Dr. Steven R. Shaw
Director, Resilience, Pediatric Psychology, & Neurogenetic Connections Lab
- Chair, Educational and School Psychology Section of the Canadian Psychological Association
- Immediate past editor and Consulting editor, Canadian Journal of School Psychology
- Knowledge transfer
- Meta-research and increasing research relevance
- Pediatric psychology
- Intellectual and developmental disabilities
Steven R. Shaw is an associate professor at McGill’s Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and is director of the Resilience, Pediatric Psychology and Neurogenetic Connections Lab. He earned a Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of Florida in 1991. He is currently Chair of the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology.
Before entering academia, he worked for 16 years as a school psychologist in school, university, hospital, and medical school settings. He served as the lead psychologist, licensed school psychologist, residency coordinator/supervisor, and associate professor of pediatrics at The Children's Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina and Medical University of South Carolina.
In 2000, the South Carolina Association of School Psychologists recognized him for "Outstanding Contributions to Education" for his work on addressing the over-representation of minority groups in special education and developing of teaching techniques for children with borderline intelligence. He is a recipient of McGill Education’s Distinguished Teaching Award (2010). In 2012 he received the president’s award from the National Association of School Psychologists for his innovative research-to-practice efforts. In 2022, his department awarded him the Bruce M. Shore Collegiality Award for contributions to the department.
His clinical and research interests include pediatric school psychology, improving education for children with rare genetic disorders, improving relevance of research for evidence-based practices in education and psychology, and developing resilience skills in children at risk for academic failure. He has over 220 scholarly publications and presentations, has co-edited five books, and authored two others. He is on the editorial board of seven international scholarly journals, past editor of School Psychology Forum and the Canadian Journal of School Psychology.
- Ph.D., University of Florida, School Psychology
- Ed.S., University of Florida, School Psychology
- M.Ed., University of Florida, School Psychology
- B.S., University of Florida, Psychology
- 2022 Bruce M. Shore Collegiality Award (voted on by colleagues)
- 2018-2024 Editor, Canadian Journal of School Psychology
- 2016-2017 Associate Editor, Canadian Journal of School Psychology, Donald Saklofske, Editor
- 2012 National Association of School Psychologists President’s Award for Contributions to the Profession
- 2010 Faculty of Education Distinguished Teaching Award. McGill University.
- 2011-2017 Editor, School Psychology Forum: Research in Practice. Published by the National Association of School Psychologists.
- Shaw, S. R. & Kang, Y. H. (in press). Intellectual disabilities: Clinical reasoning and decision-making. In J. Andrews and D. Saklofske (eds.), Clinical reasoning in school and clinical psychology: From assessment to intervention. Springer.
- Infantino, E. & Shaw, S.R. (in press). Barriers, supports, and implementation of evidence-based practices in the delivery of individualized education plans. McGill Journal of Education.
- Kokai, M. & Shaw, S. R. (2024). Introduction to the special issues on the role of school psychologists in Canadian mental health service delivery. CPA Psynopsis, 4.
- Shaw, S. R. & Kang, Y. H. (2024). The school psychology shortage in Canada: The role of university training programs. CPA Psynopsis, 14-15.
- Shaw, S. R. & Kang, Y. H. (2024). Introduction to Special Issue: How Research Reform in Psychology Can Influence Professional School Psychology. Canadian Journal of School Psychology.
- Shaw, S. R., Pecsi, S., Infantino, E., Kang, Y. H., Verma, N., & von Hagen, A. (2024). Registered Reports in School Psychology Research: Initial Experiences, Analyses, and Future. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 08295735241263912.
- Shaw, S.R., & Infantino, E. (2024). Best practices in supporting the education and mental health of students with severe and low-incidence disabilities. In Harrison, P.L., & Thomas, A. (Eds.). Best Practices in School Psychology, 7th edition. National Association of School Psychologists.
- Coombs, N. N., Copeland, C., Brown, J. M., & Shaw, S. R. (2023). Navigating academic incentive structures in social justice research: Research methods, advocacy, and theory building. School Psychology: Training and Pedagogy, 39(2).
- Shaw, S.R., & Wang, J. (2022). Antipsychotic Medications. In: Matson, J.L., Sturmey, P. (eds) Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Autism and Child Psychopathology Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88538-0_52'
- Ianni, L., Camden, C., Anaby, D., Gauvin, C., Campbell, W., Berbari, J., Rivard, L., & Shaw, S. R. (2022). Perceptions of response-to-intervention practices: Results from a cross-sectional survey of school-board directors and support service professionals. Support for Learning, 37, 285-308.
- Shaw, S.R. (2022). Thematic Integration of Child and Youth Mental Health Practice in School Psychology. In: Andrews, J.J., Shaw, S.R., Domene, J.F., McMorris, C. (eds) Mental Health Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention. The Springer Series on Human Exceptionality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97208-0_7
- Shaw, S. R. (2022). Reaching and teaching students who don’t qualify for special education: Strategies for the inclusive education of diverse learners. Routledge. 9780367677398
- Andrews, J. A. C., Shaw, S. R., McMorris, C., & Domene, J. F. (Eds.) (2022). Mental Health Assessment, Prevention, and Intervention: Promoting Child and Youth Well-Being. Springer. 978-3-030-97207-3
- Roberson, A. J., Farmer, R. L., Shaw, S., Upton, S., & Zaheer, I. (2021). Opening doors to open science and scholarship for school psychology research, training, and practice. PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/su53p
- Shaw, S. R. (2021). Implementing evidence-based practices in school psychology: Excavation by de-implementing the disproved. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 36 (2). 91-97. https://doi.org/10.1177/08295735211000513 [preprint: Shaw, S. (2020, December 7). De-implementing Evidence-Based Practices in School Psychology: Excavation by De-Implementing the Disproved. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/m2c3k]
- Shaw, S. R., & Pecsi, S. (2021). When is the evidence sufficiently supportive of real-world application? Evidence-based practices, open science, clinical readiness level. Psychology in the Schools, 58, 1891– 1901. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22537
- M.A. School/Applied Psychology
- M.A. Counselling Psychology
- Ph.D. School/Applied Psychology
- Ph.D. Counselling Psychology
Dr. Shaw will be accepting students for 2025-2026.
Supervision information for future academic years:
The Connections Lab under the supervision of Dr. Shaw hosts a maximum of six active graduate students. Supervision goals are to be competitive for national and provincial competitive fellowships and bursaries, and to graduate in a timely manner. Detailed information concerning graduate supervision is contained on his website. Students interested in being under the supervision of Dr. Shaw should contact him via email for a meeting. Also, a time will be arranged to be interviewed by current students.
