Great Blogs for School Psychologists
• Psyched About School
• Notes from the School Psychologist
• Musings of an Urban School Psychologist
• Reddit School Psychology Blog and Forum
• National Association of School Psychologists Latest Blogs
School psychologists must be able to apply a multitude of important principals from several different fields of psychology in order to be effective in their role. Accordingly, a school psychologist has an extensive knowledge base that allows she or he to wear many different hats. For example, school psychologists have to understand appropriately apply principals of developmental, educational, social, and clinical psychology, as well as behavioral analysis in order to meet the learning, behavioral, and mental health needs of a wide-variety of children and adolescents. And do so in a manner that includes parents and other educators. For these reasons and more, the role of a school psychologist is among the most important of all roles within the field of psychology and school systems, as a whole.
However, it can be challenging for school psychologists to stay current in the defining principals and best practices within their field because they are constantly evolving and changing due to the abundance of new research that is consistently being conducted and published. The good news is that there are numerous blogs dedicated to sharing research and facilitating discussions surrounding school psychology. These blogs help to inform, assist, and guide school psychologists in their important roles by providing the latest research and up-to-date information within the field. They also present the perfect place for school psychologists to share what they have learned over the years with one another. Keep reading to learn more about five fantastic blogs for school psychologists.
Psyched About School
Blog URL: http://schoolpsychws.blogspot.com
School psychology, as defined by the administrators of this blog, “concerns itself with applying the knowledge and research of psychology to improve the learning and education process within schools.” Site administrators place a focus on the educational development of individual children, their skills and abilities, and the social and emotional factors that affect their learning processes in the classroom. This includes early problem identification, intervention, problem-solving, and prevention of student’s difficulties in order to promote and facilitate a positive learning environment and beneficial school experiences for all. This blog provides a wide-variety of information concerning the mental health and success of school-aged students. Topics of discussion range from how to help students who struggle with ADHD, anxiety, and autism, to crisis and suicide prevention, reading, retention, math, special-education, homework and everything in between. An abundance of helpful links to relevant publications and articles discussing scholarly research and reports are provided within each blog.
Notes from the School Psychologist
Blog URL: https://www.thrivingschoolpsych.com/blog/
This blog is led by Dr. Branstetter, a Licensed Educational and Clinical Psychologist who writes about her personal experiences within this field in order to help other school psychologists. She uses the blog to share useful and crucial information on topics that range from addressing common issues that school psychologists frequently face, to assessments, policy issues, mindfulness, self-care for school psychologists, and nearly anything that you can think of. Dr. Branstetter additionally provides numerous free resources as well as links on her blog that are incredibly helpful to school psychologists, educators, and anyone who works with children. She also offers a newsletter and live webinars. Dr. Branstetter’s writing has been featured by many well-known media outlets and websites, including but not limited to, Parents, The Huffington Post, CNN, and U.S. News.
Musings of an Urban School Psychologist
Blog URL: https://firstyearschoolpsych.blogspot.com
This blog is written by a Certified School Psychologist who is currently in her third year of working as a school psychologist in an urban school district located in New York State. The blog features the “trials, tips, tales, and triumphs of a new professional in education” and so much more; including a plethora of valuable resources, information, questions and answers, and even a few good laughs. Like each of the blogs featured in this article, the main categories of discussion are listed alphabetically on the right-hand side of the home page and features an assortment of topics. Including everything from anger management and social skills interventions for young students, to attendance, case studies, classroom management, how to help students who have multiple disabilities, stress management, traumatic brain injury, and many more important topics. The author of this blog also provides great links to peer-reviewed articles that contain informative discussions about the relevant and recent scholarly research that has been completed within this field.
Reddit School Psychology Blog and Forum
Blog URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/schoolpsych/
This is a fantastic forum in which school psychologists and those interested in school psychology can have open and honest discussions surrounding personal experiences, current research, and best-practices within the field. This blog is set up to be a question, answer, and comment type format in which anyone can ask a question or post information that pertains to school psychology and anyone can answer and/or comment on each post. Reddit has successfully created a highly-accessible community that is the perfect place for communication between a wide-variety of individuals; including established school psychologists who have been working in the field for many years, school psychologists who have recently graduated and are new to the field, and individuals who are considering going into the field. There are topics and questions pertaining to nearly everything one can think of regarding school psychology. Blog enteries can be sorted by “new,” “hot,” “controversial,” “top,” and “rising.”
National Association of School Psychologists Latest Blogs
Blog URL:
The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) provides a great space for school psychologists, and anyone interested in the field and its related topics, to discover the latest and greatest research and information pertaining to this field. This blog is set up in ways that allow for open discussions between users and works well for sharing questions and answers, scientific research and links to resources, and personal experiences and struggles that school psychologists have had. The countless blog topics range from the challenges of data collection, to how to fairly grade severely disabled students, groundbreaking research, reports made to congress, measures of social and emotional learning, and much more. The topics can be organized by “most recent,” “top rated,” or “most read.” And just like each of the blogs discussed in this article, specific topics can also be searched for using keywords and phrases.
Working as a school psychologist is not only a life-changing role for the psychologist but also for the countless students who are positively impacted by said psychologist. It is undeniably, one of the most important things that a person can do with an advanced degree in psychology. Furthermore, it is a rapidly growing field that is projected to continue growing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the job outlook for psychologists is expected to grow at a rate of 14% between the years of 2018 to 2028, which is “much faster than average.” Accordingly, the occupational employment statistics provided by the BLS for school psychologists demonstrate that opportunities and wages for this occupation are on the rise and are predicted to continue to increase.
Related Resource: School Psychology Workforce and Salary Information
Despite the many amazing aspects of fulfilling the incredibly important role of a school psychologist, it comes with its challenges. But that is where these blogs, and the countless invaluable resources that they provide, can help. Each blog featured in this article is a great places for school psychologists and anyone interested in the field of school psychology to find valuable information on any topic or question related to this field. Whether you are interested in pursuing a career in school psychology, have just started your career in the field, or you are an established school psychologists who has been employed for many years, each of these blogs has something for everyone.
