School Psychologist

REPORTS TO: Director of Exceptional Children and Academically/Intellectually Gifted Programs or Designee (i.e. Lead School Psychologist)

PURPOSE: School psychologists help students succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. They collaborate with educators, administrators, families, and other mental health professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students and strengthen connections between home and school.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. FOUNDATIONS OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY:

Professional Legal, Ethical, and Professional Practice

• Practice in ways that meet all appropriate ethical, professional, and legal standards. Understand and apply federal, state, and local policies and regulations in the delivery of school psychological services.
• Maintain confidentiality of student records and information.
• Use technology in ways that are consistent with ethical and responsible professional practice.

Student Diversity in Development and Learning

• Recognize issues of diversity that affect routine interactions with other people and organizations.
• Modify or adapt routine practice to effectively meet these diverse needs.
• Demonstrate sensitivity and skills needed to work with families,students, and staff from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Information Technology

• Establish and maintain expertise in using technology such as data management, report writing, web pages, literature reviews, and data analysis.
• Use spreadsheets or other software programs to organize and graphically display data and monitor progress when appropriate for use at the system, building, and individual student level.

Research and Program Evaluation

• Evaluate and synthesize a cumulative body of research findings as a foundation for effective service delivery.
• Collect, analyze, and interpret program evaluation data in applied settings.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of school-based intervention plans.

School Systems Organizational Change, Policy Development, and School Climate

• Understand the organization of schools and systems change to provide leadership in developing and implementing early intervention and prevention programs.
• Demonstrate knowledge and leadership when assisting in the development of school policy that impacts student learning and safety.
• Demonstrate knowledge of school and classroom climates and use such knowledge to assist in developing school improvement plans and classroom interventions.

II. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE COMPETENCIES School Psychologist:

Home/School/Community Collaboration

• Use empirically supported strategies to design, implement, and evaluate effective policies.
• Employ practices that promote home, school, and community partnerships and enhance learning and mental health goals for students.
• Identify diverse cultural issues, situations, and other factors that influence family, school, and community interactions and address such issues when developing and providing services.

Enhancement of Student Wellness, Social Skills, and Life Competencies

• Demonstrate knowledge regarding the social, affective, and adaptive domains of child development.
• Identify and apply sound principles of behavior change within these domains to assist in designing and implementing prevention and intervention programs.

Enhancement of Student Cognitive and Academic Skills

• Help schools develop challenging, but achievable, cognitive and academic goals for all students.
• Collaborate with others to develop appropriate cognitive and academic goals for students with different abilities, disabilities, strengths, needs, and develop interventions to achieve these goals.
• Implement appropriate and alternative ways to monitor and assess the effectiveness of interventions and individual student progress toward goals.
• Assess students' cognitive abilities using a variety of instruments and techniques that are appropriate for the individual student.

Systems-Based Service Delivery

• Provide leadership in developing a safe, caring, and inviting school with a sense of community where contributions of all persons are valued, where there are high expectations of excellence for all students, and where home-school-agency partnerships are valued.

Data-Based Decision Making and Accountability

• Demonstrate expertise in collecting, managing, and interpreting various types of individual and group data.
• Apply sound principles of data-based decision making to all aspects of practice (e.g., designing interventions, monitoring student progress, consulting with school administrators, and disseminating intervention research findings within the school setting).

Consultation and Collaboration

• Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work, communicate, and collaborate effectively with teachers, other school staff, and families as part of a team within the school setting.
• Ensure that students and families know about community services and programs and assist them in accessing these, as appropriate.

Prevention, Early Intervention, and Crisis Management

• Participate in planning and implementing prevention programs to address the social and affective needs of students (e.g., programs to address bullying,school violence, and school safety).
• Have knowledge of universal screening, as well as early reading and math literacy.
• Participate in designing prevention and intervention methods to address programs that influence student learning.

Group and Individual Counseling Techniques

• Provide direct services to individuals or groups of students (e.g., counseling, crisis interventions, mentoring, and individual safety plans, when appropriate).
• Consult and confer with teachers, staff, and families about strategies to facilitate the social and affective adjustment of students.

Promoting Safe and Effective Learning Environments

• Participate in planning and/or implementation of school or system-level crisis response.
• Identify resources and coordinate services with other professionals and/or agencies to address students' behavioral, affective, or social needs.

ADDITIONAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Performs other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

60 hour Master's degree in school psychology from an approved school psychology training program plus a one year internship providing psychological services; or any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Must be certified as a school psychologist by the State of North Carolina. Must possess a valid North Carolina driver's license.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OR STANDARDS REQUIRED TO PERFORM ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Physical Requirements: Must be physically able to operate a variety of equipment including computers, copiers, etc. Must be physically able to operate a motor vehicle. Must be able to exert up to 80 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to lift, carry, push, and pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Light Work usually requires walking or standing to a significant degree.

Interpersonal Communication: Requires the ability to speak and/or signal people to convey or exchange information. Includes giving instructions, assignments or directions to assistants or subordinates.

Language Ability: Requires the ability to read a variety of correspondences, reports, forms, manuals, etc. Requires the ability to prepare correspondence, reports, forms, records, proposals, appraisals, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style. Requires the ability to speak to people with poise, voice control and confidence.

Intelligence: Requires the ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions; to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagrammatic form; and to deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Verbal Aptitude: Requires the ability to record and deliver information, to explain procedures, to follow oral and written instructions. Must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in a variety of technical or professional languages including psychological terminology.

Numerical Aptitude: Requires the ability to utilize mathematical formulas; to add and subtract; multiply and divide; utilize decimals and percentages; and to apply the theories of descriptive statistics and statistical theory.

Motor Coordination: Requires the ability to coordinate hands and eyes rapidly and accurately in using office equipment.

Color Discrimination: Requires the ability to differentiate between colors and shades of color.

Interpersonal Temperament: Requires the ability to deal with people beyond giving and receiving instructions. Must be adaptable to performing under stress and when confronted with emergency situations.

Physical Communication: Requires the ability to talk and hear: (Talking: expressing or exchanging ideas by means of spoken words. Hearing: perceiving nature of sounds by ear.). Must be able to communicate via telephone.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

Considerable knowledge of federal, state and local policies and procedures regarding psychological services.

Considerable knowledge of psychological services appropriate for school age children.

Considerable knowledge of appropriate actions to be taken in emergency situations.

Considerable knowledge of the current literature, trends, methods and developments in the area of school psychological services.

General knowledge of the ethical guidelines applicable to the position as outlined by professional organizations and/or federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations.

General knowledge of the principles of supervision, organization and administration.

Ability to interpret student behavior, system policies and state procedures.

Ability to coordinate large programs. Ability to develop, counsel and support staff.

Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and make recommendations for improvements.

Ability to use common office machines and popular computer-driven word processing, spreadsheet and file maintenance programs.

Ability to maintain complete and accurate records and to develop meaningful reports from them.

Ability to effectively express ideas orally and in writing.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships as necessitated by work assignments.

DISCLAIMER

The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to this job.