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Jennifer Necci Dineen

Associate Professor in Residence, Department of Public Policy, University of Connecticut
Chapter Member: Connecticut SSN
Areas of Expertise:

About Jennifer

Dineen’s background is in political science, with a focus in survey methodology. Dineen has conducted surveys with a wide variety of populations including education stakeholders (District Administrators, Building Principals, Student Support Staff, Teachers, Parents, and Students), physicians, community leaders, and the general public. Dineen's overarching themes in research include examining the role of stakeholder attitudes in policy uptake and implementation. Dineen is the Director of UConn’s Graduate Program in Survey Research, Co-Director of the Gun Violence Prevention Research Interest Group, and a past-president of the NEAAPOR.

In the News

Opinion: "It’s Time to Hold the Adults Responsible," Jennifer Necci Dineen (with Kerri M. Raissian), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 10, 2024.
Opinion: "Because Gun Violence Requires Social Science Solutions," Jennifer Necci Dineen (with Kerri M. Raissian and Cassandra Crifasi), Why Social Science?, February 28, 2023.
Opinion: "Good Guys With Guns May Be Heroes—But They're Not Our Solution | Opinion," Jennifer Necci Dineen (with Kerri M. Raissian), Newsweek, July 22, 2022.

Publications

"Comparing Stakeholders’ Knowledge and Beliefs About Supporting Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Health in Schools" (with Sandra Chafouleas, Amy M. Briesch, Dakota W. Cintron, D. Betsy McCoach, and Emily Auerbach). School Mental Health 12 (2020): 222–238.

Compares stakeholders’ knowledge, beliefs, and opinions regarding school-based approaches to identifying/ supporting students at risk for social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) challenges. Discusses responses obtained from various stakeholder samples within 1330 US school districts. Shows how stakeholders generally reported being knowledgeable about SEB problems and school-based approaches believed student SEB problems should be a prioritized concern and identified using screening.

"Reproducibility in the Era of Big Data" (with Sandra Chafouleas, D. Betsy McCoach, and Amy Briesch), in Lessons for Developing Robust Data Management and Data Analysis Procedures, edited by Craig A. Hill, Paul P. Biemer, Trent D. Buskirk,Lilli Japec, Antje Kirchner, Stas Kolenikov and Lars E. Lyberg.

Focuses on the challenges and opportunities of using structured data from administrative and publicly available data sources, such as school records; demographic data; or public health records, in conjunction with traditional survey data. Illustrates several issues associated with managing large, multifaceted, multisource datasets.

"Exploring Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Screening Approaches in U.S. Public School Districts," (with Sandra Chafouleas and Amy M. Briesch), American Educational Research Journal, March 26, 2021.

Uses a nationally representative sample of U.S. public school districts and explores the current landscape of social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) approaches and their impact on behavioral outcomes. Data suggest SEB screening is the exception rather than the rule, with most districts reporting that students are referred to an internal support team when SEB concerns arise.