Handbook of psychology volume 7 educational psychology

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PA R T F I V E

EXCEPTIONAL LEARNER PROGRAMS

AND STUDENTS

431

Professional Associations

441

National Association of School Psychologists

441

Graduate Programs

442

Graduate Program Standards and

Accreditation-Approval

444

Summary

445

School Psychology Scholarship

445

CONTEMPORARY AND FUTURE CHALLENGES

446

Disability Determination and Special

Education Placement

446

Empirically Supported Treatments-Interventions

448

Personnel Needs

448

Demands for Mental Health Services

449

SUMMARY

449

REFERENCES

449

The school psychology profession that exists today was shaped

over the last century by multiple factors that continue to influ-

ence current thought and practice. These foundational influ-

ences are discussed in the initial section of this chapter and are

followed by a review of the current status of school psychology

in terms of roles and services, legal requirements, employment

conditions, credentialing, infrastructure (professional associa-

tions, standards, journals), demographics, and supply-demand

issues. The concluding section addresses probable future de-

velopments in light of current trends.

Although much has changed over the last century in

psychology and education, the core features of school psy-

chology practice have remained remarkably stable. School

psychology’s earliest practitioners were concerned with

identification and interventions for students with atypical

patterns of learning and development, a core mission that

dominates practice today. The principal basis for initiating

services was then—and continues to be—referral of children

due to learning problems, behavior problems, or both, most

often by classroom teachers who are frustrated because the

usual classroom strategies are not working. Moreover, then as

now the vast majority of school psychologists’ professional

practice involved a close association with educational ser-

vices to students with disabilities such as mental retardation

(MR), emotional disturbance (ED) and, recently, specific

learning disability (SLD).

Throughout school psychology’s history there has been a

parallel concern with enhancing the educational and devel-

opmental opportunities of all children through the implemen-

tation of sound mental health practices in schools, homes,

neighborhoods, and communities. Current programs to estab-

lish schools as full-service educational and health agencies are

one of the contemporary reflections of the latter trend. The

broader positive mental health mission has always been, how-

ever, secondary to the core role of identification and interven-

tions with students with learning and behavior problems.

HISTORICAL TRENDS

The early roots, the disciplinary foundations, and the societal

trends that produced modern school psychology are discussed

in this section. The early roots of school psychology emerged

in the late 1890s in urban settings where school attendance

CHAPTER 17

School Psychology

DANIEL J. RESCHLY

HISTORICAL TRENDS

431

Disciplinary Foundations of School Psychology

432

Societal Trends and School Psychology

432

DEMOGRAPHICS AND CURRENT

PRACTICE CONDITIONS

433

Employment

433

Demographics

435

Roles and Services

436

Ratios and Regional Differences

437

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

437

Legislation

437

Assessment and Eligibility

Determination Regulations

439

Trends in Legal Requirements

440

Summary of Legal Requirements

440

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

441

432

School Psychology

was increasingly expected of all children and youth. Concerns

for children with low achievement soon emerged, and efforts

to identify the causes and solutions to low achievement were

undertaken in several urban centers at about the same time

(Fagan, 1992). It is interesting to note that the same concerns

dominate most of school psychology practice today.

Disciplinary Foundations of School Psychology

Multiple disciplinary foundations exist for graduate educa-

tion and school psychology practice. School psychology

originated in the very early practice of what became clinical

psychology involving the application of psychological meth-

ods to the understanding of learning and behavior problems

of school-age children and youth (Fagan, 2000). Understand-

ing and intervening with these problems always has involved

multiple disciplines, including educational psychology (espe-

cially, the learning, measurement, and child development

components), psychopathology and psychology of excep-

tional individuals, developmental psychology, counseling,

clinical psychology, applied behavior analysis, and special

education. These disciplinary foundations are clearly present

in the authoritative statements of the crucial features of

school psychology graduate education and practice (National

Association of School Psychologists, 2000; Ysseldyke et al.,

1997).

Societal Trends and School Psychology

School psychology always has been responsive to societal

trends. In fact, whatever the current major issue is, it will be

represented prominently in contemporary exhortations re-

garding what school psychologists should be doing. Two

examples of this pattern should suffice. During the 1980s

enormous emphasis was placed on drug abuse among youth

and the school’s role in preventing drug abuse. The outcome

was that awareness was increased and a few really good pre-

ventive programs were developed; however, although drug

abuse continues to be a huge problem, relatively little atten-

tion is paid to this problem in the current school psychology

literature.

A contemporary trend involves prevention of violence in

schools, undoubtedly prompted by a few highly publicized

horrific incidents in American schools resulting in the loss of

approximately 60 students’ lives. The emphasis on violence

prevention is important but perhaps a bit disproportionate in

comparison to other more common problems. For example,

overall, schools are overall, safer in the early 2000s than in

the 1980s in terms of the number of lives lost in schools due

to violence; however, youth violence remains a serious and

often-discussed issue (U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services, 2001).

The persistence and impact of school psychology’s atten-

tion to immediate societal problems depends on how well

interventions become embedded in typical practice and im-

plemented successfully in schools. For example, the use of

group counseling and other peer group support procedures

was expanded in the 1980s and then embedded in the practice

of many school psychologists working in secondary schools.

These methods are now applied to many different problems,

including decision making about sexual behavior, social

skills training, and, of course, drug abuse.

Similarly, the current emphasis on violence prevention

will have a lasting influence in school psychology to the de-

gree that the intervention methods developed are generally

useful in preventing or ameliorating a range of problems. For

example, the schoolwide interventions currently being imple-

mented in schools as part of violence prevention efforts have

positive influences on overall school and classroom climate,

on preventing violent incidents, and on the reduction of other

problems such as disciplinary referrals and dropout rates

(Horner & Sugai, 2000; Sugai et al., 2000; Walker et al.,

1996). If these interventions are incorporated into standard

practice, then the current attention to school violence will

have a lasting and positive effect.

Compulsory Education and Educational Outcomes

Fagan (1992) documented the impact of compulsory schooling

on the development of school psychology in the twentieth cen-

tury. Compulsory schooling and (increasingly) the expectation

of high educational achievement for all children and youth

continue to influence school psychology. Exceptional patterns

of development and differences in achievement became much

more problematic with compulsory school attendance begin-

ning in the early 1900s and expanding through the rest of the

century. A contemporary expression of the expansion of com-

pulsory schooling is the strong emphasis on improving school

attendance and preventing school withdrawal prior to the com-

pletion of high school. School dropout after a certain age (age

14, 15, or 16) was tolerated more readily in the 1960s, 1970s,

and 1980s. Today, dropout prevention is a major goal of school

reform along with expectations for high achievement for all

children and youth (McDonnell, McLaughlin, & Morison,

1997).

Compulsory school attendance and expectations for high

achievement for all students influenced early and contempo-

rary school psychology in many ways. More children were

in public schools. Moreover, through the century it was

Demographics and Current Practice Conditions

433

progressively less likely that students with serious achieve-

ment and behavior problems were excluded from schools,

increasing the need for school psychological services and ed-

ucational accommodations for students who varied on impor-

tant dimensions related to education (learning rate, cognitive

functioning, behavior, etc.). Today the demand for high

achievement for all students, including those with disabili-

ties, places more emphasis on effective general and special

education interventions and school psychology services that

are directly related to producing better outcomes. 

Exceptional Individuals and Special Education

School psychology always emphasized recognition of indi-

vidual differences in learning and development. The associa-

tion with special education also occurred early in the history

of school psychology, and (as discussed later) the existence of

school psychology has closely paralleled the development of

special education funding in the states. In most states, school

psychologists have had mandated roles with the development

of special education eligibility and placement. Part of that

role always has been measurement of individual differences,

often through comparing individual performance to national

normative standards, and the development of educational

programs to accommodate those differences.

Child Study and Mental Health

The early child study movement in the 1890 to 1910 period

was another foundation for school psychology (Fagan, 1992).

Child study methods later merged with school and clinical

psychology and formed the basis for the increasingly close

ties of school psychology to special education. The mental

health movement that emerged in the 1920s is the basis for

contemporary efforts to prevent academic, social-behavioral,

and emotional problems through positive parenting and re-

sponsive school programs. The mental health movement has

fostered many different approaches to prevention and inter-

vention, varying from the psychoanalytic and psychody-

namic roots in the early period to contemporary, behaviorally

based schoolwide positive discipline programs. The effec-

tiveness of mental health programs always has been contro-

versial (e.g., Bickman, 1997).

Individual Rights and Legal Guarantees

The expansion of individual rights and legal guarantees to

educational services for all children and youth exerted vast

influences on school psychology. The U.S. Supreme Court

decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that outlawed

segregation of students by race in public schools initiated a

movement that continues to grow and develop. Brown and

subsequent litigation and legislation established strong sanc-

tions against differential treatment of individuals on the basis

of race, sex, age, and disability status (Reschly & Bersoff,

1999). Perhaps the most pervasive effect of this movement

was to change the relationship of parents and students to

schools. The discretion of schools to limit access or to segre-

gate students was changed forever. Moreover, parents and

students increasingly acquired the rights to challenge the

decisions of educators and to seek redress in the courts.

The greatest current influences on school psychology are

the court cases and legislation guaranteeing educational rights

to students with disabilities (SWD). As noted later, the ex-

panded rights changed the practice of school psychology in

significant ways and markedly expanded special education

and school psychology.

DEMOGRAPHICS AND CURRENT

PRACTICE CONDITIONS

The current status of school psychology is discussed in this

section, including roles and practices, employment condi-

tions, personnel needs, and demographics. The characteris-

tics of school psychology practice and practitioners have

changed rapidly in a few areas while many other factors have

remained stable over the last quarter century. 

Employment

Numbers and Salaries

The number of school psychologists working in public school

positions in the United States is impossible to know with cer-

tainty. Two methods have been used to estimate the total em-

ployed in schools—surveys of state department of education

personnel and state school psychology leadership officials

and the annual state reports to the Federal Office for Special

Education Programs (OSEP) of personnel employed working

with SWD. The results of the two methods are generally very

similar in overall numbers and correlated at r

ϭ .9 or above

(Lund, Reschly, & Martin, 1998). The OSEP results may be a

very slight undercount because they do not include practi-

tioners in schools not counted as working with special educa-

tion programs.

According to the most recent OSEP count, over

25,000 school psychologists are employed in school settings.

There are perhaps another 3,000 school psychology practi-

tioners working in other roles in schools, such as director of

434

School Psychology

special education, or in other settings, such as medical clin-

ics, community mental health, and private practice. Other

career settings for school psychologists include college and

university teaching and research as well as state department

of education staff. Of course, some persons with graduate

education and experience in school psychology are in a very

wide variety of roles such as university president, college

provost and dean, school superintendent or principal, test pub-

lishing, and private consultation. The exact number of persons

with school psychology graduate education and experience in

the schools working in related careers or settings is impossi-

ble to determine; however, it is likely that the there are at

least 30,000 such persons.

School psychology employment has grown rapidly since

the enactment of the Education of the Handicapped Act

(EHA; 1975, 1977), now the Individuals with Disabilities

Education Act (IDEA; 1991, 1997, 1999). Prior to about

1975, the number of school psychologists and the ratio of

students to psychologists in a state depended very heavily on

whether the state had strong special education legislation

and—as a part of that legislation—funding for school psy-

chological services. Kicklighter (1976) reported an average

ratio of about 22,000 students to one psychologist and a me-

dian of about 9,000 students per psychologist. The large dif-

ferences between the median and mean indicate that there

were enormous differences between states and regions and

generally high (by present standards; see later discussion) ra-

tios in nearly all localities (Fagan, 1988).

School psychology’s growth over the last 25 years is

documented through OSEP annual reports on the imple-

mentation of EHA and IDEA since 1976 (see Figure 17.3

later in this chapter; U.S. Department of Education,

1978–2001). The number of school psychologists over that

time period increased from about 10,000 in 1977–1978 to

more than 26,000 in 1998–1999—an increase of more than

150%. Approximately 750 school psychologists have been

added annually to the profession, severely challenging the

ability of graduate programs to provide an adequate supply of

fully credentialed persons (see later discussion). For exam-

ple, in the most recent year for which data are available,

1998–1999 (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), 1,025 of

the 26,266 psychologists reported by the states to OSEP were

not fully certified as school psychologists. Moreover, the

growth of school psychology is tied to school budgets. In-

creased growth has occurred in good economic times (Lund

et al., 1998), and it is likely that less growth or perhaps even

a slight contraction is currently underway. Figure 17.3 (later

in this chapter) summarizes the growth of school psychology

by year since 1977–1978.

Employers and Salary

The vast majority of school psychologists (85% or more)

work for publicly supported educational agencies such as

school districts or regional education units. Most practition-

ers work very closely with special education programs in

which they have particularly demanding responsibilities with

disability diagnosis and special education program place-

ment (see later discussion of roles and legal influences). Most

are employed on 190- to 200-day contracts. The salaries for

school psychologists nearly always are determined by years

of professional experience, degree level, length of contract,

and—occasionally—increased by supervisory responsibili-

ties, specialized roles, or unique strengths such as bilingual

capabilities. The average beginning salary is in the low

$30,000s, but the variations among districts, states, and re-

gions are substantial. The average salary for a school psy-

chologist with a 190-day contract, 15 years of experience,

and the equivalent of specialist-level graduate education (see

later section) is in the mid-$50,000s, although again, there

are large regional variations (Hosp & Reschly, 2002).

Job Satisfaction

Overall, the job satisfaction of school psychologists has been

positive and stable over the last two decades. Reschly and

colleagues began studies of job satisfaction in the mid-1980s

in response to anecdotal reports that many school psycholo-

gists were unhappy with their work and planned to leave the

profession in the near future (Vensel, 1981). Contrary to the

anecdotal observations that received a good deal of attention

in the early 1980s, job satisfaction is generally positive. The

vast majority of practitioners plan to continue in school psy-

chology for many years or until retirement and are satisfied

with their career choice (Hosp & Reschly, 2002; Reschly,

Genshaft, & Binder, 1987; Reschly & Wilson, 1995).

The picture becomes more nuanced when different aspects

of job satisfaction are considered. Using a five-area job satis-

faction scale in a Likert scale format patterned after the five-

factor content of the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Smith,

Kendall, & Hulin, 1969), Reschly and Wilson’s (1995) na-

tional survey results indicated high and positive satisfaction

with colleagues and work, moderate satisfaction with super-

vision, and neutral perceptions of pay, but they also reported

low satisfaction with promotion opportunities—a pattern

also reported by Hosp and Reschly (2002) in a more recent

survey (see Figure 17.1). For many practitioners—especially

those at the specialist level of graduate preparation—

advancement opportunities are seen as rather limited. One of