Running head: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST INTERVIEW 1

Professional Issues in School Psychology

An Interview With a School Psychologist

Rachel Epstein

Rider University
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I. Background Information

I interviewed Michelle Lee, a school psychologist for the South Hunterdon Regional

School District in New Jersey. She has been a practicing school psychologist for three

years. She attended Montclair State University majoring in psychology for her

undergraduate degree. She then took a year off before attending Kean University for her

graduate degree and received an M.A./Ed.S in School Psychology. Ms. Lee decided

against attending Montclair State University’s school psychology program as they were

not accredited by NASP at the time. She currently works as the only school psychologist

in her school district, so she serves elementary, middle and high school students and

teachers.

II. Interview

1. Why did you become a school psychologist?

After graduating from her undergraduate program, Ms. Lee thought about taking

her knowledge of human behavior to the marketing field. She ended up taking a

year off before applying to graduate school, knowing that she wanted a really

fulfilling career helping young students. She desired to be the person she had

needed when she was in school. She often felt that school wasn’t as enjoyable for

her as it could have been, and she wanted to help fill that gap for the next

generation and do what she could to help students today enjoy learning, no matter

what difficulties they may have. (NASP Domains 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 & 2.6)

2. What are the biggest challenges faced in your role as a school psychologist?

Ms. Lee felt that disagreeable parents are the biggest challenge she faces in her

role. She has learned that no matter how well she performs, or how strong her
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data is, there will always be some parents with an inherent distrust of schools,

which keeps them from being open to what she is presenting to them. While she

finds this really frustrating, she always tries to see things from their point of view

and approach these difficult conversations with empathy. (NASP Domains 2.1,

2.2 & 2.7)

3. What do you like most about being a school psychologist?

Ms. Lee loves working with the students and seeing them make progress. She

feels that in her three years at this district she has already seen some great

progress in her students which is very encouraging. She is able to take the time to

get to know them and their personalities, which gives her a perspective that isn’t

always available through testing alone, which makes her a better psychologist and

advocate for the students. She told me a story about one of her students who

when she first started working with him had many behavior issues and required a

1-1 aide, now he is working with a classroom aide, has become really responsible,

turns in all his assignments on time, and has managed really well during the

stressful school closure. (NASP Domains 2.2, 2.3 & 2.6)

4. What diagnostic/classification approach do you use when evaluating a child for

specific learning disabilities?

Her school district uses the discrepancy model (22 points) for evaluating specific

learning disabilities. However, she added that due to the small size of the school

district, they have an Intervention and Referral Services team that is able to

advocate and often obtain services for students who do not qualify based on the

discrepancy model. (NASP Domains 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.9 & 2.10)
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5. What does your typical day/week look like?

Ms. Lee is the only school psychologist for the entire district. Her schedule is

different everyday, so she finds it imperative to keep a very organized planner.

Prior to the pandemic, she would sometimes be in all three schools in one day.

Now, due to safety protocols, she just visits one school per day, which she prefers.

She operates as a case manager for the elementary school, although she performs

the academic testing for all schools (elementary, middle and high school). It was

hard for her to give a description of what her day looks like since it is never the

same. Her weekly tasks always include consultation with teachers (special and

general education) and administrators, case management, communicating with

parents, assessments and report writing. She does not typically perform any

counseling services. (NASP Domains 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, & 2.10)

6. What aspects did you learn on the job that you did not in graduate school?

The biggest thing Ms. Lee has learned through the job has been navigating the

school system and district. Since every school is different, this was hard to

understand while in graduate school. Additionally, navigating disagreeable

parents with grace has been something she has learned to do with practice. She

has found that this gets easier with time as emotions sometimes get the best of

you and with experience she has learned to be more empathetic and understanding

of frustrated or angry parents. (NASP Domains 2.2, 2.7 & 2.10)

7. Are there other school psychologists in your district?

Ms. Lee is the only school psychologist in her school district. Her supervisor, the

director of special services, was the previous school psychologist, so she finds a
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lot of support in that relationship. Her caseload is the 1200 students in the

district. She does find this setup to be manageable for her. (NASP Domain 2.2)

8. What would you have done differently while in graduate school?

Ms. Lee wished she would have taken advantage of more of the professional

development opportunities that were available to her. She also felt that she

experienced a lot of Imposter Syndrome as a graduate student and wished she had

been more confident in her abilities and knowledge. (NASP Domains 2.9 & 2.10)

9. How do you maintain a work-life balance?

Before entering the field, Ms. Lee read a lot about the early school psychologist

career on the NASP website. She learned how important it is to have a full life

outside of work and establish boundaries early on in your career. She finds it

really important to actually eat her lunch, take her scheduled breaks, and leave

school on time, no matter how long her to-do list, in order to avoid burnout. She

tries really hard to not take a lot of work home with her on the weekends and at

night in order to keep work at work, and home at home. This has been much

easier to accomplish due to her really supportive colleagues and supervisor. She

conveyed that although she loves being a school psychologist, it is just one part of

who she is, so she finds it important to invest in her other interests as well.

(NASP Domains 2.1, 2.2 & 2.9)

10. Which other school/faculty colleagues do you interact with the most and what does

that look like?

Ms. Lee works very closely with the other members of the child study team

(social worker, speech language pathologist, and school counselors) and her
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supervisor. She consults with them daily, and since most have many years more

experience than her, she often goes to them for advice. She also works very

closely with the special education teachers in each of her schools. (NASP

Domains 2.2 & 2.10)

11. How much time do you spend on assessment vs. other activities (e.g., consultation,

etc)?

Ms. Lee typically does an assessment once a week. She works on getting that

report completed within two weeks and only working on one report at a time. She

felt that other tasks often take precedent to assessment, even if they are falling

behind. She spends most of her time on case management and consultation. She

feels like this is a good balance and in line with the needs of her schools. (NASP

Domains 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 & 2.9)

12. What piece of advice do you wish you received?

She wished she had been told to be easier and more gentle on herself. She felt in

her first year as a school psychologist she was always very stressed and unsure of

herself. She spent a lot of time comparing herself to her colleagues with decades

more experience. She wished she had viewed her lack of knowledge and

experience as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than a disadvantage. She

has found that adjusting to this mindset has helped her be more adaptable to the

changes that often occur in education. (NASP Domain 2.10)

13. If you have worked in different settings, how is your role different?

This is Ms. Lee’s only placement since becoming a school psychologist.

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14. How is your role different given the pandemic?

Because of the small size of her school district, they were able to open the

elementary school fully in September for all students in person. Her middle and

high school are on a hybrid schedule. She feels like this setup has worked in their

favor and they have been really lucky. She has been able to spend the full day in

one school now instead of traveling to a new school every few hours. They have

slowed down on assessments, and while they are behind, are really trying to focus

on what the students need from them most right now. Otherwise she feels her role

is pretty similar now to pre-pandemic, despite more virtual meetings and fewer

classroom visits. (NASP Domains 2.2, 2.3, 2.4. 2.5 & 2.7)

III. Reflection

Ms. Lee and I connected over a facebook group for aspiring and practicing school

psychologists. She was very eager to be interviewed and was happy to assist and mentor a

graduate student. During our interview, I was struck with how positive she was when

describing her job and roles, even when asked about the difficulties of being a school

psychologist. Honestly, I had been expecting the psychologist I interviewed to not be so

positive about his or her role, especially given the current additional stress of the COVID-19

pandemic on educators. I often see posts about how stressed and overworked school

psychologists and teachers feel right now, but she did not portray that feeling at all. I feel

that her setting is a big contributor to her perceptions of her role. While Ms. Lee serves twice

the number of students than recommended by NASP, it is slightly below the national

average. Additionally, she feels very supported by her supervisors and coworkers, which I

am sure is very helpful in managing stressful situations.

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Although I have been primarily interested in working in preschool and elementary school

settings, as I firmly believe in the importance of early intervention and have seen the positive

effects firsthand with former students, I am now quite interested in the type of setting that

Ms. Lee works in. It is very intriguing to work in all of the schools within a district, as you

can stay with your students as they age through school. I feel this could also be incredibly

beneficial to students and teachers to have a school psychologist manage a student’s case for

their entire schooling. This type of setting is something that I definitely would like to do

more research on and speak with a few other psychologists who practice this way, and ideally

compare their experience with psychologists who practice just in one school.

Interviewing Ms. Lee gave me a lot of hope for my future career as a school psychologist.

She described a setting where work-life balance is not only possible, but encouraged! She

feels that she is making a positive difference each day in the lives of the students and

teachers in her district, which is of utmost importance to me personally. It was really

uplifting to speak with a relatively new school psychologist who is able to accomplish so

much in her role while also avoiding burnout and excess stress. I will definitely be

researching the resources she noted on the NASP website to help me be best prepared to start

my career.