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School psychologists are school-based mental health professionals trained in both psychology and education committed to ensuring that every child learns in a safe, healthy and supportive environment
School psychologists must complete, at the minimum, a master's degree and specialists certificate of at least 60 graduate semester hours and participate in a year-long 1200 - 1500 supervised internship.
School psychologists training and course work provides them with the knowledge, skill, and ability to apply psychological, mental health and child development approaches within the schools. School psychologists are uniquely skilled in psychological assessment, learning strategies, behavior management, social skill development, motivation systems, and the identification of exceptionalities. They must be achieve certification and/or licensure by the Maryland State Department of Education and may become nationally certified (NCSP) by the National School Psychology Certification Board (NSPCB).
School psychologists use many different approaches, to provide these core services: Consultation, Assessment, Intervention, Prevention, Education, Research and Planning, and Health Care Provision.
They tailor their services to the particular needs of each child and each situation.
- When consulting school psychologists help problem solve in order to provide healthy and effective alternatives to teachers, parents, and administrators about problems in learning and behavior, help others understand child development and how it affects learning and behavior, and strengthen working relationships between educators, parents and community services.
- Assessment activities vary and can include a wide variety of techniques at an individual, group, and systems level to evaluate academic skills, learning aptitudes, personality and emotional development, social skills, learning environments and school climate, and eligibility for special education.
- Prevention activities help families and schools to identify potential learning difficulties, design programs for children at risk of failure, provide parents and teachers with the skills to cope with disruptive behavior, help foster tolerance, understanding, and appreciation of diversity in the school community, and develop school-wide initiatives to make schools safer and more effective.
- Intervention approaches include direct contact with children, families and school staff to help solve conflicts and problems in learning and adjustment, provide psychological counseling for children and families, provide social skills training, behavior management, and other strategies, and help families and schools deal with crises, such as separation and loss.
- School psychologists educate families and staff through workshops and staff training activities that include but are not limited to the following topics:
- effective problem solving and conflict resolution
- teaching and learning strategies
- social skills development
- classroom management techniques
- working with students who have disabilities or unusual talents
- working with diverse populations
- substance abuse
- crisis management
- School psychologists actively seek information about the results of their efforts and how they benefit students by research. They evaluate the effectiveness of academic programs, behavior management systems, and other services so as to generate new knowledge about learning and behavior. They use the results of their research to help schools continue to improve.
- School psychologists focus on Health Care Provision through collaboration with school and community-based personnel. They advocated for a comprehensive model of school-linked health services that will provide access to community supports and emphasize psychosocial wellness and health-related issues. They foster partnerships with parents and teachers to create healthy safe and supportive school environments.
Yes, every school has access to school psychological services but individual school psychologists may be responsible for providing these services to more than one school.
No, school psychological services are available to all students.
Each school can provide you will access to the school psychologist that is assigned to them.
- Suspicion of an educational disability - MCPS school psychological evaluation may be recommended during the IDEA IEP evaluation process or as part of a 504 determination.
- Review of psychological evaluations conducted privately - MCPS school psychologists review and comment on psychological evaluations that have not been conducted by an MCPS school psychologist and recommend next steps (often referral to IEP or 504 teams).
- Expulsion and the Hearing Process - As a result of a hearing when a student has been suspended and recommended for expulsion, MCPS psychological evaluations are occasionally requested.
- Threat or Risk Assessment - Determining whether a student is a threat to him or herself, or threat to another is done through referral to the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and often coordinated with MCPS school psychologists.
First, consult directly with the school psychologist. Share your concerns honestly and request detailed explanations of the results and the measures that were used to obtain the results. You can ask for the school psychologist's supervisor to participate in that discussion. On rare occasions, agreement can not be reached. According to the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA) you may challenge the results of any school record (psychological evaluations are considered part of school records) if you find the information to be inaccurate, misleading or a violation of a student's civil rights. A letter detailing why the information is inaccurate, misleading or a violation of a student's civil rights should be sent to the supervisor of psychological services. A review of the material will occur and indicate action steps to resolve the disagreement. If the outcome of the review is still not satisfactory, parents can appeal (see BOE regulation on Parent Complaints).
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