ABSTRACT
Every school has a culture that serves as an important context for consultation services. Learning how to enter a school with consultation as an important aspect of school psychologists’ service delivery is a critical skill. Much of the professional psychology literature on culture focuses on multicultural and cross-cultural issues, often on the race, gender, or ethnicity of those involved in treating and treatment. Research and policy have identified collaboration and teaming as structures enabling schools to more effectively educate an increasingly diverse population of students. Student diversity, including culture, race, ethnicity, and language, has generated concern about how best to address all students. Even as schools have developed overarching policies such as Multi-tiered Systems of Support, consultation and collaboration within those systems remain important skills for effective implementation of services to students. As the problem-solving team structures were developing, schools were also incorporating more collaborative structures in other areas, including teacher professional development and school reform.
