Bio-Kathleen Rahn

I am very proud to be Past President of the Arizona Association of School Psychologists. This is my 13th year as a school psychologist working in public schools in Arizona and my third year with the Scottsdale Unified School District. I enjoy working in SUSD at the Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center (ANLC) because SUSD encourages a broad role for the school psychologist including interventions as well as assessments. Last year I was part of the SUSD team who participated in the AZDE Response to Intervention Training. This year I am working with a team to introduce the RTI model to the ANLC.

I became interested in AASP after working on committees to advocate for a broader role for school psychologists in other school districts in Arizona. I believe all children benefit when school psychologists are able to use their skills in prevention and intervention as well as assessment. A great deal of my time this summer has been devoted to planning our 38th Annual Conference “Staying Ahead of the Curve.”

Before settling in Arizona in 1994 with my husband and three children, I was a school psychologist in Illinois. I earned a Master of Science in Education in Community/School Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. I worked as a school psychologist in southern Illinois and my application for NCSP was approved in January 1993.

A unique part of my background that defines who I am as a school psychologist is the fact that I returned to graduate school 17 years after I earned my Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Illinois University. I was indeed a “nontraditional student” as a graduate student who was the mother of three young children. I was experiencing schools as a parent before I experienced schools as a professional. During those 17 years before graduate school I worked for the state of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with at risk children in foster care.