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Accurate and consistent identification of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) is crucial; however, state and district guidelines regarding identification methods lack operationalization and are inconsistent throughout the United States. In the current study, the authors surveyed 471 school psychologists about school SLD identification guidelines and the identification methods actually used (e.g., ability-achievement discrepancy, response-to-intervention, and the evaluation of students' pattern of strengths and weaknesses). Results indicated that nearly half the participants were allowed or required to choose the method of identification that ensured students received services, if the school-based team determined services were warranted. Variations in SLD identification methods were also found between schools with different characteristics (e.g., location, school level, and student composition). Implications for practice are discussed. C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Consultation is considered a pivotal skill for professional psychologists, including those practicing in educational settings (i.e., school psychologists). It is generally assumed that the development of consulting competence occurs through effective consultation training. However, limited research supports this claim. Via a national survey of 262 early career school psychologists, this study investigated the link between school psychologists' consultation training at the preservice level, and the enactment of the consultant role in schools during the early career. Participants' reported experiences in consultation training were consistent with recent research in this area including omissions in the training and supervision they received, such as a lack of emphasis on process skills and multicultural competence. Regression analyses indicated participants' consultation training, including supervision, and their direct service practices (i.e., assessment and counseling), may impact how they enact the consultant role, how confident they are in their consultation practice, and their perceived ability to achieve client, consultee, or systems-level change.

Consultation is a key competency area for school psychologists, though much is unknown about how school psychologists develop the competency to consult. Deliberate practice (DP) is a promising approach to enhance use of communication skills, thereby supporting consultation competence. DP training included multiple opportunities for video-recorded consultation practice in response to a consultee’s request for assistance, self-reflection on skill application, and corrective supervisory feedback. In this randomized controlled trial, 109 school psychology graduate students across 45 training programs received either consultation training as usual delivered through their first consultation course (control group; n = 61) or a supplemental DP training intervention in addition to their first consultation course (treatment group; n = 48). Students who completed the DP training significantly increased their use of communication skills during a simulated practice opportunity, while the control group participants did not. Students in the DP condition also reported significantly greater self-efficacy than students in the control group, although students in both groups reported significantly greater self-efficacy over time. DP participants also reported high levels of training satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the design and delivery of consultation training and supervision are discussed.

Students in K-12 settings experience poor writing outcomes, with less than 30% of students writing at the proficient level. Coupled with the pressure to improve academic outcomes with limited resources, schools are in dire need of efficient, universally provided instructional activities that promote writing skills. Performance feedback on writing fluency was designed to be a brief, low-resource universally provided instructional activity to facilitate writing development and has demonstrated moderate to large effects on formative writing measures. The current study was conducted to directly evaluate the extent to which performance feedback on writing fluency is cost-effective. This study uses the ingredients method to estimate the costs of providing performance feedback on writing fluency and calculates incremental cost-effectiveness ratios based on secondary data from a randomized controlled trial. Results suggest that performance feedback is more cost-effective than comprehensive systems reform initiatives and comparable to other universally provided interventions, and therefore should be considered a cost-effective approach to improve writing fluency for all students. Results provide school psychologists with concrete examples of how to support prevention and intervention activities aimed to improve student writing outcomes. Limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed. Impact and ImplicationsThe study calculated the cost-effectiveness of a universally provided instructional activity to facilitate students' writing fluency based on secondary data (e.g., minutes for implementation) from a randomized controlled trial. The results demonstrated how school psychologists can use economic evaluations to promote evidence-based practices that maximize school resources.

This study is the first national survey of supervision and mentoring practices for early career school psychologists (ECSPs). Respondents included 700 participants, 38% of whom reported having access to professional supervision. Time, availability, and proximity to a supervisor were found to be the most common barriers to accessing supervision and mentoring; access to technology, supervisor interest, and cost were not found to be as significant. Nearly 30% of ECSPs reported feeling pressure to practice outside their boundaries of competence because they did not have access to mentoring or supervision, suggesting a potential ethical concern. Results demonstrate the need to provide more supervision and mentoring opportunities for ECSPs, particularly given the National Association of School Psychologist's requirement that first‐time Nationally Certified School Psychologist renewal applicants complete a year of mentoring or supervision. Implications of the results, strategies to support the barriers to access, and future directions for research are addressed.

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Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) represent a large proportion of those receiving special education services in U.S. schools, but the relationship between student-level variables and SLD identification is still not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which data collected as part of a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation were associated with SLD identification status. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine how response to intervention (RtI) slope (i.e., growth rate), academic achievement, global cognitive ability, and demographic variables (i.e., race/ethnicity, gender, and free/reduced-price lunch [FRL] status) were related to SLD identification. Academic achievement (B ϭ Ϫ0.13, OR ϭ 0.88), race/ethnicity (B ϭ Ϫ1.35, OR ϭ 0.26; 0 ϭ white student, 1 ϭ student of color), and FRL (B ϭ 0.94, OR ϭ 2.57) were related to SLD status, but global cognitive ability and RtI slope were not, even though the RtI method was reported to be used during the special education decision-making process. Implications for practice, particularly related to the use of RtI, are discussed. Impact and ImplicationsThis study's findings showed that academic achievement, race/ethnicity, and free/reduced-price lunch were related to identification of a specific learning disability (SLD) among referred students, but response to intervention (RtI) growth rate was not related to SLD status. SLD is the largest special education disability category in schools, underscoring the importance of ensuring that implementation of RtI identification methods results in identification decisions that best support student needs.