Providence Public Schools District (PPSD) seeks an exceptional SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY SPECIALIST who is highly qualified and skillful to join our community of teachers, students and stakeholders. This is an exciting opportunity for teachers who seek a challenging yet rewarding teaching experience.
The School Psychologist Specialist is a member of the district’s Social Emotional Learning & Mental Health Department’s Leadership Team, which falls under the Wellness Department within the Office of Student Services. The Specialist will work closely with the Director of Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health in coordinating the successful development, implementation and evaluation of a comprehensive, multi-tiered, and integrated approach to social emotional learning, mental health, and academics throughout the school district. The School Psychologist Specialist will play an essential role in building the capacity of school-based teams to implement appropriate evidence-based social emotional and behavioral universal practices and targeted and intensive interventions to create safe, supportive and healthy school environments that support the social, emotional and academic development of Providence Public School students. Overall, the School Psychologist Specialist must demonstrate a deep belief in the capacity of all students to achieve at high levels and have the ability to work collaboratively with a diverse set of leaders and teachers to support continuous growth of students, staff and schools within safe and supportive environments.
A primary focus of the School Psychologist Specialist position is to utilize the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Practice Model, including National Standards and Code of Ethics, and SEL Standards to develop and maintain plans that drive excellence in School Psychological services, practices, policies, and procedures across PPSD and within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework. The Specialist will lead implementation of recruitment and retention strategies that increase the overall number of qualified School Psychologists within PPSD schools and across the district. They will work towards meeting and maintaining nationally recommended ratios in order to support continuous improvement, effective and highly qualified school-based leadership teams and student support teams, and successful student outcomes; as well as coordinate with the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) to successfully complete and submit the Excellence in School Psychological Services (ESPS) Program PPSD application and progress towards national recognition of excellence in School Psychological Services.
We serve approximately 22,000 students at 37 elementary, middle, and high schools. Approximately 55% of students come from homes where English is not the primary language spoken. Combined, our students and families speak 55 different languages and hail from 91 countries of origin. In PPSD, the teachers and leaders set high expectations for academic achievement, provide equal access to differentiated instruction, and endeavor to close the achievement and opportunity gap among historically marginalized subgroups within the schools. PPSD is a great place for those who desire an environment that supports their creativity and ingenuity, and respects their credentials and abilities as a teacher.
REPORTS TO: Principal
**Contingent upon funding**
EDUCATION TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
- Master’s degree and/or Continued Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) degree or Doctorate (Ph.D.) degree in School Psychology
- Experience as a School Psychologist in a school setting
- Experience working in the community and/or working with community partners
RIDE certification requirements:
- All Grades School Psychologist, Grades PK-12
Nationally Certified School Psychologist preferred
ESL Certification Preferred
DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND CURRICULAR LINKAGES
- Contributing member of the Social Emotional Learning and Mental Health Department Leadership Team
- Coordinate, lead and facilitate implementation of district-wide initiatives and grant programs and opportunities that support the social emotional learning, mental health, and behavioral health of PPSD students, schools, and families and advances the SEL and professional competencies of school-based mental health professionals.
- Collaborate with the Director of SEL & Mental Health and district-level and school-based staff to promote and increase awareness of social emotional learning, mental health and wellness, and school-based mental health professionals and continuously improve students’ academic achievement, social-emotional development, and well-being.
- Support the implementation of professional development opportunities for school-based mental health support staff in order to expand capacity within the district to effectively support mental health, social-emotional learning, and the behavioral health of students within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework.
- Partner with district Human Resources and Communications Departments to identify and implement initiatives to increase recruitment and retention of School Based Mental Health Professionals across the district. More specifically, plan, implement, and monitor recruitment and retention strategies to increase the overall number of qualified School Social Workers and other School-Based Mental Health professionals across PPSD schools aligned to nationally recommended ratios.
- Collaborate with PPSD leadership supporting PPSD School Based Mental Professionals to identify and secure materials and resources needed to more effectively provide comprehensive school based mental health.
- Support the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan that increases and improves access to evidence-based culturally competent and developmentally appropriate school and community-based mental health supports that are youth and parent informed with local community agencies.
- Work collaboratively with district and school-based teams to support continuous improvement and implementation of high-quality school-based services that are culturally relevant, address issues of equity, are trauma informed and support social-emotional learning.
- Act as a liaison with RIDE School Health Team and Rhode Island College on initiatives related to recruitment and retention of School Based Mental Health Professionals, school health, social-emotional learning and mental health, advancement of School Psychology standards and curriculum, field placement and pathways for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
- Coordinate training for School Social Workers, School Psychologists, and School Counselors in social/emotional development, standards, competencies and ethics, within discipline specific professions.
- Provide coaching, training and support to School Based Mental Health Professionals to enhance knowledge, training and practice.
- Other duties as assigned.
Multi-Tiered System of Supports
- Lead efforts to develop and implement Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS), Trauma-sensitive Crisis Prevention, Response and Recovery, integrated Social Emotional Learning and Restorative Practices within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports in collaboration with the SEL and Mental Health Department and school-based administrators and teams.
- Facilitate and model effective teaming practices across leadership teams and student support teams at the district and school level.
- Lead district and school-based implementation of identified evidence-based and practice-based interventions with a focus on fidelity and sustainability of appropriate interventions that meets the diverse needs of Providence Public School students, schools and families.
- Lead efforts to collaborate, plan and confer with district and school staff and external partners in strengthening school-based Student Support Teams and their ability to successfully implement and provide access to identified evidence-based behavioral, social, or emotional programs and services along a layered continuum of supports.
Excellence in School Psychological Services
- Lead development and continuous improvement of the PPSD School Psychologist Handbook.
- Support development and maintenance of policies that adopt to adopt National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Standards to guide excellence in School Psychology services in PPSD.
- Assist in utilizing the Excellence in School Psychological Service (ESPS) rubric to guide district needs assessment, monitoring and action planning for building excellence in School Psychological services at the district, school, and individual level in PPSD.
- Engage in action planning and continuous improvement cycles to establish excellence across School Psychological services aligned to School Psychology standards, ethical codes, and SEL standards.
- Align NASP Practice Model and Ethical Standards to the support staff evaluation process, develop and maintain continuous improvement for professional development, professional growth plans, supervision and mentoring around the evaluation process.
- Lead development, action planning and implementation of a self-assessment tool for School Psychologists and School Psychology graduate students and interns aligned to NASP practice and ethical standards and growth plan; and assist in development of Professional Development plan based on self-assessment results and growth plan.
- Lead development, presentations, and visualization of School Psychological services provided across a continuum of school-based supports and within an MTSS framework, and the role of a School Psychologist on school-based leadership teams, school improvement teams, crisis prevention and response teams, grade level teams, and student support teams.
- Support clarification and plan for developing a shared understanding of billable school-based services under Medicaid and efficient processes and procedures for recording, monitoring and inputting information to support advocacy and reimbursem*nt efforts.
- Join team meetings with Rhode Island College and RIDE during summer months to assist in development of goals and implementation of integrated behavioral health graduate student teams through the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant.
- Utilize a continuous data management process to identify PPSD School Psychologist recruitment and retention needs. Plan, implement, and monitor recruitment and retention strategies to increase the overall number of qualified School Psychologists and other School-Based Mental Health professionals across PPSD schools aligned to nationally recommended ratios.
- Lead development and maintenance of an annual calendar that incorporates annual recognition activities, awards, and connection events for School Psychologists and other School-Based Mental Health Professionals
- Collaborate with the Director of SEL and Mental Health to gather all necessary data, information, and documentation to support completion and submission of the NASP Excellence in School Psychological Service (ESPS) program application for PPSD by the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year.
- Act as the liaison to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Excellence in School Psychological Services (ESPS) Program to guide successful application and submission processes.
- Support review of feedback from the NASP ESPS Program staff following submission and review of PPSD application and guide action planning based on feedback to support next steps in ensuring excellence of School Psychological services at the district, school, and individual level at PPSD.
- Further tasks to support effective implementation of the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program and ensure successful outcomes as determined by the Director of SEL and Mental Health.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS STANDARDS
- Demonstrated comprehensive knowledge, understanding of and commitment to social and emotional learning standards and ability to analyze social, emotional & behavioral health data
- Knowledge of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) National Model and Standards
- Understanding of the SHAPE system for comprehensive school based mental health services
- Experience working within a school setting, collaborating with school administrators, teachers and a diverse population of students and families.
- Knowledge of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework; data collection process/procedures; school and community based interventions and utilization of data based decision making to inform practices and evaluate programs.
- Experience with operation and facilitation of school-based problem-solving teams (i.e. MTSS Leadership Team, Wellness Teams, Target Teams, Student Support Teams, etc.)
- Knowledge of mental/behavioral health assessment, diagnosis and treatment
- Experience planning, developing and implementing programs with community partners, preferably within a school setting.
- Experience in providing technical assistance and professional development to teachers and administrators on social emotional learning, social emotional health and well-being, trauma informed care and positive behavior interventions and supports.
- Competency in google suite, including google sheets, documents, classrooms etc.
