Antoinette Halsell Miranda, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Program Director
miranda.2@osu.edu
(614) 292-5909

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests closely mirror my research interests. I believe school psychologists can make a significant difference in the schools and in children's lives given the breadth and depth of training they receive. School psychologists should view themselves as change agents. In particular, school psychologists need to have a knowledge base of school and systems structure and organization in order to effectively make change. School psychologists use effective collaboration skills that enable them to work with a wide range of constituents. I am particularly interested in schools psychologists making a difference in children's lives through early interventions services, and the implementation of empirically sound behavioral interventions. The use of a problem solving model is one such method that can effectively guide the practitioner to promote change. An underlying foundation that all school psychologists should possess is the knowledge of the potential influences of social, cultural, ethnic, socioeconomic, gender-related, and linguistic factors in children's lives. Courses: Cultural Diversity: Developing a multicultural awareness, School-based consultation I, School-based consultation II, Urban Issues in Education, Early Intervention with birth-5, School and systems organization.

Research Interests

An underlying theme in almost all of my research is the issue of diversity. For many years, research was conducted on the majority culture with little consideration for how issues of diversity may make a difference. As the population in the United States becomes increasingly diverse, it is imperative that we make issues of diversity an integral part of our mission rather than just an add on. My advisees are part of my research team and engage in collaborative research with me in the following areas or pursue topics that are of interest to them.

• Diversity Training: Our standards and guidelines have been more forthright in mandating diversity training. Unfortunately, there has not been much conducted on what is the most effective way to provide training in the area of diversity that makes a difference. I am particularly interested in knowing how carefully designed courses in diversity make a difference in student lives both personally and professionally.
• Early Intervention with birth-5: I have been involved in providing mental health services to a large Head Start agency for the past nine years. The concept of Head Start was to provide early experiences that would provide children a head start before they enter public school. Historically, the mental health component of Head Start has been the weakest component. My research in this area is focused on how we can identify children early and intervene to reduce the need for remediation and special education in the public schools. Current projects will be focused on the evaluation of effective screening methods and implementing early literacy in classrooms.
• The practice of school psychology in urban schools: This area has received little attention in the school psychology literature. Practice in urban schools often consists of mainly the assessment and placement of children for special education services. School psychologists need to explore effective ways of providing services to urban schools. I currently have a research project that examines general education teachers' implementation of behavior management interventions following consultation with school psychology students. Another aspect of the research project is examining the effectiveness of those interventions in an urban setting. These are projects that were developed by the school psychology students. This project will continue next year. Another research project explores competencies that are needed for school psychologists to work effectively in urban settings with urban populations. Focus groups are currently being conducted around the country.