Researchers have suggested that bystander behaviors and victim coping play an important role in counteracting the negative effects of bullying. The current study investigated the relationship between students’ ratings of coping effectiveness when addressing bullying and their behaviors as bystanders when witnessing bullying. Surveys were administered in a Midwestern, suburban school district. Some associations between perceptions of coping effectiveness and bystander behavior supported our hypotheses (e.g., constructive coping associated with defending bystander behaviors, externalizing associated with pro‐bullying behaviors). However, some findings did not support hypothesized relationships. For example, higher ratings of effectiveness for cognitive distancing as a coping strategy were associated with increased defending behaviors as a bystander. Gender moderated some of these relationships. Pro‐bullying bystander behavior was associated with increased ratings of cognitive distancing and decreased reports of constructive coping effectiveness for girls. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

One indicator of school psychology's capacity to provide culturally responsive practice is the percentage of articles in leading school psychology journals that have a “significant diversity focus.” To date, there have been three published empirical studies (Brown, Shriberg, & Wang, ; Miranda & Gutter, ; Rogers Wiese, ) that have defined and examined this construct. These three articles collectively provide empirical data on the percentage of articles appearing in leading school psychology journals that met criteria from a time period spanning 1975–2003. This manuscript provides the results of the most recent iteration of this study, covering the years 2004–2010. In this study, 15.5% of articles met criteria, up from figures found from 1975–1999, but a decline from the 2000–2003 figure of 16.9%. Several potential implications of this ongoing lack of empirical and theoretical scholarship are offered.

Increasingly, professional training programs are dealing with the need for competency‐based assessments of student learning outcomes. This is particularly challenging in fields such as school psychology, with competencies identified by multiple accrediting bodies and state requirements. The primary goal of this study was to examine the degree to which competencies espoused by differing accrediting bodies are perceived as important among school psychologists. One hundred nineteen participants responded to questions regarding the importance of competencies and foundational knowledge as delineated by the American Psychological Association, National Association of School Psychologists, Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, state boards/departments of education, and best practices in the field. Findings indicated that respondents endorsed most skills as “Very Important” or “Extremely Important,” with slightly less favorable ratings for competencies addressing advocacy and supervision. Factor analysis of the items revealed a three‐factor structure labeled teaching/supervision, intervention, and assessment.

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