| Abstract: | The many challenges that school psychologists face inevitably include legal issues. In light of the agreement between the two primary professional organizations for school psychologists that understanding of law is a critical competency, this study analyzed the extent of law‐based articles in leading school psychology journal articles published from 1970 to mid‐2013. The method was a systematic multi‐step search, selection and coding process. The primary findings included that (a) a very small proportion of the articles in five leading school psychology journals contained a notable level of legal content; (b) the number of these articles initially trended upward but stabilized at a lower level during recent decades; (c) assessment and special education were the most frequent subject categories, and (d) the principal sources of law were federal legislation/regulations and court decisions. The discussion includes implications for professional practice and recommendations for follow‐up research. |
