What You Need to Know About School Psychologists
Evidence of the Positive Impact of School Psychological Services
(Jeffrey L. Charvat, PhD, July 2009)
- School staff rate the services provided by school psychologists as very important, including assessment, special education input, consultation, counseling, crisis intervention, and behavior management (Watkins, Crosby, & Pearson, 2007).
- Special education teachers see the work of school psychologists in individualized education program meetings as helpful and important (Arivett,Rust, Brissie, & Dansby, 2007).
- Interventions that strengthen students' social, emotional, and decision making skills also positively impact their academic achievement, both in terms of higher standardized test scores and better grades (Fleming et al., 2005).
- Students who receive social-emotional support and prevention services achieve better academically in school (Greenberg et al., 2003; Welsh et al., 2001; Zins et al., 2004).
- Whole-school interventions using positive behavior supports decrease behavior problems while improving academic performance, as measured by standardized tests in reading and mathematics (Luiselli et al., 2005; Nelson et al., 2002).
- The intervention strategies employed by related services personnel produce substantial positive impact on special education outcomes (Forness, 2001).
- Interventions that foster students' engagement in school have been shown to reduce high school dropout (Reschly & Christenson, 2006; Sinclair et al., 1998).
- Prevention and early intervention programs targeting at-risk students reduce special education referrals and placement, suspension, grade retention, and disciplinary referrals (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000).
- School-based behavioral consultation yields positive results such as remediating academic and behavior problems for children and reducing referrals for psycho-educational assessments (MacLeod et al., 2000).
Resources
Bullying Prevention and Intervention
Zero Tolerance and Alternative Strategies
Mental Health Care Services Phone Guide
Responding to a Death: Tips for Administrators
Family-School Partnerships: Information and Approaches for Educators
Defusing Violence in Young Children
Website Resources
Intervention Central
Website provides academic and behavioral intervention strategies, download publications on effective teaching practices, and use tools that streamline classroom assessment and intervention.
Florida Center for Reading Research
Information on the latest research in reading preschool through 12th grade.
Ideas that Work
Toolkits on teaching and assessing children with disabilities.
The IRIS Center
Training Enhancements for free online interactive resources that translate research about the education of students with disabilities into practice. Materials cover a wide variety of evidence-based topics, including behavior, RTI, learning strategies, and progress monitoring.
Internet4Classrooms
Educational resources for kindergarten through 12th grade.
The Access Center
Ideas and resources for students with disabilities to access general education curriculum.
RtI Action Network
Information and networking resources around Response to Intervention