Brian McKevitt

Brian C. McKevitt is a professor of school psychology and local expert on positive behavior and intervention supports (PBIS). He promotes the term “walking around knowledge” (WAK) which refers to information that all school psychologists must be able to recall and talk about fluently without having to look it up (e.g., big ideas of reading). Dr. McKevitt is originally from New Jersey. During graduate school, he played in a band named Lightner Witmer named after one of the founding fathers of School Psychology. He originally wanted to be a clinical psychologist, but was drawn to School Psychology because it allowed him to integrate his interests in education and psychology.

Education

Dr. Brian McKevitt earned his BA in Psychology (1994) from Boston College and his M.S. (Educational Psychology, 1999) and Doctorate (Educational Psychology, 2001) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Stephen N. Elliott, professor at Arizona State University, was Dr. McKevitt’s advisor and professor while he earned his Ph.D.

Research Interests

School-wide positive behavior support, social skills/social, emotional, and behavioral interventions, testing accommodations, and reliability and validity in assessment.

Current Position (2006–Present)

Dr. McKevitt is currently an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) in the Department of Psychology, School Psychology program in the College of Arts and Sciences. He primarily teaches graduate-level courses in school psychology, training students in academic and behavioral assessment, intervention, and consultation skills necessary to be practicing school psychologists. At UNO, Dr. McKevitt has taught Introduction to School Psychology, Behavior Analysis and Intervention, School Age Assessment, Advanced Educational and Psychological Consultation, and Educational Psychology. Dr. McKevitt also supervises numerous student research projects and is an instructor for graduate students enrolled in a psychology MA program emphasizing applied behavior analysis.

Dr. McKevitt oversees the Social-Emotional-Behavioral research team, one of the research teams at UNO. He has worked with Lincoln Public Schools as a consultant for their Response to Intervention (RTI) behavior work and is currently working with ESU 3 to provide a series of trainings for schools interested in implementing PBS.

Past Work Experience

Dr. McKevitt served as a school psychologist in Heartland Area Education Agency 11 in Iowa for six years (2000–2006) before coming to UNO. There, he provided the full spectrum of school psychology services for children in grades kindergarten through eighth, supervised school psychology practicum students and interns, and coordinated the implementation of school-wide positive behavior support in over 30 schools in central Iowa.

Dr. McKevitt also has taught educational psychology and educational research courses at Iowa State University (2002–2004) and Drake University in Des Moines, IA (2004–2006). Dr. McKevitt also has experience as a Teaching Assistant for CPC Behavioral Healthcare in Morganville, New Jersey (1994–1996).

Honors and awards

• 2011 University of Nebraska at Omaha Alumni Outstanding Teaching award
• 2008 Psychological Corporation/Trainers of School Psychology Junior Faculty of the Year Professional Development Scholarship
• 2001 Wisconsin School Psychologists Association Seibel Award for outstanding graduate student
• 2000 Student Affiliates in School Psychology (APA Division 16 Student Organization) Research Award
• 2000 Michael Vincent O’Shea Fellowship Recipient, awarded by the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

References

http://www.unomaha.edu/schoolpsych/faculty.php UNO School Psychology Graduate Program Handbook National Association of School Psychologists Communique Best Practices in School Psychology 5 http://www.nasponline.org/

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