Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 46 - PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL STANDARDS
Part LXIII - Psychologists
Subpart 2 - Licensed Specialists in School Psychology
Chapter 42 - Ethical Standards for Licensed Specialists in School Psychology
Section LXIII-4211 - Responsibility to Schools, Families, Communities, the Profession, and Society

Universal Citation: LA Admin Code LXIII-4211

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

A. LSSPs promote healthy school, family, and community environments. They assume a proactive role in identifying social injustices that affect children and schools and strive to reform systems-level patterns of injustice. They maintain the public trust in LSSPs by respecting law and encouraging ethical conduct. LSSPs advance professional excellence by mentoring less experienced practitioners and contributing to the school psychology knowledge base.

1. Promoting Healthy School, Family, and Community Environments. LSSPs use their expertise in psychology and education to promote school, family, and community environments that are safe and healthy for children.
a. To provide effective services and systems consultation, LSSPs are knowledgeable about the organization, philosophy, goals, objectives, culture, and methodologies of the settings in which they provide services. In addition, LSSPs develop partnerships and networks with community service providers and agencies to provide seamless services to children and families.

b. LSSPs use their professional expertise to promote changes in schools and community service systems that will benefit children and other clients. They advocate for school policies and practices that are in the best interests of children and that respect and protect the legal rights of students and parents.

2. Respect for Law and the Relationship of Law and Ethics. LSSPs are knowledgeable of and respect laws pertinent to the practice of school psychology. In choosing an appropriate course of action, they consider the relationship between law and their professional ethics herein.
a. LSSPs recognize that an understanding of the goals, procedures, and legal requirements of their particular workplace is essential for effective functioning within that setting.

b. LSSPs respect the law and the civil and legal rights of students and other clients. The Ethical Standards for LSSPs promulgated under this Chapter may require a more stringent standard of conduct than law, and in those situations LSSPs are expected to adhere to this Chapter.

c. When conflicts between ethics and law occur, LSSPs take steps to resolve the conflict through positive, respected, and legal channels. If not able to resolve the conflict in this manner, they may abide by the law, as long as the resulting actions do not violate basic human rights.

d. LSSPs may act as individual citizens to bring about change in a lawful manner. They identify when they are speaking as private citizens rather than as employees. They also identify when they speak as individual professionals rather than as representatives of a professional association.

e. Maintaining Public Trust by Self-Monitoring and Peer Monitoring. LSSPs accept responsibility to monitor their own conduct and the conduct of other LSSPs to ensure it conforms to ethical standards.

f. LSSPs know the Ethical Standards for LSSPs and thoughtfully apply them to situations within their employment context. In difficult situations, LSSPs consult experienced licensed psychologists, LSSPs or the Licensed Specialist in School Psychology Advisory Committee to the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists.

g. When an LSSP suspects that another LSSP or another professional has engaged in unethical practices, the LSSP attempts to resolve the suspected problem through a collegial problem-solving process, if feasible.

h. If a collegial problem-solving process is not possible or productive, LSSPs take further action appropriate to the situation, including discussing the situation with a supervisor in the employment setting, consulting state association ethics committees, and, if necessary, filing a formal ethical violation complaint with the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and/or other appropriate regulatory agency in accordance with their procedures.

3. Contributing to the Profession by Mentoring, Teaching, and Supervision. As part of their obligation to students, schools, society, and their profession, LSSPs mentor less experienced practitioners and graduate students to assure high quality services, and they serve as role models for sound ethical and professional practices and decision making.
a. LSSPs who serve as directors of graduate education programs provide current and prospective graduate students with accurate information regarding program accreditation, goals and objectives, graduate program policies and requirements, and likely outcomes and benefits.

b. LSSPs who supervise practicum students and interns are responsible for all professional practices of the supervisees. They ensure that practicum students and interns are adequately supervised as outlined in the NASP Graduate Preparation Standards for School Psychologists. Interns and graduate students are identified as such, and their work is cosigned by the supervising LSSP.

c. LSSPs who employ, supervise, or train professionals provide appropriate working conditions, fair and timely evaluation, constructive supervision, and continuing professional development opportunities.

d. LSSPs who are faculty members at universities or who supervise graduate education field experiences apply these ethical principles in all work with school psychology graduate students. In addition, they promote the ethical practice of graduate students by providing specific and comprehensive instruction, feedback, and mentoring.

4. Contributing to the School Psychology Knowledge Base. To improve services to children, families, and schools, and to promote the welfare of children, LSSPs are encouraged to contribute to the school psychology knowledge base by participating in, assisting in, or conducting and disseminating research.
a. When designing and conducting research in schools, LSSPs choose topics and employ research methodology, research participant selection procedures, data-gathering methods, and analysis and reporting techniques that are grounded in sound research practice. LSSPs identify their level of training and graduate degree to potential research participants.

b. LSSPs respect the rights, and protect the well-being, of research participants. LSSPs obtain appropriate review and approval of proposed research prior to beginning their data collection.
i. Prior to initiating research, LSSPs and graduate students affiliated with a university, hospital, or other agency subject to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) regulation of research first obtain approval for their research from their Institutional Review Board for Research Involving Human Subjects (IRB) as well as the school or other agency in which the research will be conducted. Research proposals that have not been subject to IRB approval should be reviewed by individuals knowledgeable about research methodology and ethics and approved by the school administration or other appropriate authority.

ii. In planning research, LSSPs are ethically obligated to consider carefully whether the informed consent of research participants is needed for their study, recognizing that research involving more than minimum risk requires informed consent, and that research with students involving activities that are not part of ordinary, typical schooling requires informed consent. Consent and assent protocols provide the information necessary for potential research participants to make an informed and voluntary choice about participation. LSSPs evaluate the potential risks (including risks of physical or psychological harm, intrusions on privacy, breach of confidentiality) and benefits of their research and only conduct studies in which the risks to participants are minimized and acceptable.

c. LSSPs who use their assessment, intervention, or consultation cases in lectures, presentations, or publications obtain written prior client consent or they remove or disguise identifying client information.

d. LSSPs do not publish or present fabricated or falsified data or results in their publications and presentations.

e. LSSPs make available their data or other information that provided the basis for findings and conclusions reported in publications and presentations, if such data are needed to address a legitimate concern or need and under the condition that the confidentiality and other rights of research participants are protected.

f. If errors are discovered after the publication or presentation of research or other information, LSSPs make efforts to correct errors by publishing errata, retractions, or corrections.

g. LSSPs only publish data or other information that make original contributions to the professional literature. They do not report the same study in a second publication without acknowledging previous publication of the same data. They do not duplicate significant portions of their own or others' previous publications without permission of copyright holders.

h. When publishing or presenting research or other work, LSSPs do not plagiarize the works or ideas of others. They appropriately cite and reference all sources, print or digital, and assign credit to those whose ideas are reflected. In in-service or conference presentations, LSSPs give credit to others whose ideas have been used or adapted.

i. LSSPs accurately reflect the contributions of authors and other individuals who contributed to presentations and publications. Authorship credit is given only to individuals who have made a substantial professional contribution to the research, publication, or presentation. Authors discuss and resolve issues related to publication credit as early as feasible in the research and publication process.

j. LSSPs who participate in reviews of manuscripts, proposals, and other materials respect the confidentiality and proprietary rights of the authors. They limit their use of the materials to the activities relevant to the purposes of the professional review. LSSPs who review professional materials do not communicate the identity of the author, quote from the materials, or duplicate or circulate copies of the materials without the author's permission.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 37:2357.

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