School Psychologist

Our public school students need your expertise, passion and leadership.

We are looking for highly motivated and skilled talent to join our team at District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). We seek individuals who are passionate about transforming the DC school system and making a significant difference in the lives of public school students, parents, principals, teachers, and central office employees.

DCPS serves 50,000 students in the nation's capital through the efforts of approximately 4,000 educators in 118 schools. As part of a comprehensive reform effort to become the preeminent urban school system in America, DCPS intends to have the highest-performing, best paid, most satisfied, and most honored educator force in the nation and a distinctive central office staff whose work supports and drives instructional excellence and significant achievement gains for DCPS students.

Position Overview

The position is located in the District of Columbia Public Schools, School Culture Division. The school psychologist provides a full range of school psychological services to children in grades Pre‐K3 through 12, preventative services, including screening and assessment, designing remedial educational programs, individual and group consultation with school staff, parents, and outside agencies as appropriate. The incumbent functions as a member of the school’s multidisciplinary team to interpret evaluation results and determine the student’s eligibility for special services, appropriate programming, and ongoing progress.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other clinical duties may be assigned.

• Identifies appropriate interventions to strengthen academic and behavioral skills within the school setting. Monitors the progress and the fidelity of interventions implemented at Tier II and Tier III level.
• Utilize curriculum-based measures and other measures of student progress to identify students in need of intervention and provide various means of assessment to specify the area of weakness.
• Supports leadership in designing and developing evidence-based models that best fit the needs of the students.
• Progress monitoring the data over intervals of time to determine the effectiveness of the interventions implemented, adjusting interventions as needed.
• Serves in a consultative role to offer prevention and intervention strategies related to increase learning and behavioral skills of students
• Provides meaningful, helpful suggestions to school teams regarding behavior management, social skill development, conflict resolution, and instructional strategies

The school-based School Psychologists will report to the school principal and the Program Manager, School Psychology.

• Provides various small group counseling for students with social, emotional and/or behavioral concerns.
• Develops appropriate interventions and strategies to assist individual students in academic growth and school adjustment
• Selects, administers, scores, and interprets approved individual psychological assessments, using instruments and procedures approved by DCPS to determine eligibility for special education services in accordance with regulatory requirements.
• Prepares and completes evaluation reports utilizing the format approved by DCPS that provides meaningful data and recommendations to teachers and guardians. Reports include information from a variety of sources, including parents, nurse, teachers, community organizations, etc.
• Uploads assessment reports to system upon completion and documents all due diligence efforts made
• Core member of the school crisis team and the central office crisis rotation
• Serves as the MTSS coordinator to assist in facilitating meetings and ensuring fidelity
• Integral participant in the 504, Eligibility, Parent and School Mental Health and meetings
• Attends due process hearings as requested
• Required to attend all mandatory monthly staff meetings, case conferences, trainings, and professional developments

Qualifications

• Master's Degree in School Psychology, Educational or Clinical psychology from an accredited institution, to include forty-two (42) semester hours of graduate level coursework and
• five hundred (500) clock hours of satisfactory field experience in a pre‐K through 12 school setting under the supervision of a certified school psychologist. See DCMR 1659.1 for additional details regarding required graduate level coursework.
• Certification as a School Psychologist by the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
• Two years of school psychology experience required
• Ability to administer, analyze psychological and educational assessments and write quality comprehensive reports.

Health Insurance 

• HMO (Aetna, Kaiser Permanente, or United HealthCare) 
• PPO (Aetna) 
• POS (United HealthCare) 
• Dental and Optical Insurance (Plans provided by the Washington Teachers’ Union) 

Other Insurance 

• Basic Life Insurance 
• Supplemental Life Insurance 
• Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance 
• Short-Term Disability Insurance 
• Long-Term Disability Insurance 

Other Benefits 

• Teacher’s Retirement Plan 
• Flexible Spending Accounts (for dependent care & health care) 
• 403(b) Tax Sheltered Annuities 
• DC Teachers Federal Credit Union 
• 457 Deferred Compensation Plan 
• Loan Cancellation or Deferment 
• AT&T Discount Program for District of Columbia Employees 
• Employer Assisted Housing Program (Up to $11,500 for first-time homebuyers in DC) 
• HUD Good Neighbor Next Door Program (50% off the list price for HUD homes) 
• Discounted memberships to Washington Sports Clubs 

Please visit the DCPS Human Resources page for additional information.