The working alliance as a predictor of successful school psychology internships

The school psychology internship is a crucial part of the graduate students' training and learning experience. The quality of supervision in school psychology is very important to the successful outcome of the overall internship experience (Hess, 1987). Previous researchers have demonstrated the importance of the working alliance in the context of the supervisory relationship (Ladany, Ellis, Friedlander, & Stern, 1992). Examining the notion of the working alliance as it pertains to the school psychology internship may allow supervisors and interns to improve the quality of the internship.; This investigator collected data from school psychology graduate students and their current supervisors in an attempt to examine the notion of the working alliance as it pertains to the school psychology internship experience. Participants included 72 interns and 65 supervisors from 3 NASP approved universities in the NYC and Long Island, NY area. Interns and supervisors completed measures of the working alliance, and supervisors rated student success (ability of the intern in their performance as a future school psychologist) with interns rating their own performance at two intervals throughout the internship.; Results were that the supervisory bond and perception of the working alliance were significantly correlated with success during the beginning and end stages of internship (rho < .10). More specifically, participants whose perception of the working alliance was more positive also reported having had a more successful internship. Furthermore, results showed that based on interns' ratings, the supervisory bond was more highly correlated with success at the end stage of internship than at the beginning stage (rho < .10). The significance of these findings may be used to gain a broader understanding of the importance of the working alliance as it relates to school psychology and the supervisory-intern relationship. Future researchers may want to examine the type of supervisors' styles that build a good bond to use those ways to teach supervisors and interns how to be better school psychology supervisors.