Dr. Janis Kupersmidt and Dr. Jean Rhodes (Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring, University of Massachusetts-Boston) will facilitate a session on Training and Technical Assistance at the first New York City Young Men’s Initiative Mentoring Summit on Tuesday, 4/24/2012, at the Harlem Hospital Center where they will talk about resources for mentoring programs such as the Third Edition of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (EEPM) as well as research-based tools that they have developed for assessing mentoring program quality and conducting web-based mentor training. 

Dr. Alison Parker will present a poster at the International Symposia for Contemplative Studies in Denver, Colorado on April 27^th, 2012. She will present findings from the preliminary evaluation of the Master Mind Program, a mindfulness education substance abuse prevention program for elementary school children. See http://contemplativeresearch.org/ for more information. 

Dr. Rebecca Stelter will provide an in-person training workshop at the Northeastern North Carolina Regional Mentoring Summit on the topic of improving quality and length of mentoring relationships as well as assessing mentoring organization program quality. The Regional Mentoring Summit is sponsored by Communities in School of North Carolina (www.cisnc.org). The Northeastern Regional Mentoring Summit will take place Thursday, April 26th, 2012 in Aulander, NC. 

Dr.  Janis Kupersmidt visited with Roi Pilpel, the National Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel, in Tel Aviv, in March 2012 to discuss national initiatives related to growth in Big Brothers Big Sisters in Israel.  They shared information regarding strategic planning, volunteer recruitment, innovative projects, mentor training, and program evaluation. 

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt presented on Mentoring Central:  Research-Based Mentor Training to the Perach Tutoring and Mentoring Project at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel on March 12, 2012.  Perach was established in 1974 and serves over 25,000 students in Israel annually.  Perach also provides practical support to similar organizations built upon the Perach model in about 20 countries worldwide. 

Dr. Rebecca Stelter, in collaboration Communities in Schools of North Carolina (www.cisnc.org), will present two training webinars on improving the quality of mentoring programs for staff from mentoring organizations across the county. The webinars provide mentoring organizations with an overview of the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (EEPM), 3rd edition and information about how mentoring organizations can assess the quality of their programs and adherence to the standards and benchmarks of the EEPM. The EEPM was published by MENTOR in 2009 and provides mentoring organizations with evidence-based operational standards and benchmarks to help produce and support high-quality mentoring relationships. 

Dr. Rebecca Stelter will provide in-person training workshops at the Southeastern and Northeastern North Carolina Regional Mentoring Summits on the topic of improving quality and length of mentoring relationships as well as assessing mentoring organization program quality. The Regional Mentoring Summits are sponsored by Communities in School of North Carolina (www.cisnc.org). The Southeastern Regional Mentoring Summit will take place Tuesday, March 27th, 2012 in Boliva, NC. The Northeastern Regional Mentoring Summit will take place Thursday, April 26th, 2012 in Aulander, NC. 

iRT is pleased to announce that the Media Detective and Media Ready programs have been reviewed and rated as “Promising” on The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG).  The MPG is an easy-to-use tool that offers a database of scientifically-proven programs that address a range of issues, including substance abuse, mental health, and education programs.  This database assists practitioners and communities in selecting evidence-based prevention and intervention programs that can make a difference in the lives of children and communities.  

Drs. Janis Kupersmidt and Rebecca Stelter will be attending the second annual National Mentoring Summit in Washington, D.C. on January 24^th and 25^th. The theme of the summit is “Invest in the Future: Mentor a Child.” At the summit, Drs. Kupersmidt and Stelter will be conducting a workshop on iRT’s mentor training program, Mentoring Central. Dr. Kupersmidt will be participating in two additional workshops: one on mentoring youth with disabilities and learning differences, and another on Mentor in a Box, a kit created in collaboration with MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership and Viacom, developed to assist corporations in developing a mentoring program.   

Dr. Tracy Scull, Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, and Dr. Rebecca Stelter will attend the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s (CSAP) Service to Science Academy in Atlanta, GA on January 5 and 6.  The academy will cover topics related to program evaluation and include individualized technical assistance from the CAPT’s diverse cadre of evaluation experts. These sessions will be used to develop action plans designed to enhance methodologies for evaluating the effectiveness of the Media Detective Parent Night program for improving parent and child outcomes.  

Media Detective Parent Night was nominated and accepted to be a part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention’s (CSAP) Service to Science initiative.  This national initiative aims to enhance the evaluation capacity of innovative programs and practices that address critical substance abuse prevention and related behavioral health needs in states, tribes, jurisdictions, and communities. The Service to Science initiative provides direct assistance to program developers, implementers, and evaluators to help them better assess their programs’ effectiveness. Ultimately, Service to Science seeks to support state prevention efforts by ensuring that more local programs addressing critical substance abuse and mental health needs meet evidence-based standards. 

Date: October 25^th, 2011
Location: The Jane S. McKimmon Conference and Training Center
Cost: $25.00 Registration
Learn more and register http://www.cisnc.org/whats_happening/view/2011_cisnc_mentoring_summit

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt and Dr. Rebecca Stelter will present at the 2011 NC Mentoring Summit sponsored by Communities in Schools of North Carolina at the Jane S. McKimmon Conference and Training Center on October 25^th, 2011. The purpose of the summit is to engage and strengthen the North Carolina mentoring community. Dr. Kupersmidt will present on the Mentoring Central Mentor Training Program, an iRT training product. Dr. Stelter will present on the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring Third Edition. Dr. Jean Rhodes (http://www.rhodeslab.org/), Mentoring Central collaborator, will give the keynote address and two mentoring workshops.

 

Drs. Alison Parker and Janis Kupersmidt to present at the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Annual Convention
Date: February 21-24, 2012
Location: Marriot Philadelphia Downtown
Cost: $399 (Early, Non-member registration)
Learn more and register:
http://www.nasponline.org/conventions/2012/index.aspx

Dr. Alison Parker and Dr. Janis Kupersmidt will present at the NASP 2012 Annual Convention in Philadelphia, PA from February 21-24^th, 2012. Dr. Parker will lead a mini-skills session entitled, “Mindfulness in education: Tools and strategies for the classroom.” Dr. Kupersmidt will lead a mini-skills session entitled, “Social information processing assessment of aggressive children and adolescents.” Additionally, in collaboration with Dr. Heather Warren-Khot and colleagues at Rush University, Drs. Parker and Kupersmidt, will be part of a presentation exploring the validity of a new web-based measure of children’s recognition of emotion (CARE).

 

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt recently served as a discussant at the Health Branding Workshop sponsored by OBSSR, NIDA, NCI, NIDDK, and NICHD at the Neuroscience Conference Center, in Rockville, MD, on September 14^th and 15^th, 2011.  She was a member of the panel entitled, “Brand persona:  Talk the talk and walk the walk”  moderated by Dr. Tisha Wiley from the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Also, on the panel were Dr. Donna Vallone from the American Legacy Foundation, the Truth Campaign; Dr. Hannah Chua from University of Michigan, and Patti Miller, Vice President for Public Policy from Sesame Workshop.  

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt and Dr. Rebecca Stelter attended Project Eye-To-Eye’s Organizing Institute at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island from July 31^st-August 4^th, 2011.  This Organizing Institute brings speakers and community activists to lead chapter coordinators through a program based on community organizing, asset based programming, and LD/ADHD issues. Chapter coordinators and fellows develop their skills as communicators, leaders, and educators, concluding in the development of an “action plan” for each chapter to outline a mentor recruitment plan as well as model trainings and the curriculum to be used at the coordinator’s site. 

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt recently presented at the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) 2011 Conference on Global Visions, Local Connections, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a member of the panel entitled, “Media Literacy Education to Promote Health: Research and Promising K-12 and Community Application on Sunday, July 24^th at 4:15 pm.  Dr. Kupersmidt spoke about Media Detective, a media literacy education substance abuse prevention program for 3^rd-5^th graders.  She presented preliminary data on the effectiveness of Media Detective Parent Night, a media literacy education training for parents of elementary school children who have participated in the Media Detective program.  For further information about the NAMLE conference, go to: http://namle.net/conference/. 

iRT President, Dr. Janis Kupersmidt, presented on Substance Abuse Prevention and Media Literacy Education at the 2011 CADCA Mid-Year Training Institute. The Institute, which took place July 24th-28th in Anaheim, California, brought together coalitions and prevention professionals from across the country to take an in-depth look at issues affecting substance abuse prevention and coalitions. iRT is excited to be involved once again with this important event. To learn more about the Training Institute, visit their webpage here, midyear.cadca.org. 

iRT staff, Dr. Rebecca Stelter, Jordan Price and Mary Pat Riddle, attended the Meet the NC Researchers and Developers Night at the PACC Summit 2011 on May 25th. The event was held in Raleigh and was a wonderful opportunity for iRT to meet other researchers and prevention coalitions and community groups. Thanks to the North Carolina Centers for Prevention Resources who hosted the conference. 

iRT’s Communications Coordinator, Mary Pat Riddle, traveled to Casper, Wyoming, April 27th-29th to attend the 8th Annual Meth and Substance Abuse Conference. She presented information on using media literacy education as an effective strategy for substance abuse prevention in youth. The conference brought together different areas of the community, including treatment specialists, coalition members, and law enforcement to discuss different issues and solutions surrounding the challenges of preventing substance abuse in youth. 

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt and Mary Pat Riddle traveled to Raleigh to attend the North Carolina Parent Network Conference on April 12th. There Dr. Kupersmidt presented to a group on the importance of media literacy education and introduced the Media Detective curriculum and its partner product, Media Detective Parent Night. The Conference was a wonderful opportunity to share ideas about substance abuse prevention resources. Learn more about the NC Parent Network by visiting, www.ncparentnetwork.org. 

Last week, Drs. Kupersmidt, Parker, and Stelter traveled to Montreal to attend the biennial SRCD Conference. There they presented research on SIP-AP and CARE, iRT’s social and emotional learning assessments. The conference was also a time to meet and share ideas with other devoted researchers and psychologists. For more information about the conference, visit www.srcd.org, and to learn more about SIP-AP and CARE, visit www.sealprograms.com. 

Rebecca Stelter, Ph.D., will be in Pittsburgh March 24th and 25th to lead another workshop for Mentoring Children of Prisoners program staff which will discuss ways to translate the latest research into practice. Dr. Stelter presented a similar workshop in San Diego earlier this year on match support. For more information about the workshop, visit the MCP Support Center online at http://members.mcpsupport.com/default.aspx. 

A study of the effectiveness of Media Detective Teacher Training, written by Drs. Scull and Kupersmidt, was published online in the most recent edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Media Literacy Education (JMLE).

The paper describes the results of the first randomized study of the effectiveness of teacher training in media literacy education on teacher outcomes. Participating teachers reported stronger beliefs in the importance of providing media literacy education to students and more familiarity with media literacy education than teachers who did not receive the training. The study also showed that attendance at the one-day teacher training workshop was effective in improving teachers’ critical thinking skills related to media literacy. These skills are relevant for achieving successful student outcomes of improved critical thinking skills and reductions in intent to use alcohol and tobacco.
View the abstract 

The Media Detective and Media Ready programs are now listed on the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices, NREPP. The database evaluates and rates the programs in several areas including outcomes, quality of research, study population, readiness for dissemination and costs. Visit the NREPP website, www.nrepp.samhsa.gov, to view the full listings.
Both programs use developmentally appropriate lessons, and students learn how to deconstruct media messages in order to better understand the pro-alcohol and tobacco messages that are being sent to them by the media. The programs and lesson objectives are integrated with curriculum objectives in language arts, information skills, mathematics, and healthful living. Learn more about the programs by visiting our Products page. 

Rebecca Stelter, Ph.D., project director for Mentoring Central, will conduct a day and half long workshop for Mentoring Children of Prisoner program staff on the topic of Match Support. The Mid-Atlantic Network for Youth (MANY) organized the workshop, which takes place on February 10th-11th in San Diego, California. For more news on mentoring and match support, visit www.mentoringcentral.net. 

Dr. Janis Kupersmidt was invited to sit on an expert panel and present research on mentor training at United Way’s Mentoring Partner Meeting. The January 26th meeting in Alexandria, VA worked to build a network of advisors to help United Way refine its strategies to support mentoring. One of the main goals of United Way Worldwide is to improve education and increase the high school graduation rate. They aim to do this by creating a strong support system for students, which includes mentors as an important facet. 

iRT researchers and Mentoring Central developers, Drs. Janis Kupersmidt and Rebecca Stelter, along with their colleague Graig Meyer, will attend the National Mentoring Summit at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC on January 25th. The summit theme is "Achieving Academic and Social Success: Supporting Youth through Mentoring". Also, Mentoring Central SBIR Co-PI, Jean Rhodes, is serving as coordinating chair for the 2011 National Mentoring Summit. She will be leading several sessions throughout the conference.