CASP Presidential Address March 6, 2003 Los Angeles, California

1. CASP Presidential AddressMarch 6, 2003Los Angeles, California Brent B. Duncan, Ph.D., NCSP Humboldt State University

2. CASP Presidential Address CASP Today The Political Context A Psychological Context

3. CASP Today - Mission Statement "Our mission is to provide high quality educational and leadership programs, which establish standards of practice for school psychologists through legislative advocacy, professional development, communications, publications, ethics guidelines, and direct services to members, resulting in the growth and development of the profession, and successful outcomes for the children, schools and communities we serve."

4. CASP Today Service & Services People Leadership (Relationships)

5. CASP is Member Service • Expertise - Practitioners and Trainers Crisis prevention and intervention Consultation Grade Retention Behavior Analysis and Intervention • Publications CASP Today California School Psychologist • Certification CATS Functional Analysis CATS School Crisis Response

6. CASP is Highly Qualified and Incredibly Dedicated People • Suzanne Fisher, CASP Staff (Heidi Holmblad) • Betty Connolly • Mike Furlong • Shane Jimerson • Diane DiBari • Rose DuMond • Lee Huff • Rich Lieberman and Steve Brock • Jim Russell and Chris Kahn • (P.S. Come to Tomorrow’s Awards Luncheon to meet the Best in School Psychology and Celebrate your Colleagues!)

7. CASP is Leadership and Advocacy (Relationships) • Strong relationships with CDE, legislators, and others • Pupil Services Coalition • Board Position Regarding IDEA Reauthorization • Redesigned Webpage - Access to Information and Services • Day to Day Support for members by CASP Staff and Board • IDEA Summit

8. Association of Educational Therapists California Advisory Commission on Special Education California Association of Licensed Educational Psychologists California Association of Private Special Education Schools California Association of Resource Specialists California Association of School Counselors California County Superintendents Education Services Association California Department of Education- Special Education Division California Association of Professors of Special Education California School Boards Association California School Nurses Organization California Special Education Hearing Office California Speech-Language-Hearing Association California State University, Sacramento California Teachers Association Commission on Teacher Credentialing Council for Exceptional Children Developmental Disabilities Area Boards - State Council Family Empowerment Centers Family Resource Centers Learning Disabilities Association - California Parent Resource Centers Parent Teachers Association Protection and Advocacy, Inc Special Education Administrators of County Offices IDEA Summit Member Organizations• California Association of School Psychologists • Association of California School Administrators• SELPA

9. The Political and Ecological Context of Schooling in 2003 Fiscal Climate ESEA (NCLB) IDEA Reauthorization

10. “It’s the Perfect Storm”C. Kahn, Fall 2001 • Energy Crisis • Economy • Election "The Perfect Storm" Conditions at the Time of the Image The Perfect Storm October 1991

11. Political Context 1: Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001

12. a healthy start • a head start • a fair start • a safe start • a moral start …in life, and successful passage to adulthood with the help of families and caring communities. “Leave no child behind is not a one time speech or a winsome song, but a lifelong struggle to save child lives…” (Marion Wright Edelman, 2003)

13. Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001

14. ESEA (2001) Promises • Stronger Accountability for Results • Record Flexibility for States and Communities • Concentrating Resources on Proven Education Methods • More Choices for Parents

15. ESEA (2001) Has the Potential to Deliver • High-Stakes Testing - One Accountability System, (AYP) Designed by the Federal Government • Flexibility - To move money between categorical programs • Curriculum decisions made by the Federal Government (What Works Clearinghouse) • Parental Choice - To move their children out of failing schools (Non AYP Compliant Schools)

16. Under No Child Left Behind, the federal government will onlyinvest in educational practices that work-that research evidence has shown to be effective in improving student performance. • “What Works does leave some things out. It simply tells part of the story - maybe the most important part.” William J. Bennett (1987)

18. Competitive State GrantsPaige Announces $17 Million in Grants to Help States Develop Assessments under NCLB (2/12/03) • Colorado $1.7 Improve alternative assessments for students with complex disabilities • Minnesota $2.0 New tools to measure progress of ELL's using technology • Nevada $2.2 Annual growth of English language development in speaking, listening, reading and writing. • Oklahoma $1.4 Alignment of ELL assessments with content standards

19. Paige Announces $17 Million in Grants to Help States • Pennsylvania $1.8 Assess ELLs by analyzing state standards, establishing content benchmarks and developing standards-based assessments drawn from scientific research • Rhode Island $1.8 Impact of computer-based testing accommodations • South Carolina $1.7 Information about ELLs' academic knowledge and skills & accommodations • Utah  $1.8 Assessments of English language proficiency at four levels (K-3; 4-6; 7-9; 10-12) • Wisconsin $2.3 Measure ELLs' performance and progress in English proficiency and literacy skills based on state standards

20. Political Context 2: IDEACommission on Excellence in Special Education • Summary lists: • 9 major findings • 3 major recommendations • Report contains: • 7 sections • 32+ additional findings • 33 general recommendations • Numerous additional (specific) recommendations (47)

21. Complementary context for Reauthorization • No Child Left Behind Act (accountability with consequences) • Emerging consensus on shift from processes to results (& focused monitoring) • Promising research on early intervention (WH Conference) • Shift in assessment and instruction practices (NRC Report, LD Summit, etc.)

22. The Commission’s strategies • Examined special education broadly (not just I.D.E.A.) • Held 13 public hearings • Obtained expert testimony and public input (100+ witnesses) • Received and analyzed white papers and external documents • Drafted and approved a report to the President by 7/1/02

23. Major recommendations • Major recommendation 1: • Focus on results — not on process. • Major recommendation 2: • Embrace a model of prevention, not a model of failure. • Major recommendation 3: • Consider children with disabilities as general education children first.

24. In summary: Commission themes • Increase accountability • Emphasize results • Provide flexibility • Empower parents and their choices

25. Stronger Accountability for Results Record Flexibility Concentrating Resources on Proven Methods More Choices for Parents Increase accountability Emphasize results Provide flexibility Empower parents and their choices ESEA/NCLB IDEA

26. Myths about the Commission • “The Report was written before the Commission began.” • “Commissioners have their minds made up.” • “This is a hatchet job on special education.” • “Everything in Florida is going national.”

27. Really big myth “The Commission did NOT endorse ‘full funding’ of the federal share of special education costs.”

28. California IDEA Summit Statement on Funding (2/28/03) “There are those who believe that additional funding for IDEA should be put on hold until policy reforms can be put in place to address shortfalls in the delivery of special education services. That argument is extremely troubling for local educators, service providers and parents. Federal special education requirements are some of the largest un-funded mandates of federal education statutes…The shortfall in special education funding impacts the quality of services for both special and regular education programs.”

29. A specific recommendation • “The Commission recommends that the U.S. Secretary of Education ensure all federal requirements for accountability be integrated into a unified system of accountability throughout the Department.” (p. 16)

30. Poor outcomes Parents want an education system that is results oriented and focused on the child’s needs —in school and beyond.

31. Exiting with a regular diploma Ages 14 - 21+ Note: There are no currently uniform standards guiding standards for diplomas for students with disabilities. Considerable differences exist across states.

32. Toward a Psychology of Helpfulness

33. Whenever possible, we should try to be helpful • Although school psychologists usually want to be helpful, our interventions sometimes do more harm than good (Iatrogenic harm) (Caplan & Caplan, 2001)

34. Whenever possible, we should try to be helpful • Not all psychological theories are useful or helpful for developing interventions • Whenever possible, do no harm, and attend to possible iatrogenic effects of your work

35. In order to be helpful, one needs... • A genuine and committed desire to be helpful • A theoretical perspective (Good intentions, though essential, are not enough) • Knowledge of development and developmental psychopathology appropriate to support the design and implementation of interventions • An understanding of how the social system in which you are working operates

36. Obstacles to a Psychology of Helpfulness • Categorical Thinking Designing Interventions based on a Between Subjects Design • Legalistic Thinking Doing What’s Right Instead of Doing the Right Thing

37. Obstacle 1:Categorical Thinking • If we are primarily concerned with labeling, naming, diagnosing, or deciding whether a particular behavior or problem fits within a category, our chances of being truly helpful is diminished. • Also known as: Abnormal psychology, between-subjects design, traditional scientific or medical model

38. What’s in a name? “What’s the use of their having names,” the Gnat said, “if they won’ t answer to them?” “No use to them”, said Alice, “but it is useful to people who name them I suppose. If not, why do things have names at all?” Lewis Carrol, Through The Looking-Glass; as quoted on page 15 in Adelman & Taylor, 1994.

39. What is Wrong with Categorical Thinking? • In psychology, the categories often lack sufficient specificity to design interventions • When applied to understanding an individual’s behavior, using group data (categorical) fails to take into account significant variation within a category (e.g. within versus between group variance)

40. Examples of Troubled or Troubling Categories in School Psychology • Emotional Disturbance (under IDEA) Social Maladjustment exclusion (or BD Vs. ED) • Learning Disabilities Severe discrepancy between ability & achievement • ADHD

41. Under No Child Left Behind, the federal government will invest in educational practices that work-that research evidence has shown to be effective in improving student performance • If What Works is defined as what works for a statistically significant number of children, it will still NOT WORK for all children • What happens then? Blame the Patient (State, School, Teacher, Child, Parent)

42. To be helpful… • Approach your task as an attempt to understand this child, in this family, in this classroom, with this unique set of developmental strengths and challenges • Pay attention to risk and protective factors, risk and protective processes, and pathways in development • Appreciate the importance of: • Co-morbidity • Resilience

43. Learning Disability Roundtablehttp://www.ld.org/advocacy/LDroundtable.cfm In keeping with the first federal special education legislation in 1975, the tenets of this approach are not grounded solely in research. They also emanate from the ideals of the society in which policy changes are advocated. The willingness to challenge the status quo in the face of this daunting reality demands not only cooperation and trust among stakeholders but also a commitment to using both clinical judgment and data in decision making about models for identification, eligibility, and intervention.

44. Obstacle 2:Legalistic Thinking • If we are primarily concerned with following the legally prescribed mandates or rules that have been established, our chances of being truly helpful is diminished • Also known as: Confidentiality, timelines, state prescribed eligibility guidelines and definitions for handicapping conditions. Sheer mass of regulatory requirements

45. The dangers of legalistic thinking... • What may be legally correct may be wrong (useless/unhelpful) in every other regard • Confidentiality belongs to the client, not the agency (Don’t use confidentiality as a way to assert power in a relationship with another professional) • As psychologists, we are responsible for the psychological truth and integrity of our work

46. An attitude of helpfulness as an antidote to legalistic thinking • Try to achieve a balance between the legal mandates and the desire to be helpful • Whenever possible, ask whether your legally prescribed course of action is really: 1. Helpful, and 2. Necessary

47. Consultee-Centered Consultation: Improving Professional Services in Schools and Community Organizations (August 2003) • Nadine M. Lambert (ed.), Jonathan H. Sandoval (ed.), and Ingrid Hylander (ed.) • Primary Subject: Special Education • A Volume in the Consultation and Intervention in School Psychology Series • Six Chapters by CASP School Psychologists Nadine Lambert, Jonathon Sandoval, Margaret Garcia, Colette Ingraham, Brent Duncan • Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, August 2003

48. Process Consultation • Consultee-centered or Process Consultation is a theory and a methodology for being genuinely helpful • Process consultation is concerned with the… “psychological and social processes that are involved when one person tries to help another person.” Schein, E.H., p. 3 (1999).

49. Process or Consultee-Centered Consultation as Distinguished from Expert Consultation • Being helpful is not equivalent to having all the answers. “When someone needs help, a difficult dynamic is set up between the helper and the ‘client’ because the helper is automatically invited to adopt an expert role. (Schein, 1999, p. xii).

50. “To help others… • you have to know what they need, and the only way to find out what they need is for them to tell you. And they won’t tell you unless they think you will listen...carefully. And the way to convince them that you will listen carefully is to listen carefully.” (David Nyberg, as quoted on page 123 in Adelman & Taylor, 1994.)