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School Psychologists

Diagnose and implement individual or schoolwide interventions or strategies to address educational, behavioral, or developmental issues that adversely impact educational functioning in a school. May address student learning and behavioral problems and counsel students or families. May design and implement performance plans, and evaluate performance. May consult with other school-based personnel.
  • Summary

  • Details

  • Work Activities

    • Interpret test results and prepare psychological reports for teachers, administrators, and parents.
    • Initiate and direct efforts to foster tolerance, understanding, and appreciation of diversity in school communities.
    • Provide consultation to parents, teachers, administrators, and others on topics such as learning styles and behavior modification techniques.
    • Attend workshops, seminars, or professional meetings to remain informed of new developments in school psychology.
    • Collaborate with other educational professionals to develop teaching strategies and school programs.
    • Provide educational programs on topics such as classroom management, teaching strategies, or parenting skills.
    • Counsel children and families to help solve conflicts and problems in learning and adjustment.
    • Refer students and their families to appropriate community agencies for medical, vocational, or social services.
    • Design classes and programs to meet the needs of special students.
    • Serve as a resource to help families and schools deal with crises, such as separation and loss.
    • Promote an understanding of child development and its relationship to learning and behavior.
    • Assess an individual child's needs, limitations, and potential, using observation, review of school records, and consultation with parents and school personnel.
    • Develop individualized educational plans in collaboration with teachers and other staff members.
    • Collect and analyze data to evaluate the effectiveness of academic programs and other services, such as behavioral management systems.
    • Select, administer, and score psychological tests.
    • Interpret test results and prepare psychological reports for teachers, administrators, and parents.

    Skills

    • Installation
      • Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
    • Persuasion
      • Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
    • Operation and Control
      • Using equipment or systems.
    • Writing
      • Writing things for co-workers or customers.
    • Learning Strategies
      • Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
    • Technology Design
      • Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
    • Programming
      • Writing computer programs.
    • Judgment and Decision Making
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
    • Active Learning
      • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
    • Mathematics
      • Using math to solve problems.
    • Equipment Selection
      • Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
    • Operations Analysis
      • Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
    • Service Orientation
      • Looking for ways to help people.
    • Systems Analysis
      • Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
    • Repairing
      • Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
    • Equipment Maintenance
      • Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
    • Instructing
      • Teaching people how to do something.
    • Quality Control Analysis
      • Testing how well a product or service works.
    • Reading Comprehension
      • Reading work-related information.
    • Science
      • Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
    • Systems Evaluation
      • Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
    • Negotiation
      • Bringing people together to solve differences.
    • Management of Financial Resources
      • Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
    • Management of Material Resources
      • Managing equipment and materials.
    • Monitoring
      • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
    • Complex Problem Solving
      • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
    • Operations Monitoring
      • Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
    • Critical Thinking
      • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
    • Management of Personnel Resources
      • Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
    • Time Management
      • Managing your time and the time of other people.
    • Speaking
      • Talking to others.
    • Troubleshooting
      • Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
    • Coordination
      • Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
    • Social Perceptiveness
      • Understanding people's reactions.
    • Active Listening
      • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    Abilities

    • Gross Body Coordination
      • Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
    • Static Strength
      • Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
    • Near Vision
      • Seeing details up close.
    • Manual Dexterity
      • Holding or moving items with your hands.
    • Wrist-Finger Speed
      • Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
    • Perceptual Speed
      • Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
    • Flexibility of Closure
      • Seeing hidden patterns.
    • Speed of Closure
      • Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
    • Time Sharing
      • Doing two or more things at the same time.
    • Depth Perception
      • Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
    • Peripheral Vision
      • Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
    • Written Expression
      • Communicating by writing.
    • Dynamic Flexibility
      • Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Speed of Limb Movement
      • Quickly moving your arms and legs.
    • Oral Comprehension
      • Listening and understanding what people say.
    • Visual Color Discrimination
      • Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
    • Problem Sensitivity
      • Noticing when problems happen.
    • Night Vision
      • Seeing at night or under low light.
    • Auditory Attention
      • Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
    • Written Comprehension
      • Reading and understanding what is written.
    • Oral Expression
      • Communicating by speaking.
    • Originality
      • Creating new and original ideas.
    • Visualization
      • Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
    • Selective Attention
      • Paying attention to something without being distracted.
    • Memorization
      • Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
    • Arm-Hand Steadiness
      • Keeping your arm or hand steady.
    • Rate Control
      • Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
    • Reaction Time
      • Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
    • Mathematical Reasoning
      • Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
    • Extent Flexibility
      • Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
    • Speech Recognition
      • Recognizing spoken words.
    • Response Orientation
      • Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
    • Fluency of Ideas
      • Coming up with lots of ideas.
    • Inductive Reasoning
      • Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
    • Dynamic Strength
      • Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
    • Trunk Strength
      • Using your lower back and stomach.
    • Far Vision
      • Seeing details that are far away.
    • Speech Clarity
      • Speaking clearly.
    • Control Precision
      • Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
    • Glare Sensitivity
      • Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
    • Explosive Strength
      • Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
    • Stamina
      • Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
    • Multilimb Coordination
      • Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
    • Number Facility
      • Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
    • Information Ordering
      • Ordering or arranging things.
    • Category Flexibility
      • Grouping things in different ways.
    • Gross Body Equilibrium
      • Keeping your balance or staying upright.
    • Finger Dexterity
      • Putting together small parts with your fingers.
    • Spatial Orientation
      • Knowing where things are around you.
    • Sound Localization
      • Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
    • Hearing Sensitivity
      • Telling the difference between sounds.
    • Deductive Reasoning
      • Using rules to solve problems.

    Knowledge

    • Communications and Media
      • Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
    • Mathematics
      • Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
    • Public Safety and Security
      • Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
    • Medicine and Dentistry
      • Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
    • Sociology and Anthropology
      • Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
    • Therapy and Counseling
      • Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
    • Customer and Personal Service
      • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
    • Administration and Management
      • Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
    • Economics and Accounting
      • Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
    • Psychology
      • Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
    • Chemistry
      • Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
    • Design
      • Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
    • Personnel and Human Resources
      • Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
    • Administrative
      • Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
    • Biology
      • Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
    • Building and Construction
      • Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
    • Law and Government
      • Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
    • Mechanical
      • Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
    • History and Archeology
      • Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
    • Sales and Marketing
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
    • Production and Processing
      • Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
    • Philosophy and Theology
      • Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
    • Transportation
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
    • Computers and Electronics
      • Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
    • Geography
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
    • Engineering and Technology
      • Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
    • Food Production
      • Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
    • Physics
      • Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
    • English Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
    • Foreign Language
      • Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
    • Education and Training
      • Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
    • Fine Arts
      • Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
    • Telecommunications
      • Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    Education

    Education
    Master's degree
    Work Experience
    No work experience
    Training
    Internship/residency

    Pay

    Washington Annual Salary
    106440/yr
    Washington Hourly Wage
    51.17/hr

    Washington Employment Trends

    Currently Employed
    66,000
    Yearly Projected Openings
    3600

    Personality

    Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:
    • Dependability
    • Integrity
    • Cooperation
    • Persistence
    • Self Control
    • Social Orientation

    Tools

    • Desktop computers
    • Notebook computers
    • Overhead projectors
    • Personal computers
    • Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
    • Scanners
    • Special purpose telephones
    • Tablet computers

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Computer based training software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Internet browser software
    • Office suite software
    • Optical character reader OCR or scanning software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Video conferencing software
    • Word processing software