Handbook of psychology volume 7 educational psychology
Download 9.82 Mb. Pdf ko'rish
|
- Bu sahifa navigatsiya:
- PA R T F I V E EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER PROGRAMS AND STUDENTS
- Education Placement 446 Empirically Supported Treatments-Interventions 448 Personnel Needs 448
- School Psychology
- Demographics 435 Roles and Services 436 Ratios and Regional Differences 437
- Trends in Legal Requirements 440 Summary of Legal Requirements 440
- Disciplinary Foundations of School Psychology
- Societal Trends and School Psychology
- Compulsory Education and Educational Outcomes
- Demographics and Current Practice Conditions 433
- Exceptional Individuals and Special Education
- Child Study and Mental Health
- Individual Rights and Legal Guarantees
- DEMOGRAPHICS AND CURRENT PRACTICE CONDITIONS
- Employment Numbers and Salaries
References 427 Suppes, P., Jerman, M., & Brian, D. (1968). Computer-assisted in- struction: Stanford’s 1965– 66 arithmetic program. New York: Academic Press. Suppes, P., & Morningstar, M. (1972). Computer-assisted instruc-
Swan, K. (1994). History, hypermedia, and criss-crossed conceptual landscapes. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hyperme-
Tinker, R. F. (1996). Telecomputing as a progressive force in educa- tion. The Concord Consortium. Retrieved October 15, 2000, from http://www.concord.org/library/pdf/telecomputing.pdf Trinh, M. H. (1992). Framer-framed. New York: Routledge. Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind, 59, 433–460. Retrieved June 19, 2002, from http://www. loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html Turkle, S. (1984). The second self: Computers and the human spirit. New York: Simon and Schuster. Turkle, S. (1991). Romantic reactions: Paradoxical responses to the computer presence. In J. J. Sheehan & M. Sosna (Eds.), The boundaries of humanity: Humans, machines, animals (pp. 224 –252). Berkeley: University of California Press. Turkle, S. (1995). Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the
Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1991). Epistemological pluralism: Styles and voices within the computer culture. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism (pp. 161–192). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language (E. Hanfmann & G. Vakar, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wenger, E. (1987). Artificial intelligence and tutoring systems: Computational and cognitive approaches to the communication of knowledge. Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Wilensky, U. (2000). Modeling emergent phenomena with StarLogo. Retrieved May 31, 2001, from http://concord.org/ library/2000winter/starlogo.html Wilensky, U. (2001). Emergent entities and emergent processes:
Paper presented at the American Educational Research Associa- tion Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. Wilensky, U., & Resnick, M. (1999). Thinking in levels: A dynamic systems perspective to making sense of the world. Journal of
Wilensky, U., & Stroup, W. (1999). Learning through participatory simulations: Network-based design for systems learning in classrooms. Proceedings of the Computer-Supported Collabora- tive Learning Conference, Stanford, CA. Retrieved May 31, 2001, from http://www.ccl.sesp.northwestern.edu/cm/papers/ partsims/cscl/ Winograd, T., & Flores, F. (1986). Understanding computers and
Wolfson, L., & Willinsky, J. (1998). Situated learning of informa- tion technology management. Journal of Research on Comput-
Woolley, D. R. (1994). PLATO: The emergence of online com- munity. Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, 1(3). Retrieved November 15, 2001, from http://www.december.com/ cmc/mag/1994/jul/plato.html.
PA R T F I V E EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER PROGRAMS AND STUDENTS 431 Professional Associations 441 National Association of School Psychologists 441 Graduate Programs 442 Graduate Program Standards and Accreditation-Approval 444 Summary 445 School Psychology Scholarship 445 CONTEMPORARY AND FUTURE CHALLENGES 446
SUMMARY
449 REFERENCES 449 The school psychology profession that exists today was shaped over the last century by multiple factors that continue to influ- ence current thought and practice. These foundational influ- ences are discussed in the initial section of this chapter and are followed by a review of the current status of school psychology in terms of roles and services, legal requirements, employment conditions, credentialing, infrastructure (professional associa- tions, standards, journals), demographics, and supply-demand issues. The concluding section addresses probable future de- velopments in light of current trends. Although much has changed over the last century in psychology and education, the core features of school psy- chology practice have remained remarkably stable. School psychology’s earliest practitioners were concerned with identification and interventions for students with atypical patterns of learning and development, a core mission that dominates practice today. The principal basis for initiating services was then—and continues to be—referral of children due to learning problems, behavior problems, or both, most often by classroom teachers who are frustrated because the usual classroom strategies are not working. Moreover, then as now the vast majority of school psychologists’ professional practice involved a close association with educational ser- vices to students with disabilities such as mental retardation (MR), emotional disturbance (ED) and, recently, specific learning disability (SLD). Throughout school psychology’s history there has been a parallel concern with enhancing the educational and devel- opmental opportunities of all children through the implemen- tation of sound mental health practices in schools, homes, neighborhoods, and communities. Current programs to estab- lish schools as full-service educational and health agencies are one of the contemporary reflections of the latter trend. The broader positive mental health mission has always been, how- ever, secondary to the core role of identification and interven- tions with students with learning and behavior problems.
The early roots, the disciplinary foundations, and the societal trends that produced modern school psychology are discussed in this section. The early roots of school psychology emerged in the late 1890s in urban settings where school attendance CHAPTER 17 School Psychology DANIEL J. RESCHLY HISTORICAL TRENDS 431
Disciplinary Foundations of School Psychology 432 Societal Trends and School Psychology 432 DEMOGRAPHICS AND CURRENT PRACTICE CONDITIONS 433
Employment 433 Demographics 435 Roles and Services 436 Ratios and Regional Differences 437 LEGAL REQUIREMENTS 437
SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE 441
432 School Psychology was increasingly expected of all children and youth. Concerns for children with low achievement soon emerged, and efforts to identify the causes and solutions to low achievement were undertaken in several urban centers at about the same time (Fagan, 1992). It is interesting to note that the same concerns dominate most of school psychology practice today.
Multiple disciplinary foundations exist for graduate educa- tion and school psychology practice. School psychology originated in the very early practice of what became clinical psychology involving the application of psychological meth- ods to the understanding of learning and behavior problems of school-age children and youth (Fagan, 2000). Understand- ing and intervening with these problems always has involved multiple disciplines, including educational psychology (espe- cially, the learning, measurement, and child development components), psychopathology and psychology of excep- tional individuals, developmental psychology, counseling, clinical psychology, applied behavior analysis, and special education. These disciplinary foundations are clearly present in the authoritative statements of the crucial features of school psychology graduate education and practice (National Association of School Psychologists, 2000; Ysseldyke et al., 1997).
Societal Trends and School Psychology School psychology always has been responsive to societal trends. In fact, whatever the current major issue is, it will be represented prominently in contemporary exhortations re- garding what school psychologists should be doing. Two examples of this pattern should suffice. During the 1980s enormous emphasis was placed on drug abuse among youth and the school’s role in preventing drug abuse. The outcome was that awareness was increased and a few really good pre- ventive programs were developed; however, although drug abuse continues to be a huge problem, relatively little atten- tion is paid to this problem in the current school psychology literature. A contemporary trend involves prevention of violence in schools, undoubtedly prompted by a few highly publicized horrific incidents in American schools resulting in the loss of approximately 60 students’ lives. The emphasis on violence prevention is important but perhaps a bit disproportionate in comparison to other more common problems. For example, overall, schools are overall, safer in the early 2000s than in the 1980s in terms of the number of lives lost in schools due to violence; however, youth violence remains a serious and often-discussed issue (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). The persistence and impact of school psychology’s atten- tion to immediate societal problems depends on how well interventions become embedded in typical practice and im- plemented successfully in schools. For example, the use of group counseling and other peer group support procedures was expanded in the 1980s and then embedded in the practice of many school psychologists working in secondary schools. These methods are now applied to many different problems, including decision making about sexual behavior, social skills training, and, of course, drug abuse. Similarly, the current emphasis on violence prevention will have a lasting influence in school psychology to the de- gree that the intervention methods developed are generally useful in preventing or ameliorating a range of problems. For example, the schoolwide interventions currently being imple- mented in schools as part of violence prevention efforts have positive influences on overall school and classroom climate, on preventing violent incidents, and on the reduction of other problems such as disciplinary referrals and dropout rates (Horner & Sugai, 2000; Sugai et al., 2000; Walker et al., 1996). If these interventions are incorporated into standard practice, then the current attention to school violence will have a lasting and positive effect.
Fagan (1992) documented the impact of compulsory schooling on the development of school psychology in the twentieth cen- tury. Compulsory schooling and (increasingly) the expectation of high educational achievement for all children and youth continue to influence school psychology. Exceptional patterns of development and differences in achievement became much more problematic with compulsory school attendance begin- ning in the early 1900s and expanding through the rest of the century. A contemporary expression of the expansion of com- pulsory schooling is the strong emphasis on improving school attendance and preventing school withdrawal prior to the com- pletion of high school. School dropout after a certain age (age 14, 15, or 16) was tolerated more readily in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Today, dropout prevention is a major goal of school reform along with expectations for high achievement for all children and youth (McDonnell, McLaughlin, & Morison, 1997).
Compulsory school attendance and expectations for high achievement for all students influenced early and contempo- rary school psychology in many ways. More children were in public schools. Moreover, through the century it was Demographics and Current Practice Conditions 433 progressively less likely that students with serious achieve- ment and behavior problems were excluded from schools, increasing the need for school psychological services and ed- ucational accommodations for students who varied on impor- tant dimensions related to education (learning rate, cognitive functioning, behavior, etc.). Today the demand for high achievement for all students, including those with disabili- ties, places more emphasis on effective general and special education interventions and school psychology services that are directly related to producing better outcomes.
School psychology always emphasized recognition of indi- vidual differences in learning and development. The associa- tion with special education also occurred early in the history of school psychology, and (as discussed later) the existence of school psychology has closely paralleled the development of special education funding in the states. In most states, school psychologists have had mandated roles with the development of special education eligibility and placement. Part of that role always has been measurement of individual differences, often through comparing individual performance to national normative standards, and the development of educational programs to accommodate those differences.
The early child study movement in the 1890 to 1910 period was another foundation for school psychology (Fagan, 1992). Child study methods later merged with school and clinical psychology and formed the basis for the increasingly close ties of school psychology to special education. The mental health movement that emerged in the 1920s is the basis for contemporary efforts to prevent academic, social-behavioral, and emotional problems through positive parenting and re- sponsive school programs. The mental health movement has fostered many different approaches to prevention and inter- vention, varying from the psychoanalytic and psychody- namic roots in the early period to contemporary, behaviorally based schoolwide positive discipline programs. The effec- tiveness of mental health programs always has been contro- versial (e.g., Bickman, 1997). Individual Rights and Legal Guarantees The expansion of individual rights and legal guarantees to educational services for all children and youth exerted vast influences on school psychology. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that outlawed segregation of students by race in public schools initiated a movement that continues to grow and develop. Brown and subsequent litigation and legislation established strong sanc- tions against differential treatment of individuals on the basis of race, sex, age, and disability status (Reschly & Bersoff, 1999). Perhaps the most pervasive effect of this movement was to change the relationship of parents and students to schools. The discretion of schools to limit access or to segre- gate students was changed forever. Moreover, parents and students increasingly acquired the rights to challenge the decisions of educators and to seek redress in the courts. The greatest current influences on school psychology are the court cases and legislation guaranteeing educational rights to students with disabilities (SWD). As noted later, the ex- panded rights changed the practice of school psychology in significant ways and markedly expanded special education and school psychology. DEMOGRAPHICS AND CURRENT PRACTICE CONDITIONS The current status of school psychology is discussed in this section, including roles and practices, employment condi- tions, personnel needs, and demographics. The characteris- tics of school psychology practice and practitioners have changed rapidly in a few areas while many other factors have remained stable over the last quarter century.
The number of school psychologists working in public school positions in the United States is impossible to know with cer- tainty. Two methods have been used to estimate the total em- ployed in schools—surveys of state department of education personnel and state school psychology leadership officials and the annual state reports to the Federal Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) of personnel employed working with SWD. The results of the two methods are generally very similar in overall numbers and correlated at r ϭ .9 or above (Lund, Reschly, & Martin, 1998). The OSEP results may be a very slight undercount because they do not include practi- tioners in schools not counted as working with special educa- tion programs. According to the most recent OSEP count, over 25,000 school psychologists are employed in school settings. There are perhaps another 3,000 school psychology practi- tioners working in other roles in schools, such as director of
434 School Psychology special education, or in other settings, such as medical clin- ics, community mental health, and private practice. Other career settings for school psychologists include college and university teaching and research as well as state department of education staff. Of course, some persons with graduate education and experience in school psychology are in a very wide variety of roles such as university president, college provost and dean, school superintendent or principal, test pub- lishing, and private consultation. The exact number of persons with school psychology graduate education and experience in the schools working in related careers or settings is impossi- ble to determine; however, it is likely that the there are at least 30,000 such persons. School psychology employment has grown rapidly since the enactment of the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA; 1975, 1977), now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 1991, 1997, 1999). Prior to about 1975, the number of school psychologists and the ratio of students to psychologists in a state depended very heavily on whether the state had strong special education legislation and—as a part of that legislation—funding for school psy- chological services. Kicklighter (1976) reported an average ratio of about 22,000 students to one psychologist and a me- dian of about 9,000 students per psychologist. The large dif- ferences between the median and mean indicate that there were enormous differences between states and regions and generally high (by present standards; see later discussion) ra- tios in nearly all localities (Fagan, 1988). School psychology’s growth over the last 25 years is documented through OSEP annual reports on the imple- mentation of EHA and IDEA since 1976 (see Figure 17.3 later in this chapter; U.S. Department of Education, 1978–2001). The number of school psychologists over that time period increased from about 10,000 in 1977–1978 to more than 26,000 in 1998–1999—an increase of more than 150%. Approximately 750 school psychologists have been added annually to the profession, severely challenging the ability of graduate programs to provide an adequate supply of fully credentialed persons (see later discussion). For exam- ple, in the most recent year for which data are available, 1998–1999 (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), 1,025 of the 26,266 psychologists reported by the states to OSEP were not fully certified as school psychologists. Moreover, the growth of school psychology is tied to school budgets. In- creased growth has occurred in good economic times (Lund et al., 1998), and it is likely that less growth or perhaps even a slight contraction is currently underway. Figure 17.3 (later in this chapter) summarizes the growth of school psychology by year since 1977–1978. Employers and Salary The vast majority of school psychologists (85% or more) work for publicly supported educational agencies such as school districts or regional education units. Most practition- ers work very closely with special education programs in which they have particularly demanding responsibilities with disability diagnosis and special education program place- ment (see later discussion of roles and legal influences). Most are employed on 190- to 200-day contracts. The salaries for school psychologists nearly always are determined by years of professional experience, degree level, length of contract, and—occasionally—increased by supervisory responsibili- ties, specialized roles, or unique strengths such as bilingual capabilities. The average beginning salary is in the low $30,000s, but the variations among districts, states, and re- gions are substantial. The average salary for a school psy- chologist with a 190-day contract, 15 years of experience, and the equivalent of specialist-level graduate education (see later section) is in the mid-$50,000s, although again, there are large regional variations (Hosp & Reschly, 2002). Job Satisfaction Overall, the job satisfaction of school psychologists has been positive and stable over the last two decades. Reschly and colleagues began studies of job satisfaction in the mid-1980s in response to anecdotal reports that many school psycholo- gists were unhappy with their work and planned to leave the profession in the near future (Vensel, 1981). Contrary to the anecdotal observations that received a good deal of attention in the early 1980s, job satisfaction is generally positive. The vast majority of practitioners plan to continue in school psy- chology for many years or until retirement and are satisfied with their career choice (Hosp & Reschly, 2002; Reschly, Genshaft, & Binder, 1987; Reschly & Wilson, 1995). The picture becomes more nuanced when different aspects of job satisfaction are considered. Using a five-area job satis- faction scale in a Likert scale format patterned after the five- factor content of the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969), Reschly and Wilson’s (1995) na- tional survey results indicated high and positive satisfaction with colleagues and work, moderate satisfaction with super- vision, and neutral perceptions of pay, but they also reported low satisfaction with promotion opportunities—a pattern also reported by Hosp and Reschly (2002) in a more recent survey (see Figure 17.1). For many practitioners—especially those at the specialist level of graduate preparation— advancement opportunities are seen as rather limited. One of |
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling