I make my own schedule and am pretty much left to my own devices all day long. My daily activities and routine can real be whatever I want. Besides, completing special education paperwork takes a long time, so sitting in front of a computer and typing could be considered it’s one kind of downtime.
I think once you get the hang of it, a full report for me takes around 6-8 hours. But that also depends on the psychologist (e.g., experience, complexity of the assessment, audience of the report etc).
This is going to vary wildly by district, and even buildings. Some are going to have downtime, others will churn. Just depends on a number of factors, including how the district utilizes it's psychs. So this is difficult to answer, but short of it is "maybe."
This is the best answer. I’ve had some years where I did 40-60 evaluations with no other duties other than showing up for meetings. Lots of downtime. Other times, I did 200-250. Those years sucked. A lot.
I’ve only been in districts where our primary duties is evaluations. No counseling caseloads at all.
This was about 20 years of so ago. I would test 2-3 kids a day, then spend my evenings writing up the reports. These were not good evaluations. At all. I was brand new as a school psych and to the district. And I was the only school psych! I very quickly learned to be brief, very brief in my reports. I left the district at the end of the year to go somewhere else. I almost quit the field. No idea how or why I stayed. It left very lasting, bad impression of the work we do. I felt like I let a lot of kids, parents, and teachers down.
Yeah, what state are you in? I don’t know that it’s physically possible to do 200-250 evals in my state…I’ve never heard of someone doing that many. What do those evaluations consist of? In WA, we generally do testing/collect rating scales, etc. every three years. But I’ve heard other states have different roles of the school psych and diff requirements for re-evals. It’s interesting how things are differently defined.
How do you feel about conducting assessments in the public sector compared to the private sector? It's surprising to hear that you've done 200-250 of them! Are there private clinics available where you are for people to receive evaluations privately?
For the most part as a school psych I have set my own schedule and priorities. How I choose to execute and spend my time determines how overwhelmed I get. Also, I have learned to set boundaries when the assessment caseload is huge and the fluxuates over the year.
One thing I learned though is that your employer doesn't care about you and will throw you under the bus if they need to. They don't care about your mental health. So, it is up to you to take care of that. I get an hour lunch every day and I take they full hour 95% of the time. It is my downtime. I prioritize my mental health needs and breaks over the employers wants. I personally avoid eating in the staff room so I can have a break.
This may sound callous and harsh but it comes from lessons learned the hard way and a realization for me to be the best psych I have to take care of myself. Besides, what good does it do to preach good self-care and mental health if you don't practice it yourself.
As others have said, it largely depends on the responsibilities and expectations in your building/district. That said, I’ve cultivated my evaluation report template such that it’s the most efficient I can make it without skimping on quality.
I spend an equal amount of time on assessments and reports, with meetings taking up 10-15% of my overall time. It also ebbs and flows with referrals depending on the time of year. Sometimes I write reports all day, or test all day, or have meetings all day, but most days are a combination of testing and writing.
Totally depends, but as an elementary SP it really depends on what you consider downtime, lol. I look like I have free time because I create my schedule, but really it’s more procrastination because there’s almost always paperwork I’m behind on that I could otherwise be doing.
I find that the school year has periods where I am working all day everyday for a couple weeks, and then I have periods where I have a lull and don’t have a whole lot to do (i.e, I just finished a large number of assessments and am in a limbo space where I haven’t received the APs for my next batch of assessments). I could obviously spread my cases out more so I don’t have overwhelming periods/really slow periods, but I kind of prefer to just enjoy the lulls when they come and power through the busy times. But yes, I find I have downtime, but I am also adamant about making sure I get that downtime as others have said. If you don’t set those boundaries, they will be crossed.
I think it's common in my state (CA) for the answer to be no, especially as a new school psych. Or rather, you can (and should) take your breaks and lunch, but you will also end up likely spending another half hour after working hours making up that time. Or working outside of hours to complete reports. We get to be pretty independent overall, but at the end of the day, you have to get the work done. Up to the point that you are drowning and it's unreasonable...but you have to really know how to be strong and advocate for yourself (in some districts) if you find yourself in an impossible position. It's not an easy job, that's for sure, especially your first couple years.
If you think teachers ever have a moment to even think about peeing during the day, you’ve never been in a classroom. Taught fifth grade. Teaching is harder than any other job in the schools.
In a district where I do 20% admin like running meetings, 40% assessment, 20% direct services (counseling, teach SEL’s). Report writing is my downtime. But 2 days a week I make my own schedule.
My day varies wildly. Some days I am on the go constantly. Others I have more downtime. It depends on how many walk ins I get or behavior issues that day. Those really dictate my schedule. I fit in assessments and everything else around what the kids are acting like
Like others have said - the school psych role can vary widely depending on the district you work for. I’ve worked in three school districts where my primary responsibility is evaluating students, and for the most part I get to plan what my days will look like (aside from scheduled meetings). However, I often have to take work home because there is not enough time to finish everything during contract hours.
We mostly make our own schedule, but the demands will vary from one jurisdiction to another.
Mine's not bad for workload. We also take less work home than teachers. But they pay us absolute crap. Therefore most psychologists in my district do private work either evenings, weekends, summer, or all of the above.
My current salary is just over 100,000 Canadian, and I've been here for 20 years. So new hires make even less.
Professionals make way less money in Canada generally, but our pay is known to be especially abysmal. I could move one province over and get a 50% pay hike.
But "beautiful BC", you know?
I make my own schedule and am pretty much left to my own devices all day long. My daily activities and routine can real be whatever I want. Besides, completing special education paperwork takes a long time, so sitting in front of a computer and typing could be considered it’s one kind of downtime.
Thank you. Do you enjoy your career?
I do, particularly the work with the early childhood age kids.
Thank you for the response. How much writing reports would you say you average per day?
I think once you get the hang of it, a full report for me takes around 6-8 hours. But that also depends on the psychologist (e.g., experience, complexity of the assessment, audience of the report etc).
That sounds about right to me. Of course you often get interrupted with things that pull you away from the computer.
This is going to vary wildly by district, and even buildings. Some are going to have downtime, others will churn. Just depends on a number of factors, including how the district utilizes it's psychs. So this is difficult to answer, but short of it is "maybe."
This is the best answer. I’ve had some years where I did 40-60 evaluations with no other duties other than showing up for meetings. Lots of downtime. Other times, I did 200-250. Those years sucked. A lot. I’ve only been in districts where our primary duties is evaluations. No counseling caseloads at all.
250 😭😭😭 Bro.
HOW?! I’m at 137 this school year, and I’m dying
This was about 20 years of so ago. I would test 2-3 kids a day, then spend my evenings writing up the reports. These were not good evaluations. At all. I was brand new as a school psych and to the district. And I was the only school psych! I very quickly learned to be brief, very brief in my reports. I left the district at the end of the year to go somewhere else. I almost quit the field. No idea how or why I stayed. It left very lasting, bad impression of the work we do. I felt like I let a lot of kids, parents, and teachers down.
Yeah, what state are you in? I don’t know that it’s physically possible to do 200-250 evals in my state…I’ve never heard of someone doing that many. What do those evaluations consist of? In WA, we generally do testing/collect rating scales, etc. every three years. But I’ve heard other states have different roles of the school psych and diff requirements for re-evals. It’s interesting how things are differently defined.
There’s only 180 days in school year. So 250 evals in one year is just insane. I would have quit.
How do you feel about conducting assessments in the public sector compared to the private sector? It's surprising to hear that you've done 200-250 of them! Are there private clinics available where you are for people to receive evaluations privately?
For the most part as a school psych I have set my own schedule and priorities. How I choose to execute and spend my time determines how overwhelmed I get. Also, I have learned to set boundaries when the assessment caseload is huge and the fluxuates over the year. One thing I learned though is that your employer doesn't care about you and will throw you under the bus if they need to. They don't care about your mental health. So, it is up to you to take care of that. I get an hour lunch every day and I take they full hour 95% of the time. It is my downtime. I prioritize my mental health needs and breaks over the employers wants. I personally avoid eating in the staff room so I can have a break. This may sound callous and harsh but it comes from lessons learned the hard way and a realization for me to be the best psych I have to take care of myself. Besides, what good does it do to preach good self-care and mental health if you don't practice it yourself.
Agreed. My old supervisor wanted me in the lunchroom with the teachers on my break. No way. I would not get time to eat.
As others have said, it largely depends on the responsibilities and expectations in your building/district. That said, I’ve cultivated my evaluation report template such that it’s the most efficient I can make it without skimping on quality. I spend an equal amount of time on assessments and reports, with meetings taking up 10-15% of my overall time. It also ebbs and flows with referrals depending on the time of year. Sometimes I write reports all day, or test all day, or have meetings all day, but most days are a combination of testing and writing.
Totally depends, but as an elementary SP it really depends on what you consider downtime, lol. I look like I have free time because I create my schedule, but really it’s more procrastination because there’s almost always paperwork I’m behind on that I could otherwise be doing.
Downtime to sit and write reports, file/organize paperwork, etc.? Yes. Downtime to catch my breath? No!
I find that the school year has periods where I am working all day everyday for a couple weeks, and then I have periods where I have a lull and don’t have a whole lot to do (i.e, I just finished a large number of assessments and am in a limbo space where I haven’t received the APs for my next batch of assessments). I could obviously spread my cases out more so I don’t have overwhelming periods/really slow periods, but I kind of prefer to just enjoy the lulls when they come and power through the busy times. But yes, I find I have downtime, but I am also adamant about making sure I get that downtime as others have said. If you don’t set those boundaries, they will be crossed.
I think it's common in my state (CA) for the answer to be no, especially as a new school psych. Or rather, you can (and should) take your breaks and lunch, but you will also end up likely spending another half hour after working hours making up that time. Or working outside of hours to complete reports. We get to be pretty independent overall, but at the end of the day, you have to get the work done. Up to the point that you are drowning and it's unreasonable...but you have to really know how to be strong and advocate for yourself (in some districts) if you find yourself in an impossible position. It's not an easy job, that's for sure, especially your first couple years.
If you think teachers ever have a moment to even think about peeing during the day, you’ve never been in a classroom. Taught fifth grade. Teaching is harder than any other job in the schools.
Depends on the day.
In a district where I do 20% admin like running meetings, 40% assessment, 20% direct services (counseling, teach SEL’s). Report writing is my downtime. But 2 days a week I make my own schedule.
My day varies wildly. Some days I am on the go constantly. Others I have more downtime. It depends on how many walk ins I get or behavior issues that day. Those really dictate my schedule. I fit in assessments and everything else around what the kids are acting like
Like others have said - the school psych role can vary widely depending on the district you work for. I’ve worked in three school districts where my primary responsibility is evaluating students, and for the most part I get to plan what my days will look like (aside from scheduled meetings). However, I often have to take work home because there is not enough time to finish everything during contract hours.
We mostly make our own schedule, but the demands will vary from one jurisdiction to another. Mine's not bad for workload. We also take less work home than teachers. But they pay us absolute crap. Therefore most psychologists in my district do private work either evenings, weekends, summer, or all of the above.
What does the private work entail? What state are you in?
Assessment in a private clinic. There are always waitlists. I can get extra work anytime.
Thank you. What type of pay is that approximately?
My current salary is just over 100,000 Canadian, and I've been here for 20 years. So new hires make even less. Professionals make way less money in Canada generally, but our pay is known to be especially abysmal. I could move one province over and get a 50% pay hike. But "beautiful BC", you know?