Sheri Atwater
Professor Loyola Marymount University
Media
Biography
Previously, Dr. Atwater has been a professor of counseling in CSULA's Charter College of Education (2003-14) and served as co-Principal Investigator for the Los Angeles County Office of Education's Student Mental Health Initiative, a grant that provided training in suicide prevention and postvention to pre-service teachers, counselors, and administrators. Dr. Atwater has served as past President of the School Psychology Educators of California (SPEC); member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Multicultural Education (CSULA); and Editorial Review Board Member for Scientific Journals International.
Since 2001, Dr. Atwater has worked in Oakland, Alameda, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Berkeley Unified School Districts conducting and supervising psychological assessments and individual and group counseling sessions; worked on research and program evaluations with Stanford Research Institute (SRI) International (Washington DC), the Bay Area Consortium for Urban Education (Berkeley, CA), and the Corporation for Research in Educational Networking (Washington, D.C.); and served as supervisor to clinical fieldwork candidates and psychology interns in Los Angeles area schools.
Dr. Atwater is also the creator and Project Director of the SUCCESS Coaching program, a multi-year collaboration (2010-2015) with the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she supervised graduate students as they provided individual clinical services to elementary school students. Her most recent national workshop presentations focus on how educators can foster effective culturally-relevant dialogue in classrooms and schools and avoid the "trap" of color-blind racial ideology.
Education
University of California, Berkeley
Ph.D.
Education (Cognition and Development)
University of California, Berkeley
M.A.
Education (Cognition and Development)
Stanford University
B.A.
Psychology
Social
Areas of Expertise
Industry Expertise
Accomplishments
Credential
Pupil Personnel Services Clear Credential, Advanced Authorization in School Psychology
Research Focus
Research Focus
Dr. Atwater's research focuses on the effects of school-based clinical counseling programs with “at-risk” elementary and secondary school populations; the multicultural attitudes, beliefs, and classroom practices of teachers working with diverse learners (specifically the use of the "color-blind" ideology and its effects on students of color); and on identifying ethical practice models in the field of counseling.
Teaching Interests
Dr. Atwater teaches graduate courses in the Counseling and school psychology programs, including courses in applied developmental psychology (lifespan), individual and group counseling, counseling theories and techniques, and psychological assessment and consultation. In addition, Dr. Atwater provides university-based clinical supervision to interns and fieldwork students in schools and community agencies.
Courses
EDSP 6394
Helping Skills
EDSP 6362
Counseling Theories and Techniques
EDSP 6391
Lifespan Development
EDSP 6377
Multicultural Counseling
EDSP 6378
Group Counseling
EDSP 6940
Fieldwork Mental Health Counseling I
EDSP 6945
Fieldwork Mental Health Counseling II
EDSP 6386
Culturally Responsive Counseling with Individuals
Articles
“What is ‘Privilege’?”: A Counseling Curriculum Tool to Operationalize American Counseling Association’s Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency Framework for Counselor Trainees
International Journal of Counseling and Education, vol 10, 1. March, 2025)Castro-Atwater, S.A.
2025-03-31
This article describes the rationale and design of a “What is Privilege?” tool designed to help counselor trainees become aware of the privileges they hold and the role these may play in their personal and professional lives. This tool serves as a critical self-awareness assessment instrument that can be used to operationalize the American Counseling Association’s Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency (MSJCC) framework within counselor education programs, particularly the domain of “counselor self-awareness”. It also serves as a critical training tool that defines the term of “privilege” within three pillars: powers, resources and freedoms, using probing prompts to identify how counselor trainees have experienced these, and/or from which they have benefited.
Teaching Implicit Bias in Multicultural Counseling Courses: Framework, Tools, and Limitations
Journal of Counselor Practice, 15(2):52–82, 2024 DOI: 10.22229/aws6739306 Copyright © Ohio Counseling AssociationCastro-Atwater, S.A.
2024-11-01
Enabling counselor trainees to recognize their own implicit bias and its impact on potential counselor-client interactions is an essential part of every multicultural
counseling curriculum. This article describes the research and rationale for incorporating implicit bias into training programs, as well as the use of implicit bias tools, techniques, and activities used in a graduate-level multicultural counseling course that align with the American Counseling Association-endorsed Multicultural
and Social Justice Counseling Competency (MSJCC) framework (Ratts et al., 2016). Benefits and challenges for counseling faculty and students are reviewed, with sample
implicit bias activities shared.
Critical Race Theory in K-12 Schools: A Four-Element Framework to Inform DEI Training
[Book Chapter].In Chandan, H. and B. Christiansen (Eds). (2023) Implication of Critical Race Theory for Social Justice (IGI Global)Castro-Atwater, S.A.
2023-07-01
This chapter defines the tenets and goals of CRT as a useful and important analytical tool versus the “myths” of CRT recently perpetuated in the media and illustrates CRT's use as an analytical tool in three key areas of K-12 education. It then provides four key elements designed for educational leader and teacher diversity training in K-12 schools based upon a review of current CRT educational research. Perpetual racial inequities cannot be addressed or remediated by simply ignoring race or failing to consider the impact of systemic racism; rather, this chapter will highlight why it is crucial to shift away from a colorblind approach to a CRT framework within educational reform—specifically within teacher education and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training—in order to address racial disparities through a “race-conscious” lens that allows for direct dismantling of systems of historical oppression of minoritized groups.
Color-blindness.
In Z. Casey (Ed.) (2020) Critical Understandings in Education Encyclopedia: Critical Whiteness Studies. Leiden, NL: Brill Publishers.2020-11-01
Whiteness norms are recurring patterns of behaviors that systemically benefit White people. The specific enactment of behaviors in one location and context can differ from the behaviors in other locations and contexts. These behaviors are enacted by all people not just by White people. Who-ever enacts the behaviors typically derives some contextual social benefit for doing so.
Color-blind racial ideology in K-12 schools
In H.A. Neville, M.E. Gallardo, & D.W. Sue (Eds.) (2016), The Myth of Racial Color Blindness: Manifestations, Dynamics, and Impact (p. 207-225). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological AssociationRacial inequality is often produced by adopting a color-blind racial ideology (CBRI) in which race-based decision making is seen as antithetical to the goal of an ideal, “color-blind” world. CBRI has been defined as the “new racism,” the covert methods of which are “subtle, institutional, and apparently non-racial” (Bonilla-Silva, 2009, p. 3).
Ecological Factors and Interventions for Fostering College-Age Multiracial Identity
Education2018-06-01
With the exponential growth of the multiracial and multiethnic college-age population, it is important to address the role that family and peers play in multiracial individuals' identity formation. This is particularly important as ethnic identity is strongly associated with adolescent and young adult self-esteem. Practice interventions are discussed as well as future directions.
A Conceptual Framework of "Top 5" Ethical Lessons for the Helping Professions
Education2015-03-01
One of the important tasks of supervisors and educators in the human service fields is to provide their fieldwork students with models of appropriate ethical behavior and decision-making. The ethical training that educators provide to students in the helping professions will greatly influence how prepared students feel to navigate through difficult ethical situations when they arise in the field. The goal of this article is to introduce a conceptual framework of "Top 5 Ethical Lessons" for the human service professions that is currently in use by social work and school psychology faculty at a large urban university. Training in the "Top 5" Lessons allows graduate students to come away with a new skill set of engaging in the dialogue of ethical decision-making while simultaneously adhering to their field's ethical principles of respecting individuals, promoting equity, and advocating for social justice...
Cultural Characteristics of Mental Health Service Delivery
Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity2014-09-23
Mental health refers not just to the presence or absence of mental illness but to the ability to cope with life stressors in a manner that does not severely impact daily life functioning. A variety of cultural characteristics can impact a person's ability to seek, afford, and access mental health services and resources. Culture, when defined broadly, includes the beliefs, values, and norms of a specific group...
People of Color: Service Delivery, Psychological Assessment, Cultural Issues
Encyclopedia of Human Services and Diversity2014-09-23
There are numerous cultural issues that can enhance or impede the psychological assessment and service delivery of people of color in the United States (e.g., African American or black, Hispanic, Asian American or Pacific Islander, Native American, and mixed racial or ethnic groups). These cultural issues may be understood broadly by examining three main cultural factors that affect an assessment and treatment setting: (1) individual characteristics and cultural beliefs of the person of color; (2) cultural beliefs of the clinician or service provider, including cultural assumptions and theoretical orientation; and (3) the type and standardization of the psychological assessment instruments chosen for use in psychological evaluation...
Establishing a SUCCESS-ful School Counseling Program through University-Community Collaboration
Journal of Instructional Psychology2013-12-01
This article describes four main “keys to success” in implementing a comprehensive school-based “life coaching” counseling program for at-risk students at diverse Los Angeles area schools, based upon seven years of the author’s direction of the program. Specific techniques that work to create and sustain a family-school-community partnership are highlighted. The “keys to success” emphasize three main goals critical to a school-based counseling program: (a) counselor training in clinical communication microskills and brief counseling methods, (b) ongoing clinical needs assessment and program evaluation, and (c) a six-step goal-setting process that mimics the stages of the clinical interview process. Counseling programs must also retain flexibility of goal implementation based on individual client progress...
"Did they Say What I think They Said?" A Multicultural Response Framework to Address Racial Comments in the Classroom
Journal of Education and Human Development2008-01-01
This article discusses the difficulties inherent in addressing racial issues with students, and acknowledges the learning curve that must take place if teachers are to feel prepared and competent handling racist, stereotyped, or prejudiced comments in the classroom. The author proposes a Multicultural Response Framework of Racial/Cultural Discourse to serve as a framework for teacher reflection and development as they respond to students ' questions and comments about race. Findings from a pilot study are presented to illustrate how the framework can be used to classify teacher responses to hypothetical racial vignettes. Implications for psychologists and educators are discussed...
Waking Up to Difference: Teachers, Color-Blindness, and the Effects on Students of Color
Journal of Instructional Psychology2008-09-01
Color-blindness, the ideology that "race should not matter" in how individuals are treated, is often confused with "race does not matter" (Neville, 2000). The historical, social, and political origins of color-blind racial attitudes are outlined here. Developmental and constructivist theories are used to illustrate how teachers' use of the color-blind ideology may hinder students' critical thinking skills and inadvertently affect their cognitive growth. Research documenting color-blind practices in schools is presented, and variables that may affect teachers' ability to adopt color-conscious practices are reviewed. Teaching about the consequences of color-blindness to pre-service teachers can make them aware of how this ideology may affect their practice...
An Investigation of Teacher's 'Color-Blind' Racial Attitudes and Diversity Training Experiences: Implications for Teacher Education
Journal of Education and Human Development2007-09-01
Research demonstrates that skin color significantly impacts how students are treated (Lewis, 2001; Skiba, et al., 2002). Despite this, some teachers hold “color-blind” attitudes where they pretend not to notice or care about students’ ethnicity. This study explored the color-blind attitudes and diversity training experiences of 46 elementary teachers. Teachers completed both a Color-bind Racial Attitude Survey (Neville, 2000) and a diversity training questionnaire. Teachers whose diversity training a) included a “color-conscious” curriculum, b) was longer than one day, and c) taught how to address racial issues held significantly lower color-blind attitude scores. Implications for multicultural teacher education are discussed...
Why Students Underachieve: What Educators and Parents Can Do about It
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham2007-02-12
Counselors, psychologists, teachers, administrators, social workers—in short, anyone who has ever worked with students with behavioral or emotional difficulties—can instinctively recall those students whose behavior remained confusing and overwhelming despite school personnel’s best efforts to intervene. For anyone who has ever left an individualized educational plan (IEP) meeting feeling that the child’s needs were not truly understood, Regalena Melrose’s book Why Students Underachieve: What Educators and Parents Can Do about It is a highly worthwhile read. Melrose’s research-based premise about how and why we continue to misunderstand such children and the ways to serve them better is nothing short of revolutionary in a field where classification of the 13 federal disability categories dominates the special education landscape. With clear prose and practical case study examples, Melrose first lays out reasons why educators must re-conceptualize the problems many of these students face—particularly students who often do not fit ‘neatly’ into an Attention...
Evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative
SRI International08-01-2003
As part of its effort to develop a portfolio of effective high schools, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the Early College High School (ECS) Initiative. ECSs are publicly funded schools that offer a high school education and two years of college credit in a compressed time. The goal is to enroll students who are typically underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary education...
