The Role of the School Psychologist in Transition Planning: A Comparison Between National and State Surveys

1
The Role of the School Psychologist in Transition
Planning A Comparison Between National and State
Surveys

• David J. Lillenstein, Ed.D., NCSP
• Edward M. Levinson, Ed.D., NCSP
• Christina Sylvester, B.A.
• Erin Brady, B.A.

2
As compared to people without disabilities,
people with disabilities

• experience increased unemployment rates (National
  Council on Disability, 2000)
• are more likely to live in poverty
• (National Council on Disability, 2000)
• have a higher school dropout rate (National
  Center for Learning Disabilities, 2002 U.S.
  Department of Education 2001)

3
But things are improving

• The National Longitudinal Transition Study
  (1985-1993) and the National Longitudinal
  Transition Study-2 (2000-2009) track the
  experiences of 13 to 16 year olds throughout high
  school
• Information is collected through telephone
  interviews, school surveys, student assessments,
  and transcripts
• data from NLTS-2 show an improvement

4
NLTS vs. NLTS-2

• NLTS (1987)
• 55 of youth with disabilities completed high
  school

• NLTS-2 (2003)
• 72 of youth with disabilities completed high
  school
• significant increase in the percentage of
  students with mental retardation, learning
  disabilities, and emotional disturbances, who
  completed school

5
Why have things improved?

• One reason could be transition planning
• Transition planning helps students adapt to life
  after secondary school in the areas of
• Employment
• Independent living
• Post-secondary education

6
Transition Planning

• Transition Plans became a required part of the
  Individualized Education Program in 1990
• When IDEIA was signed into law, transition
  planning became a requirement by age 16, rather
  than 14, and is to be more results-focused

7
Transition Planning

• Transition planning is mandated under IDEIA
• But
• it does not specify who is responsible
• school districts often use special education
  teachers

8
Transition Planning

• Transition planning should use a team approach
  (deFur, 1999)
• each member acts as a representative
• expands the range of expertise

9
Transition Planning

• The team should be representative of many
  disciplines (Wehman et al, 1987)
• better able to address the needs of individuals
  (Krieg, Brown, Ballard, 1995)
• participation of therapy-related service
  providers declines as students enter secondary
  education (USDOE, 1995)

10
School Psychologists and Transition

• studies have found that more than 90 of
  practicing school psychologists believed they
  should be more involved in transition activities
  (Shepard, 1982)
• a more recent national survey of school
  psychologists found that less than 1 of time was
  spent in vocational assessment (Carey, 1995)

11
School Psychologists and Transition

• School psychologists possess many
  transition-related skills in the four NASP
  categories
• consultation
• psychological and psycho-educational assessment
• direct services
• program planning and evaluation

12
Consultation

• in-service workshops
• instructional consultant

13
Psychological and Psycho-educational Assessment

• establish and test interventions
• monitor progress
• evaluate outcomes (Reschly Ysseldyke, 1995)

14
Direct Services

• social skills training programs
• behavior management programs
• meet with parents and students following an
  assessment

15
Program Planning and Evaluation

• planning and implementation of program evaluation
  
• assess the effectiveness of interventions
• assess extent to which students are progressing

16
Purpose of Staab Study (1996)

• National survey of school psychologists
• involvement in transition
• importance of involvement in transition
• barriers to involvement in transition

17
Purpose of this Study

• involvement of school psychologists in transition
  planning in Pennsylvania
• importance of involvement
• barriers impacting involvement
• comparison between national (Staab, 1996) and
  Pennsylvania samples

18
Methods

• adaptation of Staabs (1996) survey
• demographic information
• tasks from each of the NASP categories
• tasks
• list of potential barriers

19
Methods

• survey was sent to 450 school psychologists
• follow-up was sent after 14 and 30 days
• 150 school psychologists returned the survey

20
Demographic Information

• Study
• 150 school psychologists
• 38.4 male
• 61.6 female
• mean number of years of experience is 16.8
• mean age - 44.6 years

• Pennsylvania
• 950 school psychologists (PDE, 1999)
• 38 male
• 62 female
• mean number of years of experience is 15.6

21
Demographic information cont.

• 8.1 urban
• 48.8 suburban
• 43.1 rural
• 35.8 Western Pennsylvania
• 39 Central Pennsylvania
• 25.2 Eastern Pennsylvania

22
Preparation to participate Transition Planning

• National (Staab, 1996)
• Needed more information
• - 50
• Adequately Prepared
• - 33

• Pennsylvania
• Not prepared - 9.6
• Needed more information - 54.4
• Adequately prepared - 25.6
• Well prepared - 10.4

23
Training

• 53.6 received training through in-service
  workshops
• .8 received their training through a graduate
  program in transition

24
Involvement vs. Importance

• Independent samples t-tests compared involvement
  and perceived importance
• Bonferroni procedure was used to maintain a
  family wise error rate of .05 (Rosenthal
  Rosnow, 1991, p. 329)
• Importance was greater than involvement for all
  tasks (p lt .0001)

25
Involvement

• Independent samples t-tests compared national and
  state samples on involvement
• Bonferroni procedure was used to maintain a
  family wise error rate of .05 (Rosenthal
  Rosnow, 1991, p. 329)
• Significant differences were identified in each
  of the four categories

26
Consultation

• similar level of involvement between national and
  state sample on 70 of tasks
• national sample reported greater involvement in
• consultation to develop self-advocacy/self-determi
  nation
• coordination of assessments to avoid duplication
• participation in local Transition Council

27
Psychological and Psycho-educational Assessment

• similar level of involvement between national and
  state sample on 67 of tasks
• national sample reported greater involvement in
• interviewing students on interests/preferences
  for future planning
• explaining test results to students to understand
  strengths/needs

28
Direct Services

• similar level of involvement between national and
  state sample on 67 of tasks
• national sample reported greater involvement in
• providing student training on interpersonal/social
  skills
• identifying at-risk students and initiating
  transition planning

29
Program Planning and Evaluation

• similar level of involvement between national and
  state sample on 89 of tasks
• national sample reported greater involvement in
• developing social skills training programs for
  students

30
Importance

• Independent samples t-tests compared national and
  state samples on importance
• Bonferroni procedure was used to maintain a
  family wise error rate of .05 (Rosenthal
  Rosnow, 1991, p. 329)
• Significant differences were identified in the
  Consultation and Direct Services categories

31
Consultation

• similar level of importance between national and
  state sample on 90 of tasks
• national sample reported greater importance of
• providing student training on interpersonal/social
  skills

32
Direct Services

• similar level of importance between national and
  state sample on 57 of tasks
• national sample reported greater importance of
• attending secondary IEPs where transition is
  discussed
• providing student training on interpersonal/social
  skills

33
Current Involvement vs. Perceived Importance of
Involvement

• differences between perceived importance and
  current involvement in transition activities were
  compared for the two samples
• for each item, the involvement rating was
  subtracted from the importance rating and these
  scores were compared between samples
• Bonferroni procedure was used to maintain a
  family wise error rate of .05 (Rosenthal
  Rosnow, 1991, p. 329)

34
Consultation

• similar level between national and state samples
  on 90 of tasks
• larger difference for state than national for
• consulting to develop self-advocacy/self-determina
  tion

35
Psychological and Psycho-educational Assessment

• similar level between national and state sample
  on 83 of tasks
• larger difference for state than national for
• explaining test results to students to understand
  strengths/needs

36
Direct Services

• similar level between national and state sample
  on 71 of tasks
• larger difference for state than national for
• attending secondary IEPs where transition is
  discussed
• identifying at-risk students and initiating
  transition planning

37
Barriers to transition involvement

• a z-test compared the responses from participants
  in the national and state samples
• percentage of school psychologists listing each
  barrier was computed
• percentages were compared between groups

38
Barriers

• no significant differences between the two
  samples on the ratings of 63 of the barriers
• transition is not part of job description
• lack of interest in transition activities
• lack of training in transition
• high caseload
• number of buildings served

39
Barriers

• significant difference between samples for the
  barriers
• referral backlog
• PA 71.2
• National 56.8
• little secondary work
• PA 17.6
• National 40.6
• role restrictions
• PA 36.8
• National 58.6

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Discussion

• many similarities in the perceptions of the role
  of school psychologists in transition planning
• similar involvement, perceived importance of
  involvement, and differences between involvement
  and importance
• both indicated the need for additional training

41
Differences in Involvement

• The school psychologists in the national sample
  reported greater involvement than the state
  sample on several tasks
• consulting to develop self-advocacy/self-determina
  tion
• coordinating assessments to avoid duplication
• participating in the local transition council
• interviewing students on interests/preferences
  for future planning
• explaining test results to students to understand
  strengths/needs
• providing student training on interpersonal/social
  skills
• identifying at-risk students and initiating
  transition planning
• developing social skills training programs for
  students

42
Importance vs. Involvement

• both samples reported greater importance than
  involvement
• this is consistent with existing literature
  (Levinson, 1990 Reschly Wilson, 1995 Staab,
  1996)

43
Differences in Importance

• National sample reported greater importance than
  state sample on several tasks
• participating in the local Transition Council
• attending secondary IEPs where transition is
  discussed
• providing student training on interpersonal/social
  skills
• identifying at-risk students

44
Differences between Involvement and Importance

• State sample reported larger differences than
  national sample on several tasks
• consulting to develop self-advocacy/self-determina
  tion
• explaining test results to students
• attending IEPs where transition is discussed
• identifying at-risk students

45
Differences between Involvement and Importance
cont.

• differences on the tasks, consulting to develop
  self-advocacy/self-determination, and explaining
  test results to students, are attributable to
  greater involvement in these tasks by school
  psychologists in the national sample

46
Differences between Involvement and Importance
cont.

• differences between groups on attending IEPs
  where transition is discussed, and identifying
  at-risk students, are attributable to
  differences in involvement

47
Barriers

• A larger percentage of participants in the
  national study perceived little secondary work
  and role restrictions as barriers
• A larger percentage of participants in
  Pennsylvania reported referral backlog to be a
  barrier

48
Reasons for Differences

• several factors may explain these differences
• 50 of national sample respondents worked at the
  secondary level
• 20 of the Pennsylvania respondents worked at the
  secondary level

49
Reasons for Differences

• 89.6 of the Pennsylvania sample reported that
  assessment was their primary role
• previous studies have suggested that school
  psychologists nationally spend 50 of their time
  in assessment-type activities (Benson Hughes,
  1985 Goh et al., 1981 Gutkin Conoley, 1990
  Hutton et al., 1992 Reschly Wilson, 1995)

50
Reasons for Differences

• differences may also be attributable to the
  presence or absence of a "transition coordinator"
  

51
Limitations of the PA Study

• response rate
• 28.3 of the surveys were returned
• survey structure
• 4-point Likert scale

52
Implications

• results from national studies may not be
  indicative of trends in individual states
• school psychologists need more transition-related
  training
• Training programs and workshops
• Ulmer, 2004

53
Areas for Additional Research

• the role of the school psychologist in individual
  states
• further examination of barriers
• review the curriculum content of NASP-accredited
  programs as it relates to transition

54
References

• Benson, A.J., Hughes, J. (1985). Perceptions
  of role definition processes in school
  psychology A national survey. School Psychology
  Review, 14, 64-74.
• Carey, K. (1995). A national study of the role
  and function of the school psychologist. Paper
  presented at the annual meeting of the National
  Association of School Psychologists, Chicago, IL.
• deFur, S. H. (1999). Special education,
  transition, and school-based services Are they
  meant for each other? In DeFur, S. H., Patton,
  J. R. (Eds.). (1999). Transition and school-based
  services Interdisciplinary perspectives for
  enhancing the transition process. Austin, TX
  Pro-ed.
• Goh, D.S., Teslow, C.J., Fuller, G.B. (1981).
  The practice of psychological assessment among
  several psychologists. Professional Psychology,
  12, 696-706.

55
References

• Gutkin, T.B., Conoley, J.C. (1990).
  Reconceptualizing school psychology from a
  service delivery perspective Implications for
  practice, training, and research. Journal of
  School Psychology, 28, 203-223.
• Hutton, J.B., Dubes, R., Muir, S. (1992).
  Assessment practices of school psychologists
  Ten years later. School Psychology Review,
  21(2), 271-284.
• Krieg, F. J., Brown, P., Ballard, J. (1995).
  Transition School to work. Bethesda, MD
  National Association of School Psychologists.
• Levinson, E.M. (1990). Actual/desired role
  functioning, perceived control over role
  functioning, and job satisfaction among school
  psychologists. Psychology in the Schools, 27(1),
  64-74.

56
References

• National Center for Learning Disabilities.
  (2002). Students with learning disabilities A
  national review. Retrieved August 6, 2004, from
  National Center for Learning Disabilities Web
  site http//www.ncld.org/advocacy/pdf/NatlLDRevi
  ew.pdf
• National Council on Disability. (2000). National
  disability policy A progress, report, November
  1, 1998-November 19, 1999. Washington, D. C.
  Author. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
  ED442240)
• Reschly, D.J., Wilson, M.S. (1995). School
  psychology practitioners and faculty 1986 to
  1991-92. Trends in demographics, roles,
  satisfaction, and system reform. School
  Psychology Review, 24(1), 62-80.

57
References

• Pennsylvania Department of Education- Bureau of
  Education (1999). Pennsylvania Guidelines for
  Secondary Transition for Students with
  Disabilities. Harrisburg, PA Author.
• Reschly, D. J., Ysseldyke, J. (1995). School
  psychology paradigm shift. In A. Thomas J.
  Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school
  psychology III, (pp. 17-32).Washington, DC
  National Association of School Psychologists.
• Rosenthal, R., Rosnow, R.L. (1991). Essentials
  of behavioral research methods and data
  analysis. New York McGraw-Hill.
• Shepard, J. W. (1982). Career development
  function of school psychologists. Doctoral
  dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
  State University, Virginia.
• SRI International (2005). National Longitudinal
  Transition Study- 2 (NLTS2) Facts from NLTS2.

58
References

• Staab, M. J. (1996). The role of the school
  psychologist in transition planning (Doctoral
  dissertation, University of Kansas, 1996).
  Dissertation Abstracts International, 58, 281.
• Ulmer, T. P. (2004). An investigation of the
  factors that influence the involvement of school
  psychologists in transition services (Doctoral
  dissertation, University of Northern Colorado,
  2004). Dissertation Abstracts International,
  65(7-B), 3731.
• U.S. Department of Education. (1995). To assure
  the free appropriate public education of all
  children with disabilities Eighteenth annual
  report to Congress on the implementation of the
  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
  Washington, D. C. Author.

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References

• U.S. Department of Education. (2001).
  Twenty-third annual report to Congress on the
  implementation of the individuals with
  Disabilities Education Act. Washington, DC
  Author
• Wehman, P., Moon, M. S., Everson, J., Marchant,
  J., Walker, R. (1987). Transition from school
  to work New challenges for youth with severe
  disabilities. Baltimore Paul H. Brookes.

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Contacts

• Dr. David J. Lillenstein, NCSP
• Director of Psychological Services
• Derry Township School District, Hershey, PA
• dlillenstein_at_hershey.k12.pa.us
• [phone] x5436
• Dr. Edward M. Levinson, NCSP
• Professor Educational School Psychology
• Indiana University of PA
• emlevins_at_iup.edu
• [phone]
• Erin Brady
• Graduate Student School Psychology
• IUP
• e.e.brady_at_iup.edu
• [phone]
• Christina Sylvester