Laurice M. Joseph, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Internship Coordinator
joseph.21@osu.edu
(614) 688-4992

Teaching Interests

My teaching interests consist of preparing future professionals within a scientist-practitioner model so that they will have the knowledge and the skills to make decisions based on empiricist principles. Future professionals need to posses the skills necessary to examine the interaction between children and their environment. This involves obtaining adequate assessment skills so that they can identify antecedents and target specific areas of need in order to make decisions regarding targeting appropriate interventions that will produce a desired change in academic behavior. Specifically, this involves a process by which future professionals learn to link assessment methods to designing, implementing, and evaluating interventions for children. Best practices in assessment and intervention include understanding diversity, knowledge of evidenced-based interventions, and applying ethical, and legal practices. These foundations are achieved through teaching methods that consist of direct instruction and field-based service learning experiences. Courses I teach include: Assessment of Cognitive Ability I, Assessment of Cognitive Ability II, Assessment of Academic Achievement, and Linking Assessment to Intervention and coordination and supervision of internship experience in school psychology including intern seminar.

Research Interests

The goal of my research endeavors is to make a difference in children's lives by improving their environmental conditions, especially their instructional conditions. I accomplish this through examining the effectiveness of instructional interventions on the behaviors and academic performance of children. The following list consists of specific topics of interest:

Literacy Interventions: Many children struggle acquiring literacy which is a skill that permeates many other academic skills. The majority of children who are referred to the school psychologist for academic problems are referred for their struggles in the area of literacy. My current line of research centers around determining the effectiveness of literacy instruction on student performance. I have published numerous journal articles and give numerous presentations at national and state conferences related to this line of research.

Assessment: I am also interested in discovering the relationships between psychological and educational constructs as measured by assessment tools. For instance, I have engaged in correlational research that explores the relationship between phonological processing, cognitive processing, and basic reading skill performance among children.

Training of School Psychologists: I am continually interested in the improvement of training practices for school psychologists and the demonstration of performance outcomes of graduate students in training. This has been particularly evident in my work on examining the efficacy of training school psychologists to link assessment to intervention as measured by performance outcomes of the graduate students in training as well as the pupils they serve.