2022 Awards
MSPA Awards
2022 Maryland School Psychologist of the Year
Ms. Ciara Caprara
Ms. Caprara serves three elementary schools in Montgomery County Public Schools. Despite her heavy caseload of students, Ms. Caprara strives to offer a full range of comprehensive services to her school communities, providing individual and group counseling to address students’ needs with anxiety, cognitive flexibility, and emotional regulation. She is a gifted data analyst and uses a wide array of data collection tools to write Functional Behavior Assessments and analyze the impact of academic interventions. Ms. Caprara also selflessly collaborates with her school psychologist colleagues and shares the data collection measures that she creates herself. Ms. Caprara’s school-based colleagues, from teachers to school counselors to administrators, hold her in high esteem for her knowledge of educational laws and guidance through difficult situations, while always keeping the conversation student-focused. Ms. Caprara also uses a wide array of assessments to evaluate students for special education services and writes comprehensive, legally defensible reports that help teams make the best decisions for students’ needs. Ms. Caprara also volunteers her time to support district level initiatives including planning and implementing the MCPS Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW). Ms. Caprara also maintains membership in her local and national professional organizations and is currently president of the Montgomery County School Psychologists’ Association (MCSPA) and an active member of the Public Affairs committee of the Maryland School Psychologists’ Association (MSPA).
2022 Outstanding Educator
Mr. Dana Falls
In a quest to broaden his capacity to positively impact students and educators, he has served as a coach and a mentor, an assistant principal, a principal, the Director of Student Services in Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS), and the Student Services Director in Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS). Mr. Falls encourages school psychologists under his charge to discover, embrace, and grow our individual interests and talents because he knows that our collective child-centered missions are served best when we, too, are seen, supported, and empowered. Mr. Falls has consistently worked to improve ratios of school psychologists to students both during his tenure in CCPS as well as in FCPS. He also consistently supports innovative programs developed by school psychologists, attends NASP conferences in order to learn and present alongside practitioners, and creates opportunities for his staff to engage in systems-level organization and positive change. Under Mr. Falls’ leadership, a select few CCPS school psychologists piloted a model of school psychological service delivery aligned with the NASP practice model. Mr. Falls led discussions with stakeholders around the role of the school psychologist when serving just one school, progress monitoring, and long-term advocacy efforts. He empowered the school psychologists involved in the pilot to select an SEL screening tool and to develop interventions to support any uncovered needs.
The Outstanding Advocate Award recognizes individuals or groups who relentlessly advocate for education, children, and youth at the local, state, or national level and help create meaningful change in policies that govern the provision of education and mental health services. Nominees’ efforts should align with the MSPA mission and NASP mission/goals. Nominees can include individuals or groups outside of the profession, as well as those affiliated with the field of school psychology.
The School Psychologist of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding practitioner in the field of school psychology. The award is presented annually to a practicing school psychologist who provides a full range of psychological services, collaborates with home, school, and community stake-holders, supports student development and diversity, acts as a leader at the local, state, or national level, and performs their job in an exemplary manner. Nominees must be practicing Maryland certified school psychologists who spend the majority of their time providing direct services to students, teachers, and parents in school settings.
The eligibility criteria for each award along with nomination forms and materials can be found below. Nominations must be made by a current MSPA member and are to be submitted via email by Friday, March 1, 2025 in order to be accepted. Award winners will be recognized in Spring 2025. In addition, winners may be considered for NASP award nominations on behalf of MSPA.
If you have any questions about any of the awards, please contact Jeanne McCormack at publicaffairs@mspaonline.org.