S. Lee – Encyclopedia of School Psychology

Автор: S. Lee
Название книги: Encyclopedia of School Psychology
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Психология
Страницы: 683
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The Encyclopedia of School Psychology is the first comprehensive guide to this field, featuring the latest research on school learning, motivation, and educational assessment. Approximately 250 entries by 175 contributing authors from psychology, education and counseling, child development, and special education address student success, behavior disorders, intelligence testing, learning disabilities, strategies to improve academic skills, and more.
My training in school psychology emphasized that
school psychologists should, first and foremost, be
consultants. This is, as described by Terry Gutkin and
Jane Conoley (1990), the “paradox of school psychology.”
The paradox is that young school psychology
trainees, who are eager to work directly with children
through counseling or assessment, find that they may
serve children best and most efficiently by changing
the behavior of the key adults who are in a position
to significantly influence the lives of these children in
need. This consultative approach has been embraced
by school psychology as an efficient way to deliver
services (e.g., through the teacher); and it frees the
school psychologist for other assessment, counseling,
program development, and prevention activities.
However, for some trainees that enter into this paradigm,
the notion of working mainly with adults is
antithetical to the reasons they entered the field.
Others embrace consultation and find that nearly all of
their professional encounters are, in fact, consultations.
I fall into the latter group and view this volume
as a rare opportunity to consult regarding school psychology
with you, the reader.
When I mention consultation, the reader is directed
to the consultation entries in this volume (as listed
under Consultation in the Reader’s Guide) written by
some of the best-known and most influential scholars
in school psychology. The reader will find that consultation
has many features, one of which involves
providing the consultee (e.g., teacher or parent) with
information or content. The Encyclopedia of School
Psychology (ESP) is designed to provide the depth
and breadth of content nonpsychologists need to
understand little-known concepts related to psychology
in the schools.
The time is right for such a volume. Education is
on the forefront of our national thinking, with newspaper
headlines covering topics ranging from violence
in our schools (e.g., Columbine High School shootings)
to identifying schools not making adequate yearly
progress under the No Child Left Behind legislation.
The public seeks to understand the effectiveness of
school alternatives such as homeschooling or charter
schools. On a more basic level, parents want to know
how their children will fare in school. Will their
children make friends? Will they be safe? Will they
succeed academically? The goal of this volume is to
provide information to attempt to answer these very
personal questions while at the same time addressing
broad-brush issues in psychology as it intersects
with education. Finally, the ESP is designed to give
the reader a glimpse into the world of a school psychologist
and the level of knowledge and skills necessary
to negotiate the world of the child and adolescent in
schools.
—Steven W. Lee