Ecological systems theory in School Psychology Review

Ecological systems theory (EST) has been suggested as a framework to provide effective school psychology services, but previous reviews of research found questionable consistency between methods and the principles of EST. The current article reviewed 349 articles published in School Psychology Review (SPR) between 2006 and 2015 and compared the methods with five criteria for consistency with EST. A large majority of the studies (87.0%) published in SPR assessed the dependent variable in a manner that represented an authentic environment, and 72.6% considered the individual. Only 37.4% considered the environmental context of the intervention, 33.2% considered multiple environments, and 46.1% examined the processes with which individuals interacted with their environment. Although the final three criteria were infrequently met, there were upward trends in the data for each. Implications for practice and research are included.