SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY

There are no word limits or requirements for any question. Please write as much as necessary to answer each question.

Question #1

Mr. Smith, a third grade teacher at Make Believe Elementary, consults with Ms. Jones, a school psychologist in the district, regarding behavioral problems in his class. Make-Believe Elementary implements both behavioral and academic RtI models. Mr. Smith tells Ms. Jones that several students are exhibiting disruptive class behaviors.

As a first step, Ms. Jones decides to examine the results of the fall behavioral screening for Mr. Smith's class. For this screener, Mr. Smith fills out a brief behavior rating scale that assesses externalizing behaviors and yields a T-score for individual students. Using the behavior rating scale interpretation guide, Ms. Jones and Mr. Smith obtain the following results:

Part A :

A.1 : What should Ms. Jones recommend regarding intervention? For this question, be clear to specify the RtI tier level(s) you are addressing.

A.2 : What might the intervention look like? What types of content might it address?

A.3 : Ms. Jones selects an intervention program and concludes that it has a strong evidence base. Can she be certain the intervention will be effective when implemented at Make Believe Elementary? Why or why not?

Part B :

Ms. Jones and Mr. Smith proceed with the intervention from Part A. As specified in Make Believe Elementary's RtI model, they conduct the behavioral screening three times over the course of the academic year. Each time, they calculate the percentage of students at each risk level. Upon graphing the data, they obtain the following results:

B.1 : Has Ms. Jones' intervention plan generally improved the class's behavioral problems? Why or why not?

B.2 : Has Ms. Jones solved the problem? Given the class's status at the end of the school year (Spring), what should Ms. Jones' next steps be?

Question #2

At the beginning of the school year, Sam P. Kid, a second grade student at Make Believe Elementary, was referred for intervention due to concerns regarding his oral reading fluency (ORF) skills. As a result, he was given a Tier 2 reading intervention. The Tier 2 intervention was led by the classroom teacher and conducted with a group of 5 students (including Sam).

Specifically, this intervention focused on using choral reading to promote fluency. During the intervention, Sam's progress in ORF was monitored once per month by measuring the number of words he read correctly per minute from a grade-level passage.

His phonics/decoding skills also were monitored once per month by measuring the number of nonsense words he read correctly per minute (NWF). The following displays his progress monitoring data from September through January.

Part A :

Use the four problem-solving steps to evaluate Sam's skills in oral reading fluency and to make recommendations for further intervention. Your answer should describe each step clearly and thoroughly.

Part B :

Given what you know about the five main areas of reading, why might Sam be experiencing problems with ORF?

Part C :

What is a student's academic ecology (AE)? Define and describe the three components of AE. For each AE component, describe at least two factors that could be contributing to Sam's problem.

Question #3

Thanks in part to the great teachers and school psychologists at Make Believe Elementary, Sam is all grown up and has earned his credentials as a school psychologist.

Administrators in Sam's school have indicated to him that the district would like to move toward implementing a RtI model and have asked Sam to take the lead in this reform effort. What are the essential features that should be included in the model? Be sure to address features related to assessment, intervention, and prevention.

Question #4:

How has the role of the school psychologist shifted over time (from the late 1890s to the present)? Identify at least three events that illustrate the nature of this change. What is the significance of these events, and how have they impacted the evolution of the school psychologist's role?

Attachment:- SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY.rar