School Psychology Section
Mission Statement
School psychologists advocate for and support learning and socio-emotional health for all students.
Position: School Psychologist
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Successful experience as a school psychologist or successful completion of a graduate training program in school psychology.
- Masters or Ph.D. Degree in School Psychology.
- NCDPI licensure in School Psychology.
- Such other qualifications as the Board may establish.
REPORTS TO: Lead School Psychologist
PURPOSE: School psychologists provide a wide variety of services that help students succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. In collaboration with educators, parents/guardians, and other mental health professionals’ school psychologists strive not only to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students but also strengthen connections between home and school. Utilizing leadership, advocacy, and collaboration, school psychologists promote overall academic success by providing services that enhance the student, school, home, and community partnerships and alleviate barriers to learning.
PERFOMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Demonstrate Leadership:
- Promote and enhance the overall academic mission by providing services that strengthen the student, school, home, and community partnerships and alleviate barriers to learning in the twenty-first century.
- Contribute significantly to the development of a healthy, safe, caring, and supportive learning environment by advancing awareness and understanding of the social, emotional, psychological, and academic needs of students.
- Understand the influences of school, family, community, and cultural differences on academic achievement.
- Knowledge of relevant laws and policies.
- Improve the school psychology profession by demonstrating high ethical standards and following the codes of ethics set out for the profession.
- Participation in school and district-level activities and committees to address system-level issues.
2. Promote A Respectful Environment For Diverse Populations:
- Promote a safe, positive, and respectful learning environment in which individual differences are valued.
- Demonstrate sensitivity and skills needed to work with families, students, and staff from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
- Incorporate information about student backgrounds when designing interventions, conducting assessments, and providing consultation.
- Use knowledge of language development, including knowledge of second language acquisition, when evaluating and working with students of diverse language backgrounds.
- Collect and analyze local, state, and national data to assist in designing, implementing, and evaluating programs that reduce school violence and improve school safety.
- Promote fairness and social justice in educational programs and services.
- Utilize a problem-solving framework when addressing the needs of diverse populations.
3. Demonstrate Knowledge of the School Environment, Child Development, and Curriculum and Instruction to Improve Student Achievement:
- Align services to support the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and best practices.
- Incorporate information about students’ ethnic, racial, language, cultural, or socioeconomic backgrounds when providing consultations, conducting evaluations, and designing interventions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of learning, child development, language development, curricula, and instruction in the development of evidence-based academic interventions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of universal screening, early reading and math literacy.
- Participate in designing prevention and intervention methods to address problems that impact student learning.
- Assist teachers and administrators in collecting and analyzing data to effectively design and implement programs that influence learning and behavior.
- Participate in the implementation and evaluation of programs that promote safe schools and communities.
- Participate in the development of school improvement plans to improve the school climate, student learning, and instruction.
4. Support Student Learning Through the Use of a Systematic Problem-Solving Approach:
- Understand how social, emotional, psychological, and environmental factors influence students’ academic performance and achievement.
- Use a problem solving process to assist in early identification of student learning problems.
- Use an ecological perspective to assess students’ cognitive and academic performance using a variety of instruments and techniques.
- Assist school staff in the collection of universal screening data and progress monitoring data to be used to adjust academic instruction and interventions.
5. Reflect on Practice:
- Demonstrate accountability for managing and delivering comprehensive school psychology services that strengthen home, school, and community partnerships in support of student learning.
- Analyze formal and informal data to evaluate the effectiveness of service delivery.
- Adapt practice based on current and relevant research findings and data to best meet the needs of students, families, schools, and communities.
- Utilize collaborative relationships with colleagues, families, and communities to reflect upon and improve their practice.
Whom to Contact
| Sarah Greene, Lead Psychologist | (919) 858-1624 |
| Rita Tighe, Support Staff | (919) 858-1618 |