Our Internship Faculty

Dr. Laura Rutherford is a nationally certified school psychologist, as well as a certified school psychologist in Pennsylvania and a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania. She is also a board certified behavior analyst. Her professional experience includes providing training, assessment and consultation services to teachers, parents and multi-disciplinary teams in both school and home settings. Dr. Rutherford is currently working on several projects to develop capacity for universal, targeted and individualized support systems in urban schools. Her research interests include, providing supports to schools for children with externalizing disorders and parent management training.

• Licensed Psychologist in Pennsylvania
• Certified School Psychologist in Pennsylvania
• Nationally Certified School Psychologist
• Board Certified Behavior Analyst
• Independent SWPBIS Facilitator: Tier I Universal Prevention for the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network
• Independent SWPBIS Facilitator: Advanced Tiers for the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network
• School-Wide Information System Facilitator (SWIS, CICO-SWIS, I-SWIS)

• Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
• Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports schools, alternative settings and preschools
• Classroom Management
• Parent Management Training

• 2021-present: Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Director of Training, Internship
• 2013-present: Devereux Center for Effective Schools - Consulting and Research Psychologist
• 2019-2021: Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Assistant Director of Training, Internship
• 2009-2013: Allentown School District - School Psychologist
• 2008-2009: Devereux Center for Effective Schools - Doctoral Intern
• 2007-2008: Allentown School District - School Psychologist

• Lehigh University - Ph.D. in School Psychology 
• Lehigh University - M.Ed. in Human Development 
• Tufts University – B.S. in Clinical Psychology and Child Development  

• Zakszeski, B. N., & Rutherford, L. (2020, February). Let’s talk about trauma: Dispelling common misconceptions about trauma-informed schools. Paper presented at the National Association of School Psychologists’ 2020 Annual Convention, Baltimore, MD.
• McCurdy, B., Rutherford, L., & McDowell, E. (2019, October). District Coaching Capacity. Paper presented at the National PBIS Leadership Forum, Chicago, IL.
• Hughes, E. L., Rutherford, L., & Francisco, J. (2019, June). Make it work: Implementing and sustaining SWPBIS in Philadelphia. Paper presented at the conference of the Missouri SW-PBS Summer Institute, Osage Beach, MO.
• Rutherford, L. & Franciso, J. (2019, November). Building up the forgotten tier: Integrating group-based, tier 2 interventions in SWPBIS. Paper presented at the annual conference on Advancing School Mental Health, Austin, TX.
• McDowell, E., Rutherford, L., & Gardella, J. (2019, July). Trauma, school police, and classrooms: Philadelphia’s next phase in PBIS implementation. Paper presented at the annual Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
• McDowell, E., Rutherford, L., & Gray, A. (2019, May). Trauma, school police, and classrooms: Philadelphia’s next phase in PBIS implementation. Paper presented at the annual implementer’s forum of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network, Hershey, PA.
• Hughes, E. L., Rutherford, L., & Francisco, J. (2019, March). Make it work: Implementing and sustaining SWPBIS in Philadelphia. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Positive Behavioral Support, Washington, DC.
• von der Embse, N., Rutherford, L., Mankin, A., and Jenkins, A. (under review). Demonstration of atrauma-informed assessment to intervention model in a large urban school district. School Mental Health.
• Hall, L., Eisenberg, R., Rutherford, L., and Thomas, L. (2018, May). Check-n/Check-Out: Making tier II a reality at your school. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Northeast Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support, Mystic, CT.
• Thomas, L., Rutherford, L., Eisenberg, R., Francisco, J., and McCurdy, B. (2018, March). PBIS in the classroom: Variations of a performance feedback coaching model. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Positive Behavioral Support, San Diego, California.
• Thomas, L. and Rutherford, L. (2017, May). Tired of problem admiring? Coaching teams in using team-initiated problem solving. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Northeast Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support, Mystic, CT.
• Rutherford, L., Francisco, J., and Heavner, E. (2017, March). Making it sunnier in Philadelphia: Implementing multi-tiered systems of supports and school-based behavioral health in an urban school district. Paper presented at the annual School Psychology Conference of Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.
• Rutherford, L., Thomas, L., Eisenberg, R., and McCurdy, B. (2017, February). Stop problem admiring: A model for productive problem solving. Paper presented at the annual conference of the National Association of School Psychologists, San Antonio, TX.
• Eisenberg, R., McCurdy, B., Stricker, L., and Rutherford, L. (2017, March). Evidence-based behavior management at home: Training foster parents in positive behavior support. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Positive Behavioral Support, Denver, CO.
• Rutherford, L., and von der Embse, N. (2017, March). Integrating universal screening within SWPBIS: An urban case example. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Association for Positive Behavioral Support, Denver, CO. 
• Rutherford, L. (2016, September). Team Initiated Problem Solving process (TIPS) model: Process for team meetings and data-based decision making. Paper presented at the annual Research Education and Advocacy for Children’s Health conference of Devereux Arizona, Phoenix, AZ.
• Rutherford, L., and Francisco, J. (2016, May) Check-In/Check-Out: A tier 2 intervention. Paper presented at the annual implementer’s forum of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network, Hershey, PA.
• Rutherford, L., Grasley-Boy, N., and Francisco, J. (2016, May). Team-Initiated Problems Solving (TIPS II). Paper presented at the annual implementer’s forum of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network, Hershey, PA.
• DuBois, J.B., Rutherford, L., and McCurdy, B. (2016, February). Well done, teachers! Self-monitoring to increase praise with secondary students. Paper presented at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists. New Orleans, LA.
• Rutherford, L.E., Grasley-Boy, N.M., DuBois, J.B., and Williams, A. (2016, March). Team-Initiated Problem-Solving (TIPS): An urban experience. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Association for Positive Behavior Support. San Francisco, CA.
• Rutherford, L.E, Hier, B.O., Lohrmann, S., and Battista, J. (2015, March). A tale of two cities: Adapting training and coaching to support implementation of SWPBIS in urban schools. Paper presented at the annual convention of the Association for Positive Behavior Support. Boston, MA.
• Rutherford, L.E, Hier, B.O, and McCurdy, B.L. (2015, February). Predictors of school climate in schools implementing school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Paper presented at the annual convention of the National Association of School Psychologists. Orlando, FL
• Rutherford, L.E., Greenblatt, J., Abrom, A., Smith, P., and Carrere, D.L. (2015, May). Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in urban schools. Paper presented at the annual implementer’s forum of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network, Hershey, PA
• McCurdy, B., Thomas, L., and Rutherford, L. (2014, May). Team Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS II) model revisited. Paper presented at the annual implementer’s forum of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network, Hershey, PA. 

• Savin Scholar – Devereux
• Youth Mental Health First Aid – Pennsylvania Stakeholder’s Workgroup (member)