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Sandy Hook

Dear RISPA members, As you are well aware, our country experienced a tragic event unlike any other at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Public Schools (CT). This act truly transcends that one school community, and its impact is felt throughout Rhode Island, New England, and our nation as a whole. The heinous act that transpired at Sandy Hook is another in a long list of devastating crises in our schools.

With this in mind, please remember that students, even those with no direct connection to the event, could experience secondary trauma from an incident of this magnitude. Secondary trauma refers to the impact of witnessing or hearing about adverse and traumatic events. It is often cumulative and may occur vicariously over time, and could even develop for students without a known history of trauma. As we return to work this week, it seems prudent to limit children’s exposure to media as much as possible.

During this dark time, RISPA is proud of the efforts by our neighboring association, the Connecticut Association of School Psychologists (CASP), whose leadership has been in constant contact with the National Emergency Assistance Team (NEAT) from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). NEAT has been diligently working with CASP as an association and with educators in Newtown, and has received much assistance and many volunteers to aid in provision of counseling and other vital mental health supports.

RISPA would also like to acknowledge the loss of Sandy Hook ES school psychologist and NASP member, Mary Sherlach. Like all school psychologists, Mary cared deeply about her students and was committed to their personal well-being and success. Her educational career included time in the Redding, North Haven, and New Haven public school systems and spanned over 20 years.

For additional resources, I encourage you to visit NASP’s website, www.nasponline.org. There you will find a plethora of materials available on its homepage that may be useful in the upcoming days as we confront this catastrophe.

The outpouring of support throughout the country reinforces my belief that we, as school psychologists, are there for each other and for the children and families that we work with on a daily basis. Likewise, please do not hesitate to contact me or the RISPA board for assistance in your schools, as we all grapple with the ramifications of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Fondly, Steve DeBlois RISPA President

Calendar of Events

April 10, 2013

5:00-6:00 pm

*Note special location:

URI Campus, Chafee Hall, Rm. 150

__________________

May 8, 2013

5:00-6:00 pm

Winman Junior High

Executive Board

The RISPA Executive Board meets on the second Wednesday of the months of the school year (September through June) at 5 pm at Wynman Junior High School in Warwick. All RISPA members are encouraged to attend Executive Board meetings. Those who wish to join the Board as a voting member must be a current professional school psychologist and a member of the Association. They must attend at least three (3) Board meetings a year and participate on a committee. (RISPA By-laws; Article X; Section 2.) Click MORE to see list of current Officers and Executive Board members.

Committees

Most of the work of RISPA is accomplished through the efforts of members working together on several committees.

Click on the Committees drop-down link to see what is happening with each committee.

Professional Development Committee
Legislative Committee
Professional Advocacy Committee
Awards
Scholarship Committee
Website Committee
Response To Intervention Committee

RIDE Support Professional Evaluation Workgroup

RIDE Support Professionals Evaluation Workgroup. The support group met throughout the 2011-2012 school year and was represented by the following specialist areas: Library/Media Specialists, School Nurses, School Social Workers, Reading Specialists, Guidance/School Counselors, Speech/Language Pathologists, and School Psychologists. RISPA was fortunate to have representation by Andrea Spas during workgroup meetings.

The workgroup met since November to provide feedback, suggestions, and recommendations on the future Support Professionals Evaluation Model. The process served as a vehicle to advocate for the school psychology profession as well as speak to the manageability and functionality of the evaluation process. There are several aims of this workgroup. The primary aim of our work has been to determine if there is a way to align the various Professional Standards of each represented field into an integrated system. There are both strengths and limitations to this approach. As part of this process, I have reviewed the standards of all represented fields and shared NASP's 10 Domains of Practice with the workgroup. The team has evaluated whether there are areas of alignment within all Standards. After much work and deliberation, we were able to identify 4 broad domains that relate to all fields: Planning & Preparation, Service Delivery, Collaboration & Consultation, and Evaluation & Assessment. Although these 4 areas have been identified, team members have expressed the importance of addressing the unique responsibilities of each discipline.

Additional areas that we have been working on include: providing feedback on the professional responsibilities rubric, identifying methods to measure student development, sharing feedback on the observation process, and reviewing the process for Professional Growth Goal setting. The new Support Professionals Evaluation Process may be modeled after the current Educator Evaluation Process in some structural areas, but not all. RIDE is still determining this. For example, the following 3 "System Components" will most likely be included:

1) Professional Practice (aligned to the 4 domains above, Prof. Standards, or sub-standards - TBD)
2) Professional Responsibilities (e.g., ethics, professional judgment, advocates for students, respect, etc. - TBD)
3) Student Learning

***Please refer to the RIDE guidebook titled, Guide to Evaluating Building Administrators and Teachers, to learn more about some of the evaluation system components mentioned above.

Projected timeline for pilot and implementation:

Pilot of Support Professionals Evaluation Model:
-Winter/Spring 2012-2013 (select schools)
Implementation of Support Professionals Evaluation Model:
-Fall 2013 (all schools)