Problem Solving Student Support Teams

Abstract

The on-going efforts to improve Student Support Teams (SST) within a large, urban California school district are presented. The major goal of this reform has been to reshape the SSTs to focus on empirically supported interventions and data based decision making rather than student deficit and disability. Preliminary evaluation results indicate that these reform efforts increased the efficacy and effectiveness of the SST and led to a decline in over-representation of African American students referred to special education. Specific components of effective SSTs (i.e., organization and management, teamwork, and problem-solving strategies) in use in the district pilot program are described in order to assist other California School Psychologists in implementing SSTs that foster widespread commitment among the faculty and improve educational outcomes for students. These components are summarized in a Self-Study Guide Check List that school psychologists and other members of the SST may use to evaluate and reflect on the SSTs at their sites. The implications for the types of services school psychologists provide when embracing a problem solving rather than medical model for servicing students are briefly examined, as well as the limitations of the current categorical system in which we serve students with disabilities.