Position Summary:
The school psychologist plays a crucial role in fostering students' academic, social, and emotional success. This position involves conducting comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations, providing preventive services, and responding to specific student needs. The school psychologist will consult with school personnel and parents to plan, implement, and evaluate individual and group interventions, ensuring each student receives the support they need to thrive. As an integral member of the Student Support Team, the school psychologist will offer essential services that enhance the social and psychological well-being of children and their families. As an integral member of the Student Support Team, the school psychologist will offer essential services that enhance the social and psychological well-being of children and their families. This includes overseeing bilingual services to maximize family wellness and improve children's overall functioning. The school psychologist will also support teachers by advising them on effective strategies to support students in the classroom emotionally.
Additionally, this role will involve collaboration with P-12 counselors to implement a comprehensive school counseling program that addresses the social and emotional development of students from preschool through 12th grade. The school psychologist will work closely with families to provide a variety of parenting education opportunities that serve a diverse population, ensuring that all students have the resources they need to succeed.
Candidates should be familiar with MTSS and UDL frameworks to provide multi-tiered academic and social-emotional supports to students at all levels.
Requirements:
Education
- Master’s Education Specialist (Ed.S.), or doctoral degree in school/educational/clinical psychology requiring full-year internship or residency.
- Maintains current licensure/registration as a clinical psychologist or school psychologist with competencies in school, clinical, counselling psychology or any combination of these with scope of practice including children and adolescents.
- A certification in education.
Experience
- Must be experienced in conducting psychological, academic, and self-harm/violence risk assessments with children and youth, collecting and interpreting student and classroom data.
- Must have experience providing evidence-based therapy services to children and youth, with proven results
- Must have experience supporting teachers by providing individualized instruction, interventions, and progress monitoring.
- Experienced in assessing students' emotional and behavioral needs, providing both individual and group counseling.
- Experienced in coordinating services with community-based providers and offering culturally responsive support to diverse students and families.
- Must have experience in modifying curricula and instruction to meet diverse learning needs and planning individualized education programs for students with disabilities.
- Experienced in implementing schoolwide positive behavioral supports, positive discipline, and restorative justice practices.
- Experienced in assessing school climate, improving connectedness, and identifying at-risk students to prevent bullying and violence.
- Familiar with providing crisis prevention and intervention services and assisting families in understanding children's learning and emotional needs, preferably with familiarity with Asian cultural perspectives of mental health and neurodivergence
- Must have experience in connecting families with community service providers as needed and enhancing staff understanding of diverse cultures.
- Experienced in assisting with navigating special education processes and generating useful student and school outcomes data.
- Experience and sensitivity in navigating environments with potential dual relationships and conflicts of interest.
- Adheres to their licensing body’s Code of Ethics, guidelines for professional conduct, including guidelines for professional practice, ethical responsibilities, and confidentiality.
Skills
- Knowledge of best practices in trauma-informed care within educational settings.
- Skilled in facilitating groups of students, teachers, and adults.
- Ability to develop initiatives responsive to student needs.
- Skillful at using technology, particularly as it interfaces with student needs for accommodations and modifications.
- Excellent interpersonal skills in order to collaborate with staff, colleagues, parents, students, and administrators.
- Effective communicator – communicates well with a diverse community of parents, staff, and leaders; proficient writing skills.
- Highly skilled at using and integrating technology.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Effective communicator and problem solver.
- Ability to lead in a crisis intervention.
- Training and experience interpreting self-harm/violence risk assessment reports, developing safety plans, and sharing results with key stakeholders.
- Training and experience administering comprehensive psychoeducational assessments that include assessments of cognition, academic achievement, attention and executive functioning, and social-emotional domains, with experience conducting psychoeducational assessments with English Language Learners (non-native English speakers)
- Knowledge of DSM-5-TR diagnoses and ability to provide diagnostic clarification via psychological and/or psychoeducational assessments.
- Experience writing reports that meet College Board requirements for accommodations requests.
- Familiarity working with student support services teams to develop individual educational plans.
- Prefer bilingual English/Mandarin-speaking.
Key Areas of Responsibility
- Develops and maintains resources for parents/guardians, teachers, and the community to support student mental health and well-being.
- Utilizes 50% of time providing direct psychological services, including psychoeducational evaluations, individual and group counseling interventions, and preventive services, while dedicating the remaining 50% of time to program management, system support, and accountability.
- Maintains calendars of activities and a comprehensive list of professionals and services available for psychological support, ensuring effective coordination of resources and services within the school community.
- Collaborates with school staff to implement data-driven practices that enhance student support and academic achievement. Ensures all interventions are evidence-based and tailored to individual student needs.
- Acts as the Lead for the P-12 counseling department, providing oversight and direction for psychological services and ensuring alignment with best practices.
- Acts as program manager and clinical supervisor for Concordia’s MA-level counseling practicum/internship program.
Preventative and Responsive Services
Purpose: To enhance the child's experiences of success at school by supporting child and child's family's ability to adjust to new situations, cope with life's difficulties or handle developmental challenges.
- Provides individual and group counseling to students with identified concerns and needs.
- Consults and collaborates effectively with parents/guardians, teachers, administrators and other educational/community resources regarding students with identified concerns and needs.
- Advocates for equity and access for all students.
- Provides staff with resources to accommodate individual differences and needs of students.
- Implements and maintains an effective referral and follow-up process.
- Accurately and appropriately uses assessment procedures for determining and structuring individual and group counseling services.
- Organizes and oversees Child Safeguarding initiatives, implementing policies and practices to prevent harm and abuse of children actively. This involves training staff on safeguarding protocols, maintaining effective communication with local authorities and safeguarding agencies, and ensuring compliance with legal requirements to protect students.
Teacher Expectations
- As a school grounded in the Christian faith, we hire Christian teachers and administrators. Concordia seeks to hire candidates who are able to model Christ’s teachings through interpersonal skills, respectful relationships and problem solving, are interested in the complex questions of faith, spirituality and are keen to learn and interact with others of different faith traditions.
- Establish collaborative relationships with all staff, students, and parents.
- Addressing the needs of the whole child is an important part of Concordia’s ethos and as a member of Concordia’s faculty, embraces opportunities to work with families of our students.
- Seeks out the opportunities to work with and learn from their colleagues.
- Attends Care and Concern meetings with teachers and learning support as well as Student Review Team meetings with teachers, principal and parents, on an as-needed basis.
- In critical counseling cases across the school, can provide translation assistance (approx. 6 hrs. a month)
- Maintains accurate records.
- Meets with individual students, parents and teachers, as needed.
- Conducts Parent Education sessions
- Interfaces with outsource specialists, i.e. hearing, OT, speech, other evaluators or medical personnel.
- On regular school days, is on duty between 7:30 AM and 3:45 PM, not inclusive of activities and meetings.
- Commit and contribute to the school community—play an active, positive, and supportive role in addressing the needs of the whole child and the ethos of Concordia beyond the classroom. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Leading extra-curricular activities (ECAs) during the school year
- Leading a student club
- Additional employment expectations:
- Collaborate with Teaching Assistants/Support Staff in working with or monitoring children and managing clerical tasks. Establish expectations and guidelines for these adults in the learning environment and help them understand their roles/responsibilities.
- Undertake additional duties that may reasonably be assigned or requested by the Supervisor such as leading student trips, serving as chaperon roles as needed.
- Other duties as assigned.
