Building effective school community partnerships requires recognition of barriers along with time and commitment from both the school district and community agencies to overcome those barriers. It may seem overwhelming to fully address each of the challenges while attempting to implement each element of effective school partnerships all at once, but it is necessary to ensure that the partnership is truly collaborative, effective, and improves mental health outcomes for children and youth.

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(Osorio, et. al. 2003-a)

This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study explored the experiences of eight urban school psychologists in the northeastern United States, identifying barriers or facilitators to the adoption in professional practice of the 2010 National Association of School Psychologists Practice Model for Comprehensive and Integrated School Psychological Services. The question guiding this study was: How do urban school psychologists make sense of their experiences while adopting the Practice Model? The literature review revealed three themes: the need for increased behavioral health services in schools, the role of school psychologists, and current implementation of the Practice Model, creating a conceptual framework for the study and illustrated the current practice of school psychology; and adopted Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory as a lens to analyze the data. The findings reveal that: (a) a clear role definition is needed for role expansion in practice, and that awareness of school psychologists' potential to be mental health providers needs to increase among stakeholders; (b) district barriers to adoption of the Practice Model exist due to insufficient staffing, high caseloads, and lack of district strategic planning for student services; (c) school psychologists require specialized supervision; (d) specialized professional development is needed to expand practice, increase awareness and training in the Practice Model, and in leadership development; and (e) increased knowledge of the Practice Model as a result of participation in professional organizations. The study concludes with recommendations for district change, increased outreach by the National Association of School Psychologists, and advocacy and coalition-building on the part of school psychologists.

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