Nevada Counselor / PsychologistSurvey Data

Prepared for the Legislative Committee on Education July, 15 2014

By Marina McHattonCTE Counseling and Assessments,Education Programs Professional

School Counselor & Psychologist Participation:State Survey Results

Counselor Psychologist0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

75%

25%

Survey Includes All School Levels:Elementary School

Middle SchoolHigh School

Counselors Respondents by School Level

Elementary School Middle School High School0.00%5.00%

10.00%15.00%20.00%25.00%30.00%35.00%40.00%45.00%50.00%

31% 25

%

44%

Elementary School CounselorSurvey Results

Elementary School Respondents by Districts

Clark County Rural Counties Washoe County0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

77%

9%

26%

Out of 111 Respondents

Elementary Counselor: Student Caseloads

1 - 200 200 - 300 300 - 400 400 - 500 500 - 1000+0.0%5.0%

10.0%15.0%20.0%25.0%30.0%35.0%40.0%45.0%50.0%

Out of 134 Respondents

Middle School Counselor: Survey Results

Middle School Respondents by DistrictOut of 81 Respondents

Rurals Clark County Washoe 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

8

55

18

Middle School Counselor:Student Caseloads

1 - 200 200 - 300 300 - 400 400 - 5000.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

418

31

59

Out of 112 Respondents

High School Counselor:Survey Results

High School Respondents by District

Out of 130 Respondents

Washoe County Clark County Rural County0

102030405060708090

100

15

94

20

High School Counselor:Student Caseloads

Out of 222 Respondents

1 - 200 200 - 300 300 - 400 400 - 5000%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Psychologist Respondents by District

Out of 130 Respondents

Clark Rural Counties Washoe County0

20

40

60

80

100

120

103

243

School Psychologists:Student Caseloads

1 - 500 500 - 1000

1000 - 1500

1500 - 2000

2000 - 2500

2500 - 3000

3000+0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%Out of 138 Respondents

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA)recommends a student-to-school-counselor ratio

of 250-to-1.

Elementary School Counselors Spend Most of Their Time:Personal / Social Development Domain:• Help students acquire knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them

understand and respect self and others.

Academic Development Domain:• Help students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose

from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

Career Development Domain:• Help students employ strategies to achieve future career goals

Most Elementary School Counselors have a student caseload of 500 to 1000+ students.

Other duties in priority order:1. Student Scheduling2. Bullying Prevention3. Testing Coordination4. Parent Conferences5. Drop Out Prevention / Attendance

Middle School Counselors Spend Most of Their Time:Personal / Social Development Domain:• Help students acquire knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them

understand and respect self and others.

Academic Development Domain:• Help students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from

a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

Career Development Domain:• Help students employ strategies to achieve future career goal.

Most middle school counselors have a student caseload of 400 – 500 student, partly because of school size.

Other duties in priority order:1. Student Scheduling2. Parent Conferences3. Bullying Prevention4. Drop Out Prevention5. Coordination of School Events

High School Counselors Spend Most of Their Time:

Personal & Social Domain:• Help students acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand

and respect self and others.

Academic Development Domain:• Help students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from a wide

range of substantial post-secondary options.

Career Domain:• Help students understand the relationships between personal qualities, education, training, and

the world of work.

Most high school counselors have a student caseload 300 – 500 students.

Other duties in priority order:1. Student Scheduling2. Parent Conferences3. Drop Out Prevention4. Coordination of School Events 5. Testing Coordination

• Caseload refers to the number of students who are provided direct services.

• School psychologists typically define their caseload by the number of students assigned to them and/or the number of assessments they complete in an academic year. This is different than the ratio of enrolled students per school psychologist, which could be viewed as a school psychologist’s potential caseload

• The National Association of School Psychologist's Guidelines for the Provision of School Psychological Services recommends a ratio of no more than 1,000 enrolled students per school psychologist.

School Psychologists

Psychologists Spend Most of Their Time:

Most school psychologists have a student caseload of 1000 – 2000 students.

1. Documentation2. Testing & evaluation3. Consultation with parents, teachers, and other school personnel4. Behavior Interventions5. Support in Multi-Tiered Systems and Support

Elementary: Personal & Social Domain Standards

Helping students acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others.

0 3 3 19 102

Helping students make decision, set goals and take necessary action to achieve goals

1 4 11 42 69

Helping students understand safety and survival skills.

2 7 32 34 52

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Out if 127 Respondents

Elementary: Academic Domain Standards

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Helping students acquire the attitudes, knowledge ad skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span

11 30 58 46 30

Helping students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

6 8 36 56 69

Helping students understand the relationship of academics to the world or work, to life at home, and in the community.

7 16 57 64 31

Out of 127 Respondents

Elementary: Career Domain Standards

Helping students acquire the attitudes, knowledge ad skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.

11 30 58 46 30

Helping students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

6 8 36 56 69

Helping students understand the relationship of academics to the world or work, to life at home, and in the community.

7 16 57 64 31

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Out if 127 Respondents

Elementary: Other Duties and Responsibilities

Bullying prevention 0 4 11 32 80

Drop out prevention / Attendance 38 39 24 18 8

Coordination of school events 11 19 40 32 25

Professional development 12 31 48 23 13

Testing coordination 54 26 23 16 8

Student scheduling 92 20 12 2 1

Parent conferences 5 28 39 35 20

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Middle School Counselor: Personal & Social Domain Standards

Helping students acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others.

0 4 16 36 46

Helping students make decision, set goals and take necessary action to achieve goals

0 6 15 43 38

Helping students understand safety and survival skills.

4 12 36 33 17

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Out of 102 Respondents

Middle School Counselor: Academic Domain Standards

Helping students acquire the attitudes, knowledge ad skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.

3 6 30 38 25

Helping students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

3 17 43 25 14

Helping students understand the relationship of academics to the world or work, to life at home, and in the community.

5 11 29 41 16

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Out of 102 Respondents

Middle School Counselor:Career Domain Standards

Help students acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions.

5 28 39 24 6

Help students employ strategies to achieve future career goals with success and satisfaction.

7 19 39 30 7

Help students understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work.

2 18 34 34 14

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task 1 2 3 4 5

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Out of 102 Respondents

Middle School Counselor: Other Duties

Bullying Prevention 2 3 23 38 36Drop out prevention 5 19 31 33 14Coordination of school events 3 15 29 31 24Individual professional development 13 27 41 15 6Testing coordination 21 27 33 14 7Student scheduling 2 3 13 30 54Parent conferences 1 6 17 37 41

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

Out of 102 Respondents

1 2 3 4 5

High School Counselor: Personal & Social Domain

Helping students acquire the knowledge, attitudes and interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others.

7 25 47 62 34

Helping students make decision, set goals and take necessary action to achieve goals

6 20 35 69 45

Helping students understand safety and survival skills.

23 42 52 40 18

1 2 3 4 5Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Out of 175 Respondents

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

High School Counselor: Academic Domain Standards

Helping students acquire the attitudes, knowledge ad skills that contribute to effective learning in school and across the life span.

11 30 58 46 30

Help students complete school with the academic preparation essential to choose from a wide range of substantial post-secondary options, including college.

6 8 36 56 69

Help students understand the relationship of academics to the world or work, to life at home, and in the community.

7 16 57 64 31

1 2 3 4 5

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Out of 175 Respondents

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

Help students acquire the skills to investigate the world of work in relation to knowledge of self and to make informed career decisions.

9 35 63 52 16

Helping students employ strategies to achieve future career goals with success and satisfaction.

7 33 60 52 23

Help students understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, training and the world of work.

10 29 46 62 28

1 2 3 4 5

Standard: A

Standard: B

Standard: C

Out of 175 Respondents

High School Counselor: Career Domain

Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

High School Counselor:Other Duties

Out of 175 Respondents

Bullying Prevention 24 48 48 39 16

Drop out prevention 8 23 22 61 61

Coordination of school events 11 44 60 42 18

Individual Professional Development 24 49 45 43 14

Testing Coordination 16 29 60 36 34

Student Scheduling 0 5 12 38 120

Parent Conferences 6 17 31 58 63

1 2 3 4 5 Priorities with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

School Psychologist’s Time Spent on Tasks

Time spent on each with 1 being the least and 5 being the most time spent on task

1 2 3 4 5

Testing and Evaluation of students 2 7 24 47 65

Documentation 3 3 21 39 79

One-on-one conference with students 43 59 27 12 4

Support in multi-tiered systems and support 14 29 45 40 17

Social and emotional development 35 49 36 20 5

Student support 16 48 46 28 7

Safety assessments 74 36 21 10 4

Behavior interventions 13 43 50 27 6Consultation with parents, teachers, and other school personal 1 10 29 53 46

Out of 130 Respondents

Psychologist Task Descriptions

Safety Assessments: • To determine the credibility and seriousness of a threat and the likelihood

that it will be carried out.

Multi-Tiered System and Support• Keeps the focus on meeting student needs within the right settings right

services, and with the best qualified personnel.

• Framework encompasses prevention and wellness promotion, universal screening for academic and behavioral barriers to learning, implementing evidence-based interventions that increase in intensity as needed, monitoring the ongoing progress of students in response to implemented interventions, and engaging in systematic decision making about programming and services needed for students based upon specific student outcome data.