This survey is designed for you to provide information on your interests and background. The Leadership Development Committee will share leadership opportunities within NASP as they become available.

This toolkit provides general information of best practices around mentoring for leadership development, and it recommends activities for mentors and mentees.  

This PowerPoint presentation defines mentoring, describes the roles and characteristics of mentors, and provides suggested activities. 

This tool can assist school psychologists in creating a proactive, structured, and data-based plan of activities to support professional development and growth. View the sample plan to get started.

This simple self-check helps both mentors and mentees discuss their general leadership contributions and how they are supporting the association’s priorities.

NASP Communities offer a way to discuss professional issues related to school psychology, schools, and the children and families served by our members. 

This resource identifies pathways to leadership that exist within NASP and beyond, and it also provides examples through the experiences of some LDC members.

This resource suggests tips that will help school psychologists participate successfully in virtual meetings.

This guide provides a framework along with step-by-step directions for requesting a gubernatorial proclamation, engaging a variety of stakeholder groups, promoting awareness of SPAW in your state, and collaborating with colleagues from across the country. You can download the guide here.

This addendum provides insight on how you can plan for state-level advocacy during Virtual Hill Day on November 14,2018. You can download the guide here.

This advocacy roadmap contains a set of resources to help individuals and state associations advocate for recommended policies and practices to improve school safety.

The Policy Playbook, completed and released in 2019, was created to provide tips, advice, and best practices on how to fulfill one of the most important aspects of being a school psychologist: advocacy. This playbook is organized to provide examples of both, but information may be applicable across sections. Information contained in the playbook can be used by state associations or individuals seeking to engage in advocacy at the local, state, or federal level. We urge you to consider the current context and climate of your community as you determine what actions to take to tackle the pressing issues facing your school communities. 

This document describes how the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) presents significant opportunities to improve school and student outcomes and how leveraging these opportunities requires schools and districts to promote and implement a set of essential school practices.

The crosswalk outlines how ESSA connects with MTSS, essential school practices, and the broad role of school psychologists working within the scope of services described in the NASP Practice Model.

This resource provides strategies and offers suggestions for both state associations and individuals in how to advocate using Facebook and Twitter.

These infographics depict how decreased funding in Medicaid would directly affect school psychological services for children and youth. 

This 2017–2018 Public Policy and Legislative Platform represents overarching policy goals and recommendations that support the mission and vision of NASP, promote the guiding principles articulated in Ready to Learn, Empowered to Teach and NASP position statements, and help advance the NASP Key Initiatives. 

The Government and Professional Relations (GPR), Assistance to States (ATS), and Leadership Development committees (LDC) offer trainings for state associations to help improve their: ability to engage in grassroots professional and legislative advocacy; organizational and operational capacity; and leadership skills and knowledge. Trainings are customized to meet the unique needs of the state association requesting the training. You can download the application here.

This infographic is a powerful visual to convey the roles and areas of expertise of school psychologists to key stakeholders. It can be shared on social media or printed as a handout. This infographic is also available in Spanish.

The Leadership in Action Spotlight initiative seeks to elicit and disseminate stories of schools and districts engaged in efforts to improve practice, as well as to shine a light on school psychologists leading change—often the behind the scenes work—that facilitates better systems, capacity building, and inclusive communications.

The author organizations and cosigners of A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools represent the educators and community partners who work day in and day out to keep our children safe, ensure their well-being, and promote learning. The joint statement outlines evidence-based policies and practices for improving school safety and increasing access to mental health supports for children and youth. 

Effective communications are vital to achieving the goals and objectives of school psychology, whether trying to improve services at the building level, secure funding at the state level, or shape policy at the national level.

Media outreach through newspapers can be a very effective means of increasing your visibility and advocating for a particular policy, program, or approach to helping students and schools succeed.

This worksheet contains questions to craft key messages, select implementation strategies, and evaluate the outcomes.

This PowerPoint presentation shares ways for you to effectively facilitate communications planning with colleagues and explores key messaging development.  

Access adaptable PowerPoint presentations to facilitate knowledge and discussion on the NASP Practice Model for first-year students, preinternship students, and field supervisors. All presentations include facilitator notes and brief activities.

This sample job description can be adapted by school districts.

This webinar was developed collaboratively by the Leadership Development and Practice Model committees. It describes how school psychologists practicing the broad based role of the school psychologist can position themselves as school leaders.

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Note Catcher

This tool assists state associations leaders to address specific issues that impact school psychological services through the following steps: Defining the problem, prioritizing the response, developing an action plan, and evaluating the response.

This tool enables state leaders to evaluate their association’s operational effectiveness by reviewing common strategies, processes, and structures used in organizational planning.

This webinar is hosted by NASP leaders and overviews how state associations can reflect social justice in their values, understand social justice in relation to leadership, evaluate the entry points and pathways to leadership in the association, and identify action steps for working toward equity.

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School Psychologists: Qualified Health Professionals Providing Child and Adolescent Mental and Behavioral Health Services. This White Paper addresses the issues involved and the competencies of school psychologists consistent with NASP standards to address the needs of children and adolescents in this area.

School-Based Mental Health Services: Improving Student Learning and Well-Being. This resource highlights how schools are an ideal place to provide mental health services to children and youth and describes how using multitiered system of supports (MTSS) is the most effective approach.

Supporting Children’s Mental Health: Tips for Parents and Educators. This handout offers strategies and tips for parents and educators to promote resilience and encourage positive behaviors in children and youth.

Nine Elements of Effective School Community Partnerships to Address Student Mental Health, Physical Health, and Overall Wellness. The Coalition for Community Schools and NASP outlined nine key elements necessary for creating and sustaining effective partnerships to improve student mental health, physical health, and overall wellness.

Suicide Prevention Legislation: What School Psychologists Need to Know and Do. This article presents a history of suicide prevention legislation, along with steps for moving forward.

Model School District Policy for Suicide Prevention. The Model Policy is intended to give schools and districts a best-practices guide for suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policies and practices.

Assessment of Safety of the School Environment Using "A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools." This tool helps to assess the policies and practices represented in the framework, identify effective systems that need sustained effort, and components in need of change to better support school and student physical and psychological safety.

Policy Recommendations for Implementing "A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools." This resource outlines policy and practice recommendations to consider when developing comprehensive school safety action plans.

A Framework for School-Wide Bullying Prevention and Safety. This framework provides research-based guidance for school and public policy leaders to effectively address bullying and improve students’ learning and life outcomes.

Best Practice Considerations for Schools in Active Shooter and Other Armed Assailant Drills. This document provides guidance on the important factors schools must take into account when considering and conducting armed assailant drills.

Who Are School Psychologists Brochure. This print-friendly brochure can be used to share information on the role and expertise of school psychologists.

School Psychologists: Improving Student and School Outcomes. This summary links research-based outcomes to school psychologists work with students, educators, and families to support students’ academic achievement, positive behavior, and mental wellness.

Shortages in School Psychology Resource Guide. This resource guide provides a range of suggestions or strategies for different groups or stakeholders to address shortages in school psychology.

NASP Practice Model Implementation Guide. This guide is designed to help move toward the implementation of the NASP Practice Model by setting goals that best meet the needs of your school building, district, or state.

What Makes a School Psychologist a School Psychologist? This article offers key messages for describing the role of school psychologists and provides suggestions for identifying specific examples to feature in those communications.

Definition of Social Justice for School Psychologists. Social justice is both a process and a goal that requires action. School psychologists work to ensure the protection of the educational rights, opportunities, and well-being of all children, especially those whose voices have been muted, identities obscured, or needs ignored. Social justice requires promoting nondiscriminatory practices and the empowerment of families and communities. School psychologists enact social justice through culturally responsive professional practice and advocacy to create schools, communities, and systems that ensure equity and fairness for all children and youth.

Understanding Race and Privilege. This article describes the effect of privilege in society, the impact of race and privilege in school contexts, and strategies for engaging others in conversation about this topic.

Implicit Bias: A Foundation for School Psychologists. This resource provides an overview of implicit bias, which is central to understanding how everyone is vulnerable to subconscious attitudes and unintentional biases formed through their individual experiences and interactions.

Supporting Marginalized Students in Stressful Times: Tips for Educators. This handout offers tips and related resources for how adults can support children and youth during trying times.

Talking About Race and Privilege: Lesson Plan for Middle and High School Students. This lesson plan provides teachers with suggested activities and discussion questions to help students define the concept of privilege and identify examples of privilege in their lives or the world in which they live.

Understanding Race and Privilege: Lesson Plan and Activity Guide for Professionals. This activity guide can be used to facilitate discussion with faculty and staff based on Understanding Race and Privilege (National Association of School Psychologists, 2016).

Understanding Race and Privilege: Suggestions for Facilitating Challenging Conversations. This resource provides suggestions to help school psychologists effectively manage resistance that may occur when engaging in these critical but sometimes difficult conversations.

Shortages in School Psychology Resource Guide This resource guide provides a range of suggestions or strategies for different groups or stakeholders (e.g., graduate programs, state school psychology associations, school districts) to address shortages in school psychology. The guide provides sections for strategies related to recruitment and retention.