| There are approximately seven times more African American children in schools than there are African American school psychologists. (Curtis, Grier, & Hunley, 2004; United States [US] Census, 2005). To ensure the needs of African American children are met, culturally competent techniques need to be used in research and practice. In the first phase of the current study, the use of culturally informed techniques and the overall portrayal of African American children in school psychology research were investigated. A content analysis of the school psychology research literature focusing on African American children was performed to examine methodological and conceptual limitations. Descriptive analyses showed that some of the methodological and conceptual limitations found in other fields of psychology were also found in school psychology literature. In the second phase of this study, a measure of perceptions was developed based on pre-existing literature and disseminated to school psychology practitioners as a preliminary investigation of the potential impact of African American research on their perceptions (n = 200). Exploratory factor analysis of the PAAC (Perceptions of African American Children questionnaire) yielded a one factor structure and the measure was found to be reliable. ANOVAs investigating how participant characteristics related to the extracted factor of the measure showed that the racial/ethnic child population, with whom school psychologists worked, had an impact on psychologist's responding to PAAC questions. The implications of this research are twofold: to inform research conceptualization and methodology, and to increase cultural sensitivity among authors and consumers of school psychology research. |
