Professional Development and Supervision of School Psychologists

From Intern to Expert

Virginia Smith Harvey, Joan A. Struzziero, Virginia Smith Harvey, Joan A. Struzziero

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2008
• Print ISBN: 9781412953276, 9781412953269
• eBook ISBN: 9781452294810
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación inclusiva

"A highly significant contribution on best practices in the supervision of school psychologists. Essential reading for school psychologists who are new to the role of supervisor and an important source of guidance for experienced supervisors."
—Susan Jacob, Professor of School Psychology
Central Michigan University

"The most comprehensive look at issues facing supervisors of school psychologists today, and a tremendous asset in bringing the field to the next level of competency."
—Sharon Gorenstein, School Psychologist
Baltimore City Public School System, MD

Acquire the values, attitudes, and skills to effectively supervise school psychologists!

Skilled and well-trained school psychologists are critical to students? well-being and academic success. This second and substantially revised edition of Effective Supervision in School Psychology comprehensively addresses the administrative and clinical supervision skills necessary for school psychologists to thrive and offers guidelines for fostering the growth of both new and seasoned professionals.

The authors discuss school psychologists? expanding roles in offering prevention and intervention services, using evidence-based practices, and demonstrating measurable outcomes to help schools meet legal mandates for accountability. This new edition also has an increased focus on system-based delivery, multicultural issues, and clinical supervision. Chapters provide school psychologists, staff developers, and school and district administrators with:

• Multiple vignettes illustrating the principles presented
• Tools for assessing supervisor effectiveness, including ready-to-use questionnaires and evaluation forms
• Methods for evaluating professional growth
• Sample supervisory dilemmas and reflection questions for individual or group study

Effective supervision facilitates the essential ongoing professional development—and enhanced competency—of school psychologists. Based on the most current research, this practical guide helps school leaders meet the needs of new and veteran school psychologists through effective mentoring, clinical supervision, and administrative support.

PART I

Foundations of Supervision

1

Overview

Vignette 1.1

Anne, a fourth-year school psychologist in the Smithville Public Schools, has been asked by the district’s lead psychologist to supervise a school psychology intern, Zoe. She is excited yet daunted by the prospect. Anne’s principal, Bob, appreciates the Second Step prevention and evidence-based response to intervention (RTI) programs Anne coordinates. He is apprehensive about her being responsible for an intern in addition to these other responsibilities.

Catherine, the district’s lead psychologist, coordinates psychological services, but since she is in the same union bargaining unit as the other school psychologists, she is not the line supervisor who hires and evaluates them. Dottie is the district’s special services director and hires and evaluates 53 individuals (special education teachers, reading teachers, school psychologists, counselors, social workers, speech pathologists, and nurses). Although trained as a school psychologist, Dottie has little time to provide direct supervision.

The district superintendent, Paul, values psychologists’ reports that appease angry parents. When drawing up the district budget, he mentions the number of psychoeducational reports generated, and he believes that Catherine should assign school psychologists’ time according to the number of reports they generate. He is unaware of the prevention and intervention programs that Anne coordinates.

Are psychological services in Smithville District well supervised? What is working? What isn’t? How can the individuals who supervise psychological services in this district—Anne, Bob, Catherine, Dottie, and Paul—better coordinate their efforts? How can they maximize the effectiveness of school psychologists’ work with children, adolescents, parents, and educators?

This book addresses these questions in considerable detail. This introductory chapter provides an overview of effective supervision of psychological services in schools and its accompanying challenges.

BASIC CONSIDERATIONS

Schools tend to be hierarchically arranged with clearly designated administrative assignments wherein every employee has a supervisor responsible for completing periodic evaluations. Often these evaluations are defined by district and union policies. In many administrative units, formal observations and evaluations are mandated several times during the first years of employment and less frequently in subsequent years. Despite these extant structures, there have been repeated calls for increased supervision of psychological services in schools (Fischetti & Crespi, 1999; Knoff, 1986; Murphy, 1981; National Association of School Psychologists [NASP], 2004). Several surveys have revealed that school psychologists receive insufficient supervision relative to both personal needs and professional standards (Chafouleas, Clonan, & Vanauken, 2002).

To understand these calls for increased supervision, it is necessary to first consider definitions and rationales for supervision of psychological services in schools, characteristics of effective supervision, and challenges in providing supervision. To implement appropriate supervision, such challenges must be addressed, needs assessed, and appropriate supports provided.

DEFINITIONS OF SUPERVISION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

Supervision of psychological services has been defined as

an intervention provided by a more senior member of a profession to a more junior member or members of the same profession. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the more junior person(s), monitoring the quality of professional services offered to [clients], and serving as a gatekeeper of those who are to enter the particular profession. (J. M. Bernard & Goodyear, 2004, p. 8)

Supervision of psychological services in schools has been defined as

an interpersonal interaction between two or more individuals for the purpose of sharing knowledge, assessing professional competencies, and providing objective feedback with the terminal goals of developing new competencies, facilitating effective delivery of psychological services, and maintaining professional competencies. (D. E. McIntosh & Phelps, 2000, pp. 33–34)

The National Association of School Psychologists adds to this definition the ultimate goal of improving the “performance of all concerned—school psychologist, supervisor, students, and the entire school community” (NASP, 2004, p. 1).

Supervision is both similar to and different from teaching, consulting, and providing therapy (J. M. Bernard & Goodyear, 2004; Evangelista, 2006). Supervision is similar to teaching in that it enhances learners’ knowledge and skills and evaluates the same. It differs in that teaching usually is directed toward a group and follows a set curriculum, while supervision is usually individualized and open ended. Supervision is similar to consultation in that it helps supervisees explore new ways to think about issues, identifies resources that enable supervisees to problem solve, and examines skills and needs. It differs from consultation in that supervision partners are not equal and in that supervision can be imposed rather than requested. Finally, supervision is similar to therapy in that it encourages the individual to see patterns of behavior, set targets for change, and use interventions to bring about that change. It differs from therapy in that it is evaluative and addresses professional rather than personal issues.

To reconcile these different perspectives regarding supervision, it is necessary to discuss the primary roles of supervisors. Much of the counseling psychology literature differentiates these primary roles into administrative supervision and clinical supervision. There is evidence that an effective supervisor of school psychologists adopts the additional role of systemic change leader because of school psychology’s highly contextual nature (Harvey, 2008). Thus we will describe a clinical-administrative-systemic model of supervision.

All effective supervisors give supervisees helpful comments and provide supervision in a manner that is responsive to the supervisee’s developmental level. They help supervisees problem solve, reflect on practice, engage in continuous learning, maintain professional and ethical standards, uphold appropriate laws and statutes, and manage difficult situations such as due process hearings. They also promote school psychological services by, for example, preparing documents regarding the provision of services for school administrators or state and federal departments of education.

Clinical (professional) supervision involves the oversight of professional practice and requires discipline-specific training and knowledge. Clinical supervisors demonstrate and teach techniques and skills, examine student work with supervisees, help supervisees conceptualize cases, assist supervisees as they disaggregate and interpret data, ensure that supervisees practice only within areas of professional competence, assist supervisees as they design intervention strategies, help supervisees learn how to work with different types of clients and colleagues, debrief supervisees after difficult or crisis situations, provide second opinions, help supervisees address their blind spots resulting from personal experiences, and supervise the provision of a broad range of clinical services. Furthermore, clinical supervisors provide formative evaluations of supervisees, provide training and professional development opportunities, reduce feelings of professional isolation during supervision itself by supporting peer collaboration, and encourage induction into the profession via membership in professional organizations. They help supervisees become more aware of what they are doing well and what they need to change and to avoid becoming professionally stagnant. In sum, good clinical supervision plays a pivotal role in fostering professional growth, reducing stress and burnout, and strengthening practice (McMahon & Patton, 2000). Although clinical supervisors do not have a primarily evaluative role, they do evaluate whenever they indicate that supervisees are fit to be licensed or certified or to continue practicing. In contrast to administrative supervision, professional (clinical) supervision must be provided by a credentialed school psychologist or the equivalent (NASP, 2004). In the opening vignette, Anne and Catherine provide clinical supervision. As a trained psychologist, Dottie could provide clinical supervision but cannot do so due to time constraints.

Administrative supervisors provide leadership, recruit and hire, delegate assignments, conduct formal personnel evaluations, design corrective actions, and take ultimate responsibility for services provided by supervisees. They focus

on the functioning of the service unit, including personnel issues, logistics of service delivery, and legal, contractual and organizational practices. Administrative supervision addresses the performance of job duties in accordance with conditions of employment and assigned responsibilities, and is primarily concerned with outcomes and consumer satisfaction rather than discipline-specific professional skills. (NASP, 2004, ¶ 5)

In that administrative supervision is not discipline specific, it may be provided by individuals who are not trained in school psychology. In fact, most administrative supervision of school psychologists is not provided by school psychologists. More than 75% of school psychologists are evaluated by administrators (district level administrators evaluate 59% and principals evaluate 18%) in contrast to the 18% evaluated by supervising school psychologists (Hunley et al., 2000). In the opening vignette, Bob, Dottie, and Paul provide administrative supervision.

Finally, when serving in the role of systemic change leaders, supervisors act as change agents within the district. They respond to a comprehensive view of school procedures, cultural issues, and school system concerns. In this role, supervisors promote the effective practice of their supervisees by promoting effective educational practices at the district or state level. They conduct program evaluations, not only of school psychological services but also of district-based educational programs and practices.

Within the psychology supervision literature, there is no consensus regarding whether the same individual can fulfill all of these major roles. To provide both administrative and clinical supervision, one must “walk the fine line between the demands for monitoring and the need for support” (Chan, 2004, p. 66). Supervisees might be reluctant to reveal shortcomings to their evaluators (J. M. Bernard & Goodyear, 2004), or supervisors might experience conflicts between professional standards and administrative responsibilities (Le Maistre, Boudreau, & Paré, 2007; Pennington, 1989). On the other hand, combining roles can be beneficial. In a study conducted by Tromski-Klingshirn and Davis (2007), counselors whose supervisors took both administrative and clinical responsibilities reported no difference in satisfaction compared with those who received only clinical supervision. Further, 82% of the supervisees receiving clinical and administrative supervision from the same person did not view this ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Part I: FOUNDATIONS OF SUPERVISION
• Part II: CLINICAL SUPERVISION
• Part III: ADMINISTRATIVE SUPERVISION
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index