A Brief Discussion of the History, Role, and Function of the School Psychologist in the Former Soviet Union and Russia

School psychology in the former Soviet Union and Russia had its beginnings as the field of Pedology which thrived in the early 1900s in Europe and in the former Soviet Union. School psychological services, in Western psychometric sense, have been virtually dormant since Pedology\u27s downfall following ideological conflicts with Communist leaders in 1936 when standardized testing was banned in the U.S.S.R. This paper sketches a brief history of school psychology in the former Soviet Union and Russia, outlines the educational system, reviews the Soviet research on mental retardation, and calls for the sharing of general information related to international school psychology. The current role and function of the school psychologist will also be discussed using translated Russian-language articles and the works of three American authors specializing in Soviet school psychology (H. S. Pambookian, B. Gindis, and I. V. Holowinsky)