As school psychology works to advance social justice in research, training, and practice, interpretation of social justice often emphasizes dismantling the racism in our educational system. Associated efforts among school psychologists and school psychology organizations to address decolonization have primarily been symbolic (e.g., land acknowledgements). Social justice and antiracism are important but insufficient to disrupt colonization and support liberation. To truly realize liberation as both a process and a goal, we must work towards decolonization. And to decolonize the field, school psychologists must understand colonialism and how it has and continues to shape the field. This critical consciousness is necessary to support the un/learning needed to better support sustained, structural change in all aspects of our professional work. This manuscript is the first in a two-part series on colonization, decolonization, and Indigenization of school psychology. Here, we provide an overview of colonization and then discuss its influence in education and school psychology, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice initiatives. We assert that decolonization and Indigenization are required to address colonization as a macro-structure and prevent its continued harms in schools and society.

Social justice initiatives often ignore or minimize the concepts, processes, and realities of colonialism, decolonization, or Indigenization. In Part 1, we overviewed colonialism and how it shapes school psychology and limits the potential of equity and social justice initiatives to promote inclusive liberation. We argued that decolonization and Indigenization are necessary for liberatory futures. In Part 2, we define Indigenization and decolonization, discuss the varied ways each can be enacted, and propose leveraging the two in tandem to foster liberatory school psychology praxis for transformative action. We define this praxis and provide key examples of how it addresses the harms of colonialism in educational and school psychology practice. We conclude with an illustrative composite story accompanied by guiding questions to support readers’ reflexivity.

The relationships, culture, and knowledge-making of minoritized communities are what inform transformative, culturally responsive, and sustaining solutions to addressing students’ social, emotional, and academic development. For researchers in educational and school psychology, initiating and sustaining relationships with communities can be a particular challenge, especially in the context of university expectations. The purpose of this paper is to highlight how cultural humility must be the foundation for meaningful and authentic community-based research that could lead to culturally sustaining and valid practices. The article includes a discussion of the fundamental importance of relationality in this type of research and provides specific examples of how researchers have initiated and established community-based research partnerships through cultural humility.

Dominant knowledge systems rely on a Western perspective of creating and disseminating new information. These systems marginalize traditional ways of knowing including co-creating knowledge, personal narratives and lived experiences, as well as inherited cultural knowledge. Additionally, Western knowledge systems have centered the White adult male as the primary knowledge creator both through what has been valued in contemporary scientific traditions and culturally in the image of who is considered capable of creating knowledge. Those who do not fit this image have historically been marginalized and exploited in the pursuit of knowledge making including youth and particularly youth with diverse racial/ethnic identities. It is these narrow epistemological systems that have informed school psychology research and practice since its inception. Recent calls for social justice as central to school psychology work have challenged the status quo and emphasized the amplification of marginalized voices in research and practice. Therefore, this article outlines methodologies that subvert more traditional knowledge-making strategies foundational to school psychology work and critiques these to provide guidelines for methodologies that can truly incorporate youth as co-researchers, particularly Black, Indigenous and youth of color within a US context. A case study illustrating the implementation of these guidelines is included.

One uniquely marginalizing school environment for sexual and gender diverse (SGD) youth is school based sex education (SBSE). While research has documented the negative sexual and mental health impacts these marginalizing environments can have for SGD youth, we know less about the developmental competencies that this population of youth exercises to survive in and cope with these environments. In this paper, we aim to answer the following question: What are the developmental competencies that SGD youth exercise in sex education spaces? We conducted focus groups with SGD youth (n = 17) in a Midwestern metropolitan region. Our study documents youth exercising six adaptive competencies to persevere through oppressive SBSE. Our data holds several scholarly and practical implications. In our discussion section, we present recommendations for creating inclusive and affirming school environments and nurturing these competencies in youth.

The current study describes the process of a participatory consultation framework, the Participatory Culture Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM), to plan and implement a data-based decision-making framework. The framework integrates proactive and systematic identification of emotional and behavioral needs as well as cognitive psychology techniques to promote more deliberate teacher decision making around student behavior. Using a participatory consultation framework is one way to build deeper school buy-in for implementing new initiatives by addressing immediate needs, taking into consideration school context and culture, and explicitly involving important stakeholders in all aspects of the planning and implementation process. We will describe the PCSIM consultation process for developing and piloting a decision-making framework around student behavior that emphasizes prevention and attempts to negate the role of implicit racial bias on decision making in order to reduce disproportionality in behavioral referrals. The current study describes phases 1-9 out of 11 of the PCSIM processes.

The BASC-3 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Student Form (BESS SF) is the latest iteration of a widely used instrument for identifying students at behavioral and emotional risk. Measurement invariance across race/ethnicity and gender for the latest BESS SF has not yet been established. Using a sample of 737 U.S. urban fourth- to eighth-grade students, we tested competing models of the BESS SF to determine the best-fitting factor structure. We also tested for measurement equivalence by race/ethnicity (i.e., White, Black, Latinx) and gender (i.e., boys, girls). Consistent with prior findings, we identified that a bifactor structure of the BESS SF best fit the data and supported measurement equivalence across race/ethnicity and gender. These findings provide further support for using the BESS SF to conduct universal behavioral and emotional screening among diverse students. More research is needed in schools serving students with greater racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity.

Gender and sexually diverse (GSD) students face unique challenges in schools due to the privileging of cisgender and heterosexist norms in these settings. In particular, GSD youth who belong to ethnically and racially minoritized groups face further challenges within school environments that disregard their cultural contexts and intersectional identities. It is important for school psychologists to ensure safe and high-quality mental health, educational, and behavioral supports for these students. One possible avenue for building these types of supports is through school consultation. When school psychologists collaborate with other professionals in a culturally competent, participatory way, their work has the potential to bolster behavioral, academic, and mental health outcomes at the individual, group, and/or systems levels. Adapting Ingraham's multicultural school consultation model, this article proposes a multicultural, GSD affirming school consultation framework that also approaches the experiences of racially and ethnically minoritized individuals through the lenses of intersectionality and minority stress frameworks. Across its five domains, this adapted framework aims to give practitioners and researchers a conceptual foundation to support GSD students of minoritized ethnic and racial identities by considering interactions among consultants, consultees, and clients within their wider school contexts.

Decision-making has been identified as one of the most important skillsets in sexual health. This exploratory qualitative study explored how US middle and high school textbooks integrate the recommended sexual health decision-making skills recommended by Future of Sex Education (FOSE), a collaboration of organisations in the USA supporting comprehensive sex education. Using content analysis, we assessed 13 U.S. middle and high school health education textbooks recommended by school districts, state boards of education, and publishers. While textbooks touched on the knowledge and content areas for each skill set, skills were not taught to the extent that the skill was achieved or using a scaffolded approach that showed significant growth from middle to high school textbooks. As a result, young people receive inadequate content to competently perform the skills recommended by current National Standards. Changing state and district level health and sex education policies and aligning the curriculum with these standards, can better promote youth sexual decision-making.

The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, two spirit, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth with school-based sexuality education (SBSE), as well as to document strategies LGBTQ+ youth are using to address their evolving and specific sexual health needs outside of SBSE. Researchers conducted focus groups with 17 adolescents (ages 14-18) from urban and suburban Midwestern cities. Results of this study indicate LGBTQ+ youth find SBSE to be heteronormative, cisgender focused, and primarily focused on pregnancy and disease prevention, which contributes to LGBTQ+ youth experiences of exclusion. In response to SBSE that did not meet student needs, participants reported seeking sexual health information outside of SBSE. Other sources included family and other trusted adults, the Internet, and community resource centers. Students reported variable rates of use and trustworthiness across these resources. Results of this study suggest that school personnel should consider alternatives to traditional SBSE models to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ youth, and that an important part of SBSE should include guidelines for Internet safety.

The purpose of this study is to describe how school-based sexuality education (SBSE) in the context of health education frames and teaches sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Understanding how schools address sexuality and gender provides insight into how school systems might ostracize sexual and gender diverse (SGD) youth. This study used content analysis to survey 13 health education textbooks in the United States. The content of textbooks provides a sampling of cultural, economic, and political activities and the ways they may be portrayed in the school setting. All textbooks had to be (1) health education textbooks, (2) intended for middle and high school, (3) published in the last 15 years, and (4) required or recommended by a state or local Department of Education, or produced by a publisher recommended by a department of education. Results of this study indicate that 11 of the 13 reviewed textbooks had abstinence based or abstinence only until marriage sexuality education that presented narrow, binary definitions of gender and sexual orientation, and that ignored or provided misinformation about gender identity and sexual orientation. Results of this study suggest that school personnel should consider alternatives to widely available health textbooks to teach more inclusive, affirming, and effective sexuality education.

The extant literature on suicide-related thoughts and behaviors (STB) has highlighted increased patterns of risk among specific minoritized populations, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, two spirit, and queer (LGBTQ+) youth. Compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers, LGBTQ+ youth are at increased risk for having STB. Identity-specific stressors such as homonegativity and anti-queerness are among the unique factors posited to contribute to this risk and inhibit factors that protect against suicide. The school setting has been a focal point for suicide prevention and intervention and may also play a key role in linking students to care; however, schools also hold the potential to provide supports and experiences that may buffer against risk factors for STB in LGBTQ+ students. This systematic literature review presents findings from 44 studies examining school-related correlates of STB in LGBTQ+ students, informing an ecological approach to suicide prevention for school settings. Findings underscore the importance of school context for preventing STB in LGBTQ+ youth. Approaches that prioritize safety and acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth should span multiple layers of a student's ecology, including district and state level policies and school programs and interventions, such as Gender and Sexuality Alliances and universal bullying prevention programs. Beyond their role as a primary access point for behavioral health services, schools offer a unique opportunity to support suicide prevention by combating minority stressors through promoting positive social relationships and a safe community for LGBTQ+ students.

There are known cultural variations in correlates of and symptoms related to suicide-related thoughts and behaviors; however, the majority of research that informs suicide prevention in school systems has focused on research based on Euro-American/White students. By exploring school-related risk and protective factors in ethnic-racial minoritized students, we expand existing multicultural models of suicide prevention for school settings. Specifically, this systematic literature review identified 33 studies conducted with American Indian and Alaskan Native, Hispanic and Latinx, Black and African American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander students. Findings underscore the importance of building relationships with the school community and fostering a sense of safety for students, the need to approach school-based suicide prevention and intervention with cultural considerations, and the importance of connecting students and families with providers in culturally sensitive and informed ways. Taken together, schools need to build school-family-community partnerships that promote culturally sensitive approaches to suicide prevention.

Schools are encouraged to take a proactive approach to mental health through the use of a tiered system of supports facilitated by universal mental health screening. However, schools may experience difficulty implementing universal screening and large-scale systems change. The purpose of this study was to explore multilevel implementation determinants, identify strategies that aided implementation, and examine how implementation determinants and strategies impacted implementation reach for two schools adopting and initially implementing universal screening within a tiered mental health system. We used a mixed-methods case study design where qualitative analysis of focus groups identified themes related to implementation determinants and strategies, and quantitative data compared implementation reach before and after the initial implementation of universal screening. Focus groups identified themes of broader influence, structures, school climate, personnel, and resources that enabled and obstructed the implementation process. To aid the tiered system, schools used implementation strategies of outreach and systems, screening, and intervention planning. Integrative mixed-methods analysis identified influences of these determinants and strategies on changes in implementation reach at Tier 1; however, only minimal changes occurred at Tiers 2 and 3. Results highlight the importance of attending to implementation factors when adopting and initially implementing a tiered mental health system.

Behavioral and social-emotional challenges experienced in childhood are risk factors for negative educational and health outcomes. Universal social-emotional screening in schools has been identified as an effective approach to identifying children at risk for mental health and behavioral challenges and is congruent with tiered frameworks for data-based decision-making and mental health service delivery. Even so, implementation of screening in schools has been limited, and many schools continue to rely on office discipline referrals (ODRs) as a primary source for the identification of students needing support. This paper uses two case studies to illustrate key steps in the process of implementing universal screening. The case studies demonstrate a systematic approach to implementation and ways in which universal screening can be used to support multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) initiatives, highlighting the importance of foundational planning using a multidisciplinary team of school personnel.

Racial disproportionality in school responses to student behavior is well established in the literature. Addressing this persistent problem requires a critical analysis of the systems and structures that act to maintain and bolster the mechanisms underlying racial disproportionality in school responses to student behavior. Supervision of school psychology students addressing school behavioral data and referrals is one place where we can begin identifying and combating these mechanisms. This chapter uses DisCrit Theory as a lens through which to examine the school-based process of identifying and responding to student behavior including student social, emotional, and behavioral struggles. Specifically, we will review the research that addresses these issues in relation to racially minoritized student populations. We will use DisCrit Theory to provide concrete suggestions for guiding clinical supervision practices in school psychology when working with students whose primary referral is for social, emotional, and behavioral concerns.

Despite the evidence implicating implicit racial bias in teacher decision-making as one reason for the overrepresentation of Black male students in school discipline practices, there is minimal research regarding interventions that address implicit racial bias in the school setting. A System 2 cue refers to a behavioral cue that engages more deliberate and controlled cognitive processes in decision-making and mitigates the impact of unconscious racial bias in decision-making, in contrast to System 1 processing which employs more automatic cognitive processes. This pilot study evaluated the use of a System 2 cue in teacher decision-making and included 361 practicing teachers. All participants read a vignette describing a Black male student's behavior and were then assigned to a control condition or the System 2 cue condition. Differences in teacher perception of troublesome behavior were analyzed with independent samples t test and likelihood of completing an office discipline referral was compared with binary logistic regression. Results indicate that addition of a System 2 cue predicted ODR likelihood, but perception of troublesome behavior was more predictive and explained the relationship between System 2 cue and referral likelihood. Further, we found differences in two aspects of troublesome behavior perception (i.e., level of concern and belief that the behavior will occur again in the future) for teachers receiving a System 2 cue compared to those who did not, preliminarily suggesting that some perceptions of troublesome behavior may be alterable through System 2 cues. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).