A Practical Guide to Building Professional Competencies in School Psychology

The field of school psychology has been noted to be one the fastest-growing professions (Curtis, Grier, & Hunley, 2004), in part, because of the increasing demands placed on school psychologists, and education, in general, to help meet the academic and mental health needs of children, adolescents, and families. Moreover, some researchers have demonstrated that even if no "need growth" occurs in the field of school psychology, a shortage of practicing school psychologists is likely because of retirements within the field (Curtis et al.). Curtis and colleagues further noted that between now and the year 2020, nearly 67% of the current field will retire.Because of the need growth and growth resulting from attrition (e.g., retirements, those leaving the field), many graduate students will be entering training programs and numerous new professionals will be entering the field. To date, however, many of the introductory texts intended to attract young professionals to the field focus instead on theoretical and historical aspects of school psychology, which may not be seen as relevant to budding school psychologists. Although we recognize the importance of both theory and history, we also realize this information is well documented in other volumes (see Fagan & Wise, 2002), and we see history and theory as an integral component to practice, not as a subject requiring the memorization of names and facts. In addition, several texts describe the roles and functions of school psychologists and include chapters discussing school district structure and the fit of school psychologists within the system. Our experience, however, has found those entering the field of school psychology do so because of a passion to help children, adolescents, families, and to aid schools in providing the services needed for students to be successful, not because of the historical references or the discrete role of the school psychologist. For these reasons, it is imperative for the field to have an introductory text that excites and attracts young professionals to the field as well as goes beyond the necessary history by discussing the role diversification and demonstrates an understanding of the special role school psychologists have in the lives of students, families, and schools.Current practice is for trainers to use the aforementioned historical texts or those that discuss only empirically derived information to train graduate students. Practitioners also use these volumes to enhance their practice. Unfortunately, our experience has been that texts like these often fall short in encouraging individuals to pursue the profession or in aiding both students and practitioners to transfer knowledge into practice. The idea of making a connection between research and practice within the field has been discussed for several years (Weisz, Donenberg, Han, & Weis, 1995). Dr. Susan Sheridan (2001) during her tenure as editor of School Psychology Review highlighted that "science and practice are linked" (p. 3). Although most, if not all, professionals in school psychology would agree with this, many of the mediums for which students and young professional receive this information are at a level that is intimidating (e.g., written technically) or that is "less than exciting." As we grow professionally, our interest in and understanding of research does so as well; however, this is not the case for young professionals. Without current resources for students and new professionals that provide them with current trends and practices within the field, they are less likely to choose or maintain a career path in school psychology.As a result of the renewed focus on improving the use of evidence-based interventions in schools, coupled with an opportunity to educate students and young professionals about ongoing developments in the field of school psychology, the need for a new kind of text became apparent. It is the editors' intent to assemble an introductory textbook on school psychology that discusses the empirical evidence of school psychology, but does so in a manner that emphasizes how to use this information to guide professional practice.Those individuals working in the field face numerous issues affecting children and families, such as poverty, violence, mental health, and illiteracy. In addition, significant changes in educational law, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the reauthorization of Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004), will likely have broad sweeping changes for the practice of school psychology. As Dawson and colleagues (2004) note, "the practice of school psychology needs to change to meet the needs of today's world" (p. 118). The rapid change in law and the diversity of roles has created a diversity of opinions within the field as to how best to address these issues. Although there may be some consensus, there is no one unifying opinion within practice (e.g., making diagnoses, providing therapy, RTI or process oriented approach).Therefore, one goal of this text will be to delineate these diverse opinions by presenting evidence supportive of the views to allow professionals and students to make an informed decision on how this information directs their future practice. The proposed text will cover a number of timely topics in school psychology to highlight the current state of the field while demonstrating its continued growth as new and exciting directions in the field abound. This book is primarily intended to be an introductory text for graduate school psychology students as well as for advanced level undergraduate courses in school psychology. We also anticipate that the usability and practicality of the text to be relevant for current practitioners updating their skills and knowledge of practice as well as those transitioning into the filed. A truly unique feature of this text is that we plan to use authors who are in academia as well as those practicing within the field. This will allow the focus of each topic to be on current research and knowledge while explicitly discussing and maintaining the effects on practice.In addition to a typical book format, each chapter will include "key points" listed in table format. The key points will be used to highlight important areas of interest in each chapter. Each chapter will be written by pairing professionals from academia and field practice to highlight the link between research and practice and will begin by reviewing the evidence base for each topic; then, authors will follow the initial review of literature with examples of how practitioners have used this evidence in practice. In addition, each chapter will have a future directions section to provide information on possible changes and advances for which professionals should be prepared.Unlike other texts, no discrete chapter will focus on history. Instead, each chapter will infuse the relevance of history with particular emphasis on how it influences current practice. Imbedded in each chapter will also be discussions of how multicultural issues and advances in technology are related to providing school psychological services. Authors will also provide the reader with four to five current references in order for the reader to expand their knowledge beyond the content of the chapter. As the editors of the text, we will make every effort to ensure that the readability of this text is reader (practitioner/student) friendly to help support the movement of taking research to practice.