Innovative
Practices Awards
The INNOVATIVE PRACTICES AWARD is
not limited to a few individuals. It is a way for GASP to recognize many
unique ways to better serve the student and the professional arena in which
psychologists work. The
awards are presented twice a year at Fall and Spring
GASP Conferences.
Awards Forms
Kerry Hinkle,
Valdosta State University Professor: For creating an "Internet Logging
System" (ILS) to enable school psychology students to document their
activities, assisting them in their NCSP accreditation as well as presenting
themselves as highly qualified to potential employers. The ILS is a web
based, password secure documentation, supervision and program evaluation
tool. It captures service activities, accountability data and is interactive
in real time through a web database. The data can be used by field
supervisors, trainers and interns to monitor the scope and depth of services
provided. Awarded Spring 2005
Patrick Kennedy, School Psychology Coordinator/SSST Coordinator, Clarke
County Schools: For his work in developing an SST audit process. The purpose
of the audit was to help direct changes and improvements in better
addressing specific academic and behavior problems of students, to allow
better monitoring of the process, and to increase accountability efforts.
The intent was also to provide the state with a model for developing a
statewide SST audit process to help improve the ST process and better serve
students. Awarded Spring 2004
Troup County Psychological Services, Dr. Paula Freer, Coordinator: For the
development of a four-step procedures called Assessment Intervention
Follow-up (AIF) to ensure that psychoeducational assessments are indeed
linked to interventions which are geared to a student's profile of strengths
and weaknesses, and which are research-based, and provide for specific
measurement of student progress. Awarded Spring 2004
Marty Hodge, Cobb County Psychological Services: For her work in
coordinating a best practices approach for the assessment of bilingual
Spanish students. All parent and intake and permission forms are available
in Spanish and language proficiency screening in both languages (English and
Spanish) occurs. Consultation is offered from one of two Assessment Teams
consisting of bilingual speech pathologists, social workers, diagnosticians,
and psychologists. The Assessment Team works together to share student
information and jointly make decisions on methods of evaluation and
intervention. Awarded Spring 2004
Margaret Folsom, Cobb County School Psychology Intern: For development of a
brochure entitled "Success Stories." The brochure contains contributions
from area school psychologists on the effectiveness of services provided by
school psychologists and how it made a difference in the lives of students
receiving such services. The stories articulated and portrayed in the areas
of assessment, consultation, intervention, counseling, and mentoring.
Awarded Spring 2004
Dr. Kris Varjas is a professor at Georgia State University. She
conducts research in the area of culturally appropriate assessment and
mental health services. Her work has been published in journals and she has
two books coming out in December (one for APA and one for NASP). In
addition, to the work that she does in the field of doctoral psychology, she
does a great deal to support and encourage the students at GSU. She
advocates for all of her students in the program and uses creative methods
in her classes (like high interest books and movies) to facilitate the
understanding of ideas from various perspectives. Her graduate students
attest to her personal dedication to them. She supports the graduate
assistants and encourages them to grow as professionals. She actually takes
her GRAs to conferences to present their research, rather than presenting it
herself, as is done by most professors. Dr. Varjas mentors her students and
invests a great deal of time in their development. Their strong commitment
to her is evidenced in this nomination. Awarded Fall 2002
The Public Relations Committee of Cobb County
Psychological Services is chaired by Leonora Wilgus and
includes Dr. Tim Turco, George Wrensen, Max Frick, Kelley Greer, and Andrea
LaRusso. This committee focuses on letting parents, students, and educators
know the many ways that Cobb County School Psychologists live up to the
department motto of "Impacting Education through Student Focused Solutions".
The committee does an outstanding job of promoting our profession and
demonstrating psychologists’ expanded roles. Committee initiatives include
the following:
- For the past seven years the committee has planned and hosted an
evening meal
for the school board and cabinet members. This allows an
opportunity for the school psychologists to interact with school board
members and summarize key projects in the schools.
- For the past six years, the committee has published a monthly
newsletter Psychologists’ News. This publication addresses parenting
issues, classroom interventions, or other professional issues related to
education. The newsletter us sent out to all school, support personnel,
PTA leaders and administrators.
- During School Psychology Week, the committee provides a tri-fold
display at the Central Office including photographs of staff.
- The department’s School Psychological Handbook has been revised and is
available on the Website. The committee assures the all information
remains current.
- The Web-site is kept current including biographical information about
each psychologist and school assignments. Additional information on the
Psychological Website includes links for parents, and descriptions of
internship training programs.
- A pamphlet describing Cobb Psychological Services has been designed
and printed.
Awarded Fall 2002
Dr. Barbara Wideman is the Assistant
Director of Psychological Services for the Cobb County School District.
Her nomination came in recognition of the comprehensive and progressive
school psychology internship program she has developed in Cobb County.
Cobb County currently serves as a training site for practicum,
specialist, and predoctoral interns. As a part of this training program,
interns receive intensive training in consultation, assessment, and
school-based interventions. In addition, the predoctoral interns have an
opportunity to receive specialized training through the completion of two
major clinical rotations. Rotations that are available to interns include:
neuropsychological assessment, family therapy, preschool/medical low
incidence, and school-wide behavior management program development.
Interns are afforded the opportunity to develop specialized skills in the
area of play therapy as well as crisis intervention. Interns also receive
on-going training and education in a variety of clinical disorders (e.g.,
ADHD, bipolar disorder), psychopharmacology, medical disorders (e.g.,
asthma) and empirically-validated treatments, through weekly didactic
presentations. Staff psychologists, community practitioners, and
university-affiliated personnel give these presentations.
Not only has Dr. Wideman created this innovative training program, but
she has been able to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect, collegiality,
and professionalism among the interns and training supervisors that is
often lacking in other internship programs. She has been able to create an
environment in which beginning psychologists are provided with the
opportunities and the support they need to make the most of their talents.
Her program helps interns to find their strengths and direct their futures
accordingly. Dr. Wideman’s commitment to excellence in training and the
provision of quality psychological services is commendable and certainly
deserving of an Innovative Practices Award! Awarded Fall 2002
Contact
Barbara
Gwinnett County Psychological Services
is the largest school system in Georgia. The system is very diverse with
nearly 20,000 students speaking languages other than English in
approximately 115 different languages. A population this diverse requires
innovative techniques and effective use of the 33 psychologists in the
county. The following is a summary of ways they have adapted to ensure
effective services within the county.
- In-service by psychologists to large groups of teachers.
- A resource library of over 600 books and videos for use by the
schools.
- Monthly meetings with other mental health professionals to gain latest
insights and knowledge.
- Annual year end retreat to discuss successes and failures of services
that year.
- Participate in research based focus groups to share/ enhance
professional proficiency.
- Provide Bi-lingual services and GCATS services to the county.
- Participate in SST (was involved with nearly 10,000 SST's last year).
- Mentor new psychologists to provide orientation and support ensuring
smooth transition and optimum service to students.
Awarded Spring 2002
Dr. William Lamp'l has been a practicing
school psychologist for 31 years with 29 of those years being in Douglas
County. Bill has lead the way in using innovative technology to enhance
school psychological services in his county. Beginning with using the Apple
IIE in the early 1980's, he developed a collection of template files to use
in writing the more common and predictable portions of reports. He
distributed these files to psychologists he worked with to enhance and
streamline report writing time. Bill pioneered the use of laptops in his
county to help psychologists make effective use of their time. Bill has been
a avid user of available computerized scoring and analyzing programs and was
one of the first to use databases for monitoring and scheduling
re-evaluations in the county. Bill has also used his computer savvy to
single handedly help school psychologists around Georgia by editing and
publishing the GASP Dialogue for the past 12 years. Awarded Spring 2002
Contact Bill
Dr. Paula Frier, Troup County
Psychological Services Coordinator, effected significant change in services
to children in the county and ultimately made these services more relevant,
effective and streamlined. The restructuring occurred over a year long
period and was accomplished through the hiring of an outside consultant to
study the current structure and make recommendations. This was the beginning
of changing the roles and perceptions of; psychological services in the
county, the SST process and the special education department as a whole. Dr
Frier presented to the board and the superintendent a five year strategic
plan for special education in the county. Results have included redefining
special education as a support service for children in regular education
programs (a major paradigm shift), training for personnel of solution
focused SST and an accountability/ assessment procedure of psychological
services in the county. Awarded Spring 2002
C.N. (Sonny) Haisten, Ph.D., Director of
Student Assistance Programs for the Cobb County School System, has
successfully brought mental health professionals representing various
disciplines, administrators, and numerous public agencies together in a
collaborative initiative to address school violence throughout the county.
This initiative involved the development of three focus groups that helped
to shape the plan that this large metropolitan area school system will be
using. The outcome of this initiative has resulted in the development of
four Crisis Response Teams assigned to the entire county, with each team
participant receiving extensive training in providing follow-up support to
victims of trauma or crisis. In addition to crisis response, the schools as
well as a plan for increasing school and community awareness. Educational
efforts are targeted at teachers, students, parents, and the community.
Through his guidance and direction members of the planning committee were
able to develop a comprehensive and well-conceived program to prevent or
reduce school violence as well as address crises that arise within schools.
It serves as an excellent model of school consultation and collaborative
problem solving concerning a critical issue impacting schools. Awarded Fall
2001 Contact Sonny
David Freeman , Lead school psychologist,
Bartow County Schools, has been instrumental in designing and implementing
his county’s
School Psychologist's
Homepage. They have won six outstanding
awards and national recognition for their website including:
- USA Today Education Best Bets Award
- Mental Health Net Excellence Award
- Blue Web’n Site Four Stars Award
- Education World Top Twenty Site Award
- Too Cool School Site of the Week Award
- Cyber Teddy Top 500 Web site Award
This has also designed the county data base for Student Support Services
and Special Education. He has also played in integral part in developing the
Crisis Intervention Resource Manual for his county. Awarded Fall 2001
Contact David
Dr. Arletta Brinson, Director of
Psychological Services of Fulton County Schools, "Excellence in Action is
the theme of this department, thirty-six psychologists who provide
comprehensive psychological services to all students and promote the
professional development and growth of all staff. The energy and innovation
of this group is demonstrated in countless ways. These include, but are not
limited to:
- an annual book donation to all schools during School Psychology Week.
- A website that includes the quarterly newsletter
- Collaborative partnerships formed with institutions such as Georgia
State Univ.
- Increased Student Support Team participation;
- Increased consultations with parents, teachers, support staff and
administrators;
- The second annual "Opening of School" retreat for staff, featuring
strategic planning and noted presenters.
The Board of Education of this county validated the importance of the
Psychological Services Department by creating eight new positions for the
2001-2002 school year during a time of budget cuts to other programs. In
addition, an ESOL psychologist
position was funded to meet the needs of their increasingly diverse
community. The department continuously seeks new ways of enhancing their
services. Other initiatives include:
- a more formal mentoring program
- a continued engagement
- process improvements related to more efficient practices to address
regulatory compliance.
Psychological Services recognizes that excellence is a journey and not a
destination. Awarded Fall 2001
Fulton Schools
Dr. Chris Daley, Dr. Cheryl Lankenau, and Dr.
Carolyn Gates,
School psychologists, Muscogee County, in
conjunction with Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator, implemented and
coordinated the National Depression Screening Program during the 2000-2001
school year in all high schools in Muscogee County. In fact, it was the only
school district in the country to screen all 8,500 of its high school
students. Awarded Fall 2001
Contact
Chris or
Cheryl
Bob Hoffman, the American Guidance
Service (AGS) Representative for Georgia, came up with the idea to partnership between AGS
and graduate schools. The graduate programs in school psychology benefit from free
assessment materials, seminars and workshops by authors, test data interpretation, etc.,
in exchange for a commitment to use the AGS materials as part of the course curriculum.
Additionally, graduate students may purchase AGS instruments at a 50% discount. Bob's idea
has now been adopted by AGS for nationwide use. Awarded Spring 2001
Contact Bob
Kimberly Evans innovative contribution
combines the development of a test inventory with continuing education. By using school
district purchase orders, she purchases test materials at the annual NASP convention,
saving 15-25% on materials such as test kits, protocols, etc. Many vendors offer
additional bonuses, such as carrying cases, extra protocols, or others
"give-aways" in the purchase. Shipping and handling charges are eliminated.
Kimberly and her colleagues have saved their district enough money each year that 2-3
colleagues can attend the NASP Convention, thereby improving their knowledge level, skill
acquisition, and professional development. Awarded Spring 2001
Contact
Kimberly
Dr. Joe Nail and
Laura
Ryan have been instrumental in the development of the Georgia Crisis
Assistance Team for Schools (GCATS). They have ably responded to the need for development
of well-trained school psychologists to intervene when districts experience significant
traumatic circumstances. Not only have they facilitated training of Georgia's school
psychologists as GCATS members, but they have provided ongoing refresher training and
comprehensively developed the parameters of GCATS service. Clayton County Schools has
graciously provided training space for GCATS training and are recognized as well for their
support of the GCATS initiative. Awarded Spring 2001
Contact Joe -
Contact Laura
Dr. Alan Brue of the Carrollton City
Schools has been administering the Student Styles Questionnaire (SSQ) to Special Education
students in the district. The SSQ is a standardized measure designed to detect differences
students display in their preferences, temperaments, and personal styles. As of December
2000, over 10% of the special education students in the district have completed the SSQ.
Once completed, Dr. Brue scores it and provides detailed written reports for the student
and his or her teacher(s), so that both may know how the student learns best. He continues
to administer the SSQ to students. I believe this is not only unique, but it also is a
valuable contribution made by a school psychologist to the education of our students.
Awarded Spring 2001
Contact Alan
Dr. Brue was awarded another innovative practice for his
efforts as co-principal investigator of the Stanford Binet : Fifth Edition.
It was through his work on the standardization that he was able to earn 9
test kits, valued at $7000, which he donated to his school district. This
allowed his district to purchase pther needed testing materials, requested
by school psychologists, without going over budget. Awarded Spring 2003.
The Carroll County School System in the
midst of an innovative approach to school psychological services with seven full-time
school psychologists promoting one of the best psychologist-to-student ratios in the
state. Four of the psychologists hold doctoral degrees and one is currently licensed. An
additional certified school psychologist is employed as the assistant director of special
education services.
The structure of school psychology services has changed markedly taking advantage of
the wealth of opportunities to forge connections between children, families, schools, and
communities to best serve students. The changing structure of the school psychological
services has been enhanced through location of the psychologists in the schools
allowing easier access to students, parents, and faculty resulting in psychologist
consultations increasing ten-fold the past few years.
While assessment remains an important function, the psychologists have expanded their
roles the include preventive, consultative, and intervention activities with a
child-centered focus. The psychologists are actively involved in Student Support Team
(SST) and Individual Education Program (IEP) meetings. They provide such services as
social skills training, behavioral interventions in the classroom, crisis counseling, and
intensive planning to address the mental health and educational needs of students.
The psychologists influence the system on not only an individual and school-wide basis,
but also on a systemic level. They have provided input to system-level administration
which has recently resulted in a three-year plan for comprehensive mental health services.
The plan includes regular meetings of all health-related staff (psychologists, counselors,
social workers, nurses) as well as parenting coordinators, vocational educators, and
community mental health practitioners.
The psychologists are actively involved in research activities. They utilize research
results to conduct in-service training both within and outside the system. They have
presented past research findings regarding interventions for at-risk, low achieving
students at the national convention of the American Psychological Association. In keeping
with the U.S. surgeon general's recent call for a national focus on suicide prevention,
suicide prevention is currently the top research priority of the psychologists. They
recently developed a suicide-prevention curriculum for review by the system. In addition,
they complete risk assessments and crisis counseling for at-risk students. Community
outreach is facilitated through contact with private health care providers as well as
participation in the Georgia Suicide Prevention Advisory Council.
The Carroll County School System's psychological services unit is a work in progress.
While substantial growth has taken place in the past few years, the program is set on a
course toward continual enhancement and improvement. One thing that is certain to remain
constant the philosophy of "putting students first," a philosophy which is
shared by all Carroll County School employees. Awarded Spring 2001
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