The Lived Experience of School Psychologists in Assessing for Reading Difficulties in the Aftermath of Response to Intervention

This study explored the experiences of twelve licensed school psychologists responsible for the assessment of children in grades kindergarten through grades five in a public school setting. A qualitative research methodology was employed using interpretative phenomenological analysis given that this approach is recommended for studies involving individual's experiencing a phenomenological change.;The decision-making theory guided the research question: How do school psychologists make sense of and explain their experience in selecting the appropriate assessment for reading problems of K-5 students?;The study revealed that school psychologists relied on the team process and collaboration with reading specialists and special education teachers when deciding how to assess students for reading failure. This study confirmed that school psychologists feel highly qualified and trained to administer and interpret cognitive assessments and are less confident regarding reading assessments and interventions. Furthermore, this study revealed that school psychologists do not value traditional aptitude-achievement assessments to determine reading disabilities and supplement these assessments to ensure accurate data; findings which may warrant further investigation. This study confirmed that school psychologists have confidence in the cognitive assessment and rely on this data to inform their recommendations for students with suspected reading disabilities. Moreover, this study confirmed that school psychologists value RTI efforts and use the data to assist students. Results of this study found that school psychologists continue to struggle with their role in the development and implementation of response-to-intervention efforts and often feel underutilized in those efforts.