Generating a handbook for school adjustment counseling services in schools : a systemic perspective.

Although school adjustment counseling has existed in the schools of Massachusetts since 1952, there has been no resource guide or handbook which has guided the work. Because of the increased demands put upon schools to meet the complex emotional needs of our students, the job has grown, but without a clear sense of direction or approach to the work. The writer believed that there was a need for a handbook for persons studying to become school adjustment counselors, persons recently hired as school adjustment counselors, and perhaps even persons already in the field. A handbook was developed dealing with school adjustment counseling from a systemic perspective enhanced with some aspects of Carl Rogers\u27 philosophy. The handbook is not a comprehensive cookbook of all aspects of school adjustment counseling, but rather it is a discussion of an approach. Activities for dealing with individuals, groups, classrooms, staff, parents, and the general community are included from the writer\u27s personal experiences with these activities. Twenty-five people read the handbook, including new school adjustment counselors, experienced school adjustment counselors, people in training to become school adjustment counselors, school personnel in related fields and administrators. After reading the handbook, they completed a matrix and a questionnaire. Their responses were overwhelmingly positive. Based on the responses, the writer plans to revise and expand the handbook with hopes of it being a factor in enhancing the training for the field and preserving the uniqueness of the position

Temporal changes in total and size-fractioned chlorophyll-a in surface waters of three provinces in the Atlantic Ocean (September to November) between 2003 and 2010

Phytoplankton total chlorophyll concentration (TCHLa) and phytoplankton size structure are two important ecological indicators in biological oceanography. Using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pigment data, collected from surface waters along the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT), we examine temporal changes in TCHLa and phytoplankton size class (PSC: micro-, nano- and pico-phytoplankton) between 2003 and 2010 (September to November cruises only), in three ecological provinces of the Atlantic Ocean. The HPLC data indicate no significant change in TCHLa in northern and equatorial provinces, and an increase in the southern province. These changes were not significantly different to changes in TCHLa derived using satellite ocean-colour data over the same study period. Despite no change in AMT TCHLa in northern and equatorial provinces, significant differences in PSC were observed, related to changes in key diagnostic pigments (fucoxanthin, peridinin, 19’-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin and zeaxanthin), with an increase in small cells (nano- and pico-phytoplankton) and a decrease in larger cells (micro-phytoplankton). When fitting a three-component model of phytoplankton size structure ̶ designed to quantify the relationship between PSC and TCHLa ̶ to each AMT cruise, model parameters varied over the study period. Changes in the relationship between PSC and TCHLa have wide implications in ecology and marine biogeochemistry, and provide key information for the development and use of empirical ocean-colour algorithms. Results illustrate the importance of maintaining a time-series of in-situ observations in remote regions of the ocean, such as that acquired in the AMT programme