School Psychology Awareness Week 2011 is November 14 - 18, 2011

The theme this year is ... "EVERY LINK MATTERS - MAKE A CONNECTION!"

The Focus for this year is: Helping students strengthen positive relationships and increase positive connections. We are focusing on how school psychologists help our students create positive connections within the school community, their academics and their lives. 

Letters of nomination for NASP's & RISPA's - Student POWER and Partner in Action Awards.  Please take the time to nominate a student and colleague and make the connection!

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO!

RISPA's Professional Advocacy Committee

Come eat, drink, & celebrate our profession!

Thursday, November 17, 2011 4:00 - 7:00 pm at the 39 WEST, 39 Phenix Avenue, Cranston. There is ample parking.

This is your chance to consider trends in the field, discover additional avenues of information, and meet and reconnect with colleagues.

Celebrate this year's award winners, including students as wew celebrate the first ever STUDENT POWER AWARDS!

There will be great food, a lot of fun, and great raffles.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE!!!!!

For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Andrea Piccirillo (401.524.5693) or Stephanie York (401.440.9085) - Co-chairs RISPA Professional Advocacy Committee

Taking the time to develop a plan will help you target important dates (e.g., meetings), select the right strategy and messages for each audience, and coordinate efforts with your colleagues. There are links under the NASP page of this website to a PowerPoint presentation and a brochure on the NASP website.  Here are a few strategies for communicating with and educating key stakeholders.

• Request a meeting with district leaders - Use the PowerPoint presentation or distribute brochures.
• Write an article for your school/district newsletter or listserv.
• Hold a brown bag discussion for school staff
• Make a presentation the your school committee -  school psychologists in Montgomery County MD recently presented the model to their school board during which one member said: "Wow, I had no idea you all were trained to do all that!"

The goal of the RISPA Professional Advocacy Committee is to help promote and raise awareness of the profession of school psychology.  The committee is responsible for sending out press announcements as needed, promoting School Psychology Awareness Week, organizing the Fall Celebration of School Psychology event to include key stakeholders (administrators, legislators, etc.), and submitting relevant articles to the RISPA newsletter editor.  The committee also sends out the call for nominations in the winter for various awards given out to celebrate accomplishments of various school psychologists, students, and trainers at the annual spring Trainer-Practitioner Celebration Event. We review nominations and select the recipients based on established rubrics. Award winners and nominators are invited to the Trainer-Practitioner event in May event.  As a committee we strive to help spread knowledge of our role in schools, promote our profession to important stakeholders and build support through professional connections. As you can see there is much to do and we are always looking for members to help out.

Professional Advocacy Committee (PAC):
Co-Chairs: Andrea Piccirillo & Stephanie York
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

RISPA Awards Announcement from your Professional Advocacy Committee

Thank you to all who attended our third annual RISPA Trainer-Practitioner Connections Event in May 2010 - it was a great success! As always, it gave us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our profession, network with practicing school psychologists throughout the state, and celebrate the exemplary practice and contributions that RISPA members bring to the field of school psychology. At the event, RISPA recognized six RI school psychologists and one RI graduate student through the presentation of special awards. (See Awards Committee).

We wish you all the best and a wonderful summer and hope to see you all at our next Professional Advocacy Committee Event! Should you have any questions or suggestions about the awards process OR if you are interested in hearing more about our committee, please feel free to email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We would love to have you join us at our next committee meeting!

Fondly,

Andrea Piccirillo Vlaun & Stephanie York

Professional Advocacy Committee Co-Chairs