PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

• Published in: Psychology in the schools Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 314 - 324
• Main Author: Morrison, Julie Q.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2013; Wiley-Blackwell; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Accountability; Administrative Principles; Barriers; Best Practices; Case Studies; Counselor Evaluation; Counselor Performance; Educational Legislation; Evaluation Methods; Goal Attainment Scale; Guidelines; Historical perspectives; Interrater Reliability; Leadership; Ohio; Performance Factors; Psychological Services; Psychologists; Race to the Top; School districts; School Psychologists; School Psychology; Scoring Rubrics; Teachers; Trend Analysis; Ohio
• ISSN: 0033-3085; 1520-6807
• DOI: 10.1002/pits.21670

The call for school psychologists to demonstrate accountability in the evaluation of services at the individual, group, and system levels comes at a time when school districts nationally are pursuing personnel evaluation models that link teachers’ instructional practices to student achievement. School psychologists have an opportunity to take a leadership role in determining how the impact of their service delivery will be evaluated. The purpose of this article is to: (a) describe the legislative context and historical trends for professional accountability for school psychologists; (b) provide four key principles to consider in designing an accountability system for school psychologists; (c) outline the advantages, disadvantages, and recommended guidelines for using case studies (i.e., single‐case designs) and rubric‐based approaches for evaluating school psychological services; (d) illustrate how case studies are used to demonstrate accountability in a state‐wide school psychology internship program; and (e) discuss the implications for the graduate preparation of school psychologists.