Township High School District 211: Palatine High School, Hoffman Estates, & Schuamburg High Schools
Background: School psychology has played an important role in District 211 since well before the advent of P.L. 94-142. The district has long appreciated the contributions school psychologists make not only in addressing the educational needs of students with disabilities but in facilitating the education and development of all students. The district employs 17 school psychologists in its five high schools and two therapeutic day schools. School psychologists have important and varied roles in District 211. They provide many clinical/counseling services in addition to the psychodiagnostic, special education-related, and other duties often performed by school psychologists. They also, however, have significant oversight responsibilities, including chairing IEP meetings, serving as the local education agency representative at those meetings, consulting with parents and staff members as to special education, mental health, and child protection laws, policies, procedures, etc. School psychologists provide a wide array of services including consultation, counseling, assessment, crisis intervention, prevention, in-service training, program development, research, etc. Psychologists have played a significant role in the development and implementation of the Response-to-Intervention plans in all five buildings. District 211 is committed to training school psychology interns as a contribution to the profession, to its future practitioners, and to the students and families that will be served by those District 211 trains. We welcome the opportunity to make this contribution, and we take seriously our obligation to provide a thorough and rewarding training experience.
Positions/Program: As noted above, one, two, or three internship placements will be available annually, depending on staffing and funding. One 12-month psychologist intern position will be available for the 2012-13 school year. The intern’s primary placement will be at Schaumburg High School. The intern will also serve as a member of the Specialized Assessment Team (see below) and will serve a 20-day elementary/middle school rotation within the local elementary district.
Student Services Department: Although psychologists in District 211 have many responsibilities within the Special Education Department, they are members of the Student Services Department and the Problem Solving Teams (PST) within that department. The PSTs within each building are the primary vehicles through which the psychologists, social workers, guidance counselors, school nurse, and counseling, social worker and psychologist interns facilitate all referrals for three-tier interventions, individual or group counseling, support and education groups, full and individual evaluations, Section 504 Plans, classroom-based training sessions, peer counseling, peer mediation, and other services. The PSTs also promote program evaluation and development to facilitate and implement department- and school-wide initiatives, in-service trainings, etc. The PSTs use their weekly meetings to insure that interns are provided with referrals of students in need of individual, group, and other interventions, including initial full and individual evaluations. Such referrals are screened to insure that the intern has the opportunity to work with students from a variety of socio-cultural backgrounds and with a variety of exceptional characteristics and psychological or other difficulties, etc. The intern will have the opportunity to use a variety of psychodiagnostic instruments and techniques and to utilize a variety of pre-referral interventions and other strategies. Student Services Department personnel provide counseling and support group services to hundreds of students each semester. The intern will serve as a co-therapist for one or more groups that might address themes such as depression, chemical education, loss, anger management, social skills, post-hospitalization, sexuality, aggression intervention, or others. There are many opportunities to provide consultation to teachers, administrators, and other faculty members. The intern will become involved in the continuing development of our RtI programs and will have a variety of experiences facilitating interventions within all three tiers.
Specialized Assessment Team: The intern will be a member of the Specialized Assessment Team (SAT) that coordinates and conducts the triennial re-evaluations of all District 211 students placed in public and private therapeutic day schools and residential facilities. As always, cases are assigned to the intern based on the learning potential presented due to the interesting nature of the diagnostic questions, the array of clinical, educational, and legal issues posed by the case, etc. In order to afford interns the opportunity of being supervised by psychologists with different styles and orientations, the supervision of SAT cases may be provided by psychologists other than the intern’s primary supervisor.
Peer Consultation/Training Opportunities: Interns are provided with a variety of opportunities to develop their skills. All psychologists and psychologist interns meet on a monthly basis to share literature, ideas, and expertise related to assessment, intervention, prevention and research. In addition, all of the District’s psychologists meet monthly to address issues related to procedural, diagnostic, legal, ethical, professional, and other matters. Interns attend selected community-based seminars, workshops and professional association conferences during the course of the year.
Supervision:The intern is provided with a minimum of four hours of individual supervision per week; two with their building-based supervising school psychologist and two with the district-based clinical/school psychologist. Typically, particularly early in the internship, supervision provided by the building-based supervisor is far greater than two hours per week. Ample opportunities exist (and occur) for additional supervision, collaboration, and interaction during the course of the typical week. Additional supervision and collaboration also occur with other psychologists working in the same setting. In addition, doctoral and specialist level interns and supervisors meet twice a month during the first semester and once a month during the second semester for group supervision and a seminar series designed to facilitate skill development with regard to counseling/psychotherapy, psychodiagnostic assessment, suicide assessment/crisis intervention, special education policies and procedures, how to write IEPs, BIPs, and psychological reports, etc.
Extracurricular Activities: Interns have the opportunity to become involved in extracurricular clubs, athletics, and other activities on a voluntary basis. There also may be opportunities to earn additional income coaching, sponsoring a club or activity, or chaperoning an activity.
Additional Information:
- Approximately 46% of the population at Palatine High School, 57.9% at Hoffman Estates High School, and 37% at Schaumburg High School represent students from a racial/cultural/ethnic minority. Incomes in the communities vary greatly among families, but more than 39% of the families at Palatine High School, 37% at Hoffman Estates High School, and 26% at Schaumburg High School are of low income.
- A typical work week includes an even balance between assessment, intervention and consultation. A day may consist of: 1 hour of individual therapy, 1 hour of group therapy, 1 hour of supervision/collaboration, 1 hour of teacher consultation/classroom observation/intervention, 2 hours of assessment and report writing, and 2 hours chairing or participating in IEP meetings.
- As noted, the intern will become part of the District 211 Specialized Assessment Team (SAT). Psychologists assigned to the SAT conduct and/or coordinate the re-evaluations of the 80+ students in our two therapeutic day schools and those of the 120 or so students placed in therapeutic day schools within our special education cooperative, private therapeutic day schools, or residential treatment facilities. Beyond providing the intern with the opportunity to have experience in evaluating students with significant behavioral, emotional, cognitive, medical, or other disorders, SAT cases provide opportunities to interact and collaborate with inpatient, outpatient, residential, child protection, advocacy, and legal personnel.
- In addition to spending four days/week at PHS, HEHS, or SHS, the intern has the opportunity to participate in a twenty-day rotation in a local elementary (early childhood through junior high school) district. Opportunities exist to become involved in the district’s innovative RtI initiative, guided in part by their IASPIRE (Illinois Alliance for School-based Problem-solving & Intervention Resources in Education) grant. The intern has the opportunity to help the school administer and analyze school-wide benchmarking data, and participate in RtI evaluations. A rotation is also available within the local district’s Early Childhood Program. This program includes a preschool experience for typically developing three- and four-year-old children while also providing services to children who have identified developmental delays or disabilities in one or more of the following areas: speech and language, social-emotional, motor, or intellectual. Rotations are also available with the district’s elementary, junior high school and therapeutic day school settings.
- Technical Support: The psychologist intern is issued a desktop or laptop computer and has access to all of the audiovisual, computer-related, technical and other hardware, software, and services available to all employees.
- Training Materials and Equipment: The psychologist intern has access to all commonly used assessment instruments, technical manuals, and computer-scoring programs, including WISC-IV, WAIS-IV, WIAT-III, WASI, WMS, DAS-II, MACI, YSR/CBCL/TRF, BASC-II, MMPI-A, MMPI-II, BRIEF, Beck Youth Inventories, Thematic Apperception Test, etc. The intern has access to the District 211 Professional Library, the Harper College Library, and all of the online, hard copy and other resources available via the Media Center within in each school.
- Physical Facilities: The psychologist intern has a private office, phone, voice mail, etc. Conference and group counseling rooms are easily accessible. The schools are located on 60-acre campuses, with modern, well-equipped facilities including auditoriums, swimming pools, gymnasiums, athletic fields, tracks, tennis courts, music practice rooms, and computer, reading, science, and vocational laboratories.
- Clerical Support: The Special Education Clerk is the primary secretary for the psychologist intern, but three other secretaries provide assistance as needed. Secretarial and support staff members schedule parent conferences, IEP meetings, individual/group counseling sessions, and other appointments for the intern, in addition to entering data in software programs, typing/editing reports, etc.
- Psychologist interns are provided with a full benefit package available to all certified staff members that includes life insurance, flexible spending plans, and the opportunity to choose from a variety of health insurance plans.
SUPERVISORS
Dr. Bob Ingraham
Dr. Ingraham is a NCSP and licensed clinical psychologist who retired in 2011 after 34 years of service to District 211 and the students of Palatine High School. He now serves as District 211’s consulting clinical and school psychologist, providing individual and group supervision of our ISPIC interns and of our psychologists in need of post-doctoral supervision. He also provides consultative and diagnostic services for students in need of clinically-oriented assessments, DSM-IV diagnoses, etc. Dr. Ingraham earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Roosevelt University and served as a master’s level participant in the APA-approved clinical psychology internship at Chicago-Read Mental Health Center prior to serving his school psychology internship with District 211. He earned a Doctor of Psychology degree in Clinical Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. District 211’s commitment to the clinical training of their school psychologists facilitated Dr. Ingraham’s ability to pursue his PsyD in clinical psychology, including a year-long sabbatical during which he served an APA-approved clinical psychology internship at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute’s Tri-Agency (DOC, DCFS, DMH) Unit. Dr. Ingraham believes that effective and successful high school psychologists are proficient clinicians, psychodiagnosticians, psychotherapists, counselors, consultants, advocates, supervisors, and trainers. District 211 and ISPIC are committed to training not only well-skilled school psychologists but practitioners/clinicians capable of discharging the additional responsibilities and obligations that accompany being licensed as a clinical psychologist. Dr. Ingraham believes that the joy of being a school psychologist in a high school setting is exceeded only by being a school/clinical psychologist in a high school setting. He has always loved “being in the trenches” and most enjoys direct service with students and trainees.
Pamela Enright
Ms. Enright earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago. She also holds a Master's Degree in Counseling from Northwestern University and a Master's Degree in School Psychology from Governor's State University. Ms.Enright has extensive experience in the mental health field. She was trained as a psychotherapist, providing counseling services to children, adolescents, families, and couples. Ms.Enright alsoworked in a hospital setting, community counseling agency, for United Cerebral Palsy,and was trained asa divorce mediator. She entered the field of school psychology in 1996 and has worked with both general education and special education students from preschool to high schoollevel. As a school psychologist in District 211, Ms.Enright's job responsibilities include psychological evaluations, individual and group counseling services,facilitation of IEP meetings, development of Behavior Intervention Plans, implementation of Response to Intervention at the high school level, coordination of Section 504 Plans and services, consultation with school staff, and collaboration with parents and outside providers. Her interests include school psychology and the law; assessment of social/emotional functioning;positive behavior supports; adolescent development in general and with students on the spectrum; and RtI services within a high school setting.
Dr. Paulette Miller
Dr. Miller is an African-American Woman born in Central Illinois. She earned her Master’s Degree and Doctorate in School Psychology at Loyola University and also has a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in elementary education.She has previous experience working as a group care worker at a residential facility for pregnant and parenting teens, a mentor, a tutor, and a student assistance Program worker through the Decatur Mental Health Center. She has been a school psychologist for 10 years both at the junior high and high school levels. As a school psychologist in District 211 (Hoffman Estates High School), she is a member of the Student Services Department and has the opportunity to work with a diverse population both within the general education and special education populations. One of her interests, as well as her dissertation topic, was related to understanding (and assessing) the importance of school climate on students’ educational functioning. Because of this interest, she has focused on working with African-American girls (often identified as an “at-risk” population), encouraging and promoting school connectedness (which is related to how the student perceives the climate). She has developed an African-American girls mentoring/counseling group at Hoffman Estates High School, which she co-facilitates with a general education teacher. The group has been in existence for five years. Within the last couple of years, she has broadened her focus to involving the parents of these “at risk” students and working on communicating to the parents the importance of their involvement and connectedness to school on their daughter’ s progress. The parent group encourages all African-American parents to get involved and become more visible in the school. In the context of a collaborative group of colleagues, she has had many opportunities to learn about students, their needs, and how best to support them.