Parent and teacher satisfaction with school‐based psychological reports

Abstract

School psychologists spend a great deal of time translating assessment results into a psychoeducational report. The importance of creating reports that are both useful and understandable to the readers of the report while also being efficient for the school psychologist cannot be overstated. This study examines parent and teacher perceptions regarding the quality, understandability, and usefulness of school‐based psychological reports. Results of the surveys indicate that both parents and teachers perceive psychological reports as focusing more on tests and test scores as opposed to information that helps to understand the child or assists with intervention development. Strategies for upgrading reports to better meet the needs of parent and teacher readers are discussed.

Teachers’ preferences and perceptions of the psychological report: A systematic review

“…Rahill () examined teachers’ perceptions of quality, understandability, and usefulness of psychological reports. Teachers perceive psychological reports as focusing on tests and test scores as opposed to descriptive and individualized information that helps in recommendations and intervention planning.…”

“…While most research found reports written with less jargon to be rated as more useful and comprehensible (Wiese et al, ), some research found no effect or reports with heavy jargon to be rated as more useful, professional, and understandable (Andrews & Gutkin, ; Fletcher et al, ; Raforth & Richmond, ). One study found teachers were dissatisfied with the high degree of technical jargon used in psychological reports (Rahill, ). A second study found teachers found little utility in reports with heavy jargon and to be more numbers/scores focused without the student in mind (Pelco et al, ).…”

“…Based on their results, the authors recommended that report writers consider their audience when using psychological and technical terms and limit their use or explain the terms. Rahill (2018) examined teachersʼ perceptions of quality, understandability, and usefulness of psychological reports.…”

“…As such, the psychological report is often the primary source of information used in the development of the students’ individualized education plan (IEP) and behavior support plan (D'Amato & Dean, ). In many ways, the psychological report is the school psychologists’ primary vehicle through which to influence key stakeholders’ educational decision making and treatment planning and therefore it is critical that it is understandable and perceived as useful (Andrews & Gutkin, ; Rahill, ).…”

“…There are many reference books relating to report writing aimed to aid the practitioner in the report writing process, however, few provide empirical studies that evaluate their reference with their intended audience in recent years (Linduauf, Reupert & Jacobs, 2018;Rahill, 2018;Pelco, Ward, Coleman, & Young, 2009;Dombrowski, 2014;Goldfinger & Pomerantz, 2013;Hass & Carrier, 2014;Lichtenstein & Ecker, 2019). Moreover, many school districts have adopted multidisciplinary report writing approaches involving multiple stakeholders including teachers, case managers, diagnosticians, and speech pathologists.…”