Abstract

In this chapter, we present an overview of core issues that are associated with conducting personality assessments in schools. We recognize that most psychologists who work in schools have the education, training, and credentialing specific to the “school psychologist” title, but we also appreciate that there are psychologists whose primary employment and professional role identification are not with the school district. As such, we designated the interface between psychologists and schools as primary, secondary, or tertiary, depending on the degree to which employment and work activities are dedicated specifically to the school system. By “primary work activities” we refer to psychologists who are employed full-time either by a school district or by a private school. By “secondary work activities” we refer to psychologists who work as contracted or on a per diem basis in the schools. By “tertiary work activities” we refer to psychologists in non-school settings (e.g., private practice, residential- psychiatric, forensic) whose personality assessments of school-age children might bring them into contact with the school system.