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Somali immigrants and refugees have entered the United States with increasing frequency due to civil war-induced violence and instability in their native country. The resultant increase of Somali students is of particular relevance to educators and school psychologists because Somali youth possess unique cultural backgrounds. In addition, refugee youth are at an elevated risk for mental health and academic difficulties due to their pre-immigration exposure to traumatic events and lack of formal education. In this article, we provide an overview of Somali history and culture, recent immigrant trends, and the challenges faced by Somali children and youth in the United States. Then, we describe the research on school-based supports for the academic and social-emotional needs of this population, and discuss implications for school psychological services and applied research.

Delivering psychological services in rural communities presents a number of unique challenges for practitioners relative to their peers in urban and suburban communities. In this article, the authors describe the current context of rural schools and examine the ethical and legal issues school psychologists may face when practicing in rural educational settings. They link these issues to the field's ethical guidelines and educational policy and offer practical recommendations for resolving potential dilemmas. Implications for practice, training, and research are discussed.

Positive behavior interventions and supports are increasingly utilized in school systems throughout the nation, particularly the school-wide multi-tiered support framework. Given such trends, and the basis of these practices in psychological principles and research, it is important to identify how school psychologists are trained to contribute to such efforts, their involvement in intervention activities, and their perceptions of this approach. We surveyed a national sample of 557 school psychologists regarding their training, involvement, and perceptions of positive behavior supports. The results indicate that although most respondents had a variety of training experiences in multiple behavior-related areas, one quarter did not report receiving any training related to school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS). Although 35% of school psychologists reported employment in schools implementing SWPBIS, these schools varied in the SWPBIS elements in place. Implications for school psychology training and practice are addressed. (Contains 4 tables.)

As Response to Intervention (RtI) approaches become more common in educational systems throughout the country, it is increasingly important to identify how practitioners perceive these changes and how they obtain the skills necessary to face emergent roles and responsibilities. In this exploratory study, a national sample of 557 school psychologists were surveyed regarding their training, involvement, and perceptions of RtI. The results indicate that practitioners engage in multiple training experiences via a variety of modalities. Nearly half of respondents reported employment at sites implementing RtI. Practitioners at RtI-implementing sites reported a greater proportion of their time spent in academic intervention and conducted fewer psychoeducational assessments relative to their peers at non-RtI-implementing sites. Although many reported that RtI had positive effects on academic performance, a sizeable proportion of practitioners observed no effect on school culture and climate. Implications for school psychology training and practice are discussed. (Contains 4 tables.)

In recent years, school psychology has given increasing attention to issues of social justice and antiracism. While such orientations are not new, the scope and centrality of these movements within the field are, as is the growing appreciation of the need to integrate them across all areas of professional activities and efforts in school psychology. The aim of this special topic section is to create a space for scholarship addressing a broad range of issues relevant to advancing equity and justice in school psychology. In particular, we seek to curate diverse scholarship that expands the ways we conceptualize, design, implement, and interpret school psychology research, as well as how we approach graduate preparation and practice in school psychology to advance equitable and just services for individuals from historically and systemically marginalized backgrounds. The resulting compilation of articles provide insight into how school psychologists can approach scholarship, practice, and professional education to advance antiracism, social justice, and equity. Themes include expanding the nature and scope of school psychology scholarship by confronting the detriments of whiteness and epistemic exclusion; centering equity, healing, and minoritized voices in practice; and leveraging diverse research methods, including participatory approaches, to elevate youth and family voices in addressing some of the most pressing issues in schools. Impact Statement School psychology has given increasing attention to issues of social justice and antiracism, with growing appreciation of the need to integrate them across all professional activities. This article contributes important information regarding how these broad efforts can be supported by confronting the detriments of epistemic exclusion and whiteness in scholarship; centering equity, healing, and minoritized voices in practice; and leveraging diverse research methods, including participatory approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is imperative that the field of school psychology in the United States continue to evolve in order to support the development, well-being, and educational success of all students. The confluence of numerous factors, including the sociopolitical zeitgeist, significant societal events, and the need to provide appropriate supports for students from minoritized backgrounds, converge to reveal and inform the importance of the field of school psychology continuing to develop. This special topic section of School Psychology Review focuses on reconceptualizing school psychology for the 21st century. The compilation of articles featured herein is both introspective and forward looking. These articles present important theories, frameworks, and approaches to improve school psychology's responsiveness to the social injustice embedded in many of the core foundations of American society and inform our professional efforts to more effectively support every student. Several foundational orientations are emphasized, including critical consciousness, critical reflexivity, and other mindsets key to engaging in sustained efforts to advance social justice and antiracism. Implications for practice, scholarship, graduate education, and professional standards in school psychology are discussed. Impact Statement Sociopolitical and cultural changes have affected the lived experiences and needs of students, families, and educators, which, in turn, create the contexts within which school psychologists engage and affect the attitudes, assumptions, behaviors, and resources school psychologists bring to their work. This article highlights considerations and opportunities for school psychology faculty, practitioners, and students to advance the development of the field to support the students, families, and communities we serve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Studying change over time requires rigorous and sometimes novel statistical methods that can support increasingly complex applied research questions. In this article, we provide an overview of the potential of piecewise growth mixture models. This type of longitudinal model can be used to advance our understanding of group and individual growth that may follow a segmented, or disjointed, pattern of change, and where the data come from a mixture of two or more latent classes. We then demonstrate the practical utility of piecewise growth mixture models by applying it to a subsample of students from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K) to ascertain whether mathematics achievement is characterized by one or two latent classes akin to students with and without mathematics difficulties. We discuss the applicability for school psychological research and provide supplementary online files that include an instructional sample dataset and corresponding R routine with explanatory annotations to assist in understanding the R routine before applying this approach in novel applications (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2019.03.004). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we discuss conflict between law and science relative to the presumption in special education law that multidisciplinary teams and others identify the causes of problems giving rise to special education needs. First, we explain eligibility criteria, highlighting ambiguities therein and why criteria constitute a mandate for causal inference, and present illustrative examples of how judges have interpreted this mandate. Second, we discuss as a counterpoint school psychologists' ethical duties to conduct evaluations based on the best available science, and highlight the clear conflicts between the law, ethics, and research. We present the biopsychosocial model of development as a potential framework for reconciling one's legal duty to infer causation with the current evidence base. We conclude with implications for policy and practice and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Somali immigrants and refugees have entered the United States with increasing frequency due to civil war-induced violence and instability in their native country. The resultant increase of Somali students is of particular relevance to educators and school psychologists because Somali youth possess unique cultural backgrounds. In addition, refugee youth are at an elevated risk for mental health and academic difficulties due to their pre-immigration exposure to traumatic events and lack of formal education. In this article, we provide an overview of Somali history and culture, recent immigrant trends, and the challenges faced by Somali children and youth in the United States. Then, we describe the research on school-based supports for the academic and social-emotional needs of this population, and discuss implications for school psychological services and applied research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past researchers suggested there are a number of shortcomings in the psychoeducational evaluation process and practices used with English language learners (ELLs). In the present exploratory study, the authors descriptively examined the assessment practices used in the special education eligibility determination process for ELLs as documented in 34 psychoeducational evaluation reports in one southwestern state. The authors reviewed psychoeducational evaluation reports prepared by school psychologists to determine (a) the extent to which school psychologists adhered to legal and ethical guidelines in the evaluation of ELLs for special education eligibility and needs and (b) how school psychologists account for cultural and linguistic differences in the evaluation process. Results indicated that school psychologists rarely used culturally and linguistically responsive practices such as the use of interpretation and translation services and language proficiency data, as well as limited adherence to legal and ethical recommendations. We address implications for training and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering psychological services in rural communities presents a number of unique challenges for practitioners relative to their peers in urban and suburban communities. In this article, the authors describe the current context of rural schools and examine the ethical and legal issues school psychologists may face when practicing in rural educational settings. They link these issues to the field's ethical guidelines and educational policy and offer practical recommendations for resolving potential dilemmas. Implications for practice, training, and research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]