What is a School Psychologist?
School psychologists help children and youth succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally. They collaborate with educators, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments that strengthen connections between home and school, and the community for all students. School psychologists are specially trained to link mental health to learning and behavior.
What do School Psychologists do?
School Psychologists Work With Students, Families, and Educators to:
- Improve academic achievement through collecting and interpreting student and classroom data, consulting about student and classroom behavior, and conducting psychological assessments.
- Promote positive behavior and mental health through conducting individual or group counseling about coping skills, anger management, social skills, and conflict resolution, conducting assessments of social-emotional and behavioral needs, and working with community-based providers.
- Supporting diverse learners by providing culturally and linguistically responsive evaluations of students unique and diverse learning needs and collaborating with school teams to help improve student engagement and learning.
- Create safe, positive school climates through the implementation of school-wide positive behavioral supports (SWPBIS) and through the provision of crisis prevention and intervention services.
- Strengthen family-school partnerships through helping families understand their children’s learning and mental health needs, connecting families with community service providers, providing parent workshops throughout the district.
Improve school-wide assessment and accountability through consultation with school teams monitoring student, classroom, and school-wide progress with academics and behavior.