or programs in mind, it is unlikely that all (or any) of them will be hiring in a given year.2. Dissect job postings and program websites.Before applying for a position, it is important to carefully review the job description. Most postings will include information specific to the position, including type (e.g., tenure-track faculty, lecturer, clinical instructor); duration (e.g., tenure- or non-tenure-track, 9-month contract, 12-month contract); start date; teaching load; expectations for research productivity and external funding; advising, administrative, and service expectations; required and desired qualifications; application materials; timelines for review of applications; and contact person for the search committee.These elements should be reviewed to determine fit with individual preferences and qualifications. The information in the published posting may be sufficient to inform the decision to apply, but it’s always a good idea to learn more about the program and unit where it is housed. If you aren’t sure about your eligibility for a position, contact the search chair. When available, program handbooks and faculty webpages and vitas can provide valuable insight into various facets of a position and in some instances shed light on overarching programmatic goals and philosophical orientations. Job candidates are generally expected to demonstrate basic familiarity with the program and institution when applying and interviewing for positions, so it makes sense to seek additional information before you apply.3. Prepare a strong application package.You want to put your best foot forward when you apply for a position. Follow all directions. Make sure your materials are clear and error-free. Failure to follow instructions can undermine an otherwise strong application. Application materials often include a cover letter, curriculum vita, letters of reference or contact information for references, and transcripts. You may also be required to submit representative publications, syllabi of courses taught, course evaluations, or teaching portfolios.Your cover letter and CV are often the most important elements of your materials. Cover letters should be crafted to match the posting of each individual position to which one applies. The point is not to pander or implore, but to clearly and compellingly articulate your qualifications, fit, and interest. Use headings to clearly indicate where each qualification is discussed. Be explicit about what you can bring to the position while providing a cogent presentation of your scholarly identity. For positions where research is emphasized, clearly describe your research agenda and its potential value to the field. Keep in mind the typical purposes of the statement—whether articulated in a paragraph or a couple pages—is to describe your interests, major accomplishments and contributions, and future work. For early career scholars who have few independent projects beyond their dissertation, this statement can be particularly important to communicating a coherent program of research that can carry you to tenure. This statement can also be helpful to reviewers when your research experience is limited or disjointed because of required projects undertaken through assistantships and other experiences that were directed by others.Your CV will be scrutinized by the search committee and will likely be circulated throughout the unit if you are a finalist for a position. It is important to be comprehensive without padding. To that end, think carefully as to whether you will include “in-progress” papers on your CV. It may come off as padding, so consider instead discussing work in progress in your cover letter or research statement and limit manuscripts listed in the CV to those published, in press, and possibly under review (without journal names given since they may not be accepted). A CV typically includes several main elements:

• Contact information: full name with credentials, mailing address, email, phone number, fax number
• Educational background: degrees received with institutions, major, location, and year awarded; thesis and/ or dissertation title, advisor names, program accreditations
• Professional experiences/positions: titles, institutions/organizations, dates, locations, duties
• Honors and awards
• Sponsored Projects (including grants, fellowships, or contracts)
• Publications: peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, technical reports, other publications
• Teaching: courses taught, identifying roles (e.g., instructor, lecturer, teaching assistant), titles, dates, and evaluation summaries; research advising
• Service: editorial work, professional memberships, leadership positions
• Fieldwork/practical experiences: predoctoral practica and internship with site names, locations, dates, duties, supervisor name

Although contact information, educational background, and professional experience should almost certainly appear at the beginning of any CV, the remaining sections may be best ordered according to the priorities of the position to which you are applying.A teaching statement can be quite challenging to prepare because few of us have formal training in pedagogy and mentoring. Length may vary depending on whether you address both classroom instruction and graduate research advising, but the purpose of this statement is to describe the basic principles guiding your teaching and how they are reflected in your course planning, instructional practices, and learning activities, as well as your efforts to improve your teaching and mentoring. One way to structure this statement is to describe what you consider effective teaching, the corresponding practices in which you engage; provide examples from specific courses you have taught (or, if you haven’t taught yet, specific examples of what you would do), and evidence of effectiveness (e.g., summary data from course evaluations, students’ qualitative feedback). Where appropriate, link your teaching and research (e.g., how similar goals or principles underpin both domains of work), and strive to be factual rather than sentimental. Postings may only provide a vague request for “evidence of teaching effectiveness,” in which case you have to decide what information and documentation to provide. In these cases, you may submit a list of courses taught, a summary of student evaluations or unsolicited student feedback, a sample syllabus, and a brief teaching statement which may be a separate document or a paragraph incorporated in your cover letter.Reference letters should be sought only from individuals who are willing and able to provide strong, positive recommendations—if you aren’t sure, ask them. Lukewarm letters of recommendation can be just as damaging as blatantly negative letters. Because search committees are invested in identifying individuals who may become long-term colleagues, positive recommendations are highly valued. Applicants should be careful to provide their reference providers as early notice as possible and should provide the job posting, CV, and cover letter so that they can also provide a letter that speaks to the specific requirements of each position. As with cover letters, reference letters tailored to a position are more compelling than general ones.Proof-read all of your materials multiple times and get others (e.g., peers, your advisor, a friend willing to provide constructive criticism) to provide feedback to ensure your materials are error-free, coherent, and compelling.What happens after your submit your application materials?You wait. Hiring for tenure-track positions follows a fairly predictable sequence (this may not apply for non-tenure track positons). Once the application materials have been received, the search committee will review application materials to identify the top candidates for further consideration. If you submit your materials through a university portal, check for a confirmation email. If submitting your materials to an individual, a polite request that the individual confirm that they have received your materials is acceptable. In some cases, phone or virtual interviews will be conducted with several individuals before final candidates are selected for campus visits. In other instances, the committee will select immediately the most promising individuals, usually three to five people, to invite to campus. These visits often take place in early to mid-spring. After all candidate visits are complete, the committee generally will review the feedback from faculty, staff and students who interacted with the candidates and make recommendations to the administration about hiring, often in the form of a rank ordered list or description of candidates’ strengths and weaknesses relative to the requirements of the positon. The administration will make a decision regarding who, if anyone, from the pool to offer a contract. At that point, the candidate can accept or decline the position, or enter into further negotiations regarding the details of the contract. If the candidate declines the position, the administration can choose to offer the position to one of the other candidates, request that new candidates be considered, close the search without a hire, or continue the search.This post is a short form of: Sullivan, A. L., & Harris, B. (2012). So you want to be a professor? Perspectives on the academic job search process – Part I – Planning your search. The School Psychologist, 66(3), 23-28.Next month, we’ll address what to expect in campus visits. Feel free to share your experiences on the job market or recommendations for prospective faculty on the market now. Post your questions to the comment section below for more information.

Archived Webinar - Demystifying Academia: Faculty Roles and Opportunities

September 30, 2016

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Division 16 webinar, Demystifying Academia: Faculty Roles and Opportunities. Bryn and I were very pleased to join Prerna Arora and Jacquie Brown in talking about how to prepare for faculty positions in school psychology. If you have any questions that weren't answered during the webinar, feel free to post them in the comment section here, and we'll respond soon. Listen to the full webinar here.

You've Got Mail...Now What?

September 25, 2016

By Bryn Harris, PhD, University of Colorado DenverAs the semester kicks off, many of us have goals to be better about managing our email this academic year. This can be a challenging task, because each aspect of our work (research, teaching, and service) has email components. However, there are many strategies for managing email and some may work for you! Below, I list some of the techniques that have worked for me.Reduce email as a distraction. I don’t know about you, but I could probably spend days of my week just on email. No one has that kind of time, especially if you are on the tenure clock. Find ways to reduce email as a distraction. Turn off your email alerts. Close your inbox during certain times of the day. Remove email from your smartphone. Figure out the ways in which email is making you less productive and problem solve solutions.Check email at certain times during the day. Some people benefit from blocking off time on their schedule to respond to email. Picking one or two times during the day makes you more efficient as you have slotted a specific time period for email. If email requires less energy than other tasks you are working on, you may consider responding during a specific time of day. In Dr. Randy Floyd’s insightful post, he mentions that responding to emails in the evening is the most efficient use of time for him (http://www.ssspresearch.org/earlycareerforum/foundations-successful-scho...).Don’t check email as your first task of the day. One of the top New York Times bestselling authors and motivational speakers, Brendan Burchard, writes that what is in your inbox is “someone else’s agenda.” When you open up your email first thing in the morning, your to-do list then becomes someone else’s to-do list. Some people find that if they spend a certain number of hours on research or teaching tasks first thing in the morning (without email!), they are more efficient the rest of the day.Forget about having an empty inbox (also called “inbox zero”). I know many people who get stressed by how many emails they have. I will go ahead and say that it is impossible for me to have an empty inbox and I am okay with that. Know that having an empty inbox likely is an unrealistic expectation. Come up with realistic expectations for email (e.g. respond within a certain number of days, put appointments on my calendar at first email read, respond to crisis emails quickly).Know when to respond and when to file. Someone suggested to me that if I receive an email that I can respond to in 2 minutes or less, I should do it at that time. If it will take longer, then I need to file it and put it on my to-do list or in my calendar. This advice has helped me feel more productive managing my time. Some people file emails by project name, class, or such categories as “crucial”, “action”, “side burner” etc. to indicate the importance.Use boiler plate responses when possible. I receive many of the same emails from students over the years. I have created responses that I can use for these common questions. In addition, know when to delegate. Is the question something a student advisor could respond to? Or could the student find that information in the student handbook? Lastly, if you find yourself a writing long email, that likely means that this communication would be better in person (or on the phone).Reframe the growing inbox. Often, when my inbox is at its largest it is when I am working on a large project, an article that must be submitted, or other significant program responsibilities. Try to minimize the stress of a growing inbox but reminding yourself of the work you are completing. Last I checked, no one evaluated my email abilities in my tenure dossier!Create a program philosophy regarding email communication. Many programs have documented in their program handbooks the agreed upon time that professors will respond to email (i.e., three business days).  The students will benefit from understanding expectations surrounding email and will be less likely to send last minute emails that potentially disrupt your tasks.The power of the out of office! Pick one day during the week (or on a schedule you desire) where you put your out of office on. Use this day to unapologetically work on tasks that are important to you and not feel the need to check your email.What strategies do you use to manage your email? Did you try one of these strategies? How did it go?

Battling Imposter Syndrome in Academia

June 16, 2016

By guest blogger, Ima Syke Many months ago, following a reader request, I was tapped to guest blog on the topic of Imposter Syndrome (cue internal voice asking, “Am I worthy of writing this post? Did they ask me to write it because they know I don’t belong here? How did they figure me out?”). I’ve been assured the invitation had nothing to do with anyone’s perceptions of my inadequacy but rather a belief that I could do a great job and hopefully help many others similarly plagued by this type of pesky internal monologue. So here goes…Imposter Syndrome is generally defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that are prevalent despite success. Researchers have found this is more prevalent among women, graduate students, academics and interestingly, among those with evident success. This topic interested me for personal reasons; I have battled with aspects of Imposter Syndrome for years. While this is not a DSM diagnosis, it has impacted my career in academia in various ways. Let me give you a few examples from my professional life, hopefully others can relate.Recently, I sat in a meeting with a group of fellow academics as we prepare to write a large-scale collaborative grant. As I hear what other people can contribute to the data collection, writing the grant and other key aspects of this work, I wonder, “What can I contribute that others can’t?” and “My section will not be nearly as strong as theirs” and countless other comments revolving around self-doubt that ran through my mind. In other situations, I have remained silent during conversations that directly relate to my teaching or research for fear of “intellectual fraudulence.” And don’t even get me started regarding reading vitas! Others with Imposter Syndrome may feel like “luck” has more to do with their success than ability, or they may downplay their success. While I logically know that these behaviors hinder my productivity, collaborative relationships, and ultimately my perception in academia, I also never knew how to change these feelings until working on this blog post.Like any good academic, I started my assignment by doing research (i.e., investigating what has already been written on this topic). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Imposter Syndrome has been addressed in numerous academic magazines and blogs because it is all too common. Below are some strategies I have found in the literature for battling Imposter Syndrome.Recognize it within yourself and in others. Imposter Syndrome does not necessarily relate to low self-esteem or confidence; these are two different issues. If you suffer from chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraudulence, these are signs that you are battling Imposter Syndrome. If you see these traits in others, acknowledge what you see and allow for conversation on this topic.Regularly remind yourself of your accomplishments. Create lists or email folders of accomplishments and refer to them when these feelings of inadequacy strike. Part of Imposter Syndrome is the inability to internalize accomplishments, even when highly successful.Become keenly aware of your strengths. Learn what you excel in and utilize these abilities often, especially in collaborative relationships. This will heighten feelings related to your usefulness and contribution. Utilize others to help you with this task as it may be challenging for some to identify personal accomplishments.Discuss Imposter Syndrome with your students. Recognize patterns within the classroom (such as comments from students that may indicate these feelings) and have open discussions about this topic. Furthermore, talk with your students about how you overcame your own doubts or how you are still working to overcome them.Seek support. People who have Imposter Syndrome may find benefit in seeking therapy to improve their coping mechanisms. Group therapy might be particularly beneficial as relating to others and their experiences and coping strategies can be powerful.If you are interested in learning more about how to overcome this problem, Academic Coaching and Writingis offering a free webinar, Managing Imposter Syndrome in Academia, on June 30th, 2016.Additional resources on this topic:Feel Like a Fraud by Kirsten Weir in APA’s gradPSYCH MagazineFaking It: Women, Academic, and Impostor Syndrome by Kate Bahn in VitaeThe Imposter Syndrome, or, as my Mother told me: “Just Because Everyone Else is an Asshole, it Doesn’t Make you a Fraud” by Phyllis Rippeyoung for The Professor Is In‘I’m not worthy!’ – Imposter Syndrome in Academia by Jay Daniel Thompson for The Research WhispererAn Academic With Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Kasper in the Chronicle of Higher EducationDo you have any further coping strategies for imposter syndrome? What works – and doesn’t work – for you? Don’t be afraid to share. You are not alone.

Forming a Healthy & Productive Relationship with Your Office of Research Compliance

April 18, 2016

By Dan Gadke & Kasee Stratton, Mississippi State UniversityAs a researcher, there is a strong likelihood that you are familiar with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and your University’s Office of Research Compliance (ORC). There is no doubt you are up to date on your institutional training requirements, whether they be from the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI; www.citiprogram.org) or a program your university has put together. And, you are well versed in the importance of the IRB for the protection of potential participants. Each time you design a study, you make sure to follow the appropriate IRB submission protocols and wait for approval prior to beginning the project, which is exactly what you are supposed to do—at least in most cases.That being said, many folks are unaware or unfamiliar with other IRB options outside this most common submission procedure; however, there are two other options that are of particular use to school psychology faculty: (1) the use of archival data sets and (2) the development of a memorandum of research understanding with your ORC. While both of these may look slightly different at your respective institutions, we provide our experience as an example. The ORC at Mississippi State University has full accreditation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP; http://www.aahrpp.org), following the most rigorous of standards for ethics, quality, and protection of human subjects.

Archival Data

From a bare bones perspective, archival data is exactly what it sounds like, existing data. These data may have originally been collected with no intention what so ever of being used for research purposes. Given our field is driven on data-based decision making and treatment questions are often analogous to research questions (e.g., which intervention is most effective for this child?), it is no surprise we might have data lying around that was not originally intended for research. We have found valuable use of archival data sets in school and clinic settings.Schools. Often we have graduate students out in the school setting for practicum and other field-based experiences conducting evidenced-based assessments and interventions. At our institution, when students are on practicum they are required to complete what we refer to as a data-based project in either academic or behavioral intervention, assessment, or consultation. Students are expected to provide services under a best practice model, which often involves measuring treatment integrity, interobserver agreement, comparing interventions to choose the most effective and efficient one (e.g., experimental analyses), and so on. In some cases, these projects, which were originally designed for training purposes related to service delivery, yield novel and unique data that are dissemination-worthy, particularly when we think about presenting (i.e., poster or paper) or publishing in the world of research-to-practice.When data are generated in the school setting during routine practicum training requirements that you decide you would like to use for dissemination, it is time to prepare an IRB application for the use of archival data. At Mississippi State University, we have an approved “data agreement form” we worked to create with our ORC for these specific instances. In short, the data agreement form is used to obtain parent or administrator consent for data collected on-site might be used for scholarly dissemination. If it is used for these purposes, the data are di-identified (i.e., stripped of any direct identifiers) and the university ORC reviews the use of the dataset prior to dissemination. When our students are working with a child in the schools, we often send the form to their parents/guardians to sign in the event that their child’s data are ever pursued for research use. Additionally, a school administrator signs the form and agrees to release a de-identified (i.e., no direct identifiers) version of the dataset to us. After supplying the ORC with the IRB write-up, the data agreement form(s), and evidence of de-identified data, we are often then able to use those data for presentations or publicationsClinic. Like many other programs, at Mississippi State University we have our School Psychology Services Clinic (SPSC), to provide our students with additional training opportunities. At the SPSC we provide supervised intervention (i.e., academic and behavioral) and assessment services. These include individual services, groups, and summer camps. Similar to what was outlined in the school setting section above, the data collected during treatment may be dissemination worthy. In these cases, we follow the same protocol mentioned before, without an administrator. Parents are asked to sign a data agreement form during the intake appointment. That being said, our MOU (described below) provides an exception for data collected from 3 or fewer participants in our clinic.Other. There are large existing data sets available through different organizations (e.g. NCES) or even your university that may be of interest to you. For example, we wanted to evaluate college satisfaction differences between college students who had a registered disability on campus to those who did not. Many university exit surveys conducted through the Office of University Effectiveness (or a similar entity) ask students these varied questions (i.e., do you have a register disability with the university and satisfaction related questions). Many of these surveys also have a question(s) indicating if their data can be used for research purposes in the future. In this situation, we had university administrators sign the data agreement form and we completed an IRB application. After receiving approval, we requested the de-identified data sets be sent to us. In a single day, we had approximately 14,000 data-points from the previous five years to analyze.Key points on use of school-based archival data:

• Great option for data collected in schools and clinic but not originally intended as a research project.
• Great option for large existing data sets.
• Make sure to have a data agreement form providing permission for data to potentially be used in the future.
• Make sure to complete an IRB application as soon as you decide to use data for dissemination purposes.
• Meet with your ORC representative to discuss how to best use archival data sets from your institution.

Memorandum of Understanding

A memorandum of understand (MOU), which may be called something entirely different by your ORC, is essentially an agreement that outlines the parameters of research activities allowed in the absence of an IRB application submission. MOUs are particularly useful for individuals conducting single-subject, clinic-based research. We modeled our MOU after Johns Hopkins Medicine IRB policy and their Behavioral Psychology Department (for their full policies, see here).Our MOU has several key features, including:

• Clear overview and break down of the services provided at our clinic (i.e., School Psychology Service Center; SPSC).
• Clear policy on research and publication of data
  • All research requires Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) approval
  • Boundaries between research and practice
• Guidelines for use and publication of clinical data
  • Defining “clinical data”
  • Defining “single case report” (i.e., clinical data collected from 3 or fewer participants)
  • Defining “case series” (i.e., clinical data from more than 3 participants)
• Reporting requirements to the HRPP

Essentially, our MOU states that as long as we follow all procedures as outlined in the MOU, when using data from 3 or fewer participants, we do not need to submit for HRPP review; however, bi-annually, we need to report all projects disseminated this way. If a project has more than three participants, than we have two options: (a) if it was a pre-planned research project, submit IRB first as you typically would; (b) if it is archival clinical data, submit an archival data IRB request. In all instances, regardless of the number of participants, data need to be consented for use using the approved data agreement form mentioned under archival data.While the MOU is particularly handy for disseminating single-subject design data involving 3 or fewer participants, it also makes all other IRB (i.e., traditional and archival) applications easier because the ORC had a clear understanding of your procedures.

MOU Use Examples

Single Case Report – 3 or fewer participants not requiring HRPP review. You have 3 children come to your clinic, all needing reading interventions. You have parents/guardians complete the data agreement form prior to beginning treatment.  You conduct a brief experimental analysis comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of a non-electronic intervention to an iPad app. You find the non-electronic intervention is more useful than the iPad app. You deliver the non-electronic intervention across several weeks, alternating its use with a control to ensure long-term effectiveness. In the end, you realize you have interesting data that are unlike anything currently in the literature. As long as all procedures were followed as outlined in the MOU, you have consent to use the data, and you report this project in the bi-annual report to the ORC, you can disseminate the data without HRPP review.Case Series – more than three participants. You do the same intervention outlined in the single case report above, but it turns out you have 5 clients the intervention worked for. You decide after finishing the intervention that the data are worthy of dissemination, you must submit for IRB review of archival data.Thus, with some advanced planning, researchers can put into place procedures that allow for efficient segueing class, fieldwork, and clinic activities into research publications and presentations (see a list of the scholarship that has resulted from these efforts). This is particularly valuable where practices are implemented systematically as part of training and lend themselves to analysis of effectiveness. This also presents an ongoing opportunity to integrate teaching and research activities and model a scientist-practitioner orientation to professional development and teaching for our students. We hope that you find this information useful when working with your ORC and IRB.  If you are interested in seeing an example of our MOU, please email us and we would be happy to share.

Remembering Ed Shapiro

March 29, 2016

Our community is reeling from the loss of school psychology legend, Ed Shapiro. To learn more about Ed’s life and legacy, see articles here and here, as well as his CV and Rob Volpe’s slideshow. Though Ed spent much of his career at Lehigh University, through his scholarship, mentoring, leadership, and sheer presence, his influence reached far beyond the institution. The ECF is grateful to be part of that legacy due his strong support of this initiative and our activities to support early career development and advance the field of school psychology.As so many of us struggle to envision school psychology without Ed, we invite you to share your most special experiences or lessons here.

Resources from NASP Funding Symposium and EC Meeting

February 29, 2016

It was wonderful seeing so many early career faculty at NASP! Thank you to Ed Shapiro, Rob Volpe, Erin Dowdy, and Katie Eklund for presenting in the ECF’s NASP Symposium, Strategies for Securing Funding as an Early Career Scholar! And thanks to all of the early career scholars who attended. Below are several useful websites and resources mentioned during the session. If you know of other great resources, please feel free to share via the comments. Websites to Explore for Funding Opportunities

1. Your university – Take advantage of internal grant opportunities to support pilot projects and develop your research program in order to increase your competitiveness for external funding.
2. General sites for both pre-doctoral and post-doctoral scholar

• gov
• Community of Scholars
• APA Awards, Grants, and Scholarships
• AERA Fellowships and Research Grants
• Science’s Where to Search for Grant Funding(also includes advice on grant writing)
• SocialPsychology Network’s Sources for Research Funding

3. For Graduate Students

• NASP Awards, Grants, and Scholarships
• UCLAGrad Student Funding Search Engine

4. Select Non-Profits That Administer Research Grants and Fellowships

• MacArthur Foundation
• The Spencer Foundation
• William T. Grant Foundation
• Lumina Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Joyce Foundation
• The Teagle Foundation
• The Chicago Community Trust
• The Foundation Center

5. Other Resources on Grant Writing

• Nancy Guerra’s Preparing Research Proposals in Psychology: The Graduate Student Guide to Funding
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: Debunking Some Myths about Grant Writing
• UW-Madison’s List of Grant Proposal Writing Resources
• TAMIU’s Grant Writing Resources

Thank you to all the new faculty who participated in the Early Career Faculty meeting at NASP on Thursday, February 11. Below is the resource list discussed during the meeting. We look forward to seeing you all—and many new faces—next year!General Early Career Scholar Resources

• Akin-Little, A., Bray, M., Eckert, T. L, & Kehle, T.J. (2004). The perceptions of academic women in school psychology: A national survey. School Psychology Quarterly,19, 327-341. doi: 10.1521/scpq.19.4.327.53404
• Ammerman, C. & Tseng, V. (2011). Maximizing mentoring: A guide for building strong relationships.New York, NY: William T. Grant.
• Bain, K. (2004). What the best college teachers do. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Berstein, D. A. & Lucas, S. G. (2004). Tips for effective teaching. In J. M. Darley, M. P. Zanna & H. L. Roediger (Eds.), The complete academic: A career guide 2^ndedition (pp. 79-115). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Boice, R. (2000). Advice for new faculty members. New York: Pearson.
• Darley, J. M., Zanna, M. P. & Roediger, H. L. (Eds.). (2004) The complete academic: A career guide2nd edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Grapin, S. L., Kranzler, J. H., & Daley, M. L. (2012). Scholarly productivity and impact of school psychology faculty in APA-accredited programs. Psychology in the Schools, 50,87-101. doi: 10.1002/pits.21658
• Harris, B., & Sullivan, A. L. (2012). Faculty roles: A primer for students and professionals interested in careers in academia.NASP Communiqué, 41(2), 20-21.
• Harris, B., & Sullivan, A. L. (2013). Work-life balance in academic careers. The School Psychologist, 67(2), 23-26.
• Lucas, C. J., & Murry, J. W. (2002). New faculty: A practical guide for academic beginners. New York: Palgrave.
• Martínez, R. S., Floyd, R. G., & Erichsen, L .W. (2011). Strategies and attributes of highly productive scholars and contributors to the school psychology literature: Recommendations for increasing scholarly productivity. Journal of School Psychology, 49,691–720.  doi: 10.1016/j.jsp.2011.10.003
• McKeachie, W. (Ed.). (2003). Teaching tips(10th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin.
• Schoenfeld, A. C., & Magnan, R. (1994). Mentor in a manual: Climbing the academic ladder to tenure. Madison, WI: Magna Publications.
• Silva, P. (2007). How to write a lot. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Ward, L. & Wolf-Wendel, L. (2012). Academic motherhood: How faculty manage work and family. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

Give Yourself the Gift of No

December 14, 2015As an early career scholar, you have a finite amount of time so there reaches a point where saying yes to one thing means saying no to another—or where you risk overburdening yourself to the point where your performance in many or all areas of work suffers.  Saying yes to x often means less time for y. This becomes problematic when x is a nonessential, unwanted task and y is a highly valued or necessary task (e.g., writing).  Ideally, such decisions are driven by your professional and personal goals in conjunction with institutional expectations, especially if you are concerned about promotion and tenure. Maintaining any sense of balance in one’s professional roles and with one’s personal life will likely require accepting that we cannot and do not have to do everything. Often, this requires releasing ourselves of unrealistic expectations of personal perfection and pleasing everyone around us. Further, protecting the time needed to do well the things you need and want to do will require learning to say no to other nonessential opportunities and tasks.Learning to say no first requires identifying your priorities so that you can easily identify requests and opportunities inconsistent with those priorities. After identifying priorities it can be helpful to build time for necessary and desired tasks into you schedule and calendar. Just as you block out time for commitments to others (e.g., class, advising appointments, committee meetings), you should schedule time for commitments to yourself to better account for your time and to ensure necessary or desired tasks do not fall by the wayside. This is especially important with research and writing time since these are often the first to be sacrificed when faced with competing demands. For many scholars, these are also the highest priority. I routinely schedule writing time on my calendar. Treating these times as nonnegotiable helps to ensure you don't abandon this priority. Few of us would accept competing appointments when we are scheduled to teach, but it is not uncommon to accept competing appointments when we plan to write even though it is counterproductive in both the short and long term.For those who have difficulty saying no, I have a colleague who admitted she notates writing time on her calendar as meetings with administrators so that others who view her calendar won't consider infringing on the time and to remind herself of the importance of these appointments. A similar strategy may work for you if you are concerned that your commitment to research time won't be accepted or respected by colleagues. The important thing is to carefully guard your time so that other activities don't crowd out your priorities and prevent you from being productive and efficient.Another strategy that can make it easier to say no is giving yourself a minimum amount of time to consider any request or invitation. For instances, I know other EC scholars who wait at least 24 hours before responding to invitation or request for time or involvement. This disrupts an otherwise automatic tendency to say yes to everything and provides the time needed to reflect on whether an opportunity or request is consistent with one’s priorities and availability. Rather than blindly saying yes to everything, consider the potential benefits and costs, including the impact on your other work. Mentors and more senior scholars can provide valuable guidance in this decision process.You will also have to accept the need to practice pleasantly and unapologetically saying no. Some people are incredibly uncomfortable with the possibility of disappointing others or are so conflict-avoidant they would rather say yes to everything than risk that discomfort, only to fall short on their own goals. Still others are motivated by some mistaken belief that they are so important that others need them to the point that they cannot say no. This is very rarely the case. Once you've accepted that there are times when you can and should say no, do so simply and unapologetically. It's okay to say no without offering any more justification than you are simply unavailable. That is generally all the requester needs or is entitled to know. Practice saying, "Thank you for the invitation, but I am not available at this time." Or "Thank you for this opportunity, but I'm unavailable." When justification is needed, it can be helpful to link you refusal to you job duties or tenure expectations, or to have a senior colleague--generally your program or area coordinator-- back up your decision (e.g., "My program coordinator advised me against taking on additional service activities at this time."). Certainly some individuals may make requests that you shouldn't refuse, but don't assume every request they make is one of those. Instead, ask for time to consult with your colleagues and verify your availability and then speak with more senior colleagues and/or you program/area coordinator who can help you evaluate the request, and, when appropriate, plan your refusal. At times, your coordinator may want to say no on your behalf depending on who the requester is in order to more convincingly state your need to focus on your priorities.Another helpful strategy for people who tend to reflexively say yes is to remind yourself that no is the default decision unless you can identify sufficient professional or personal benefits to saying yes. For a few years, I posted a small note on my computer that read, "Just say no." For me this visual reminder was needed to counter my knee jerk reaction to accept every research and service opportunity that came my way. In the end, it saved me a lot of unwanted stress and time.In the end, learning and practicing saying no is necessary to bring strategic in managing your time and commitments.  Time management is key to being efficient and productive and avoiding overextension and burnout.  Chances are you'll enjoy your work more when you are judicious with your time. Be kind to yourself by giving the gift of allowing yourself to say no when appropriate.

Introduction to Early Career Profiles

November 5, 2015

By Bryn Harris and David ShribergECF strives to provide readers with diverse types of support as they navigate their first years as faculty members. This month, we are pleased to debut a new series featuring profiles of early faculty members. First, Assistant Professor Anisa Goforth of the University of Montana will discuss her experiences as the newest faculty member of this series. Next, Assistant Professor Julia Ogg, from Northern Illinois University, will discuss her path toward tenure. Finally, Erin Dowdy of the University of California-Santa Barbara will provide prospective as a recently tenured Associate Professor. We have asked each spotlighted scholar to respond to the same questions in an effort to learn more about their successes and challenges as they navigated their academic careers. While there are some behaviors—e.g., overextending oneself in voluntary university service responsibilities, not leaving oneself enough time to write—that are common pitfalls for pre-tenured faculty regardless of where you work, we recognize that there are a variety of pathways to academic success. As school psychologists we know that we all have our own learning and interpersonal styles, strengths, and limitations. Thus, as amazing and inspiring as these guest bloggers are, the goal is not to say that any one of them has all of the answers—no one does—but rather offer varied examples we can learn as we evaluate and assess our own professional practices.As such, readers will see that the contributors have diverse experiences prior to entering academia, varied roles and expectations at their respective universities, and each offer unique perspectives on strategies for success. Lastly, we highlight that one of the common factors for these contributors is that they all attended the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference (SPRCC; www.sprcc.net). Indeed, while the intended outcome of this conference is collaborative research endeavors, one of the secondary benefits is that you get to meet and connect with others in the field, including people with very different research interests. This conference is held on a biannual basis and aims to connect early career scholars with mentorship and resources for advancing their research trajectories. The next SPRCC will be held August 1-2, 2017 prior to the APA convention in Washington DC. We strongly encourage pre-tenure scholars to apply for this highly beneficial experience.While reading these posts, we encourage you to engage in similar self-reflection. To facilitate this process, consider the questions below.How is your position similar or discrepant to theirs? In what way is this difference beneficial or challenging to your success?

• Think about your own primary research interests and activities, how would you describe them in 4-5 sentences?
• How did your training/prior experiences prepare you for your current position? Were you mentored for an academic career?
• Are you currently mentored? If not, what are the barriers? What benefits might you receive from mentorship?
• How do you balance your teaching, research and service responsibilities?
• Where do you hope your research trajectory will be in 5 years, 10 years?
• When do you feel the most successful in your academic position?
• What have you learned from the contributors that you can apply within your own position?

Additionally, we encourage you to ask the authors questions about their experiences in an effort to continue this important conversation. We hope you enjoy these profiles!Read Julia Ogg's profile.Read Erin Dowdy's profile.Read Anisa Goforth's profile.