Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara School Psychology Misdirected: An Argument for Prevention and Capacity Building. For the past 35 years, at least, voices within the school psychology community have called for a re-thinking of the role of psychology and psychologists within public schools. The test and place activities of school psychologists have overwhelmed their professional practice with predictable results. Few teachers or administrators see school psychologists as resources for teaching and learning expertise, but rather as mere gatekeepers to special education services of unknown effectiveness. The calls for change have come using different conceptual vehicles, for example, mental health or behavioral consultation, curriculum based assessment, treatment validity of assessments, and most recently response to intervention. All, however, speak to the same issues: · Children’s mental health is tied directly to their academic success. · Behavioral success for children is related to instructional expertise of teachers. Changing how we conceptualize and implement our practice is complicated by many organizational and regulatory forces and is compromised by some basic assumptions of modern psychology. Until those assumptions are dismissed, change is unlikely.

1. School Psychology Misdirected U C Berkeley School Psychology Conference May 9, 2008 Jane Close Conoley, Ph.D. University of California Santa Barbara

2. Special Thanks to Gutkin, T.B. Ecological school psychology: A personal opinion and a plea for change To appear in: T. B. Gutkin & C. R. Reynolds (Eds.), The handbook of school psychology (4 th ed.) . New York: Wiley.

8. WHO World Mental Health Survey Consortium (2004) “Approximately 85% of Americans will not receive health care treatment for their diagnosable mental or substance-abuse disorder within a year. More than 70% of them will never receive specialized mental health care.” (Norcross, 2006, p. 683)

9. Milken Institute An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease. National annual cost of mental disorders = $217 billion (treatment, lost economic output) - third only to cancer and coronary disease (DeVol & Bedroussian, 2007)

11. Thomas Insel - Director of the National Institute of Mental Health Data such as these are indicative of “a systemic and unacceptable failure in the provision of [mental health] care” in the United States (Insel & Fenton, 2005, p. 590).

12. U. S. Surgeon General “The nation is facing a public crisis in mental healthcare for infants, children and adolescents.” (U.S. Public Health Service, 2000) The “foremost finding is that most children in need of mental health services do not get them.” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999, p. 180) THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN

15. POPULATION-BASED SERVICES PREVENTION EARLY INTERVENTION Effective Remediation Services Ideal Distribution of Services

16. OUR HIGHEST PRIORITY GOALS – MOST IMPORTANT JOB ROLES 1. Engage and motivate primary caregivers (e.g., teachers, parents) in the lives of children so they take action in behalf of children 2. Give psychology away (Miller, 1969) to primary caregivers (e.g., teachers, parents) in the lives of children so they take effective action in behalf of children

18. Medical Model Human Behavior = Individual, environment

21. Ecological Model Behavior = Individual Environment

26. Comprehensive programs consist of school readiness, parent involvement that empowers parents to take a role in education across grades K-12, and school-linked services designed to improve achievement by ensuring that the health and social needs of children are met .

27. Policymakers and educators have mostly ignored the nature of interactions between families and schools…this relationship may be “the missing link in school-linked social service programs” Smrekar (1994)

31. This team, amongst other things, is a vehicle for establishing a common language, mapping existing school- and community-based resources, and identifying student, family, and staff needs.

42. Sample Programs