Volume 59, No Spring 2009 Results of a Survey of California School Psychologist’s Training Needs in Relation to the Response to Intervention Process By John Brady PhD Chapman University & Catherine Christo PhD California State University, Sacramento This is a report of a survey that was conducted in April and May 2008 regarding California school psychologists’ training needs in relation to implementation of Response to Instruction/Intervention (RTI) models The topic areas for possible training that were included in the survey were determined according to what are considered the most common elements of RTI models (e.g Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Johnson, Mellard, Fuchs, D., & McKnight, 2006; NASDSE, 2006) and likely to be pertinent to school psychologists (Christo, Brady, Leaman, 2003) Within an RTI model it is expected that school psychologists will be involved in both general education and special education activities Method Under the direction of Chapman University School of Education Best Practices in Pupil Services Project, the link to the web site of the survey was sent out to psychologists in California using the California Association of School Psychologist’s (CASP) membership email list (approximately 2,400 email addresses) A follow-up email and a second request to the membership list was sent about two weeks after the first request An email was also sent out to the directors of several of the larger districts in California requesting that they forward it on to their psychologists Responses were received from 214 of the approximately 2,400 school psychologists on the CASP email list This represents a response rate of 8.9% of the psychologists to whom we sent the survey link There are 4,726 school psychologists in California (CBEDS 2007-08 data) The 214 respondents to the survey represent 4.5% of the school psychologists of California Results There were seven questions on the survey Results for each of the questions will be presented below Demographic information The first three questions pertained to demographic information Question provided information as to how long the respondent had been employed as a school psychologist The majority (51.4 %) have been employed for more than 10 years Of the remaining respondents 24.8% have been employed for to 190 years and 23.8% for to years Eighty-two percent of respondents work in elementary and 19.8% in secondary (see Table 1) Forty-five percent of the respondents work in urban settings, 43% in suburban settings and 11% in rural settings Data were also disaggregated according to years of employment (see Table 2) The percent of psychologists employed in elementary and secondary did not vary by years of employment However, it was interesting to note that while the majority of school psychologists employed for greater than 10 years worked in suburban settings (50%), the majority of school psychologists employed for either to years or less than year worked in urban settings (53% and 51% respectively) Table Total employ to Years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years 39% 20% 42% 40% 16% 44% 42% 25% 34% 37% 19% 44% Total employ to Years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years 51% 33% 16% 53% 38% 9% 39% 50% 11% Question: What level of schools you primarily serve? • • • Elementary Secondary Elementary and secondary Table Question: What type of district you work in? • Urban 45% • Suburban 43% • Rural 12% The remaining questions addressed RTI related professional development Table Total employ to years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years Question: Please check all the areas of work in the RTI process, in general, that you would like training on: • The RTI process in general 26% • The psychologists role in the RTI process 65% • School implementation strategies for RTI process 72% • Assessment for special education using data from the RTI process 85% 21% 24% 24% 69% 68% 63% 86% 70% 65% 84% 85% 85% Areas of work in RTI process in general Table provides disaggregated data relevant to this question Most respondents not feel they need professional training regarding the RTI process in general (only 25% selected this topic) Assessment for special education is a high need area with 85% of respondents indicating that they would like more training on this topic They are also strongly interested in school level implementation strategies and somewhat less interested in training on the school psychologists’ role (72% and 65% of total respondents, respectively) Twenty percent more of the psychologists working to years than those working more than years expressed a need for training regarding school level implementation strategies Areas of work in Tier I At Tier of the RTI process, training in universal screening for both academic and behavioral concerns seems to be the greatest area of need (see Table 4) Psychologists working for more than 10 years (68%) indicated a higher need for training in this area than those working only to years (53%) Overall psychologists were least concerned about training in the area of CA standards Approximately 55% of total respondents would like more training regarding general education classroom interventions for academic and behavioral supports It was interesting to note that while just under 49% of psychologists working more than 10 years noted a need for more training in these areas, over 60% of psychologists working to 10 years noted need for more training In regards to consultation with general education teachers, 57% of psychologists employed for to years noted a need for training in this area while 38% of those employed more than years wanted training in this area Areas of work in Tier II At Tier II, respondents appeared to be most interested in learning more about social/emotional (72%) and behavioral interventions (69%) About one half the total respondents expressed a need to learn more about interventions at Tier II for both elementary level reading and mathematics and around 40% for secondary level interventions in these areas Generally, it appears that more experienced psychologists have less need for information regarding academic interventions Seventy-two percent of all respondents expressed a need for more training on monitoring student progress in interventions at Tier II Table Total employ to Years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years Question: Please check all areas in the RTI process, at level 1, the general education classroom, that you would like more training on: • Universal screening for academic behavioral concerns 63% • CA state standards of instruction 37% • General education classroom academic supports 55% • General education classroom behavioral supports 56% • Consultation with general education teachers on classroom concerns 43% 53% 62% 68% 45% 38% 32% 67% 62% 45% 61% 66% 49% 57% 38% 39% employ to Years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years Table Total Question: Please check all areas in the RTI process at level 2, targeted interventions, that you would like training on: • Reading interventions, elementary level • Reading interventions, secondary level • Mathematics interventions elementary level • Mathematics interventions secondary level • Social/emotional interventions • Behavioral interventions • Insuring treatment integrity • Monitoring the student’s progress in the interventions 52% 63% 55% 46% 44% 47% 49% 40% 53% 63% 55% 48% 40% 73% 70% 68% 47% 75% 73% 78% 45% 76% 68% 60% 34% 70% 69% 66% 73% 73% 77% 70% District implementation Only 3% of respondents report that RTI is fully implemented at their schools Most report that RTI is implemented in some schools (44%) or is in the planning stages (37%) However, 16% report that RTI implementation is not yet in the planning stages Thus it appears, at least for the schools of respondents, most are moving toward RTI implementation but still have much work to Table Total employ to years employ 5-10 years employ > 10 years Question: To what extent has your district implemented the RTI process? • Is fully implementing it at all schools • Is implementing it at some schools • Is in the planning stages • Is not yet in the planning stages 3% 2% 2% 4% 44% 53% 44% 40% 37% 16% 31% 14% 42% 12% 37% 19% Ready to participate in RTI The final question asked respondents to report how ready they felt to participate in the RTI process While overall most respondents report themselves as ready (34%) or somewhat ready (47%) to participate in the RTI process, more recently trained psychologists report themselves as more ready to participate than those with over 10 years of experience Table Total employ to Years employ 5-10 years Question: To what extent you feel ready to participate in the RTI process? • Ready to participate 34% 45% • Somewhat ready to participate 47% 43% 44% • Not ready to participate 19% 15% 25% employ > 10 years 30% 31% 55% 15% Discussion More than 70% of respondents indicated a need for more training in each of the following areas: using data from the RTI process in assessment for special education eligibility, school level strategies for implementing RTI, social/emotional and behavioral interventions at Tier II, and progress monitoring of students in response to interventions Over 50% of respondents indicated a need for training in these areas: the psychologist’s role in RTI, screening at Tier I, elementary level interventions for reading and mathematics (both Tier I and Tier II), and methods for monitoring treatment integrity Some differences between those psychologists with over 10 years experience and those with less were noted For example, 68% of psychologists working for more than 10 years expressed a need for training in regards to universal screening while only 53% of those working to years expressed such a need This may reflect new training practices that include instruction in screening procedures Conversely it appears that newer psychologists are more interested in training regarding classroom level interventions and consulting with teachers than more experienced psychologists As California’s schools move into the implementation of the RTI process in the next few years, the results of this survey can shed light on the training needs of school psychologists who are a key participant in the process References Christo, C., Brady, J., Leaman, S The important role of school psychologists in NCLB and Current Educational reforms, CASP Today, Volume 52, Number 1, Winter 2003 Johnson, E., Mellard, D.F., Fuchs, D., & McKnight, M.A (2006) Responsiveness to intervention (RTI): How to it Lawrence, KS: National Research Center on Learning Disabilities Mellard, D.F & Johnson, E (2007) RTI: A practitioners guide to implementing response to intervention Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, CA National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) (2006) RTI: Blueprints for implementation at the state, district and local levels NASDSE: Alexandra, VA © California Association of School Psychologists, Spring 2009 ... implementation strategies Areas of work in Tier I At Tier of the RTI process, training in universal screening for both academic and behavioral concerns seems to be the greatest area of need (see Table... area of CA standards Approximately 55% of total respondents would like more training regarding general education classroom interventions for academic and behavioral supports It was interesting to. .. working for more than 10 years (68%) indicated a higher need for training in this area than those working only to years (53%) Overall psychologists were least concerned about training in the area