School Psychologist vs. State Assessment

It's that time of year again. The time of year when teachers get depressed, children freak out, and my principal becomes a woman obsessed with security: it's the Annual Statewide Standardized Assessment. I've been neck deep in test manuals, test protocols, and number 2 pencils. Whenever I get into Annual Statewide Standardized Assessment (ASSA*) mode, I can't help but reminisce about the SAT, GRE, and Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) Exam. The last moments in my life when I would have to take such a monumental test. Now our students take high-stakes tests from 3rd grade into high school.

I ran into one of my old professors today and I was telling her how busy I am this time of year because of ASSA. I told her that other SP's in my district are busy as well. She started to go into this diatribe about what my role should be and that I shouldn't be doing this. Well, what does she expect me to do. First of all, the entire building shuts down because of testing. From 9:00 to noon, there is a test going on in one of the grade levels. During this stressful time, my caseload is off limits. I'm not giving anyone IQ tests during this time. I'm not pulling kids for counseling. I barely see my students during the month of March because they are way too busy. So what am I supposed to do during this time. Did I mention that there is also the strong possibility that I lose my office during testing? We have so many students that need accommodations and modifications during the test that every available room is being used. Every conceivable space is being used so even if I'm not playing an administrative role in this, I would be involved as a proctor.

The level of test security to prevent cheating is pretty serious. The test booklets are kept in locked office. But it's not the security beforehand that's suspect, it the security during the test. It's considered a security breach if: you write down test questions that you happened to see on the test, talk about test questions that you saw on the test, leave a test booklet unattended, lose a test booklet, and if you take a look at test booklets before testing begins, to name a few.

I was discussing this with my intern and we talked about how school psychologists make the most sense as being the person in charge of this. We, more than anyone else, understand the importance of test security and test administration. Also, in this age of high stakes testing, many schools are being investigated for allegations of cheating. Teachers are strongly invested in how their students perform, and if they depend on how well their students perform, then one can understand the lure of cheating. The same goes for the principal. When schools get recognized for improving test scores, the principal and teachers get the accolades. No one goes around congratulating the school psychologist. Therefore, having me in charge of the test booklets before they are distributed makes sense, it's one more layer of security. I considered the thought of having K-2 teachers handle the test booklets, but it would be too tempting to crack one open and see what questions are inside. Who wouldn't want to take a peek to see if what they have been teaching is relevant to what kids will be tested on in a matter of years? Well, it goes back to the SP being in charge. And I don't mind. Besides what else would I be doing for the next 2 weeks.

BBC

From the Mouths of Babes

Sometimes children are so knowledgeable about their own situation that I wonder if I'm even needed. There are times when I feel like I spend so much time trying to get some children to face reality, and then a child that has it all together walks through the door.

I've known Allie for a while. She was one of my star students whenever I did Second Step lessons in her class. She always had a firm grasp on emotions and could always identify them properly. She was always knew more than her classmates. My sessions started with a phone call from Allie's stepmother. Allie was going to reunite with her estranged biological mother in a few days and the stepmom was concerned that Allie was upset about it.

When I talked to Allie, she basically told me that she hadn't seen her mother in over a year. They were reunited over the weekend and Allie was nervous as the weekend got closer. She was very blunt about her disapproval of her mother. In her words, her mother "lies and can't be trusted." Well, such strong words from an 8 year old. There really wasn't much for me to say, but I did remind her that she still needed to treat her mother with a modicum of respect. I knew that it would be hard, and practically impossible, but it had to be said. What I wanted her to understand is that she couldn't be disrespectful to her mother or her time would have been horrible. She got it, but she still looked like she wasn't going to put up with any b.s.

I talked to her after the weekend, and it sounded like it was a battle of wills. Her mom insisted that she wore certain outfits that she bought for her, and Allie insisted on wearing her own clothes. I think they compromised on the pajamas. She reunited with her other siblings. She complained about sharing a bed with her 5 year old sister. She also complained about not having any privacy. I wanted to tell her, "welcome to having siblings," but I refrained. I think that she had an okay time, but it will be better next time if there is an agreement beforehand about the clothing options.

BBC

That Look - The PPT

I think that there comes a time when your savings account of experience--your training on dealing with parents; your knowledge of special education law; every lesson you have learned about dealing with the mentally ill, and whatever moxie you have that keeps you from curling up into a ball and crying--has to be drained in order to survive a meeting. I had one of those meetings yesterday. This has preoccupied my attention so much that I neglected to show for a PPT for an interdistrict student on Friday, oops. My team prepared for this meeting by discussing who was going to say what during the PPT. Our lineup included the school nurse (who talked about the need for medication management), the special education teacher (who had good news because his academics are really strong) the social worker (who interviewed the parents extensively) and me. We decided to go in this order, school nurse, special ed teacher, school psychologist and social worker.

I couldn't eat my lunch. Most people thought I was really nervous, but I wasn't that nervous. It was the nervousness I usually feel before a performance. It was a good kind of nervous, I knew that it would help me raise my game to the appropriate level. The meeting was in the afternoon, and I only took a couple of bites of my sandwich before I knew it was futile to try and eat. As I made my way to the conference room I had a worrisome thought: What if the parents didn't show? I hadn't considered that. They could have just blown us off and I would have prepared for nothing.

But, they did show and the show went on. I don't mind being the meeting coordinator, except for the fact that I have to wear 2 hats during the meeting: coordinator and school psychologist. For this meeting I had to talk about my evaluation results, so I was doing double duty. I'm not sure if people appreciate how stressful that can be. Well, I presented my results and I felt that my role was to present a dose of reality: the child is emotionally disturbed. He has a past of aggressive behaviors towards peers and adults, and suicidal thoughts. After the results were presented, I had to tell the parents that their son was eligible for special education services for Emotional Disturbance. Actually, it didn't go that smoothly. I think I actually said, "Emotionally Disturbed. That's such an awful term. If we can change Mental Retardation to Intellectual Disability, then we should be able to do something about Emotional Disturbance.

In the end, the parents took the news well, I think. The father remarked that they had heard the news before, and after hearing it from so many different people, there must be some truth to it. The team recommended the student enroll in a therapeutic school. The parents seemed more receptive to the idea of an alternative setting, but we shall see.

BBC

Mass Exodus

A week ago was Alejandro's last day at school. He enrolled in the alternative school last Friday. His last day was somewhat chaotic because we had an emergency snow closing. It was a sad day because he kept telling his teacher that he didn't want to leave, but there was nothing anyone could do. Once the paperwork had gone through, there were a couple of days when he was well behaved and appeared to be well-adjusted. My principal expressed regret on these days and I had to remind her that this wasn't consistent and we had done all that we could for him. So now he's there and we are left to wonder how it will turn out.

There was a kid headed down the PPT pipeline that ended up moving at the last minute. This kid demanded so much energy and time from everyone. He was hyper-emotional, (if that's possible), and any perceived slight turned him into a sobbing mess. We tried multiple behavior plans to no avail. Interestingly, this was a kid that was an affection addict. Whenever he suffered a meltdown, he immediately sought a hug from the teacher, but then he would refuse to let go. It was as if he tried to suck the affection right out of her. To make matters worse, his teacher was the affectionate type. She hugged children a lot, and this wouldn't be a problem for 99% of children because most of them need hugs. But for this kid it was like an addict rooming with a drug dealer. He may have matured eventually, but he had been emotionally unstable since the beginning of the school year. We had reached the point where we were going to evaluate him, but of course, he moved. Usually students move once they are evaluated, but he moved away before we even scheduled the PPT. At least he saved us the trouble.

The PPT for That Look kid is coming next week. I finished my evaluation and got a nice compliment on my report from my director. It's nice to get good and useful feedback. I'm sure this PPT will be interesting. I'll post the play-by-play next week.

BBC