Suggestions for the delivery of psychological services in secondary schools

Abstract

The present paper describes the past, current, and suggested future practices in the delivery of school psychological services at the high school level. Because high schools differ from elementary and middle schools (i.e., organizational structure, student characteristics and needs, etc.), school psychologists need to use different approaches in the delivery of services at the secondary level. It is proposed that school psychologists must become integrated into the total social system of the high school to be most effective. Methods for accomplishing this objective, including collaboration with other school personnel and utilization of community resources, are discussed.Requests for reprints should be sent to Richard J. Nagle,

Psychologists in secondary schools in the 1990s: Current functions, training, and job satisfaction.

“…Although assessment remains the most frequent function, the school psychologists devoted approximately the same amount of time to intervention functions through indirect (e.g., consultation) and direct (e.g., individual and group counseling) intervention-related activities. Considering the amount of time allotted to participation in multidisciplinary staffings, the school psychologists appear to be interacting extensively in collaborative, boundary spanning (e.g., home school and regular education-special education interfaces) contexts, thus likely realizing Kramer and Nagle's (1980) goal of school psychologists becoming integrated into the total social system of their secondary schools. Perhaps not surprisingly then, the majority of school psychologists in this study and at this time (i.e., 1990s) reported satisfaction with their work in the secondary schools.…”

“…Although there have been numerous studies of school psychologists’ roles and functions and job satisfaction (e.g., Benson & Hughes, 1985; Levenson, 1990; Reschly & Connolly, 1990; Smith, 1984), researchers have not differentiated between the delivery of services in secondary and other (e.g., elementary) level settings. This state of affairs has occurred despite the fact that the environmental context for service delivery differs substantially between secondary and elementary settings (Kramer & Nagle, 1980).…”

A review of the teaching of psychology in high schools.

“…On an organizational level, APA has provided leadership, direction, and consultation. At the local level, school psychologists have taken an interest in the development of curriculum and in the teaching of high school psychology (Kaufman & Reich, 1976;Kramer & Nagle, 1980;Medway & Elkin, 1975). And, university-based psychologists have begun to establish collaborative and consultative relationships with high school psychology teachers (Korn, 1976).…”

The doctoral program in school psychology at the University of South Carolina.

“…In addition, there is also a concentration on primary prevention, parents as agents of change, program evaluation, and crisis intervention. There is a strong emphasis on teaching skills that have documented effectiveness as determined by empirical research (for examples of consultation applications, see Blair, Marchant, & Medway, 1984; Kramer & Nagle, 1980; Medway, 1978).…”