Survey of School Psychologists' Actual and Preferred Roles, and Job Satisfaction in Wisconsin

Abstract

School psychologists try to balance between what school districts need, what they prefer to do, and what current initiatives suggest for practitioners. The purpose of this study was to survey school psychologists in Wisconsin about their roles and job satisfaction. One-hundred and sixty-four school psychologists in Wisconsin were surveyed about actual hours and preferred hours spent in 7 roles. Participants reported reasons for increasing or decreasing preferred hours and they rated their level of job satisfaction. Participants reported engaging in psychoeducational assessment activities most often across 3 school settings (rural, urban, and suburban). They reported they would prefer to reduce time in psychoeducational assessment and increase time in other roles. Participants reported everyday practice options (number of referrals and caseload) as important reasons for increasing or decreasing preferred hours. Practitioners in rural and suburban school settings rated their satisfaction in the satisfied range and those in urban settings in the dissatisfied range. Future directions for research are discussed.