New Name Marks Evolution of PSP Program

What's in a name? For faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, everything. Earlier this summer, Dean Kathleen McCartney announced the Prevention Science and Practice (PSP) Program, formerly known as Risk and Prevention (R&P). The new program title marks the evolution of the master's degree program -- dedicated to the practical application of contemporary research on risk, resilience, and prevention programming for children and adolescents in both school and out-of-school settings -- and marks the changing field of education.

"The new name for the program reflects our integrated nature and our mission to prepare graduates to improve the social, emotional, and academic outcomes of children and youth, and the communities and schools that shape their development," says Lecturer Mandy Savitz-Romer, director of PSP. "The new name also captures the diverse faculty, and the complementary nature of their teaching, research, and practice activities."

"All terms should have term limits: So it is with 'Risk and Prevention,'" says Professor Robert Selman, founding director of R&P. "With growing faculty strength, new and energetic leadership, and significant advances in the field over the 20 years since the program's founding, this is the right time to recognize Prevention Science and Practice and its enhanced capacity to undertake new research on child and adolescent prevention, in schools, and the communities around them."

The new degree name will also bear particular significance within the field of education. Although prevention science is not a new term and is widely used in social sciences and public health, it has only recently been introduced in educational practice, research, and policy.

"The term 'prevention science' reflects how educational settings, whether they be early childhood, elementary, or secondary, are increasingly understood as salient contexts and opportunities for promoting well-being across academic, mental health, and social/interpersonal areas," Savitz-Romer explains.

Created 20 years ago, R&P emphasized the application of theoretical frameworks associated with prevention, promotion, resiliency, counseling, and human development.

"The emphasis on prevention and social risk factors has been the hallmark of our program since the beginning," she explains. "We maintain a commitment to promoting healthy development in school and community settings. However, our new name also reflects a shift away from the emphasis on risk, favoring instead a model that stresses promotion and strengths-based approaches to research and practice."

The need for a new name became more apparent to PSP faculty when considering the vast ways that the Risk and Prevention Program had changed in the past five years. One of the major changes is that students can now earn a licensure in school-based counseling. This required expanding the program's training model, which integrates risk, prevention, and developmental concepts with counselor training and development, and school partnerships. The evolution of the program has attracted new faculty with expertise in prevention science research, prevention-oriented practice, and preventative and developmental counseling.

"The diversity of faculty expertise and experience truly represents the interdisciplinary spirit of prevention science and the inherent link between practitioners, researchers, and policymakers," says Savitz-Romer. "These additions have strengthened the existing program and caused our program's mission and identity to further evolve."

The curriculum and educational experiences of students will not change. PSP will continue to focus on cultural factors and strengths, and how they are embedded into intervention practices and applied research. However, this title will communicate to prospective students, future employers, and partners the integrated and interdisciplinary training of practitioners and researchers in the field of education.

"I am very excited about this change and the future of PSP. I hope this new name will attract students," says Savitz-Romer, "with an interest in prevention science and practice, who wish to study its many applications to the education sector"