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Date of Award
Fall 1970
Rights
Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID
Document Type
Thesis: EWU Only
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS) in Psychology: General/Experimental
Department
Psychology
Abstract
PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to determine: (1) the relative importance of 11 functions under current circumstances in the role of the school psychologist. (2) the relative importance of 11 functions under ideal circumstances in the role of the school psychologist. (3) if the roles under the above circumstances were significantly different. (4) if there were differences in the functions of (a) standard certificate holders and provisional certificate holders. (b) school psychologists with teaching experience and school psychologists with no teaching experience. (c) school psychologists with doctorate level training and school psychologists with masters level training. (d) School psychologists with psychology undergraduate training and school psychologists with other undergraduate training. (5) if the above groups differed significantly in job satisfaction. METHOD. A questionnaire was sent to each school psychologist in the State of Washington asking him to rate eleven functions under two sets of circumstances. First he was to rate them from most time·consuming to least time consuming within his current role. Second he was to rate them from most time consuming to least time consuming within his ideal role. CONCLUSIONS. School psychologists would increase the relative importance, ideally, of: Consulting with teachers; Consulting with pupil's parents; Consulting with school counselors; In-service training of teachers; In-service training of counselors; Research. They would decrease the relative importance of: Intelligence testing and report writing; Personality testing and report writing; Consulting on curriculum; Community discussion, lecture, and education. School psychologists with the doctorate spend more time with the in-service training function and less time with the community education function than the school psychologists with the masters. Under ideal circumstances, the standard credential holder would spend more time on (1) consulting with counselors, (2) in-service training of teachers, and (3) in-service training of counselors than would provisional certificate holders. There is no significant difference in job satisfaction for any of the groups. Many individuals within all groups expressed job dissatisfaction. DISCUSSION. School psychologists do appear to be changing from the "tester" role to the role of consultant. This emerging role of consultant seems to have two possible directions; (1) he may become a consultant on individual childrens emotional and educational problems or (2) he may become a consultant on the application of mental health principals and learning principals to the complete school program.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Chenevert, Edward I., "The role of the school psychologist in the state of Washington: current and ideal" (1970). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 914.
https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/914
