A new book edited by Gayle Macklem (UMass Amherst, B. A., Class of ’63), Lessons from School Psychology: Practical Strategies and Evidence-Based Practice for Professionals and Parents has just been published. It presents practical advice and evidence-based strategies for school-based professionals and parents to utilize when dealing with challenging and worrisome behavior in children and adolescents. Structured around a series of timely topics facing schools today, chapters cover everything from bullying and racial incidents to substance abuse and suicide prevention. This unique resource integrates proven models and strategies from school psychology practice in an accessible format that highlights key takeaways and valuable lessons for teachers, counselors, social workers, administration, or anyone looking to help a young person in their life.

Gayle holds a Masters’ Degree, in Psychology, from Smith College and currently teaches in the School Psychology Program at William James College in Newton, MA. William James College is primarily a graduate school but has just initiated an undergraduate major in psychology. Gayle is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and a Massachusetts Licensed Educational Psychologist. Gayle additionally is the Senior Curriculum Writer for the William James College’s Freedman Center for the Child and Family Development’s School Climate and Social Emotional Learning Graduate Certificate Program.

The book is unique in that all of the faculty in the school psychology program at William James College have contributed their expertise, each in their own areas of interest to the various chapters, an accomplishment that does not seem to have been duplicated to date. This is Gayle’s first book aimed at helping school professionals and parents. Her previous books have been the following textbooks: Bullying and teasing: Social power in children’s groups (2003), A practitioner’s guide to emotion regulation in school-aged children (2008), Evidence-based school mental health services: Affect education, emotion regulation training, and cognitive behavioral therapy (2011), Preventive mental health at school: Evidence-based services for students (2014); and Boredom in the classroom: Addressing student motivation, self-regulation, and engagement in learning by Springer (2015).