Daily activities of school psychologists: A national survey

A national survey of 335 school psychologists, asking them to record their activities on a specific school day, found that assessment activities comprised nearly 40% of the work time, and consultative activities another one-third of the day. Data were collected on a number of other work activities, as well as characteristics of the respondents: age, ethnic status, graduate degrees held, languages spoken, and characteristics of district served.     

Crisis prevention and intervention: A survey of school psychologists

A random sample of 197 practicing school psychologists who were members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) completed a survey questionnaire on experiences and perceptions with regard to school crisis preparedness, prevention, and intervention. Respondents indicated having the most direct experience with student–student physical assaults, serious illness or injury of students, unexpected students deaths, suicide attempts, and guns or other weapons at school. School psychologists reported that their schools used a wide variety of prevention and intervention strategies, most of which have been advocated in the literature. Respondents reported being most involved in the implementation of crisis prevention and intervention strategies and less involved in development and evaluation. Results and implications are discussed within the context of empirically supported practices and school psychologists' readiness to assume larger roles in crisis prevention and intervention. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 777–788, 2004.     

Self-instruction training: A potential tool for school psychologists

Self-instruction training is a cognitive-behavioral approach to self-control in which children are taught to use covert speech to modify their own behavior. The potential effectiveness of self-instruction training as an intervention technique for school psychologists to enhance student academic and/or social behavior in the classroom is the focus of this review. Research results addressing the practical issues of how, when, and with whom to use this strategy, its generalizability, and its long-term and comparative effectiveness are presented. Implications for further research in the schools are discussed.     

Serving the gifted: A national survey of school psychologists

Gifted students are among the most underserved population in American schools and are some of the most underperforming in the world, ranking last in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Algebra, and Geometry among 13 other developed countries. To improve services for the gifted, possible gaps in training and service delivery must be identified. There is a lack of research addressing many of the practical aspects of the delivery of services to the gifted. There is also a lack of research examining how well school psychologists are prepared to provide services to gifted and talented students. We conducted a national survey of school psychologists to evaluate the amount of time school psychologists allocate for gifted assessment and consultation. We also collected information about graduate school and professional development on gifted topics, familiarity with prominent figures in the gifted field, and gifted assessment methods. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A national survey of burnout among school psychologists

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlates of burnout in a national sample of school psychologists. A stress questionnaire, demographic information sheet, and Maslach Burnout Inventory were mailed to 600 randomly selected members of the National Association of School Psychologists. A total of 234 practitioners comprised the final sample. The results indicated that burnout was related to demographic (e.g., age), environmental (e.g., role definitions), and professional activity (e.g., role diversity) variables. Implications for the field of school psychology and future research are discussed.     

Family therapy: A case for training for school psychologists

This article presents both a rationale and methodology for family involvement by school personnel and underscores the need for school psychology training programs to respond programmatically to the training of their students in understanding and working with families. A family systems approach is adopted by the authors and is presented in the form of key questions concerning some important family dynamics. Five applications of this framework in the school setting are discussed.     

Demographics and professional practices of school psychologists: A comparison of NASP members and non–NASP school psychologists by telephone survey

A national telephone survey was conducted to examine potential differences between National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) members and non–NASP member school psychologists. Identified schools were contacted by telephone and the researchers asked to speak with the school psychologist. A sample of 124 practicing school psychologists was obtained. Overall, 57.3% (n = 71) of respondents were NASP members, and 42.7% (n = 53) were not. In most respects, current results were similar to NASP‐member‐only surveys. Current results suggest that previous studies overestimated the proportion of NASP members among school psychologists and may have underestimated the total number of school‐based practitioners. Significant differences between NASP members and nonmembers were found in ethnicity, national certification, professional organization membership, and use of Curriculum Based Measurement. Results are discussed in the context of previous national surveys. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A survey of ethical decision making among practicing school psychologists

This study investigated a sample of practicing school psychologists' preferred resolutions to a series of ethical dilemmas and their primary reason(s) for arriving at these resolutions. Results indicated a general lack of consistency in both actions taken to resolve ethical dilemmas and reasons chosen to support such actions, regardless of respondents' sex, years of experience, self-reported hours of ethics training, frequency of encountering similar problems, perceived seriousness of the problem, or confidence in decision making. The results are discussed in light of similar findings from other areas of professional psychology and their implications for better preservice training in ethical decision making.     

School consultation: The training needs of teachers and school psychologists

This paper describes the roles of teachers and school psychologists and presents an overview of current and prospective methods of providing services to special needs children. On the basis of the literature and professional experience, it is suggested that changes are needed in the provision of special education services. The consultative relationship between teachers and school psychologists is viewed as the key to successful classroom intervention for special needs children. Although each profession brings expertise into the consultative relationship, better training is needed for teachers and school psychologists to ensure that effective intervention strategies are developed.     

A national survey of current supervision and evaluation practices of school psychologists

This paper presents findings from a national survey of school psychologists regarding current supervision and evaluation practices. Thirty‐seven percent of usable surveys were returned. Overall results suggested that the sample of school psychologists were somewhat to moderately satisfied with current supervision and evaluation practices. However, wide variation in how supervision, evaluation, and professional development are obtained was indicated. The evaluation process is most often conducted by an administrator who may not be familiar with school psychology; and it is not viewed as an opportunity for professional development. In addition, evaluation criteria often are not tailored specifically to the roles of the school psychologist. Most alarming, and consistent with previous research, is that many school psychologists do not have enough supervision available to meet either their wishes or standards for the profession. Higher satisfaction with supervision was found when participants were provided with more regular and formal supervision contacts. Participants also indicated a person knowledgeable about school psychology could best provide supervision. Implications of the results and future directions are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Identifying the training experiences and needs of bilingual school psychologists

The purpose of this pilot study was to better understand the training experiences of bilingual school psychologists (BSPs) and identify their training needs in the provision of psychological services to English language learner students. The secondary aims of the study were to determine how school psychology programs can better prepare BSPs and incorporate best practices in bilingual competencies into their training models. Six BSPs (Spanish/English‐speakers) participated in the study; findings revealed four themes related to their training experiences: (a) programmatic limitations, (b) assumption that language equals competence, (c) going beyond the classroom, and (d) experiential training. In addition, as a result of their training experiences, the BSPs provided training recommendations in two major areas: (a) trainers and (b) culturally relevant curriculum. Implications for school psychology trainers will be provided.     

The training of school psychologists in the United States: An overview

A comprehensive study was undertaken to investigate the “state of the art” in the training of school psychologists. The data indicate that the rate of growth in the number of programs is increasing, especially at the sixth-year level. Data are presented on student and faculty demographics and characteristics. While evidence exists for the notion of program proliferation, the impact of such growth cannot be assessed without accurata data regarding present and future market demand.     

Effects of fluency training on reading competence in primary school children: The role of prosody

Reading fluency defined as speed, accuracy, and prosody, is a critical component of reading development. The purpose of this research was to compare the efficacy of automaticity versus prosody programmes on reading comprehension. The study included 122 Spanish primary-school children (74 second and 48 fourth graders), randomly assigned to one of three groups: (a) automaticity training, which consisted of repeated reading with a focus on speed and accuracy plus phonological and orthographic awareness activities; (b) prosody training, which consisted of repeated reading with a focus on expressiveness plus prosody sensitivity activities; and a (c) ‘no treatment’ control group. Multiple measures were used to determine pre-post training performance in reading fluency—automaticity and prosody—and comprehension. Prosody training proved superior to automaticity training in promoting automaticity and prosody. Prosody and automaticity training in fourth graders resulted in superior sentence comprehension compared to controls. The importance of prosody for reading development in primary school is discussed.