Expanding the Role of School Psychologists to Support Early Career Teachers: A Mixed-Method Study

The reported research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A090085 to the University of Illinois at Chicago. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our district partners. Portions of this paper were presented at the following conferences: National Association for School Psychologists 2015 Annual Convention and 2016 Annual Convention.

Abstract.

School psychologists have training and expertise in consultation and evidence-based interventions that position them well to support early career teachers (ECTs). The current study involved iterative development and pilot testing of an intervention to help ECTs become more effective in classroom management and engaging learners, as well as more connected to colleagues. The intervention included group seminars, professional learning communities, and coaching. The sample included 15 ECTs and 57 school personnel in three high-poverty, urban schools. Feasibility and initial promise of the intervention were examined using a mixed-method design, which yielded promising trends in ECTs' effectiveness and connectedness. ECTs described facilitators to effectiveness and connectedness associated with the intervention and barriers associated with the structural realities of schools and gaps in their training. ECTs described effectiveness as neither static nor global and perceived meaningful progress, leveraging individual relationships and group formats to receive instrumental and emotional support.

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elisa S. Shernoff

Elisa S. Shernoff, PhD, is an assistant professor at Rutgers University. Her research centers on developing and evaluating professional development models for teachers working in high-poverty schools, including coaching, virtual training platforms, and site-based training. The overall goal of Dr. Shernoff's work includes expanding mental health practice in schools to include supporting teacher effectiveness as a mechanism for promoting positive academic and behavioral outcomes for children living in poverty.

Stacy L. Frazier

Stacy L. Frazier, PhD, is an associate professor in the Center for Children and Families and Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Science Program in Child and Adolescent Psychology at Florida International University. She directs a program of community-partnered children's mental health services research focused on strengthening capacity of schools and after-school programs to mitigate risk; build resilience; and facilitate healthy academic, social, and behavioral trajectories for youth and families living in neighborhoods of concentrated urban poverty.

Ané M. Maríñez-Lora

Ané M. Maríñez-Lora, PhD, is a research assistant professor of psychology in psychiatry in the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on mental health services research with underserved populations, cultural adaptation of evidence-based interventions for Latino immigrant children and families, parental school involvement, parent training, and the use of evidence-based practices by teachers and community-based clinicians.

Davielle Lakind

Davielle Lakind, MA, is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago and works with the Center for Community-Based Children's Mental Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Juvenile Research. Her research focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of community-based supports for children and families in high-poverty ethnic minority communities, as well as workforce development and support for teachers and community-based paraprofessionals.

Marc S. Atkins

Marc S. Atkins, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He also directs the Dissemination and Implementation Research and Policy Program for UIC's Center for Clinical and Translational Research. His work has examined new models for mental health practice in urban communities to address long-standing disparities in mental health care. He is a frequent consultant to the Chicago Public Schools, as well as the Illinois Division of Mental Health and the Illinois State Board of Education, on guidelines for school- and community-based mental health programs and practices.

Lara Jakobsons

Lara Jakobsons, PhD, is a clinician educator at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, and a clinical psychologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem. She held a faculty position and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois at Chicago. While earning her doctorate in clinical psychology from Florida State University, she completed a predoctoral fellowship at the Florida Center for Reading Research and a Gubernatorial Fellowship at the State of Florida's Department of Education. Her research examines the contexts that support motivation, reading development, and behavior among children from diverse backgrounds.

Bridget K. Hamre

Bridget K. Hamre, PhD, is an associate research professor and Associate Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Hamre's areas of expertise include student–teacher relationships and classroom processes that promote positive academic and social development for young children. Her work documents the ways in which early teacher–child relationships and teachers' social and instructional interactions with children support children's development and learning and may help close the achievement gap for students at risk of school failure.

Dulal K. Bhaumik

Dulal K. Bhaumik, PhD, is a professor of psychiatry, biostatistics, and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the Director of the Biostatistical Research Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include statistical problems in psychiatry, environmental statistics, design of experiments, and statistical inferences. Currently, he is investigating sample size determination and power computation for mental health data and developing statistical methodologies for analyzing neuroconnectivity data.

Michelle Parker-Katz

Michelle Parker-Katz, PhD, is a clinical professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she also serves as coordinator of master's programs and clinical experiences in the Department of Special Education. Her research focuses on the preparation and support of urban public school teachers as they develop avenues to alter inequities for urban students.

Jennifer Watling Neal

Jennifer Watling Neal, PhD, is an associate professor of community psychology at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the role of social networks in public education including how school districts acquire information about social skills programs, how teacher advice networks are associated with the use of classroom practices, and how children's peer social networks are associated with classroom behavior.

Mark A. Smylie

Mark A. Smylie, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is also a visiting professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. His research focuses on educational leadership and its development, school organization and improvement, and teacher support and development.

Darshan A. Patel

Darshan A. Patel, MD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Willowbrooke at Tanner Health System. He currently manages the Adult and Child/Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Programs at Willowbrooke.