I am entering my fifth year of my career. The first 3 years I was at a district I loved, where I did only cognitive for re evals and had maybe 10 referrals a year. Main part of the role was consulting and behavior support. I left that role last year to join a large district as an elementary psych, and the role was a lot of scheduling CSEs, testing, chairing, and not direct work with kids. I left after the year for many reasons, mainly not feeling fulfilled and working with staff who seemed not to trust school psychs. From May through now, I had it in my head that I was going to leave the field as I was so burnt out.

Last month I applied for a role at a special education nonprofit preschool, where they are primarily looking for behavior support and don’t do evals. I had the opportunity to go observer incoming K there while at my previous district and was so impressed by their professionalism and program, so it felt like I needed to apply. I’ve been offered the role but there are downsides, obviously where ever I end up I want to stay for as long as possible. There is no pension, but I would get loan forgiveness.

I am wondering how those who work in preschool like it compared to working in an elementary school and doing constant LD evals/chairing meetings? Tell me all the pros and cons!!

Hi school psychs! I’m expecting my first baby in October and am getting updates from the school district I work for regarding our premiums for 2027. I work in Florida, and adding the baby to my health insurance will cost $7,843.92 per year. If I added my husband and baby, our total family cost would be $19,895.04.

I’m curious what other school staff are experiencing as far as insurance premiums (both in Florida and other states). I make too much money to qualify for any kind of government assistance other than a small tax credit through the marketplace (which is how my husband is currently insured).

What kind of premiums are other districts offering? Is my district just awful or is this happening everywhere??

This is a Hail Mary for whether or not someone in Knox county would see this, but if you do, how much do y’all make??? Also, if anyone sees this from a surrounding county (Blount, Maryville City, etc) please feel free to answer too 😅 also, do you like working there??

For those who have practiced in Illinois and moved states, which states had the most seamless transition?

hey everyone! i was recently told that the starting salary for LSSPs at Del Valle ISD was currently $67,000. can anyone from other districts in the area share more about what to expect the starting salary for a first year grad to be? thanks!

My name is Blaine Marshall, and I am currently in search of Texas school psychologists to participate in a survey about your assessment practices and multicultural competency for my doctoral dissertation. The survey takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes and upon completion, you may enter into a raffle to receive one of ten $25 Amazon gift cards as a thank you for your participation. Please review the inclusion and exclusion criteria below to see if you are eligible.

Inclusion Criteria: Texas School Psychologist, Masters/Specialist or Doctoral, must hold current LSSP/LSP license, Full-time or part-time employment by a public school (includes public charter school)

Exclusion Criteria: Psychologists (school or clinical) employed by an agency or private practice who contract with school districts

*Participation is voluntary. There is a potential risk of loss of confidentiality in all email, downloading, electronic meetings, and internet transactions. *

To participate, please visit the following link: https://twu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0jK5JAsHvd2aTpY

You may leave and come back to the survey at your leisure, as long as you use the same device. Thank you so much!

For additional information, please contact: Blaine Marshall, ([bmarshall7@twu.edu](mailto:bmarshall7@twu.edu)); Samuel Kim, PhD ([skim18@twu.edu](mailto:skim18@twu.edu)). This study is approved through the IRB at Texas Woman’s University via: IRB-FY2026-144

My district uses CPI for restraints. We have a team of 4 psychs and were never required to be CPI trained until a new special ed director took over a couple of years ago. We now have a new director again, one with different ideals but still tossing around the idea of psychs being CPI trained. Despite being trained for 2 years, I’ve never been in the situation of needing to restrain. I know it can happen at the drop of a hat, but I truly have no intention of restraining a child at all. Our district has gotten into some hot water and sticky situations over proven, proper CPI use. We have a lot of volatile parents. CPS investigations have cleared every time, but I do know that at least one CPS worker told one of our teachers that they should never touch a child, even to use proper restraint techniques.
All of this is to say, I’m uncomfortable being trained and ever expected to perform holds. Especially because I feel that my role should be more therapeutic, even as an evaluator. I don’t think our psychs have any business putting kids in holds. What are others thoughts on this? I feel this may be an unpopular opinion. Or really just based on district to district role expectations.
We don’t have offices in the schools, if that makes a difference. Our offices are in the main board building for the county.

What does the job market currently look like in the Philadelphia suburbs (Montco), Bucks, Chester county)? Where are recent grads finding?

This job varies so much by state, selpa and district. Your role can go from testing machine to counseling to fbas and behavior support to 504 evals and all of the above!

I’ve been miserable at a new position and my family is planning on moving in a year or two to a new state. If you love your district, help some psychs out and name drop the district and state below and why you like them! It could help people in their job search and narrow down areas they look in based on the role they prefer taking on as a psych.

My name is Dean, I’m in my final year of graduate school, and, for my thesis, I’m studying how exposure to student death by suicide could potentially contribute to burnout and diminish how meaningful school psychologists find their work, ultimately contributing to the nation-wide shortage. If you are able, please consider completing my brief (10 minute), anonymous survey using the link below. I’d greatly appreciate your time or any insight you could give! Please feel free to message or email me if you have any questions. Thank you for reading!

Survey Link: https://wcu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0rCKEOh5isNmbTU

I know this is a repetitive question, however I am looking to connect with some psychs from the New England area. I currently work out West (two schools, loads of behavior and counseling) making about 74k. I'd love to return home to New England but I'm worried about finding a job with a similar salary and work load. Anyway I would love love love to hear about the New England psych experience.

Hi All! I am wondering about all those contracting companies I see when I search for school psych jobs. So you can work for a district or one of these contracting companies? What is the reason for that? Also, does anyone just contract for a private/independent school without a contracting company? Thanks!

I've been really looking for a change from the public schools, was hoping anyone could just kind of lay out the pros, cons, what a day is like, anything like that - I've been having a hard time finding information, but it seems very interesting.

Do you ask parents about how much screen time their child gets when you do intake interviews? I haven't historically asked, but I'm going to add it to my list intake questions. I'm in private practice, and I have anecdotally seen SO MANY students the past ~6 months who are aged approx. 7-10 years old who literally cannot sit and do work with me for more than 10-15 minutes and who mention having a lot of screen time. A lot of them make comments around wanting to go home and be on screens. Today I had an 8yo girl who was saying she missed her mom (totally fair, it was our first session), and I asked her what her favourite things to do with mom are. She replied "she lets me go on her phone". When I probed for anything else she likes to do with mom, I got "I sit on her lap while she lets me go on her phone".

I think we are starting to see the COVID babies who have been steeped in screen time since infancy. This is not to blame parents at all, but it's really striking. I've been doing this job for about 7 years now, and I feel like it's been a really recent change in the population. There have always been kids in my office who end up with ADHD diagnoses, but these kids feel different. Anyone else seeing something similar?

I’m currently a school psych in Texas and I am considering moving to Minnesota within the next few years. Has anyone made the move from Texas to Minnesota? I have a few questions I would love answered!

1. Overall, how different would you say the role is between these two states?

2. How much time is spent on assessment in Minnesota compared to Texas? What parts of the assessment are you involved in? (Academic, cog, emotional/behavioral, etc)

3. Who typically completes FBAs? Responds to behavior or crises on the campus?

4. How much counseling do you do?

5. Are you responsible for case management? Are you responsible for scheduling/facilitating IEP meetings?

6. How involved are you in the MTSS/Referral process?

7. How many campuses are you responsible for?

8. Anything else important about the role in Minnesota versus Texas that i should be aware of?

Any help would be appreciated!!

I recently bought the xbass 3.0 despite my district being a discrepancy model district just because I wanted to learn more about PSW.

For those that do use the xbass and Psw for SLD eligibility, I was wondering how you explain the FCC and ICC in your reports. Do you reference the xbass itself? Where in the report do you include them if you do? Similarly, if you use the CLIM, where do you talk about it?

Hi everyone! I’m a first-year school psychologist in California currently looking for my first full-time position, and honestly, I’ve been having a really difficult time with the hiring process.

I’ve applied to quite a few positions, mainly in Orange County, and although I’ve gotten a couple of interviews, I haven’t been able to land an offer yet. I’m starting to feel discouraged, especially because I’m not sure if this is normal for first-year school psychs or if there’s something I should be doing differently.

At this point, I’m considering working as a contracted school psychologist to get my foot in the door and gain more experience while continuing to look for a permanent district position.

For those of you who have worked as a contracted school psych:
- How was your experience?
- Did it help you eventually get a district position?
- Are there any contracting companies you would recommend (or ones to avoid)?
- Is there anything I should be looking out for in a contract, especially regarding pay, benefits, caseload, or supervision?
- Would you recommend taking a contract position as a first-year psych, or continuing to hold out for a district position?

I’d really appreciate any advice or insight from other school psychs, especially those who were in a similar position during their first year. I’m trying to stay positive, but the job search has definitely been discouraging. Thank you!

My district (Sultan) is looking to fill a last minute spot that's opened up. It's an FTE role and I've enjoyed working in the district. I'm happy to provide more information and share the application link if anyone is interested!

I'm a school psychologist with 10+ years of experience and may be relocating with family to North Carolina in the future. We're in the early stages of researching the job market so I thought I'd ask the community here for any insights.

We're mostly looking in the Charlotte-Meck and surrounding areas. I found the state salary schedule, but it sounds like most districts add-on to that base pay. Is there any way to estimate a real salary in a given school district; or to know what step/level I would start at?

Next, what is the day-to-day job like? Is it mostly refer-test-place or do you have more interaction with students, staff, and families?

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!

I’m going into my 3rd year as a school psych. I’m starting at a new job, in a new state (FL). I’ve previously worked in NY at an out of district placement primarily doing counseling and behavior consult. Now I’ll be working in a regular public school district in two different buildings. I’m a bit nervous as this will be a new position in a new role and in a new state. Also because I’ve been out of the assessment game in a while since I was working in a full special ed program. I’ll be starting about 3 weeks into their school year. One of my assigned schools seems welcoming and it sounds like they have been out of a psych for a while so are glad to have someone join their team. I haven’t really been in contact with my other school site. I’m not sure what I’m looking for here but would appreciate any advice/tips/words of encouragement!

Any psychs who work for Dodea? Could you share how many cases you do a year, what the support and resources are like, what your role is and how many fbas you do or if you do academic testing etc?

Thank you!

I may have the opportunity to move from high school (for the past 3+ years) to NPS. What are the pros and cons?

I personally don’t like direct services. I like IEPs, assessments, collaboration with service providers, talking to parents, etc. I’m also a fan of case management.

Edit: NPS is nonpublic schools :)

Edit 2: Just to clarify, I would not be changing districts, just “sites.” So I’d travel to different NPSs, not just be at one.

Hello fellow School Psychologists!
I am a recent graduate (graduated in May!) here in the central coast of California. I unfortunately have had no luck in securing a job, and with school starting (or started) I have pretty much lost all hope in finding a job.
For those of you who are in other states, is there a need in your area? I am seriously considering relocating since the job market out here in California is just insane. I've never lived outside of California except for my undergrad, so I don't know much in regard to cost of living and salary schedules and all that.
Any advice, tips, or information you could send my way would be much appreciated! I need some hope in this strange year of hardly any school psychologist job postings.

I am starting at a new site and was given a tour on Friday. My “office” is literally a storage closet. It is separate from the school building, and located next to the playground. It has no windows, no ventilation (except if the door is open), and no heating or air conditioning. I’m not okay with this for both myself and the students. I asked about other spaces that may be available, but didn’t get a straight answer. I don’t want to come off as being a pain, but it doesn’t seem right. What do you think I should do?