The current environment for school social work presents great challenges and great opportunities. Amid promising shifts in programs and policies, many school social workers feel marginalized. Despite sustained efforts at definition, the role of the school social worker remains unclear to many outside the field. More important, this role is often…

The increasingly diverse student demographics reflect a myriad of needs in the interrelated arenas of educational achievement, social-behavioral adjustment, and career development, while federal legislation, the ethical standards of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA; 2004a), and the ASCA (2005a) National Model have emphasized…

Consultation services have been considered an essential and important role for school psychologists throughout the history of the field. Traditionally consultation has been cast as a problem-solving process, nevertheless, it can be thought of as a knowledge-linking process in which psychologists advance knowledge in schools to various mediators…

Effects of two modes of school psychological consultation were examined against four main outcomes: (1) changes in teacher understanding of the child, (2) the direction of the changes in teacher understanding of the child, (3) teacher satisfaction with consultation, and (4) teacher follow-through on psychologist's recommendations. Results strongly…

Consultation is one of the school psychologist's major professional functions, and psychologists feel that other school personnel want them to spend more of their professional time consulting than they do at present. Client-centered consultation is the dominant variety practiced. Most learned what they know on the job. (Author)

In this volatile era of economic retrenchment, corporate downsizing, and government budget crises, school psychologists' major defense must be short-term political action and grassroots support, but their long-term strategy must be to build a position of importance for school psychologists in the school. In the long run this will not be…

As psychologists meet with educators to discuss the needs of various children, they bring different pedagogical backgrounds to the table. The body of psychological theory and science the psychologists have is essential, imperative, and indispensable to effective schooling. The diagnostic skills of psychologists are essential and not available to…

Both educational attainment and mental health are part of the whole development of the child. School psychologists are indispensable in the schools because they alone bridge the gap between learning and mental health. They become even more in demand when they demonstrate that they can leverage mental health through educational interventions, and…

The implication of an organized classroom guidance curriculum is far reaching. By blending cognitive and affective learning, one can teach the whole child the skills for dealing with stress, decision making, and productive living. The guidance personnel and teachers need to work together as a team. (Author)

Discusses the reorientation of school guidance to involve teachers and assesses the attitudes of secondary vocational teachers toward school guidance systems. Teachers believe career guidance is important; however, they have an unfavorable disposition toward the adequacy of school guidance systems in providing students with career guidance.…

This book chapter explores the integration of two basic premises: (1) education in the United States will always be changing, and (2) school psychologists have fundamental expertise that will always be necessary regardless of changes in schools. Some changes in U.S. education are: school reform and organizational changes; special education reform;…

A school psychologist becomes indispensable to a school by responding to school needs and becoming and instrumental part of the solution. An essential prerequisite to responding to a need is first identifying it. However, the need identification process is fraught with pitfalls. Immersion into the culture of the school is critical to establishing…

School psychologists have a long and successful history in making themselves indispensable in schools by expanding their roles and their skills to meet the demands of an ever-changing clientele. As the rates of survival of children with a wide spectrum of genetic and neurodevelopmental disorders and acquired injuries and disease affecting the…

Counselors and visiting teachers serving special education students face unique problems in meeting the needs of those students. The general and specific knowledge that the counselors and visitng teachers should have in order to work most effectively with students with special needs has been the focus of a study sponsored by the Texas Education…

The school psychologist's indispensable role within a school includes preventive activities that are responsive to the needs of contemporary society as well as the changes in services necessitated by health care and educational reform. While these impending reforms evoke uncertainty, they also lead to opportunity. There is presently an opportunity…