Teachers' perceptions of school psychology: A comparison of regular and special education teacher ratings.

A total of 1533 regular education and special education teachers from eight school districts in four states rated their knowledge of and satisfaction with school psychological services. Perceived helpfulness of psychological services to teachers and children was also assessed. Finally, both groups rated their perceptions of school psychologists' roles versus school counselor roles. Regular education teachers, compared to special education teachers, reported less knowledge of school psychology, perceived school psychologists as less helpful to teachers, and reported lower satisfaction with school psychology services. These reports may have been influenced by the amount of contact each teacher had with school psychologists. Both teacher groups had a limited understanding of the broad roles and functions of school psychologists, and both groups viewed school counselors as delivering more services than school psychologists. Implications of these findings with regard to school psychology reform efforts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educational psychology and education.

Discusses what elements of educational psychology are useful in elementary school education and how educational practices can enrich research and development in educational psychology. Educational psychology is ready to assume interactive relationships with methods of scientific application, development, and research, as practiced in the traditional sciences. These interactions would be helpful for studying subject-matter learning, the teaching of basic abilities, instructional methods, the influence of content on curriculum design, and individual requirements in formulating new educational models. The "schizophrenia" produced by having one foot in the laboratory and one foot in the field is recommended. (28 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educational development as school psychology.

Four elements of school psychology practice are identified: level of functioning, professional activity, developmental level of students served by the educational system, and the immediate client. A broader view of school psychology is presented, which has room for new professional roles and expansion of psychological services to a variety of educational settings, including the university. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School psychology and health care: Moving service delivery into the twenty-first century.

Contends that school psychology must articulate its legitimate relationship with health care. Failing to do so, the field risks becoming marginalized in American professional psychology. In light of the central educational elements of psychotherapy and major health crises such as smoking, the indirect contributions of education to health, and the need to focus more aggressively on prevention, the field of school psychology has the potential to make important contributions to health care. Given that some form of health care reform is imminent, school psychology now has a unique opportunity to realize long-standing agendas for role expansion and enhance the quality of services provided to children, youth and adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Susan Walton Gray (1913–1992): Obituary.

Reports the death of S. W. Gray, whose work on evaluating the developmental effects of educational intervention was credited as being the intellectual impetus for Project Head Start in schools. Gray also helped to start Peabody College's doctoral program in school psychology. She described a definitive role for school psychologists in psychoeducational assessment, classroom consultation, and educational research that provided an influential model for graduate education in school psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The future of testing: A research agenda for cognitive psychology and psychometrics.

Discusses social and educational demands of the present and future and examines current research in cognitive and developmental psychology that can influence the development of new psychometric methodology. Research on the diagnosis of performance regularities at different levels of learning and development should contribute to assessment measures that provide information useful for instructional decision and guidance. Investigation of the structure and cognitive processes of highly competent performers in various knowledge domains is beginning to suggest techniques for assessing the attainment of increasingly complex levels of skill and understanding. Research on information processing models of aptitude measures and self-monitoring skills is providing an understanding of the abilities for learning tested by intelligence and aptitude tests. Understanding of how these abilities are acquired is a prerequisite to facilitating their acquisition. It is concluded that these advances in the study of cognition should contribute to redressing social concerns about testing and assessment in education. (59 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology's role in statewide education reform: Kentucky as an example.

Education reform initiatives are being widely debated at national, state, and local levels. In response to both legislative initiatives and public opinion, our nation's schools are trying to change from old patterns of operation, which for many students have proven unsuccessful, to emerging paradigms that promote learning and human development in integrated school–community environments. Professionals concerned with the development of emerging educational paradigms are challenged to reconsider their roles in light of research findings and increased demands for accountability. In this article, new opportunities for psychologists to work with children and youth are highlighted. Particular focus is placed on psychologists engaged in education reform efforts in Kentucky, which passed sweeping statewide education reform legislation in 1990 (Kentucky Education Reform Act, 1990). Consideration is given to emerging models for psychological service delivery, and implications for psychologists trained in various specialities to contribute to national school reform efforts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A brief history of the psychology course in american high schools.

Psychology has been a part of the high school curriculum for the past 170 years in a variety of forms, in classes labeled mental and moral philosophy, mental hygiene, personal adjustment, child development, human relations, and psychology. This abbreviated and selective account traces that history, including the considerable role played by the American Psychological Association. This history focuses on the social and educational contexts that led to changes in the nature of high school psychology classes and concludes with comments about the value of precollege psychology classes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

"A coarse and clumsy tool": Helen Thompson Woolley and the Cincinnati Vocation Bureau.

From 1911 to 1921, Helen Thompson Woolley served as director of the Vocation Bureau of the Cincinnati Public Schools. In this position she designed and supervised a massive longitudinal study comparing the development of adolescents who remained in school with those who left school to go to work. Although the original goals of this study were not accomplished, the achievements of the Vocation Bureau brought national recognition to the city and to Helen Woolley. The accomplishments of the bureau reflected Woolley's view of the role of experimental psychology in contributing to the scientific understanding of adolescents and to educational and social reforms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multilevel modeling and school psychology: A review and practical example.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the state of multilevel modeling in the field of school psychology. The authors provide a systematic assessment of published research of multilevel modeling studies in 5 journals devoted to the research and practice of school psychology. In addition, a practical example from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS–K) is presented to help school psychologists become familiar with the basic terminology and procedures used in multilevel modeling studies. Implications for statistical reform and future research practices are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training behavioral school psychologists: Development of a model.

Suggests that the lack of consensus within the field of school psychology concerning appropriate functions and roles for school psychologists presents a dilemma to trainers attempting to match curricula to a model of professional practice or service delivery. It is also suggested that a behavioral school psychology model can be integrated across various conceptual levels, provides a coherent philosophy of service delivery, and derives a set of practices from a strong research base. A training model based on behavioral school psychology is described, and examples from a training program are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological services to schools: Meeting educational needs of tomorrow.

During the last twenty years, school psychology has experienced extensive growth. While the origins of practice can be traced to the beginning of the century, subsequent alteration of services has been gradual, and usually in response to changes in education. The focus of this paper is the future, with an emphasis upon possible roles, functions, and areas of contribution. Appropriate projection, however, includes understanding the dynamic implications of past and current functioning and a commitment to the need for a changing education. School psychologists have an obligation not only in reflecting needs, but also in the establishment and implementation of appropriate educational objectives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychology as engineering and technology of behaviour.

A scientific type of applied psychology has failed to develop within the profession of psychology. The reasons for the failure seem to lie in the historically continuous opposition of the educated academicians to the practical and applied science. They place understanding and theory construction above useful action. The establishment of schools of Applied Psychology could solve many of the problems of the development of engineering and technology of behaviour. They would permit the concentration of useful psychological expertise under one roof, the development of psychological applied services to the community within the academic framework of training and research, and they would provide opportunity for training psychologists in personal responsibility, to replace the present reliance on the medical and educational professions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Roles for psychologists in emerging models of school-related health and mental health services.

Describes contributions of school, clinical, community, and health psychology to emerging school-based and school-linked health and mental health service delivery models. The author contends that these 4 areas integrate well to inform the development and targets of health service delivery approaches in and linked to the schools and to set the stage for defining the emerging and future roles of psychologists providing health and mental health care in these contexts. Emerging and future roles of psychologists as health care providers through schools include roles in development, implementation, and administration of these models, direct and indirect service provision, interfacing of health and educational outcomes, and applied research and evaluation activities. Implications for the education and training of current and future psychologists are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Tests and assessment.

Reviews the book Tests and Assessment (1985) by Jacqueline Schakel. From its broad title, this book might be classified as a general textbook on assessment for anyone who is learning about testing procedures. Indeed, in the preface, the authors present their book as a text for undergraduate courses on testing in general psychology, and for graduate courses in counseling, vocational, educational, and industrial psychology as well as for "students in counselor education, guidance and counseling, educational administration and other disciplines." Although the book does have some useful general sections on tests and assessment, it is clear that the real audience for this book is less extensive than the authors state. The examples used, tests reviewed, and issues discussed are chiefly for students in personnel and guidance or vocational psychology. If you are such a student or teach assessment courses to students in these programs, read on. Parts of this book may interest you. If you are a school psychologist or teacher of school psychology, you will find this text limited. The overall organization of the book could have been improved by reviewing the theories of person-environment interaction (upon which the authors claim to base their treatment of assessment) before their discussion of specific assessment tools and integrating a discussion of this theoretical basis throughout the book. In summary, this book does not offer the broad treatment of assessment issues and the focus on the kinds of assessment required in schools which are necessary to school psychologists. It provides some useful reviews of tests for guidance and vocational decision making, some concise explanations of assessment concepts, and a well-written section on some specific testing controversies that may be useful to students in the counseling field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The British saber tooth: Psychology in schools.

Describes the British educational system in response to N. A. Sprinthall's (see record 1980-12883-001) plea for reform of the secondary school curriculum for psychology in the US. A systematic examination of skills (e.g., of measurement) and experiences (e.g., communication with others) is called for in the British system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Raymond J. Corsini (1914–2008).

Presents an obituary for Raymond J. Corsini, one of psychology’s most prolific authors and editors. Ray’s most important contributions include editing an award-winning four-volume encyclopedia of psychology (1994, Wiley), a dictionary of psychology (1999, Brunner/ Mazel), and one of the leading graduate texts on psychotherapy (Corsini & Wedding, 8th ed., 2008, Cengage), which was translated into more than a dozen languages. However, Ray took the greatest pride in the development of the Corsini 4-R system (also known as Individual Education), an innovative approach to school system reform reform based on democratic principles and Adlerian psychology. (The four Rs were responsibility, respect, resourcefulness, and responsiveness.) Corsini died in Honolulu on November 8, 2008. He is survived by his physician wife, Kleona Rigney, and his social worker daughter, Evelyn Anne Corsini. Both share Ray’s passionate commitment to Adlerian social interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)