Best Practices in Supervision of
School Psychologists:
Perspectives from the Field and the
University Setting
Ashley Arnold, MA, LSSP, NCSP
Jennifer L. Schroeder, PhD, LP, LSSP, NCSP
Objectives
 Review legal and ethical guidelines for providing
supervision
 Review effective techniques for supervision of practicum
students, interns, and first-year LSSPs
NASP Principles for Professional Ethics
 Standard IV.4.2
“School psychologists who supervise practicum
students and interns are responsible for all professional
practices of the supervisee. They ensure that practicum
students and interns are adequately supervised as outlined
in the NASP Graduate Preparation Standards for School
Psychologists. Interns and graduate students are identified
as such, and their work is cosigned by the supervising school
psychologist.”
NASP Principles for Professional Ethics
 Standard IV.4.3
“School psychologists who employ, supervise, or train
professional provide appropriate working conditions, fair
and timely evaluation, constructive supervision, and
continuing professional development opportunities.”
NASP Principles for Professional Ethics
 Standard IV.4.4
“School psychologists who are faculty members at
universities or who supervise graduate education field
experiences apply these ethical principles in all work with
school psychology graduate students. In addition, they
promote the ethical practice of graduate students by
providing specific and comprehensive instruction,
feedback, and mentoring.”
Supervisor Qualifications
 TSBEP Rule 465.38(5)
 Supervision may only be provided by a LSSP, who has a
minimum of 3 years of experience providing psychological
services in the public schools of this or another state. To meet
supervisor qualifications, a licensee must be able to
document the required experience by providing
documentation from the authority that regulate the
provision of psychological services in the public schools of
that state…
Supervisor Qualifications
 TSBEP Rule 465.38(5)
(continued)…
…and proof that the licensee provided such services,
documented by the public schools in the state in which the
services were provided. Any licensed specialist in school
psychology may count one full year as an intern or trainee
as one of the 3 years of experience required to perform
supervision.
Supervision Rules
TSBEP Rule 465.38(4)(A)(i-iv)
(4) Supervision. (A) Direct, systematic, face-to-face
supervision must be provided to:
(i)
Interns as defined in §463.9 of this title
(ii)
Individuals who meet the training requirements of §463.9
of this title and who have passed the National School
Psychology Examination at the Texas cutoff score or
above and who have been notified in writing of this status
by the Board. These individuals may practice under
supervision in a Texas public school district for no more
than one calendar year. They must be designated as
trainees.
Supervision Rules
TSBEP Rule 465.38(4)(A)(i-iv)
(continued)
(4) Supervision. (A) Direct, systematic, face-toface supervision must be provided to:
(iii) LSSPs for a period of one academic year following licensure
unless the individual also holds licensure as a psychologist in Texas.
This supervision may be waived for individuals who legally provided
full-time, unsupervised school psychological services in another
state for a minimum of 3 academic years immediately preceding
application for licensure in Texas as documented by the public
schools where services were provided and who graduated from a
training program approved by NASP or accredited in school
psychology by APA or who hold NCSP certification.
Supervision Rules
TSBEP Rule 465.38(4)(A)(i-iv)
(continued)
(4) Supervision. (A) Direct, systematic, face-to-face
supervision must be provided to:
(iv) LSSPs when the individual is providing psychological
services outside his or her area of training and supervised
experience.
Supervision Rules
TSBEP Rule 465.38(4)(B)
(B) Nothing in this rule applies to administrative supervision of
psychology personnel within Texas public schools,
performed by non-psychologists, in job functions involving,
but not limited to, attendance, time management,
completion of assignments, or adherence to school policies
and procedures.
INTERNSHIP AND TRAINEE
REQUIREMENTS
Internship Rules
TSBEP 463.9 (c)
 (c) Minimum of 1200 hours, of which 600 must be in a public school
 Must be provided through a formal course of supervised study from a
regionally accredited institution of higher education
 Supervised by an individual qualified in accordance with Board rule
§465.38 of this title (relating to Psychological Services in the Schools).
 Internship which is not obtained in a public school must be supervised
by a licensed psychologist.
 No experience with a supervisor who is related within the second
degree of affinity or within the second degree by consanguinity to the
person, or is under Board disciplinary order, may be considered for
specialist in school psychology licensure.
Internship Rules
TSBEP 463.9 (c)
 Internships may not involve more than two sites (a school
district is considered one site) and must be obtained in
not less than one or more than two academic years.
 These individuals must be designated as interns.
 Direct, systematic supervision must involve a minimum of
one face-to-face contact hour per week or two
consecutive face-to-face contact hours once every two
weeks with the intern.
Internship Rules
TSBEP 463.9 (c)
The internship must include
direct intern application of
assessment, intervention,
behavior management, and
consultation, for children
representing a range of ages,
populations and needs.
Who Can Practice in the Schools?
TSBEP Rule 463.9 (g)
(g) Provision of psychological services in the public
schools by unlicensed individuals. An unlicensed
individual may provide psychological services under
supervision in the public schools pursuant to section
§501.004(a)(2) of the Act. Services may be provided if:
(1) the individual is enrolled in an internship,
practicum or other site based training in a school
psychology program in a regionally accredited
institution of higher education,
OR
Who Can Practice in the Schools?
TSBEP Rule 463.9 (g)
(g) Provision of psychological services in the public schools
by unlicensed individuals. An unlicensed individual may
provide psychological services under supervision in the
public schools pursuant to section §501.004(a)(2) of the Act.
Services may be provided if:
(2) the individual has completed an internship in a school
psychology program in a regionally accredited
institution of higher education
AND
has an application for licensure as an LSSP pending
before the Board
AND
the Board has not notified the applicant that he or she
does not meet the training requirements for this licensure,
Who Can Practice in the Schools?
TSBEP Rule 463.9 (g)
(g) Provision of psychological services in the
public schools by unlicensed individuals. An
unlicensed individual may provide
psychological services under supervision in the
public schools pursuant to section
§501.004(a)(2) of the Act. Services may be
provided if:
OR
(3) the individual has been issued a trainee
status letter by the Board.
Trainee Requirements
TSBEP Rule 463.9 (f)
 Trainee Requirements. An applicant for the specialist in
school psychology license who meets all requirements,
prior to taking and passing the Jurisprudence
examination, may, in accordance with Board rule
§465.38(4) of this title (relating to Psychological Services in
the Schools), practice under supervision as a trainee for
not more than one calendar year.
Qualifications and Obligations
Site Supervisors
 Meet the NCSP credentialing requirements
 Complete a minimum of 3 years’ supervised experience as
a LSSP
 Helpful if employed full time in the district
 Knowledge that supervision takes considerable time
 Possesses significant interpersonal skills
 Familiar with basic ethical and legal responsibilities and
requirements for field work
Qualifications and Obligations
University Supervisors
 Ensure university and state requirements are met
 Serves as liaison between training site and university
program
 Develop a relationship with the site supervisor
 Monitors appropriateness of site
 Ensures the student is sufficiently competent to warrant
licensure
Qualifications and Obligations
University Supervisors
Formal opportunities for students to compare notes, ask
questions, and formulate conclusions
Makes site visits
If a student encounters difficulty, serves as both mediator
and problem solver
Clinical vs. Administrative
Supervision
Supervision Competencies (Dunsmuir
& Leadbetter, 2010)
Profession Specific
Core
Specialist/Therapeutic
Clinical Supervision
Clinical Supervisors:
 Demonstrate and teach techniques and skills
 Examine student work with supervisees
 Help supervisees conceptualize cases
 Assist supervisees as they design intervention strategies
 Assist supervisees as they disaggregate and interpret
data
Clinical Supervision
Clinical Supervisors:
 Ensure that supervisees practice only within areas of
professional competence
 Help supervisees learn how to work with different types of
people
 Debrief supervisees after difficult or crisis situations
 Provide second opinions
Clinical Supervision
Clinical Supervisors:
 Help supervisees address their blind spots resulting from
personal experiences
 Provide training and professional development
opportunities
 Encourage induction into the profession via membership
in professional organizations
What to expect…the development of
competence
 Supervisee Experience and Developmental Model
(Ronnestad & Skovholt, 2003)
 Expertise requires 5-7 years of corrected experience to
develop
 Lifelong, slow, continuous, erratic
 Relationships have most impact on development, not
workshops
Supervisee Experience and
Developmental Model (Ronnestad &
Skovholt, 2003)
 Six stages of professional growth
 Lay helpers – sympathetic, advice giving, low emotional
regulation
 Beginning student – rely heavily on supervisors, highly anxious
 Advanced students/interns – Excessively thorough, conflicts
during supervision are common due to trying to assert
themselves
 Novice professionals – Explore their roles, become disillusioned
 Experienced professionals – lack of interest in professional
development
 Senior professionals – increased sense of reality in terms of what
they can accomplish
Developmental Stages Model
(Benner, 1984; Stoltenberg et al.,
1998)
 Focuses on cognitive changes with the practitioner
 Five stages
 Novices – Rule-governed, “know about” not “how to,”
anxious, focus on skill acquisition
 Advanced beginners – Begin to take into account context,
concerned with learning and mastering techniques
 Competence – Less preoccupied with own performance,
engage in planning and goal setting
 Proficiency – Reflect and integrate
 Experts – Intuitive, efficient
Developmental Supervision
 ALL school psychologists are novices when they
encounter situations with which they have no experience
 Need to match style with stage at which supervisee is
 Novice – needs close supervision, encourage, suggest,
integrate
 Advanced beginner – give more autonomy, introduce
alternative views, provide comments on processes, use
tapes, role plays, etc.
 Competent – let supervisees lead supervision, case-based
 Proficient and expert –supervision helps maintain and
upgrade skill, supervising supervisors
Administrative Supervision
Administrative Supervisors:
 Provide leadership
 Recruit and hire
 Delegate assignments
 Conduct formal personnel evaluations
 Design corrective action
 Take ultimate responsibility for services provided by
supervisees
Can a person be both clinical
and administrative supervisor?
Example of MOU between University
and School District
Rationales for Supervision
 Skill Maintenance
 Skill Improvement and Expansion
 Professional Development
 Reduced Stress
 Enhanced Accountability
Challenges in Supervising School
Psychological Services
 Evaluation Procedures
 Supervisory Structures
 Lack of Supervision Training
 Only 11% of supervisors have supervision training (Ross &
Goh, 1993)
 What kinds of things would training need to include
(develop an idea of what you might need)?
Training Supervisors
 Workshops, Informal Self-Study, and Peer Supervision
Networks
 NASP has an online forum for supervisors
 University-Run Training for Field Supervisors
 Formal Coursework in Supervision or Administration
Supervisor Characteristics
 Personal Characteristics





Integrity
Secure Attachment Styles
Sufficient Cognitive Development
Mentally healthy
Sensitive and responsive to multicultural issues
 Motivation
 Leadership Skills
 Delegation Skills
Theoretical Orientation and
Supervision Models
 Psychodynamic – focuses on developing relationships
 Person-centered – focuses on developing UPR, congruence,
empathy and warmth
 Behavioral and cognitive behavioral – focuses on teaching
appropriate skills and behaviors
 Constructivism – construction of stories that influence future
behavior
 Discrimination model – focuses on matching supervisee needs and
supervisor skills
 Integrative approaches –combines multiple approaches
Supervisor Role and Style (Hart &
Nance, 2003)
High
High
Direction
Low
Support
Low
Learning Principles
 Provide experiential learning
 Provide collaborative and interactive learning
 Focus on important information
 Tie new information to known information
 Space and repeat learning trials
 Incorporate corrective feedback
 Encourage the monitoring of learning
 Ensure comprehension
 Foster self-regulation and self-appraisal of learning
Supervision Goals
 Reconcile your goal with the supervisee’s goals early
 Write it down (may include in supervision contract)
 Treat similar to treatment goals
 Begin each supervision session with a working agenda
Supervision Format
 Individual
 Individual within a small group
 Group (4-8 supervisees)
 Peer
 Collaborative work
 Mixed format
Technology & Supervision
 Email
 Ensure confidentiality
 Watch nonverbal cues (e.g., ALL CAPS)
 Telephone
 Videoconferencing
Helpful Tips
 Have LSSP call parent prior to testing and review
informed consent, including informing parent of training
status
 Sign in blue ink
 Maintain copy of trainee letter
 Field Supervisor Evaluation
Helpful Tips
 STRUCTURE!!!
 Regular intervals of evaluation
 Scheduled time weekly for supervision

Same day, same time
 Documentation of supervision time
 App: Hours Tracker
 Structured Forms
Helpful Tips
 Develop a handbook for new supervisees
 List materials you would want to include
 Set goals based on personal interests and developing
competencies
 Proactive interns are persistent with their supervisors
 Adapt with flexibility
 Think critically
Helpful Tips
 Handout 1.1 Field Supervisor Competencies
 Handout 2.1 Supervisory Strategies to Meet Supervisees’
Psychological Needs
 Handout 2.2 Strategies to Reduce Supervisee Anxiety
 Handout 14.8 School Psychology Position Interview
Questions
 Handout 15.15 Intern Evaluation of Internship
 Handout 15.17 Supervisor Evaluation
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Who’s responsibility is it to ensure the practicum
student/intern/trainee can practice?
Licensees ensure that their supervisees have legal
authority to provide psychological services in adherence to
Board rules.
TSBEP Rule 465.2(b)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do I have to document the supervision in writing?
Yes! Licensees shall document their supervision
activities in writing.
TSBEP Rule 465.2(e)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Signing Reports
____________________
______________________
Kid Rock, School Psychology
Practicum Student
Derek Holland, LSSP Trainee
Supervised by:
_____________________
Mick Jagger, MA, LSSP
______________________
Nolan Ryan, MA, LSSP, NCSP
LSSP Supervisor
References
 Smith Harvey, V. & Struzziero, J. A. (2008).
Professional Development and Supervision of
School Psychologists (Second ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: National Association of School
Psychologists and Corwin Press.
 Douglas, K. & Valsamis (2013). Making the Most
of Supervision. Communique, 41(8).