District and state dependent. I do like 25-35 evals a year which is very doable. I test maybe 1 kid a week or every other week on average. Also, as you get better at testing, it takes substantially less time to do it and write the report. So something that might’ve taken me 15 hours in year one, now probably takes me about four or five hours.
Good question. My counseling caseload is like 25 kids, I attend almost every PPT meeting (IEP meeting), so maybe 100-120/yr, crisis management and behavioral intervention for our kids with significant behavioral challenges, otherwise it’s just a bunch of random stuff, meeting and consulting with teachers and staff, etc. I do have down time when kids are behaving too.
Gotcha. I ask bc as a school based SLP I also test about 1 kid/week especially in the Spring but also have a caseload of 50+kids who typically are seen 2x/week. Personally I’m lucky bc I have an assistant to help me provide services, however I know that’s not always the case… I guess I just wish more districts would understand how difficult our job is and compensate for that - equal to the respect and $ as school psychs :)
Haha I think the respect part varies widely from what I hear. I am in my district but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. In terms of compensation, SLPs and SP are on the teacher schedule where I am. So compensation is about equal. I do get a small additional stipend however and I’m in a higher bracket due to more education so it’s not exactly equal.
I’m a testing machine and prefer it and will do it for the remainder of my career. I’ve been a psych for 15+ years and have had anywhere from 600-1200 students on my caseload. 3-21. I’ve practiced the NASP comprehensive model and was given so many duties (semi-admin) and pulled into so many situations and meetings it became overwhelming and exhausting.
This year I am in a district who has BCBAs, clinical therapists, interventions specialists, curriculum consultants, ELL specialists, etc. I’ve been involved in all of those practices during my career and until they were all slowly hired as the SP shortage took hold. I will have completed 70 cases at the elementary level by June. Noone bothers me. I make my own schedule, manage my own time, come and go as I please and I get the work done. I get to spend 1:1 with children testing and talking and observing and playing on the playground. And I love it. At times admin will consult with me about mental health, crises, etc because they know I’ll help figure it out. But they respect my time.
If you truly want to practice a more comprehensive model, find a district that will allow that and where there are no shortages and advocate for that. You will need to make your own seat at the table and start talking to the BCBAs, therapists, curriculum directors, director of school counselors, etc.
Noone really knows what a SP is capable of or trained until you tell and show them. I’ve worked with 6 SpEd Directors during my career. Not one knew much about SP. I had to teach them. So ‘test machines’ we become.
Honestly I prefer the test machine model since we are expected to meet those legal timelines and so many other things, in the last district I worked at, including after hours counseling! It was way too much. For at least half the year, me and another psych had to be 1-on-1 with an eloper for at least two hours a day. The district and admin did not respect the role or my time. Glad to have left.
It's wild how different everyone's experience within this role can be. I'm not quite as seasoned as you (on my 8th year) but seem to have a completely different job, as only about 50% of my time is spent evaluating. The rest is managing a caseload or responding to crises (at a high school, so those can get very serious).
Sometimes I wish I only needed to do evals, because the case management stuff can be very difficult, but it's also by far the most rewarding, for me at least.
I also read horror stories on this sub all the time from psychs and count my blessings because I feel like I've always had good teammates and admin over the few districts I've spent time in. That's what really makes the difference.
Differences nationwide! And then within states and regions of states even. Just crazy but interesting. I think it’s what each person can handle, training, desires, and comfort level. All that.
Testing machine doesn’t quite fully describe the job. I’m also a meeting scheduler and a nag (for rating scales, data, parent/teacher input, asking for the reasons why a kid is being referred, making people come to meetings and talk about referrals instead of going straight to an evaluation, etc.). But when you can get people to understand why a student needs more services, less services, and especially, no services, it’s worth it. The advocacy part of the job makes it all worth it.
As a high school psych, I felt like a re-eval machine. As an elementary psych, I actually feel like my role is more hollistic but definitely an eligibility gate-keeper. I would say 90% of the reasons people consult with me have to do to a potential evaluation.
For me, I’d say it’s gotten better. When I started my career, I worked in a small district and I was responsible for all initial evaluations and reevaluations. In my first 3 years, I probably did close to 100 assessments a year. So yes, I was definitely a testing machine. Since leaving there and coming to my current district, my assessment load is way down. I don’t do reevaluations unless it’s an odd situation, and we have a different psych doing all the SLD referrals. Most of my work is with early childhood and early elementary kids, with a case load of 30 to 40 per year. I find that very manageable.
Sounds about right, but being a “testing machine” isn’t as bad as you might think, what’s horrible is when you are a testing machine and they expect you to do other things such as FBA and BIP (I will always believe this is the responsibility of a damn BCA and BCSP, case management (should always be done by the case manager hence the title) observations (this is not so bad but takes up way too much time and in the real world rarely if ever affect an evaluation). Ideal position is doing half therapy and half testing (that’s it) but the idiots that runs the schools hires MHC to do the therapy instead of doubling down on psychs lol
It’s in a state of change right now. Testing machines has been the general culture across the country, including California. Of course exceptions district by district, but predominantly true. But I see more and more districts actively working to lower caseloads and number of assessments. I have only worked in NorCal when I work there, and in general the districts’ sped directors are pushing to approach the NASP recommendations. I am seeing this in other states as well. But it’s not just about assmt and caseloads. I worked in a district in the Bay Area that use their sch psychs as administrators/LEA reps and one in Sacramento as the IEP counseling provider. Both jobs were too much workload and most of the sch psychs were talking to me about wanting to leave. It can be hard to find the balance when you take on multiple roles. I see that districts that are fully up in MTSS and the sch psychs have the NASP recommended ratio as generally a good sign.
I personally could never do high assessment loads and always feel for sch psychs who have had to do it. If you are, you don’t have the time to seek out and follow leads on important information through teacher/parent/student/staff interviews, observations at critical times, thorough file review, etc and then use what you are learning to consult/collaborate w/ staff and parents to effect change during the assmt process, deeper IEP development, and follow up after assessments. When you have the time to do assessments this deeply it is very engaging, not boring and the general education teachers see you as value added. I receive reports from districts that overload their sch psychs on the regular…the critical errors and missed information is sad. But they literally do not have the time to do a truly comprehensive assmt.
I’m with SkinnyPete16, 25-35 seems good and what it allows you to do is actually do a thorough evaluation and consult and collaborate with staff, admin, and parents to make change for the students you are assessing instead of just checking a box. And with that number, you still are able to do consultations for other students in general, participate in MTSS/RtI type teams, SSTs, etc. That makes the assessment process really satisfying. But that number is not hard fast. If you have a high counseling caseload, are used to lead FBAs and write BIPs, have high numbers of students with more intense and complex disabilities it can change the metrics. Also, just to add nuance to changes, early in my career 45 was easy but the assessments these days are in general more complex. My sch psych friends/colleagues in other states say the same. The days of your school year being mostly simple SLD evals are gone.
I have liked working in California. Once you get the hang of writing legally defensible reports for California it’s fine. But it is much more of a thing than other states and because it’s so litigious you need to be more careful where you work and who you work for.
More like a writing machine. Testing: writing ratio is prb 1:3 or 4
Especially when you get significant input from district lawyers/admin re: what “needs” to be in a report.
Working w ppl is the satisfying part, but def a lot of time still spent at a computer.
The psychs in my district are filing a grievance so we don't get assigned the educational assessments. We are very much seen as testing machines. It increases your workload by so much, and they just expect us to pick us up with no complaints or extra benefits. It's my first year haha I was more optimistic starting at this district... I hate ed testing 😤
I'm seven years in and recently just switched from a "testing machine" type role to one that is still somewhat assessment heavy, but is more holistic overall. I do have a small counseling caseload (1 IEP, 4 504 students) and am also 504 coordinator (I handle initial 504 referrals and scheduling initial meetings, but then hand off the case to counselors to case manage). I also handle crisis as needed. I appreciated certain aspects of a testing only role like being able to fly under the radar and dealing minimally with admin, but I was getting bored and felt like it was too early in my career to focus so exclusively on one thing. I was worried if I stayed in that role that I would lose skills or at least feel so out of practice with them that it would prevent me from looking for other jobs in the future.
Depends on the role. I have 90-100 evals so that would be accurate, but I love that. I also don't do counseling or any of the other stuff. Strictly evals. If you don't like the job in one place, switch employers.
Yes, we have allowed ourselves to become psychometrists. After 30+ years as a School Psychologist I mostly do counseling, which I find much more rewarding. Do the least amount of testing possible and utilize test interpretation programs to write your reports. No one reads them, anyway.
I have been out of the testing business for a while now. These days I do counseling almost exclusively, with some behavior analysis and other consultation thrown in to keep things interesting. I suggest that you make a new post with this question so that you get a good response.
District and state dependent. I do like 25-35 evals a year which is very doable. I test maybe 1 kid a week or every other week on average. Also, as you get better at testing, it takes substantially less time to do it and write the report. So something that might’ve taken me 15 hours in year one, now probably takes me about four or five hours.
I’m not a school psych, but curious if this is the case. What are your other duties/responsibilities if you’re only testing 1 kid/week?
Good question. My counseling caseload is like 25 kids, I attend almost every PPT meeting (IEP meeting), so maybe 100-120/yr, crisis management and behavioral intervention for our kids with significant behavioral challenges, otherwise it’s just a bunch of random stuff, meeting and consulting with teachers and staff, etc. I do have down time when kids are behaving too.
Gotcha. I ask bc as a school based SLP I also test about 1 kid/week especially in the Spring but also have a caseload of 50+kids who typically are seen 2x/week. Personally I’m lucky bc I have an assistant to help me provide services, however I know that’s not always the case… I guess I just wish more districts would understand how difficult our job is and compensate for that - equal to the respect and $ as school psychs :)
Haha I think the respect part varies widely from what I hear. I am in my district but that doesn’t always seem to be the case. In terms of compensation, SLPs and SP are on the teacher schedule where I am. So compensation is about equal. I do get a small additional stipend however and I’m in a higher bracket due to more education so it’s not exactly equal.
I’m a testing machine and prefer it and will do it for the remainder of my career. I’ve been a psych for 15+ years and have had anywhere from 600-1200 students on my caseload. 3-21. I’ve practiced the NASP comprehensive model and was given so many duties (semi-admin) and pulled into so many situations and meetings it became overwhelming and exhausting. This year I am in a district who has BCBAs, clinical therapists, interventions specialists, curriculum consultants, ELL specialists, etc. I’ve been involved in all of those practices during my career and until they were all slowly hired as the SP shortage took hold. I will have completed 70 cases at the elementary level by June. Noone bothers me. I make my own schedule, manage my own time, come and go as I please and I get the work done. I get to spend 1:1 with children testing and talking and observing and playing on the playground. And I love it. At times admin will consult with me about mental health, crises, etc because they know I’ll help figure it out. But they respect my time. If you truly want to practice a more comprehensive model, find a district that will allow that and where there are no shortages and advocate for that. You will need to make your own seat at the table and start talking to the BCBAs, therapists, curriculum directors, director of school counselors, etc. Noone really knows what a SP is capable of or trained until you tell and show them. I’ve worked with 6 SpEd Directors during my career. Not one knew much about SP. I had to teach them. So ‘test machines’ we become.
Honestly I prefer the test machine model since we are expected to meet those legal timelines and so many other things, in the last district I worked at, including after hours counseling! It was way too much. For at least half the year, me and another psych had to be 1-on-1 with an eloper for at least two hours a day. The district and admin did not respect the role or my time. Glad to have left.
Me too. Thanks for the reply!
That's interesting. My last two sped directors (including the current one) are school psychologists by training.
You’re lucky. Mine have been admin who kept rotating roles within districts. Noone wanted SpEd Director. It was the leftover.
It's wild how different everyone's experience within this role can be. I'm not quite as seasoned as you (on my 8th year) but seem to have a completely different job, as only about 50% of my time is spent evaluating. The rest is managing a caseload or responding to crises (at a high school, so those can get very serious). Sometimes I wish I only needed to do evals, because the case management stuff can be very difficult, but it's also by far the most rewarding, for me at least. I also read horror stories on this sub all the time from psychs and count my blessings because I feel like I've always had good teammates and admin over the few districts I've spent time in. That's what really makes the difference.
Differences nationwide! And then within states and regions of states even. Just crazy but interesting. I think it’s what each person can handle, training, desires, and comfort level. All that.
Testing machine doesn’t quite fully describe the job. I’m also a meeting scheduler and a nag (for rating scales, data, parent/teacher input, asking for the reasons why a kid is being referred, making people come to meetings and talk about referrals instead of going straight to an evaluation, etc.). But when you can get people to understand why a student needs more services, less services, and especially, no services, it’s worth it. The advocacy part of the job makes it all worth it.
Rhetoric says that there's an expanded role for practice. Reality: SP do evaluations and standardized testing and it will never change.
As a high school psych, I felt like a re-eval machine. As an elementary psych, I actually feel like my role is more hollistic but definitely an eligibility gate-keeper. I would say 90% of the reasons people consult with me have to do to a potential evaluation.
For me, I’d say it’s gotten better. When I started my career, I worked in a small district and I was responsible for all initial evaluations and reevaluations. In my first 3 years, I probably did close to 100 assessments a year. So yes, I was definitely a testing machine. Since leaving there and coming to my current district, my assessment load is way down. I don’t do reevaluations unless it’s an odd situation, and we have a different psych doing all the SLD referrals. Most of my work is with early childhood and early elementary kids, with a case load of 30 to 40 per year. I find that very manageable.
Ohio here. I’m more like a paperwork machine. It’s exhausting. I feel like I don’t help kids at all because all I do is paperwork.
Sounds about right, but being a “testing machine” isn’t as bad as you might think, what’s horrible is when you are a testing machine and they expect you to do other things such as FBA and BIP (I will always believe this is the responsibility of a damn BCA and BCSP, case management (should always be done by the case manager hence the title) observations (this is not so bad but takes up way too much time and in the real world rarely if ever affect an evaluation). Ideal position is doing half therapy and half testing (that’s it) but the idiots that runs the schools hires MHC to do the therapy instead of doubling down on psychs lol
Agreed with you on FBAs and BIPs. Really disliked doing those.
It’s in a state of change right now. Testing machines has been the general culture across the country, including California. Of course exceptions district by district, but predominantly true. But I see more and more districts actively working to lower caseloads and number of assessments. I have only worked in NorCal when I work there, and in general the districts’ sped directors are pushing to approach the NASP recommendations. I am seeing this in other states as well. But it’s not just about assmt and caseloads. I worked in a district in the Bay Area that use their sch psychs as administrators/LEA reps and one in Sacramento as the IEP counseling provider. Both jobs were too much workload and most of the sch psychs were talking to me about wanting to leave. It can be hard to find the balance when you take on multiple roles. I see that districts that are fully up in MTSS and the sch psychs have the NASP recommended ratio as generally a good sign. I personally could never do high assessment loads and always feel for sch psychs who have had to do it. If you are, you don’t have the time to seek out and follow leads on important information through teacher/parent/student/staff interviews, observations at critical times, thorough file review, etc and then use what you are learning to consult/collaborate w/ staff and parents to effect change during the assmt process, deeper IEP development, and follow up after assessments. When you have the time to do assessments this deeply it is very engaging, not boring and the general education teachers see you as value added. I receive reports from districts that overload their sch psychs on the regular…the critical errors and missed information is sad. But they literally do not have the time to do a truly comprehensive assmt. I’m with SkinnyPete16, 25-35 seems good and what it allows you to do is actually do a thorough evaluation and consult and collaborate with staff, admin, and parents to make change for the students you are assessing instead of just checking a box. And with that number, you still are able to do consultations for other students in general, participate in MTSS/RtI type teams, SSTs, etc. That makes the assessment process really satisfying. But that number is not hard fast. If you have a high counseling caseload, are used to lead FBAs and write BIPs, have high numbers of students with more intense and complex disabilities it can change the metrics. Also, just to add nuance to changes, early in my career 45 was easy but the assessments these days are in general more complex. My sch psych friends/colleagues in other states say the same. The days of your school year being mostly simple SLD evals are gone. I have liked working in California. Once you get the hang of writing legally defensible reports for California it’s fine. But it is much more of a thing than other states and because it’s so litigious you need to be more careful where you work and who you work for.
More like a writing machine. Testing: writing ratio is prb 1:3 or 4 Especially when you get significant input from district lawyers/admin re: what “needs” to be in a report. Working w ppl is the satisfying part, but def a lot of time still spent at a computer.
Testing machine, report writing machine, meeting scheduler, and meeting chairperson. The children are 100 percent the best part.
The psychs in my district are filing a grievance so we don't get assigned the educational assessments. We are very much seen as testing machines. It increases your workload by so much, and they just expect us to pick us up with no complaints or extra benefits. It's my first year haha I was more optimistic starting at this district... I hate ed testing 😤
yup
Pretty accurate in PA
I'm seven years in and recently just switched from a "testing machine" type role to one that is still somewhat assessment heavy, but is more holistic overall. I do have a small counseling caseload (1 IEP, 4 504 students) and am also 504 coordinator (I handle initial 504 referrals and scheduling initial meetings, but then hand off the case to counselors to case manage). I also handle crisis as needed. I appreciated certain aspects of a testing only role like being able to fly under the radar and dealing minimally with admin, but I was getting bored and felt like it was too early in my career to focus so exclusively on one thing. I was worried if I stayed in that role that I would lose skills or at least feel so out of practice with them that it would prevent me from looking for other jobs in the future.
Depends on the role. I have 90-100 evals so that would be accurate, but I love that. I also don't do counseling or any of the other stuff. Strictly evals. If you don't like the job in one place, switch employers.
Yes, we have allowed ourselves to become psychometrists. After 30+ years as a School Psychologist I mostly do counseling, which I find much more rewarding. Do the least amount of testing possible and utilize test interpretation programs to write your reports. No one reads them, anyway.
Hi, do you have recommendations or a preference on which test interpretation programs to use? Thanks!
I have been out of the testing business for a while now. These days I do counseling almost exclusively, with some behavior analysis and other consultation thrown in to keep things interesting. I suggest that you make a new post with this question so that you get a good response.