Risk and Prevention

Practicum and Research Placements

All R&P students enroll in a yearlong service practicum or research experience that serves as an integrating function for content taught in the program. The practica and research experiences address the problems and possibilities encountered from infancy through adolescence. Placements emphasize the role of counselors, teachers, and educational specialists in nurturing healthy development through early intervention and care, school-based, and community initiatives.

Practicum Experience

Risk and Prevention students are placed in schools and community organizations across the Boston and Cambridge area. Under the supervision of highly skilled and committed practitioners, students have the opportunity to apply their coursework to their work with children and adolescents. Although sites vary from year to year, the following list reflects the diversity of field-based experiences available to R&P students.

• Boston Arts Academy
• Brighton High School
• Family Connections at Jamaica Plain Head Start
• New Mission High School, Roxbury
• Gardner Extended Services School, Allston
• Patrick Lyndon Pilot School, West Roxbury
• Peace Games
• RALLY at Curley Middle School
• Project If, Edwards Middle School
• Cambridgeport School
• Notre Dame High School, Lawrence
• Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School

Sample Site Descriptions for 2007-2008

Research Experience

Th is yearlong apprenticeship provides opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience through participation in a multifaceted research and evaluation project at child-focused prevention and intervention sites. Students can expect to have hands-on experience in several facets of an ongoing research project and the opportunity to use data gathered to formulate questions, describe methods, and execute analyses. Projects change from year to year; here is a sampling.

• Facing History and Ourselves
• Project If
• Peace Games