Entry Strategies for School Consultation / Edition 1

by Edward S. Marks PhD

Overview

Using a holistic approach—to take intervention from an individual to a systemic level—this book focuses on the front-line, practical issues faced by the consultant attempting to gain entry into a school. Opening with a review of consultation and its purposes, this unusually practical volume describes in detail how to:

* Define consultant functions
* Make decisions about where to enter the system
* Build support among key school system staff who are in a position to facilitate initial entry
* Garner information on the school's lines of authority,
communication networks, missions, values, goals, and traditions
* Determine how practical the project is to the school
* Ascertain whether financial, personnel, and other resources are available so the project can work

Chapters also cover logistical planning, especially the day-to-day steps needed to facilitate consultation, including time management, utilization of existing school resources, sources of information, and practical ways to turn obstacles into assets.

A comprehensive guide to entering the school system as a consultant, the book comes complete with prototype forms, questionnaires for examining consultant competency, and rating sheets for tracking the consultation process. Veteran consultants and newcomers will find this book an invaluable resource for gaining initial entry and also for expanding the consultant's role within the system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780898623680
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	03/17/1995
Series:	The Guilford School Practitioner Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	287
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Edward S. Marks, Ph.D., is a school psychologist for Trenton, NJ Board of Education, and a licensed psychologist practicing in suburban Philadelphia, dealing in school problems and career development. His work reflects over 27 years of special education experience, and focuses on improving consultation to teachers and schools, conducting inservice training and continuing education for teachers and Child Study staff, as well as evaluation, crisis intervention, and counseling of students. A past president of the Philadelphia Society of Clinical Psychologists, he was a founder and Vice-President of its Human Services Center, and served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Psychological Association.

Table of Contents

I. THE KEY PEOPLE TO ENTRY PLAN
1. The Principal
2. The Supervisor (The Central Office)
3. The Teachers
4. School Support Staff
5. The Parents

II. BARRIERS TO ENTRY
6. Resistance
7. Logistics

III. THE CULMINATION OF EFFECTIVE ENTRY
8. Empowering School Staff: Making Consultation Happen
Appendix A. Communication Techniques in Brief
Appendix B. School Climate Survey
References

Interviews

A comprehensive guide to entering the school system as a consultant. Veteran consultants and newcomers will find this book an invaluable resource for gaining initial entry and also for expanding the consultant's role within the system.

Editorial Reviews

"Entry into a school means more than walking through the door. It includes gaining access to staff, receiving sanctions for involvement, obtaining support, overcoming resistance, and effectively involving staff. This unique book offers consultants in-depth information regarding these essential skills."

Intervention in School and Clinic

"A broad-based description of the school psychologist's role, together with guidelines for its effective implementation....The value of this work is enhanced by the fact that the public school is often the major institution that offers hope for the future of poor children...To help such children, public schools require the services of skilled human service workers. This book effectively points the way for these workers to gain entry and provide much-needed services."

Readings

"This book provides an in-depth look inside the school consultation process. Using personal experiences that are clearly linked to research and theory, Marks weaves a very useful text that will be required reading for all prospective school psychologists. His many concrete, useful examples enable psychologists to acquire more consulting work from schools and expand their existing roles within them. The book also contains numerous charts and forms that make the book a practical guide to effective delivery of school consultation services." —Edward S. Shapiro, Ph.D., Lehigh University

"Marks's focus on issues of entry in consultation fills a gap in the literature. His practical (and tried!) suggestions reveal consultation as a service delivery approach with human relationship at its core. This contribution is both refreshing and vital. I will be ordering it for my classes." —Mary Henning-Stout, Ph.D., Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR

"Dr. Edward S. Marks has written a ‘how-to' book for consultants who hope to gain entry into schools. The entry strategies have a sound philosophical and theoretical base which is essential. The strategies are also based on the real-life experiences of the author in working with inner city regular and special education students; hence the strategies are tested and practical. The book should be especially helpful to school psychologists, counselors, and other special service personnel on the school staff (inside consultants). Perhaps the most exciting and promising feature of the book to me is that teachers, principals, supervisors, and central office administrators could use the ideas in this book to truly make schools and school districts more student centered and more responsive to the needs and abilities of students. Dr. Marks has combined theory and practice and has also combined individual consultation with the potential of broad impact on the school building and school district through his holistic consultation approach. This, it seems to me, is the way psychologists and counselors ought to be used as consultants and is the best use of their special expertise." —Leroy C. Olson, Ed.D., Professor Emeritus, Professor of Educational Administration and Director, Supervisory Certification Program, Temple University

"This book, Entry Strategies for School Consultation, by Edward S. Marks, is timely, relevant, and helpful. Anyone reading newspapers and/or watching TV knows there are problems in our schools; professionals in the field know the contributions that have been made by school psychologists. Having served as Director of the School Psychology Program at the University of Maryland for more than 20 years I have observed the shift in emphasis from assessment to intervention. With intervention, the most difficult problem faced by school psychologists is how to get school personnel to listen to and follow recommendations given. Dr. Mark's book is practical in its orientation but also covers consultation theory. School psychologists and others working in the schools will find this book most useful." —Donald K. Pumroy, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland

From the Publisher

Marks (school psychologist, Board of Ed., Trenton, NJ) focuses on front-line issues facing consultants attempting to gain entry into a school. He describes where to enter the system and how to build support among key school staff, and offers methods for determining whether a particular project will work for the school. He includes instructions on working with parents. The appendices detail communication techniques and offer a school climate survey. Includes numerous checklists, sample forms, and questionnaires. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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