UKIAH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT JOB TITLE: SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST REPORTS TO: DIRECTOR OF SPECIAL EDUCATION DIVISION: MANAGEMENT LOCATION: DISTRICT-WIDE SUMMARY: The school psychologist provides professional services to regular and special education students, parents, schools, district personnel and community agencies to improve the educational performance and psychological functioning of students through the application of effective educational practices and psychological principles. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: Consults with administrators, faculty, specialists and other district personnel as requested; participates in planning educational programs and curriculum, including serving on student study teams, determining promotion, retention and suspension of students, enhancing staff cooperation and determining behavior management procedures. Provides counseling to students and parents; utilizes techniques and strategies as needed, including changing the educational environment, changing the level of difficulty of school work assigned, delaying or accelerating promotion to a higher grade level, changing parent or teacher responses to student behavior, placement in special education program or referring student to private therapist or appropriate community agency. Teaches classroom units to entire classes and small groups on a variety of topics related to social skills, and communication skills. Helps to develop, write and implement comprehensive Individual Educational Plans for special education students; prepares triennial reevaluations; serves as a mandated member on IEP teams; and serves the best interests of the special education student by acting as his or her advocate. Prepares and develops case histories and confidential records and files on referred students in accordance with legal and professional requirements. Utilizes a variety of psycho diagnostic techniques and procedures to evaluate students; designs and formulates appropriate treatment plans and solution strategies; recommends student eligibility for special education, school/class placement and strategies for improving achievement and behavior, interprets test results to parents and professionals and makes recommendations. Coordinates referrals to other educational agencies, such as Mendocino County Office of Education, State Diagnostic School, special state schools, and other county support agencies. Consults with special education teachers periodically to assess student progress; discusses and helps to modify as needed the goals, methods, procedures and educational materials for each student. Remediates crisis and emergency situations requiring immediate attention; refers students for appropriate medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, hospitalization, residential treatment or further specialized mental health evaluation. Provides in-service training to parents, teachers, administrators, other professionals and staff. Attends and participates in a variety of professional meetings and conferences related to educational psychology; attends staff and administrative meetings as directed. Organizes, coordinates and participates in special projects and or grants designed to facilitate learning and development through the prevention, identification, evaluation and remediation of educational problems. Confers and communicates with physicians, other professionals, authorities and representatives of private and government agencies regarding the problems, progress and treatment plans for referred students. Performs other duties as assigned. QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. EDUCATION AND OR EXPERIENCE: Must hold a Pupil Personnel Services Credential with the school psychologist authorization. LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret journals, educational reports, and legal documents. Ability to respond to common inquires or complaints from students, educational agencies, or members of the community. Ability to make presentations that conform to a prescribed style and format. Ability to effectively present information to management, staff, students, and/or Board of Trustees. MATHEMATICAL SKILLS: Ability to apply statistical operations to such tasks as frequency of distribution, determination of test reliability and validity, analysis of variance, correlation techniques, sampling theory, and factor analysis. REASONING ABILITY: Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables. PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by and employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job the employee is frequently required to talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, use hands to manipulate, handle or feel, reach with hands and arms, climb or balance, stoop, kneel crouch, crawl, taste or smell. The employee must frequently lift and or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. WORK ENVIRONMENT: The work environment characteristics describe here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.