Center Research Faculty
Jennifer Frank Current Vita
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research Associate, Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development
Contact Information
125F South Henderson
(814) 867-3015
Research Interests
School-based prevention; implementation/adaptation of evidence-based programs; sustainability; developmental psychopathology; family-based interventions; social-emotional learning; mindfulness-based interventions
Examples of Current Prevention Projects
Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE)
Start Date: 2009
Funder: U.S. Department of Education Institute of Educational Sciences
The current project involves presenting CARE within the context of urban, suburban, and rural districts in central Pennsylvania as part of a two-year study being conducted at the Pennsylvania State University Prevention Research Center to complete the pilot testing and collect preliminary evidence of changes in teacher well-being and classroom outcomes as a result of the CARE program.
Family Life Project/Children in Poverty
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH)
Start Date: 2002
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Penn State are examining biological, individual, family and community influences that affect rural children. About 1,400 subjects from selected rural counties in North Carolina and Pennsylvania are being studied beginning in infancy and continuing over their first three years.
PA Communities That Care (CTC) Statewide Evaluation
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Start Date: 1998
Under a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), the Prevention Research Center is conducting a statewide evaluation of the Communities That Care delinquency prevention initiative.
Penn State Siblings are Special Project
National Institutes of Health
Start Date: 2009
Family Foundations: Coparenting and the Transition to Parenthood
National Institutes of Health
Start Date: 2009
High School Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (HS-PBIS) Development Project
Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
Start Date: 2011
Recent Publications
Roach, A. T., Kratochwill, T. R., & Frank, J. L. (2009). School-based consultants as change facilitators: An adaptation of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) to support implementation of research-based practices. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 19, 300–320.
McIntosh, K., Frank, J. F., & Spaulding, S. A. (2010). Establishing research-based trajectories of office discipline referrals for individual students. School Psychology Review, 39, 380–393.
Todd, A. W., Horner, R. H., Newton, J. S., Algozzine, R. F., Algozzine, K. M., & Frank, J. L. (2010). Effects of team-initiated problem solving on decision-making by school-wide behavior support teams. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 27, 42–59.
Fosco, G. M., Frank, J. L., & Dishion, T. J. (2011). Understanding the influences of deviant peers on problem behavior: Coercion and contagion in peer, family, and school environments. In S. R. Jimerson & M. J. Furlong (Eds.), Handbook of school violence and school safety (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McIntosh, K., Mercer, S. H., Hume, A. E., Frank, J. L., Turri, M. G., & Matthews, S. (In Press). Factors predicting sustained implementation of School-wide Positive Behavior Support. Exceptional Children.
Flannery, K. B., Frank, J. L., & McGrath-Kato, M. (In Press). School disciplinary responses to truancy: Current practices and future directions. Journal of School Violence.
Meiklejohn, J., Phillips, C., Freedman, L., Griffin, M., Biegel, G., Roach, A.T., Burke, C., Pinger, L., Soloway, G., Frank, J. L., Isberg, R., Sibinga, E., Grossman, L., & Saltzman, A. (In Press). Integrating mindfulness training into K-12 Education: Fostering the resilience of teachers and students. Mindfulness.
Vincent, C. G., Tobin, T. J., & Hawken, L. S. & Frank, J. L. (In Press). Discipline referrals and access to secondary level support in elementary and middle schools: Patterns across African-American, Hispanic-American, and White students. Education and Treatment of Children.