History of the future of proactive school psychology: Historical review at our 75th APA anniversary to transcend the past, excel in the present, and transform the future.

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to historically review the field of school psychology for the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the Division of School Psychology (DSP) of the APA. Past and present proactive school psychology was evaluated and recommendations for the future were offered in light of historic APA DSP goals. Since its inception, the DSP has worked with APA to protect and expand school psychology as a foundational service area within health service psychology. This article examines the challenges in the field, highlights current issues, and calls for a proactive and transformational future. The article concludes with suggestions from history to adopt current approaches to emulate the transformative vision of proactive school psychology.

Introduction to special issue on the history of the future of proactive school psychology: Transcending the past, excelling in the present, and transforming the future.

“…We strongly recommend that school psychology professionals commit to the social justice action in the School Psychology Unified Antiracism Statement and Call to Action (Garcia-Vazquez et al, 2020) to eradicate racism and educational disparities; ensure that culturally adapted, evidence-based comprehensive services are equitability accessible to all students with needs (Hughes et al, 2020; Nastasi et al, 2020); and rejuvenate programs of research to consider the ecology, physiology, psychology, and culture of each student (Jimersen et al, 2020; Klingball et al, 2020; Kranzler et al, 2020). More critically, it is all D16 members (not only the executive board) who are critical to the vitality of the division, the success of APA, and the field of school psychology (D’Amato et al, 2020).…”

“…To lay the foundation. D’Amato and Perfect (2020) provided an integrated overview of historical influences in school psychology governance, training, research, and practice. These historical figures and events surface in some of the other articles in the Special Issue to demonstrate connections with each domain.…”

“…The immense need of underserved populations and the increases in utilization of mental health services have clearly supported the need for a greater number of service providers. Multiple authors in this Special Issue identified the shortage as being the impetus for increased acceptance of master- or specialty-level school psychologists (D’Amato et al, 2020; Henington et al, 2020; Hughes et al, 2020). Nonetheless, given the complexities of many students and the fact that many other service providers operate with targeted clinical expertise, multiple authors in this Special Issue also emphasized the need for doctoral-level and postdoctoral school psychology subspecialties (Conoley et al, 2020; D’Amato et al, 2020; Reynolds, 2020).…”

“…Multiple authors in this Special Issue identified the shortage as being the impetus for increased acceptance of master- or specialty-level school psychologists (D’Amato et al, 2020; Henington et al, 2020; Hughes et al, 2020). Nonetheless, given the complexities of many students and the fact that many other service providers operate with targeted clinical expertise, multiple authors in this Special Issue also emphasized the need for doctoral-level and postdoctoral school psychology subspecialties (Conoley et al, 2020; D’Amato et al, 2020; Reynolds, 2020). Reynolds (2020) further noted that the focus on working with adults (“Adult School Psychology”) as proposed by Conoley et al (2020) was just one pathway to realize our promise but that there are multiple pathways.…”

COVID-19, Mental Health, Technology Use, and Job Satisfaction Among School Psychology Trainers

“…Some scholars contend that school psychology trainers have generally been slow adopters of computer-based training technologies (Bocanegra & Gallup, 2019). Nevertheless, scholars have recently noted the role that technologies (e.g., distance learning) may play in helping overcome some of the field's biggest challenges, such as ending the shortages crisis (Bocanegra & Gallup, 2019;D'Amato & Perfect, 2020). Research into the proliferation of online instruction in higher education, surveying only pre-pandemic usage, found that the use of distance education had increased for the 14th year in a row and had been growing faster than previous years with 31.6% of all students taking at least one distance course (Seaman et al, 2018).…”