Encyclopedia of School Psychology

It is trite, but nonetheless true, to remark upon the information overload that characterizes most of our daily lives. Even highly motivated learners need resources that gather reputable, informative, and important information into formats that are easily accessible and lend themselves to further in-depth exploration. The Encyclopedia of School Psychology accomplishes this mission.

While “psychology” is vaguely understood by most people as a career field, the nuances of specialty areas within psychology are not at all available for review outside the purview of the practitioners and researchers in each specialty. The editors of the Encyclopedia have gathered an impressive array of information on what school psychology is really about, and regarding what people who are school psychologists really do and know.

The List of Entries is intriguing because of its comprehensiveness, its depth, and ease of study. The list captures the work of school psychologists, who must understand the implications of charter schools (a national educational policy thrust) while being experts in the treatment of a specific pediatric disorder such as echolalia. The Reader's Guide cross-listing is extensive and extremely useful for readers who enter with little prior understanding of how specific (and esoteric) terms such as operant conditioning relate to the daily behavioral assessment practice of school psychologists.

Educators will be interested in entries related to academic success in academics, or programs touted as successful in reducing drug abuse or teenage pregnancy, or strategies to promote schoolwide success. Psychologists will find state of the art information on assessment and interventions across many areas of concern at multiple ecological levels. All will benefit from entries that tackle controversial subjects such as Facilitated Communication; Evidence-Based Intervention; and Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender.

School psychology is one of psychology's oldest clinical specialties. It is focused on a key facet of human behavior—learning. Positive child and adolescent development, happy family functioning, successful schools, and recovery from debilitating psychological and physical disorders are all influenced by our human capacity to learn.

Diseases, injuries, disorders, poor and dangerous environments, lack of skills and knowledge on the part of caregivers, and poorly considered public policy are all enemies of positive human development. Psychology stands as a field of research and practice that investigates and intervenes at all levels of human experience. School psychologists have focused the formidable power of psychological and educational science toward the experience of children, youth, and families, especially as they relate to schooling and learning in any setting.

The Encyclopedia provides both an introduction to the field and a way for experienced practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of how school psychology has progressed to match the demands of the 21st century. I see the volume useful to many public, high school, and university libraries as well as a useful reference for specialists in vocational guidance.

My training in school psychology emphasized that school psychologists should, first and foremost, be consultants. This is, as described by Terry Gutkin and Jane Conoley (1990), the “paradox of school psychology.” The paradox is that young school psychology trainees, who are eager to work directly with children through counseling or assessment, find that they may serve children best and most efficiently by changing the behavior of the key adults who are in a position to significantly influence the lives of these children in need. This consultative approach has been embraced by school psychology as an efficient way to deliver services (e.g., through the teacher); and it frees the school psychologist for other assessment, counseling, program development, and prevention activities. However, for some trainees that enter into this paradigm, the notion of working mainly with adults is antithetical to the reasons they entered the field. Others embrace consultation and find that nearly all of their professional encounters are, in fact, consultations. I fall into the latter group and view this volume as a rare opportunity to consult regarding school psychology with you, the reader.

When I mention consultation, the reader is directed to the consultation entries in this volume (as listed under Consultation in the Reader's Guide) written by some of the best-known and most influential scholars in school psychology. The reader will find that consultation has many features, one of which involves providing the consultee (e.g., teacher or parent) with information or content. The Encyclopedia of School Psychology (ESP) is designed to provide the depth and breadth of content nonpsychologists need to understand little-known concepts related to psychology in the schools.

The time is right for such a volume. Education is on the forefront of our national thinking, with newspaper headlines covering topics ranging from violence in our schools (e.g., Columbine High School shootings) to identifying schools not making adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind legislation. The public seeks to understand the effectiveness of school alternatives such as homeschooling or charter schools. On a more basic level, parents want to know how their children will fare in school. Will their children make friends? Will they be safe? Will they succeed academically? The goal of this volume is to provide information to attempt to answer these very personal questions while at the same time addressing broad-brush issues in psychology as it intersects with education. Finally, the ESP is designed to give the reader a glimpse into the world of a school psychologist and the level of knowledge and skills necessary to negotiate the world of the child and adolescent in schools.