School Psychologist

School Psychologist Position

Qualifications: Master's, Specialist, or Doctorate in School Psychology.

ISBE Approved Professional Educators License.

Internship under an approved program by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Reports To: The Director and/or Director's Designee.

Term and Salary: Contract for 180 days unless otherwise specified. Salary as per teacher's salary schedule.

Position Goal: To work to find the best solution for each student and situation and use different strategies to address student needs and to improve school and district-wide support systems.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Evaluation:
• To act as one diagnostic component of the IEP team to determine eligibility for special services and resources.
• Based on referral concerns, identify/utilize appropriate evaluation tools to address student needs.
• Interpret and write reports including record results on observations and evaluations in a meaningful way to those in attendance at IEP eligibility conferences.
• Assist in evaluating a student's fit within their current instructional environment, taking into account student learning style, style of teacher instruction, building resources and peer culture.

• Consultation:
• Collaborate with teachers, parents, administrators in coordination with the School Social Worker to find effective solutions to academic behavioral difficulties within the context of formal school support systems (such as Student Assistance Teams).
• Participate in district-wide RtI team
• Meet with parents prior to IEP meeting to review assessment results.

• Other:
• Coordinates the efforts of others involved in the process of collecting components of case study evaluations.
• Assumes an active role in managing eligibility IEP conferences.
• Assures that eligibility IEP paperwork is completed properly.
• Assures all evaluation components are completed by evaluator before IEP meeting is scheduled.
• Delivers final/original IEP to Cooperative office.
• Coordinates with EC Coordinator on required paperwork at students transitioning from 0-3 program in Early Childhood.
• Maintains cooperative, positive working relationships with parents, OCEC staff, school district personnel, and community service agencies.

Recommended roles and responsibilities:

• Attend annual review conferences in assigned schools as needed upon request
• Fielding questions of parents and staff.
• To learn the needs and progress of students within assigned schools.
• Provides an additional means of transferring student information from one grade level to another.
• Uses evidence based research to develop and/or recommend effective interventions for individual students, or groups of students.
• Participate in a Cooperative or district student support team.
• Understand the organization of schools and system change to provide leadership in developing and implementing preventions and early interventions and assist in the development of school policy that impacts student learning and safety.
• To collect and interpret data to evaluate effectiveness of academic programs for individual students, or groups of students.
• Collaborate with Social Worker and other staff in assessing social-emotional development and mental health status.
• Participation in workshop presentation in their area of expertise, as well as present inservice and staff presentations to district staff and families as requested by cooperative and district administration.

Other roles and responsibilities:

• Consultation:
• To collaborate with teachers, parents, administrators, School Social Workers, and other pertinent staff (such as aides, outside agencies, itinerant staff, consultants) to find effective solutions to behavioral and academic problems.
• Assist in coordinating working relationships between school staff, families, and service providers in the community.
• Supervise School Psychologist Interns to promote professional training for School Psychologist in educational settings.

• Research and Planning:
• Evaluate the effectiveness of school-wide academic and behavior management programs using data-based methods.
• Assist in identifying and implementing programs and strategies to improve schools. (e.g., if asked to participate on School Improvement Team)

• Prevention:
• Encourage and assist development of programs to make schools safer and more effective learning environments (e.g., Positive Behavioral Intervention Systems).
• Promote tolerance, understanding and appreciation of diversity within the school community.

Other responsibilities as assigned by director or district administration.