INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
Training Objectives and Competencies
The mission of the Dallas Independent School District is to prepare all students to graduate with the skills to become productive and responsible citizens. The specific mission of Psychological Services (PS), including the internship program, is to assist the Dallas Independent School District in promoting student achievement and student well-being by delivering psychological and social services to regular education and special education students.
The PS intership program ascribes to the following values and principals:
- PS has a responsibility to students, parents, school personnel, and the community to provide the opportunity for professional psychology interns to develop skills that coincide with recommended best practices.
- PS has a responsibility to expose interns to experiences encountered in large urban settings such that they can integrate theory, research and practice.
- PS strives to stay current with the professional literature and recommended practices. The pre-doctoral internship is a catalyst that enhances the pursuit of our goal of continuous renewal and program improvement.
In light of these values and principles, the mission and training goal of the intenship program at PS is to train prospective professional psychologists to function independently in providing a range of services to regular and special education students, school personnel, school-based health/mental health clinic clients, and the students' families.
The objectives of the internship experience are to further broaden and deepen the university course work and practicum experience. The model of training utilized is experiential and developmental in nature. Prior to beginning their internship training, interns meet with their university trainers to rate a variety of competencies. These initial ratings are used to evaluate interns' competencies: (1) comprehensive assessment, (2) intervention, (3) evaluation of services provided, and (4) professional practice. The pre-internship ratings serve as a baseline upon which PS builds an individually tailored professional training experience. Interns are subsequently rated quarterly by their primary, secondary, and other supervisors.
Formal scientific research is a minor, secondary component of our training model. Five hours per week are set aside to this end. Interns use one hour to conduct research on a topic of interest to the department or school district and four hours to work on their dissertation. The interns are further encouraged to work on their dissertation by affording them up to 80 hours per year compensatory time for work done in the evenings and on weekends.
Didactic training occurs through departmental and district staff development offerings, as well as through the weekly professional issues forum. The latter offers not only the opportunity for interns to attend presentations from other professionals both in and outside the district, but also to present to their peers on topics of personal and/or particular interest.
In summary, the internship program strives to provide quality training in a sequential and comprehensive manner. Professional development activities and applied experiences are scheduled to encourage a graduated series of learning tasks.
Training Objectives and Competencies:
There are three interrelated training objectives to broaden and deepen professional psychology practice competencies:
- Objective 1 encompasses the professional skills and professional practice competencies expected for adequate functioning at the entry level of professional psychology following the internship.
- Objective 2 relates to the experience dimension of competencies such as populations served and the service delivery settings to which the interns are assigned.
- Objective 3 relates to the competency of a life-long attitude of integrating science and practice through supervision and learning experiences.
Objective 1: The intern shall achieve ratings of "functions independently" in the following professional skills and professional practice competencies by the end of the internship:
Competency A: Comprehensive Assessment
The intern shall be able to address problems through informal assessment by reviewing available language, health, sociological, achievement, and discipline records; collecting observation data and behavioral ratings; interviewing parents, school personnel, and students; assessing the school, home, community, and cultural context; and in the process systematically formulate and test hypotheses. The intern shall be able to conduct formal assessments to supplement informal assessment and to conduct comprehensive individual assessments as required by federal or state special education laws and regulations. Formal assessments include standardized, norm-referenced cognitive, developmental, adaptive, and achievement measures; perceptual-motor and other processing measures; and social, emotional, and behavioral measures. Interns will be able to make classifications for special education eligibility in the schools as well as DSM diagnoses at the school-based health/mental health clinics, known in Dallas ISD as Youth and Family Centers.
Competency B: Intervention (Consultation & Counseling)
The intern shall be able to resolve problems through consultation and intervention skills. Consultation is done with school personnel, parent(s) at home or at school, health/mental health personnel at school and at the Youth and Family Center. Also, consultation is done with groups of personnel such as the Student Support Team, the Admission Review and Dismissal (ARD)/ Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Committee, or the Youth and Family Center staffing committee. The intern shall be able to write individual behavior intervention plans, discipline management plans, Student Support Team action plans, individual educational plans (IEPs), and Youth and Family Center treatment plans. The intern shall be able to conceptualize and solve problems through individual, group, and family counseling depending upon the extent of university preparation. The intern shall be able to conceptualize and solve problems at a systems-level. This objective may include in-service presentations to school personnel, parents, or other staff on topics such as discipline management, parenting, school climate, and prevention of violence, child abuse, etc. Interns also participate in development and implementation of department policies and procedures, such as the recent development and implementation of Procedures for the Assessment of the Potential for Violence.
Competency C: Evaluation of Services Provided
The intern shall be able to evaluate services provided with such means as follow-up consultation; comparison of pretest and posttest results; comparison of baseline and intervention phases of a behavior management program; pre- and post-intervention grades, attendance, and discipline referrals; annual review of Individual Educational Plans; in-service evaluation; and program evaluation. The evaluation of services provided promotes accountability on quality of services delivered and it provides feedback to the interns on the accuracy of their initial evaluations/hypotheses and the degree of success of their interventions.
Competency D: Professional Practice (Professional & Ethical Practice, Professional Conduct, Professional Attitude, Responsibility, & Communication Skills). The intern will broaden and deepen professional practice skills.
Objective 2: In order to broaden and deepen professional competencies, the intern receives assignments needed to acquire experience with diverse populations in various service delivery models as follows:
A. Experience with students from diverse backgrounds in an urban setting.
When assignment decisions are made at the beginning of the year, careful consideration is given to the ethnic makeup of the assigned schools and clinics to ensure that the interns have opportunity for exposure to students from diverse backgrounds. One of the features of the internship program is to help interns become particularly aware, sensitive, knowledgeable, and practiced regarding the issues impacting the psychological/psycho-educational development, health status, and social/emotional development of children from diverse backgrounds.
B. Experience with regular and special education students, their teachers and families.
The program maintains that a well-rounded school psychologist must be prepared to serve the entire school population. Toward that end, the interns' assignments are structured so that they have a balanced exposure to both regular and special education populations. The District's intervention process initiates assistance to students and teachers in the regular education classroom and progressively follows the student through special education placement.
C. Experience with a variety of populations from the Pre-K through 12th grade.
Experience with at least 30 students in the regular education population. Interns have the opportunity to serve regular education students in their school assignments. These opportunities arise through teacher requests and through Student Support Team (SST) referrals. The SSTs are multidisciplinary, campus-based teams which primarily address individual student concerns. The SST seeks to increase the effectiveness of its school by resolving or attenuating, to the extent possible, individual problems in the areas of learning difficulties, emotional concerns, behavioral problems, and social services needs. The intern serves as a consulting member of the SST at the school to which s/he is assigned.
There are three levels to the Student Support Team Process. At Level I, referrals are made directly to an in-house service provider. In the case of the intern, services such as short-term counseling, consultation, and assistance with behavior management issues are common services provided at this level. If the problem is multifaceted, requiring interventions from representatives of several different professional disciplines, the case is moved to Level II. It is presented to the SST and a comprehensive intervention plan is developed. The intern is likely to be one of the service providers and/or the case manager. Level III constitutes a formal referral for assessment to determine whether the child is eligible for special education services.
Other opportunities for services to students in the regular education population arise from crisis intervention and from the intern's assignment to an alternative or magnet school. Referrals received in these settings are almost exclusively for the regular education population, and primarily involve provision of counseling and consultation/ intervention services. The number of regular education students served is documented in the Training and Evaluation Plan.
Experience with at least 30 students in the special education population. Services to children in the special education population are primarily provided in the intern's assigned elementary school. The intern conducts initial evaluations to determine eligibility for special education services as well as the required three-year re-evaluation of the school's special education students. The intern conducts evaluations to rule out emotional disturbance, and other psychoeducational problems. They also address Level I and II SST referrals if a special education student is displaying academic or behavioral concerns, e.g., poor grades, affective problems, behavioral problems, etc. Interns are also involved in Manifestation Determination IEP meetings when a change of placement for disciplinary reasons is sought for a special education student. The number of special education students served is documented in the Training and Evaluation Plan.
Experience with at least 30 students and family members through the Youth and Family Centers. Students and families who need services which are beyond the scope of those provided within the school setting may be referred to the Youth and Family Center. Interns have the opportunity to conduct intake interviews and collaborate with the psychiatrist and other Center staff in arriving at a diagnosis and formulating a treatment plan. Cases are assigned to them either individually or as co-therapists. The number of students served is documented in the Training and Evaluation Plan.
Experience of at least 450 hours providing direct services. According to APPIC, CDSSP, and the National Register guidelines, the intern spends at least 25% of his/her time in direct (face-to-face) client contact. Clients are students, parents, school and clinic personnel. The interns have an opportunity to attain this experience in a variety of settings and modalities. Two and a half days per week are spent in three school settings, at least one of which is an elementary and one a secondary. Modalities in which client contact hours are accrued include assessment, counseling, and consultation. The intern provides a day of service at the Youth and Family Center with opportunities to engage in intake, diagnosis and treatment planning with a psychiatrist, as well as individual, group and family therapy. The remainder of the week is spent as follows: half-day of group supervision, professional issues, and research; half-day of dissertation, and one day in the office addressing department issues, paperwork and individual supervision.
D. Experience within three service delivery settings.
Experience within traditional elementary and secondary schools for a minimum of two and a half days per week. Each intern serves traditional schools for two and a half days each week. Each intern is typically assigned to three schools - at least one of which is an elementary and one a secondary. The intern participates in the Student Support Team process, provides pre-referral interventions, conducts assessments and participates in special education IEP meetings for determination of eligibility and services.
Experience within an alternative or magnet school for one half day per week. In addition to the traditional school assignment, the intern is assigned to a secondary magnet or alternative school during the second half of the internship year. In this setting the intern has increased opportunity to provide short-term counseling and consultation services. The assigned alternative school setting can be matched to the interns' particular area of interest or expertise. The alternative school assignment occurs when the intern has met the experience requirements for special education evaluation and IEPs.
Experience with a Youth and Family Center up to one and a half days per week. Interns are assigned to a Youth and Family Center where they receive experience in conducting counseling or therapy consistent with the intern's level of training. They have the opportunity to participate in the intake process, discuss DSM-IV diagnoses with the psychiatrist, and develop a counseling/therapy caseload. Interns provide individual, group, or family counseling/therapy as needed and consult with parents and school personnel.
Objective 3: The intern will broaden and deepen professional competencies through regularly scheduled, supervised, and documented training activities. The activities include supervision and integration of science and practice.
A. Supervision (individual and group).
1. The intern receives a minimum of 180 hours of supervision, at least 90 hours of which are regularly scheduled individual supervision. Per APA criteria, intern supervision is regularly scheduled and sufficient relative to the intern's professional responsibility assuring at a minimum that the intern receives 4 hours of supervision per week, at least two (90 total hours per year) of which include individual supervision. Per CDSSP guidelines the internship includes at least two hours per week of regularly scheduled, formal, face-to-face supervision with the specific intent of dealing with the psychological services rendered directly by the intern.
Individual supervision. The primary supervisor is a doctoral level licensed psychologist as well as a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP). An LSSP must have a specialist in school psychology degree consisting of at least 60 graduate hours and internship. Texas is unique in that the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (TSBEP) recognizes the LSSP as the credential for provision of school psychological services. In Texas, supervisors of LSSPs must have at least three years of experience. Supervising LSSPs may supervise LSSP Interns, LSSP Trainees, and other LSSPs with less than 3 years of experience. However, PS chooses to hold to a higher standard by requiring that its primary supervisors not only be experienced LSSPs, but also licensed psychologists. The primary supervisor remains with the intern throughout the year and provides one hour per week of face-to-face supervision. The secondary supervisor is a doctoral-level licensed psychologist or a doctoral-level LSSP, who provides a second hour of individual supervision per week. At mid year, the intern may be assigned a different secondary supervisor so the intern can experience a variety of supervisory styles and areas of expertise.
Group supervision. Another two hours per week of group supervision is provided to the interns by two licensed psychologists. Finally, the intern may receive additional supervision from a variety of other sources. The most common type of additional supervision is that received at the Youth and Family Center from mental health professionals, supervision from other members of the department's leadership team, and supervision from other PS staff members where appropriate. Per CDSSP guidelines, intern supervision may be shared with other appropriately credentialed personnel, but the licensed doctoral-level psychologist, who is the primary supervisor assumes full responsibility for the supervision provided. Supervision hours are summarized quarterly on page 15 of the Training and Evaluation Plan. Reports such as Comprehensive Individual Assessment reports, eligibility statements, SST Action Plans, SST Disposition Reports, and Youth and Family Center treatment notes are co-signed by the primary supervisor or his designee.
2. The intern receives a rating of progress four times per year. The Training and Evaluation Plan articulates the specific quality and quantity of work expected by completion of the internship. At least two evaluations are required per year, but the internship program conducts four quarterly evaluations. Adjustments in the intern's program are made as needed to reach objectives.
B. Integration of Science and Practice. The intern accrues a minimum of 90 total hours of scheduled, supervised, and documented learning activities with other interns and staff. According to APPIC and CDSSP guidelines, interns engage in scheduled learning activities at least an average of two hours per week (90 hours per year).
1. Learning activities with other interns and staff. Scheduled learning activities that pertain specifically to the interns are the weekly Professional Issues Forum, which is scheduled for one hour per week for a total of 45 hours. Didactic training and review of the current literature on the practical and theoretical bases for the practice of school psychology are covered in the Professional Issues Forum. The Forum regularly covers ethnic and cultural diversity issues, professional and ethical issues, as well as standards for providers of psychological services. The Forum offers not only the opportunity for interns to attend presentations from other professionals both in and outside the district, but also to present to their peers.
Other scheduled learning activities include visits to community agencies in the first few days of the year, attendance at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School Psychiatric Grand Rounds when the topic is relevant to childhood disorders, and weekly departmental meetings including updates on practice information.
Before the school year starts, the interns attend an additional twelve hours of training in suicide risk assessment, violence risk assessment, and crisis management. Also, the intern attends 20 hours of training in assessment and the special education process.
District and department staff development in-services cover a wide range of topics; they address practical and theoretical bases for the practice of school psychology. The department provides approximately 52 hours of staff development relevant to the needs of the regular staff and the interns, 38 of which are required. As integral members of he department, interns engage in the same staff development as the rest of the department.
Interns are also required to document unscheduled learning activities. Interns have five days of professional leave which they may use to attend workshops and presentations at the Youth and Family Centers, other departments in the district, Regional Service Center, Dallas Association of School Psychologists, Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Association of School Psychologists, and other national, state, and local offerings.
2. At least two literature-based presentations on educational and/or mental health interventions in the schools. Interns are expected to make at least two presentations per year in the Professional Issues Forum. One presentation is based on a recent relevant journal article of their choosing. Interns must also conduct a more extensive one-hour presentation based upon more extensive readings. Interns typically use these opportunities to research problem areas they have encountered in the schools in order to obtain a better theoretical understanding of the nature of the problem, as well as research-based intervention strategies. This is key to the integration of science and practice as they apply this research to actual situations, evaluate success, modify interventions accordingly, and continue to research strategies.
3. Participation in at least one departmental research project per year. The training staff surveys the department and its parent division to seek appropriate research and evaluation opportunities for the interns. A staff member is assigned to oversee the interns' research activities. One hour per week is scheduled for participation of all interns on the research committee. An additional four hours of the work-week are set aside for dissertation. Additionally, up to 80 hours of compensatory time are granted to interns who have documented time spent working on dissertation outside of the regular work-week. Thus, research time averages 6 to 7 hours per week over the internship. However, this time shall not exceed 25% of the internship per CDSPP guidelines. Interns may also include in research time the evaluation of outcomes of services delivered and/or the effectiveness of the interns' own training as well as that of prior interns' training. Additionally, interns participate in the self-study process for re-accreditation.
The 2002-2003 interns developed a paper called Program Evaluation and the Dallas Independent School District Internship.
The 2001-2002 interns compiled violence risk assessment data. Also, one intern, a former intern, the internship director, and director of the department have a book chapter in press. The chapter is called The Dallas Independent School District Threat Assessment Procedures: Summary of Findings after Four Years of Implementation. It will appear in "Appraisal and Prediction of School Violence: Contexts, Issues, and Methods"; Editors: Michael Furlong, Michael Bates, Douglas Smith, and Paul Kingery; Publisher: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
The 2000-2001 interns compiled data on level of risk of violence and school action plans and participated in the self-study for re-accreditation. The 1999-2000 interns, a post-doctoral intern, and the internship director published Threats of Violence in the Schools: The Dallas Independent School District's Response in the March, 2001 issue of Psychology in the Schools. The 1998-99 interns developed user surveys for the department's "Procedures for the Assessment of the Potential for Violence", further researched the validity of items used in the risk assessment instrument, and analyzed data on risk assessments conducted. The 1998-99 interns submitted a paper entitled Assessing the Risk of Violence of Children in the Schools for publication. Two of the 1998-99 interns and the coordinator of child crisis management and child abuse published Dallas Independent School District: Responding to Threats of Violence in Schools in the September, 1999 issue of the School Safety Update, the newsletter of the National School Safety Center. The 1997-98 interns helped develop a questionnaire that they used with focus groups of teachers to obtain qualitative and quantitative feedback on the "Character Counts" curriculum. The 1996-97 interns published a paper in Division 16's The School Psychologist entitled School Psychology in the 21st Century: The Internship in the Dallas Independent School District. They also evaluated and wrote a paper on the District's pilot of a wellness initiative, the Discover Skills for Life curriculum.
About the Dallas Independent School District
