Inside
Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year
Why did the Squirrel cross the road?
From the Director’s Desk
by Rob Dixon
It is always an honor and privilege
to be addressing alumni and area school psychologists with news and updates
from our school psychology program in La Crosse. It never ceases to
amaze me the number of professionals that approach me at conferences and events
across the state to highlight their connection to UW- La Crosse. So here
are our updates.
First and foremost we will be having some changes in teaching staff. Milt Dehn retired a few years ago, but hung on teaching the assessment classes to help us out. Susan Wabaunsee has been filling the rest of Milt’s load in the interim as we searched for a new faculty member. Last year we were shut out of finding someone, but this year I am pleased to announce that Dr. Joci Newton will be joining our faculty. Joci comes to us after two years of practice in the Atlanta school system and finishing her doctorate at Ball State University. Joci, and her husband Chris, are looking forward to the stunning beauty and shorter commutes of the La Crosse area. Rumor has it that this may be a change in pace from the Atlanta area. We shall see!! At any rate, please look forward to welcoming Joci this fall. This also means that we will officially close out an era with Milt Dehn going off to greener pastures from the university. However, I have a feeling that we will be seeing him around at our state conferences, as he seems to be selling and writing books these days. Susan will be our other departing faculty member and it seems like her path will take her to full time hobbies and grandmothering. She also wanted to get ahead start on her retirement before her husband John decided to retire. To both Milt and Susan: we have really appreciated your expertise that you have shared with the students in your years of teaching. The words “Thank You” do not seem to do justice to your commitment and energy in teaching the future generations of school psychologists.
Our students continue to impress me. This past year they developed a graduate student organization and named it the School Psychology Student Society (SPSS). The purpose of the organization is to create opportunities to generate funds to go to NASP. While last year’s activities of brat sales and cookie decorating were successful, unfortunately none of the students attended NASP in New York. They are passing along their efforts to the first year students, who are already rising to the challenge with a rummage sale to defray costs of attending NASP in New Orleans next spring. On matters much closer to home, the second years have already started their internship search and many have attended interviews already. I am confident that we will continue our multi-year record and all students will find placements in the fall. To send off our students, we are going to be initiating a new award: The School Psychology Leadership Award. It will be awarded at Roundtable to the second year student that demonstrates leadership, scholarship, and a commitment to the ideals of the UW-La Crosse School Psychology through their practice in the field.
On the state scene, La Crosse and graduates are playing an important leadership role. This past year I have served as President, Betty has been Secretary, and Don Juve has been Treasurer of WSPA. There are countless other members of the Coulee Region or transplanted La Crosse grads that serve on the state board. I appreciate all the hard work that my colleagues and former La Crosse students are doing to make a difference on this larger stage. This is an important time for school psychology in light of the recent federal changes and pending state changes. It is an important time to stand up and advocate for children and the support that we can provide to them through our training and experiences. As always I will be looking forward to many of you returning for Roundtable and catching up with our “extended family.”
Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year
by Ryan Weigel
Jeff Bindl, Class of 2000, has been elected the 2007 Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year. He will now go on to the national level for consideration as National School Psychologist of the Year.
Although I am sure many people know Jeff quite well, when I was asked to write this article I only knew that he was recently elected the 2007 Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year and that he was a graduate of UWL’s School Psychology Program. So it was with that knowledge at hand I began the endeavor of learning more about the man behind the award. Since I needed Jeff’s contact information, my first stop was the alum database, aka Teresa Znidarsich and within a matter of seconds I was equipped with his email address and phone number. However, prior to conducting an interview I have learned that it is always best to obtain background information on the individual. After a highly anticipated, yet unfruitful search on Wikipedia, I decided a quick Google search of “Jeff Bindl” was my next best option. Jackpot. The search yielded his personal bio from his district’s website.
It was through this bio that I learned Jeff Bindl is in his 7th year with the Mineral Point Unified School District where he is the School Psychologist and Director of Pupil Services along with serving as the Varsity Defensive Football Coach. After graduating from UW-Platteville in 1994, Jeff worked for four years as an outpatient AODA Counselor. He was also involved with the Families and Schools Together Program (FAST) in the school districts of Phillips and Park Falls, which I would later come to find out is where he realized that school psychology was the career he wanted to pursue. Upon graduating from UWL’s School Psychology program in 1999, Jeff worked as a long-term substitute in the Sparta Area School District before taking his current position with the Mineral Point School District.
I was finally making progress with my endeavor, yet I still needed information from the man himself. After consulting with my fellow graduate assistants I had compiled a list of several questions, which I felt would help increase my knowledge of Jeff. So with a simple click of the send button the questions were emailed to Jeff on a Sunday evening and by 9:30 Monday morning his reply was awaiting me in my inbox. Promptness must be a key word in Jeff’s vocabulary.
It seems that almost everyone has a different reasoning for entering the field of school psychology, so I found it appropriate to find out why Jeff chose to become a school psychologist. Jeff stated that while he was involved with the FAST program in the Park Falls School District, he saw a nameplate on one of the doors in the school that said School Psychologist. He happened to asked one of the teachers who this was and they responded with such praise and admiration for who this man was and what he did for the kids in the school that Jeff knew then that school psychology was the career he wanted to pursue. I would be willing to bet that teachers in the Mineral Point School District would make similar remarks when referring to Jeff.
In fact, Jeff stated that one of his favorite things to do is to sit down with teachers to talk about students and curriculum. Additional enjoyments of the job include working with students of all ages and the process of putting together and maintaining a great special education program. Along with the pleasantries come challenges and Jeff stated there are many some of which include lack of time and resources, mediating staff disputes, and dealing with the school board.
Thus far Jeff’s responses were providing exactly the type of information I was hoping to gather, however school psychologists have to interact with a wide array of individuals so I wanted to hear about some of Jeff’s more entertaining encounters. Jeff stated during his first year as the new school psychologist in the district he would frequently have a line of people waiting to see him when he got to school in the morning. One woman happened to be a stripper who always had concerns about her boyfriend’s kids. Another woman who had four kids in the district told him that she wanted all of them tested for everything. My only question: how did Jeff know the first woman was a stripper?
As a soon-to-be practicing school psychologist I wanted to get some tips as to how one goes about becoming school psychologist of year. Jeff suggested forming as many positive relationships with the people you come in contact with as you can. This includes kids, parents, teachers, administration, colleagues, community members, etc. They will respect you and the work that you do. Evidently this advice works because not only did Jeff win the Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year, but in November he also received the Outstanding Educator Award from the ARC of Southwestern Wisconsin. Unfortunately Jeff reported that winning these awards does not come with an increase in salary. Perhaps, we can start a petition.
Finally, Jeff wanted to express his appreciation for his school psychology classmates at UWL. He stated that he learned so much from each of them and truly enjoyed their time together at La Crosse. In addition, when asked whom he missed more, Milt or Betty, Jeff took the diplomatic approach and replied that he missed Milt’s “style” and Betty’s enthusiasm. When he is not working or coaching Jeff stated that he enjoys remodeling their house, taking care of their horses and spending time with his wife and children.
I would personally like to congratulate Jeff on being elected the 2007 Wisconsin School Psychologist of the Year and to once again thank him for his prompt and thorough input as I attempted to gather information for this article.
Why Did the Squirrel Cross the Road? And Other Adventures – Can You Guess Who This Is??
I hope your first (or second,
third, whatever...) day of school is going well. My morning started off to
somewhat of a bad start, but the sun is shining and the day has (thankfully)
gotten much better. Now that I am feeling better, I thought my clumsiness might
bring all of you some smiles, so I thought I'd share my story with you:
Being the personality that I am, I naturally had my "1st Day of
School" outfit picked out for quite some time. No, it was not anything new
(I'm saving those for days with important meetings!), but nonetheless, one of
my favorites. So, I set my alarm for earlier than normal, as I wanted to pick
up some bagels beforehand--I still live close to a Panera! Everything was going
as planned until it was time for me to blow-dry my hair--the darn blow-dryer
wouldn't work. I tried different outlets, cleaned it, gave it time to
"rest," you name it, I tried it. By this time, I was worrying about
the time, but I knew I needed to dry my hair somehow. (Unlike some of my classmates,
I am NOT an accomplished hair stylist.) Thus, I ended up using my straightener
to serve as a dryer. Needless to say, this took some time and I knew I would
not be able to pick up the bagels. Oh well, at least I had a cute outfit to put
on--fully equipped with matching accessories--and my hair was dry and looked
halfway decent.
So, around 6:45 I trotted out of my 2nd floor apartment with many bags in hand. As I approached the bottom step, I noticed a squirrel hovering nearby. (This old man in my complex insists on leaving huge piles of nuts outside of his door, thus, enticing these dirty, puffy tailed rodents.) Anyway, I hate squirrels and was startled by its presence, causing me to jump. Well, given all of the baggage I was carrying, combined with my natural clumsiness and the fact that I was wearing heels and the steps were slippery, I fell. Yep, right on my knees. Luckily, I was able to stop my face from colliding with the cold, hard pavement by throwing down my palms, but I did scratch up my arms and knees pretty badly. As if that weren't bad enough, I ended up getting a hole in my beautiful khaki pants. Argh! Oh yeah, two men were walking about 12 feet in front me as this whole incident unfolded, causing me to not only be dirty, bleeding, and a mess, but also embarrassed in front of my new neighbors! Looking as I did, I needed to hurry upstairs and change into a different not-so-cute outfit, further diminishing my mood.
But, the day went on and I tried to forget all about it. Although nobody complimented me on my outfit, I still had a fantastic day and I hope you did too. And if you need a pick-me-up, I hope you got a chuckle or two out of imagining me stumbling down the stairs as that ratty little squirrel sat munching on his treats! (See Answer)
Ed.S. Theses
Oral Defenses Completed
Erin Eberhardt, April 7, 2006, “Early Reading Skills as Predictors of Academic Achievement” – Chair: Dr. Betty DeBoer, Committee: Dr. David Reineke and Dr. Carol Angell.
This study examined how early reading skills relate to reading and math achievement on the Woodcock Johnson-Third Edition, Tests of Achievement. Eighteen first grade students identified as struggling readers were assessed on their levels of phonemic segmentation, letter naming fluency, and nonsense word fluency at the beginning of first grade to determine if these skills were predictors of academic achievement as measured at the end of second grade. The results affirm that phonemic segmentation is a predictor of overall achievement as well as a predictor of reading and math achievement.
Teresa Keehn, April, 14, 2006, “Classroom Behaviors of Children Identified as Poor Readers in First Grade” – Chair: Dr. Betty DeBoer, Committee: Dr. Beth Seebach and Dr. Carmen Wilson.
The purpose of this study was two fold. The first was to determine if children who were identified as poor readers in first grade were rated by their teachers as more behaviorally problematic on the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) than the standardization sample in the areas of attention, hyperactivity and conduct problems. The second purpose was to see if children who were initially identified as poor readers in first grade displayed significantly more behavioral difficulties in the areas of attention, hyperactivity, and conduct problems in second and fourth grades than they initially displayed in first grade. The results indicated that when the children were first identified as a poor reader, the behaviors they displayed were not significantly different than the standardization sample. This changed, however, in fourth grade, where these children were found to have significantly worse behaviors in the area of conduct problems. The results also revealed that the children’s behavior in the area of conduct problems increased significantly from first to fourth grade.
Kate Konop, July 12, 2006, “Academic and Behavioral Predictors of Later Achievement for Struggling Readers” – Chair: Dr. Betty DeBoer, Committee: Dr. Carmen Wilson and Dr. Tracie Blumentritt.
This study examined 1st and 2nd grade academic and behavioral predictors of achievement on the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) in 4th grade for struggling readers. It was hypothesized that achievement and behavior in 1st and 2nd grade would predict student performance on the WKCE in 4th grade. Participants were 32 struggling readers from a western Wisconsin school district who participated in intensive early reading intervention during 1st grade. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) data were gathered at the beginning and end of 1st grade. Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement- 3rd Edition (WJ-III) and BASC data were collected in 2nd grade. Students took the WKCE in 4th grade. Math achievement in 2nd grade predicted math and social studies performance on the WKCE in fourth grade (p < .05). Behavior ratings at the beginning and end of 1st grade predicted math performance on the WKCE (p < .05). Behavior ratings at the beginning of 1st grade predicted language performance on the WKCE (p < .05). Behavior ratings at the end of 1st grade predicted science performance on the WKCE (p < .05). First and 2nd grade reading achievement did not predict performance on the WKCE.
Jaime (Wetenkamp) Granger, August 1, 2006, “Information Processing Observation Form as a Predictor of Math Achievement” – Chair: Dr. Robert Dixon, Committee: Dr. Bart VanVoorhis and Dr. Melanie Cary.
Many students experience difficulty with learning math due to deficits in information processing. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between math achievement (math calculation and math reasoning) scores in specific learning disability (SLD) students and teacher ratings on the Information Processing Observation Form (IPOF). The information processing areas of Storage, Organization, Acquisition, Retrieval, Expression, and Manipulation from the Information Processing Observation Form were analyzed to determine if they correlate with math achievement as measured by the clusters on the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement. The reliability of the SOAR'EM scales on the Information Processing Observation Form ranged from -.13 to .83. With the exception of the organization scale (-.13), the remaining scales had moderate reliability (.60 to .83). Results also indicated that ratings on the IPOF area of retrieval were minimally correlated with the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Third Edition math reasoning cluster. The results provided no support for the use of the IPOF in predicting math achievement in students already identified as learning disabled in math. Heather Holstein, August 1, 2006, “The Assessment of Information Processing for Reading and Writing Achievement” – Chair: Dr. Robert Dixon, Committee: Dr. Melanie Cary and Dr. Bart Van Voorhis.
In Wisconsin, one component of a specific learning disability is an information processing deficit. This research focused on the Information Processing Observation Form with the purpose of establishing the reliability and validity of the form. Observers using the form evaluated 32 students.
The SOAR’EM areas from the Information Processing Observation Form were analyzed to determine if they predict reading and writing achievement. The reliability of the SOAR’EM scales on the Information Processing Observation Form ranged from .58 to .83. The results for the regression analyses were not significant. The fact that none of the areas predict reading or writing achievement suggests further investigation and development needs to be done in order to continue using the form.
Kristin Raether, November 17, 2006, “An Examination of Goal Orientations in High School Athletes and Non-Athletes” – Chair: Dr. Robert Dixon, Committee: Dr. Betsy Morgan and Ms. Susan Wabaunsee.
This research examined differences in goal orientation based on athletic status and gender. The study utilized the trichotomous framework of goal orientation involving the learning orientation, the performance-approach orientation and the performance-avoidance orientation. Previous research indicates that the learning goal orientation by itself, or in combination with the performance-approach orientation, is associated with the most positive characteristics. Previous research has found females to be more learning oriented and males to be more performance oriented. A total of 516 11th and 12th grade students from a central Wisconsin high school completed a self-report survey instrument. Forty percent of the participants identified themselves as varsity athletes. In the learning oral orientation there was a main effect of gender, as females scored significantly higher than males did. There was also a main effect of athletic status, as athletes scored significantly higher than non-athletes. There was also a main effect of athletic status in the performance-approach orientation. Athletes again scores significantly higher than non-athletes. Contrary to previous research there was no main effect between genders in the performance orientations. These results have important implications for school professionals as this information can be used to prepare for possible motivation and learning approach issues.
Drew Wellman, January 16, 2007, “The Effects of Early Reading Intervention on 2nd and 3rd Grade Reading Achievement” – Chair: Dr. Betty DeBoer, Committee: Dr. Melanie Cary and Dr. Abdulaziz Elfessi.
Current research has indicated that the focus of reading instruction has shifted from remediation to early identification and intervention with at-risk readers. Therefore, the study of programs that aim to identify and intervene early with at-risk readers is very important. In this study of the Kickapoo Reading Program, a cohort of 27 students was followed from kindergarten through 3rd grade to examine the effects of this program on student reading achievement. The Kickapoo Reading Program is predicated on early identification and intervention with at-risk readers. Additionally, this study sought to identify if student reading rates were an accurate predictor of reading performance on standardized tests.
The results of this study indicate that the Kickapoo Reading Program increased the reading achievement of students on standardized testing, and reduced the number of students scoring in the lowest quartile on the second grade Terra Nova. Reading rates collected in second grade proved to be a valid indicator of reading achievement on standardized testing in second and third grades. The Kickapoo Reading Program may provide an example for other school districts interested in changing their reading programming.
John A. Waldron
October 28, 1954 – November 19, 2006
John Waldron, Class of
1981, died unexpectedly while deer hunting on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006.
John Waldron was certified as a School Psychologist and held a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in School Psychology from the UW-L. He also held a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
John was an administrator in the Wausau School District since 2000, first serving as the District’s Coordinator of Psychological Services during the 2000-2001 school year. He was named the Director of Pupil Services and Special Education in July 2001. From 1981 to June 2000, John served as a School Psychologist and Pupil Services Staff Coordinator for Marathon County Special Education.
John was an incredible supporter of high school athletics, especially all types of activities in the Edgar School District. He enjoyed outdoors sports and had a passion for golf.
Survivors include his wife, Jill, two sons, Jaime of Milwaukee and Jesse of Madison, a daughter, Jory of Winona, a brother and three sisters.
(The above was taken from the Peterson Kraemer Memorial Obituaries website.)
School Psychology Memories: Bob Arthur remembers John reading the paper every day before class, and his good sense of humor. Sue Schenk Lewis remembers how John used to call Hostess fruit pies "chemical cakes" because of all the additives and preservatives! He did indeed have a great sense of humor! Mary Jo Snow had John as her first practicum student that she supervised in the schools. She’ll always remember John's sense of humor and ability to keep things in "perspective". This is quite a loss for all those whose lives John touched. Patrick Fergus noted that John's death is a great loss not only for his family, but to those of us that knew him well. He stated that John had a great sense of humor and an ability to be the "calm" in the middle of a storm. Teresa Znidarsich remembers his kindness and his wonderful sense of humor.