Graduate School of Education

Professor Richard Newman

Bachelor's Degree, major

B.A., Mathematics, Lehigh University

Master's Degrees, major

M.Ed., Special Education, Boston University M.A., Psychology, University of Michigan

Doctoral Degree, research area, conferring institution

Ph.D., Education and Psychology, University of Michigan

Area of research:

I’m interested in help seeking--both academic and social help seeking. The question regarding academic help seeking is, why is it so difficult for students to raise their hand and ask a question when they don’t understand an assignment? I became interested in this issue when I was a classroom teacher and realized this is a real- world problem that often can be solved. Help seeking can be facilitated; kids can be encouraged and supported to ask for help. The question regarding social help seeking (which is what I’ve been interested in most recently) has to do with the difficulty that kids have when they are being harassed, bullied, threatened or teased. Again, why is it so difficult to get help?

Selected publications:

Newman, R.S., & Goldin, L. (1990). Children’s reluctance to seek help with schoolwork.

Newman, R.S., & Schwager, M.T. (1995). Students’ help seeking during problem solving: Effects of grade, goal, and prior achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 352-376

Newman, R. S. (1998).Adaptive help seeking: A role of social interaction in self-regulated learning. In S. A. Karabenick (Ed.), Strategic help seeking: Implications for learning and teaching. (pp. 13-37). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

Newman, R.S. (2000) Social influences on the development of children’s adaptive help seeking: The role of parents, teachers, and peers. Developmental Review, 20, 350-404.

Newman, R.S., Murray, B., & Lussier, C. (2001) Confrontation with aggressive peers at school: Students’ reluctance to seek help from the teacher. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 398-410.

 Newman, R. S. (2002). What do I need to do to succeed… When I don’t understand what I’m doing!?: Developmental influences on students’ adaptive help seeking. In A. Wigfield & J. Eccles (Eds.). Development of achievement motivation. (pp. 285-306). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Newman, R. S., & Murray, B. J. (2005) How students and teachers view the seriousness of peer harassment: When is it appropriate to seek help? Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 347-365.

Newman, R. S.(2008). The motivational role of adaptive help seeking in self-regulated learning.  In D. H. Schunk & B. J. Zimmerman (Eds.), Motivation and self-regulated learning: Theory, research, and applications. (pp. 127-142). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Newman, R. S. (2008). Adaptive and non-adaptive help seeking with peer harassment: An integrative perspective of coping and self regulation. Educational Psychologist, 43, 1-15.

What I like about being at the GSOE:

I get to teach classes that I really enjoy. For example, I teach a class in achievement motivation and a class in developmental psychopathology.

How I discovered my professional passion:

I have to admit that, in retrospect, it was certainly not a preplanned way of getting to where I am now. I never intended to get into education. I was trained as a mathematician, then became a math teacher, and became interested in why kids have trouble learning.  The problem often has to do with social, emotional, and motivational issues.

My path took a very circuitous route, including:

•High school math teacher

•Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica (where I trained elementary-school teachers in math)

•Outward Bound mountaineering instructor for adolescents with learning disabilities and emotional problems.

•Master's program in special education (where a professor encouraged me to go on for a doctorate)

•I was in a great doctoral program (where two advisors got me involved in their research in developmental psychology)

•Finally, I became a professor.

•Most recently, I’ve had the opportunity to work in a clinical setting with kids with emotional problems.  As a clinical child psychologist, I’ve been able to work on a one to one basis with school-aged children who not only have learning problems but also mental health problems that can be very severe—problems that often are not attended to in the school setting.