Vocational assessment involvement and use of the self-directed search by school psychologists

Abstract

This paper offers a justification for the school psychologist's involvement in the vocational assessment process and suggests the use of a vocational instrument entitled the Self‐Directed Search (SDS). It is argued that use of this instrument can provide school psychologists with a psychometrically sound and time‐ and cost‐efficient means of incorporating a vocational component into their secondary school psychoeducational assessments. The SDS, and the theory upon which it is based, is described. The integration of SDS data with other psychoeducational data to generate vocationally specific recommendations is also discussed.

Vocational assessment of secondary students with disabilities and the school psychologist

“…School psychologists appear to devote a limited amount of time to vocational endeavors due to time constraints and a reluctance to become involved in such activities because of limited vocational assessment training (Levinson, 1990). Regarding time restraints, much of the information gleaned from a psychoeducational evaluation already has relevance for vocational planning.…”

“…Specifically, school psychology evaluations invariably include information about cognitive ability, academic achievement, and personality functioning, making the school psychologist an ideal person to facilitate the collection of vocational data. With the addition of a career interest measure, data can be integrated and interpreted in a way that would offer useful information in a time-and cost-efficient manner (Levinson, 1990). Because many school psychologists are unfamiliar with the vocational assessment process, they would need to improve their skills.…”

“…Although not specifically developed for use with a disabled high school aged population, the author of this paper believes that this approach can be used effectively when working with students with mild to moderate disabilities. For those with more significant disabilities, such as mental retardation and autism, an environmental assessment approach, focusing more on work samples and situational assessments would be more appropriate (Levinson, 1990). To aid in the interpretation of psychological data from a vocational perspective, readers can consult Table 1, which shows the abilities and personality traits found to be most associated with each Holland theme.…”

The Self-Directed Search: A Family of Self-Guided Career Interventions

“…The SDS is used in an increasingly wide array of settings. For example, Levinson (1990) argues that the SDS is an appropriate intervention for school psychologists who want to become more involved in vocational assessment.…”