School Psychology

PPS' school psychology services vary from school to school. Many schools have one or more permanent school psychologists, and others have a school psychologist a few days a week who rotates between schools. While the accessibility to school psychologists can vary by school and age, there are a variety of programs accessible to all PPS students in need of mental health supports.

Services Offered

School psychologists provide services to students on three different tiers.

• Tier I services are general supports provided to whole classrooms or larger groups of students. These services are designed to promote positive social-emotional practices in the classroom and avoid the need for higher tiered systems of support. In general, school psychologists consult with teachers to help them provide the supports rather than psychologists administering these programs on their own.
• Tier II services are provided to small groups of students who need extra social-emotional learning or academic support.
• Tier III services are for individual students that need personalized social-emotional or academic supports. These services are generally administered to students whose needs were not fully met by Tier I and II services.

School psychologists provide a variety of services, and services within a tier may differ depending on the situation. However, some of the most frequently administered services include:

• Psychologist participation in intervention teams for struggling students
• Individual counseling
• Functional behavior assessments and support plans
• Check in-check out, a service where a student "checks in" with a school psychologist at the beginning of the day, teachers provide clear feedback on the student's behavior, and then the student "checks out" with the psychologist at the end of the day to review their behavior that day.
• Social emotional learning support groups
• Mental health/suicide risk screenings and referrals to outside resources

The 2023-24 comprehensive school psychology report can be viewed [ here] with more information on services provided in an academic year.

Getting Help

^{❓ How do students access school psychology programs?} The way students access support may depend on the school and the resources allocated to that school. Teachers and administrators may refer students to school psychologists, but there is likely a way students can self-refer into these services as well.