The Future of School Psychology Conference

Framing Opportunties for Consultation: A Special Double Issue of the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation

Emilia C. Lopez, Emilia C. Lopez

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781135067205
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

First published in 2005. This Volume 15, numbers 3 and 4 of the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation 2004 and has the future of school psychology conference- 'framing opportunities for Consultation' as its special focus.

Special Issue Introduction

Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation Editors Collaborate to Chart School Psychology’s Past, Present, and “Futures”

Rik Carl D’amato

Editor, School Psychology Quarterly University of Northern Colorado

Susan M. Sheridan

Editor, School Psychology Review University of Nebraska-Lincoln

LeAdelle Phelps

Editor, Psychology in the Schools State University of New York at Buffalo

Emilia C. Lopez

Editor, Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation Queens College of the City University of New York

Correspondence should be addressed to Rik Carl D’amato, PhD, Office of the Dean & Division of Professional Psychology, College of Education, McKee Hall of Education 125, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO 80631. E-mail: [email protected]

Reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright 2004 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

For the first time in the history of school psychology, four editors of journals with a school psychology readership are collaborating to offer our field extensive coverage of the recently held School Psychology Futures conference and to continue discussion on a variety of topics relevant to the professional practice of school psychology. This introduction briefly describes the special journal issues that will be or have been offered in Psychology in the Schools (PITS), School Psychology Review (SPR), School Psychology Quarterly (SPQ), and Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (JEPC) on topics related to the conference. This information is provided in an effort to offer our readers a Futures link across a variety of journals and organizations, including both the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). (All of our journals are available by subscription, or individual special issues can be purchased from the publishers listed.) This introduction, which will be reprinted at the beginning of all of our special issues, establishes a context for the Futures conference by discussing the promise (and practice) of school psychology in our ever changing, vibrant, but problem-saturated society. We hope you will join us in using these vital resources to help chart new Futures for school psychology.

For almost a half century, students in school psychology have investigated the “Boulder” and “Thayer” conferences (e.g., Cutts, 1955; Raimy, 1950), studying and exploring our foundation as scientist-practitioners and brooding over the school in school psychology. Although the Boulder conference clearly contributed to the science in our practice (Bardon, 1989; Gutkin & Reynolds, 1999), most of the issues considered at the Thayer conference (e.g., titles, roles, and services) were not resolved. The contributions of the “other” conferences, the Olympia Conference and the Spring Hill Symposium, remain even less obvious, and the outcomes are even more debated (Brown, Cardon, Coulter, & Meyers, 1982; Ysseldyke & Weinberg, 1981). Indeed, school psychology’s track record with psychology conferences is filled with a great deal of conversation but little documented change (Conoley & Gutkin, 1995; D’amato & Dean, 1989; Sheridan & Gutkin, 2000). Nevertheless, current conceptualizations of leadership stressing strategic planning and popular maxims of our day still reflect Benjamin Franklin’s belief that “by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.”

With this in mind, NASP and APA proactively cooperated with other child advocacy groups (e.g., Society for the Study of School Psychology) to offer the November 2002 conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the goal of examining contemporary needs, issues, and practices and preparing for our “Futures.” Through the use of technology, the Futures e-conference was able to connect with various sites and individuals from around the world. While typical on-site meetings were held, as had previously been the case, in vivo broadcasts connected Indianapolis with school psychology practitioners, university trainers, and students-in-training across the globe. Individuals at these remote sites were able to attend and participate in the conference, including asking questions from presenters in real time.

School Psychology Review-School Psychology Quarterly ¹

In a notable alliance, SPR and SPQ published the proceedings of the conference jointly. The conference proceedings appeared in the 2003 Winter issue of SPQ and in the 2004 Spring issue of SPR. This partnership has provided all members of the largest two professional school psychology associations a copy of the conference proceedings. In an effort to provide individuals who are members of both organizations with original information, SPR is publishing its traditional research articles with the conference proceedings in the second half of their Spring issue. The keynote addresses from Drs. Thomas Kratochwill, Robert Sternberg, Michael Curtis, Deborah Crockett, and Sandra Christenson are presented in our combined issue. Related comments are provided by trainers, practitioners, and students in an article by Drs. Margaret Dawson, Jack A. Cummings, Patti L. Harrison, Rick J. Short, Susan Gorin, and Ron Palomares and an article by Dr. Gena N. Ehrhardt-Padgett et al. Some of the broad themes of the conference addressed were the current shortage of school psychologists, reduction of traditional assessments and development of more interventions, accountability, the need to focus on prevention and early intervention, families and home-school partnerships, collaboration across professional and psychological specialties, use of technology, innovative training needs, and diversity considerations (Dawson, Cummings, Harrison, Short, Gorin, & Palomares, this issue).

Psychology in the Schools ²

As part of the School Psychology Futures Conference: Special Journal Issues series, Psychology in the Schools published a special issue entitled Shortage of School Psychologists in the April 2004 issue. It was guest edited by Dr. David McIntosh. Coverage included a historical perspective of school psychology personnel shortages, best practices in doctoral and specialist respecialization, methods of addressing the shortage of school psychologists within the schools and in academia, and exploration of the shortage of ethnically diverse school psychologists. The special issue featured articles by Melissa A. Bray, Elaine Clark, Tony D. Crespi, MichaelJ. Curtis, Andrew S. Davis, Thomas K. Fagan, Rosemary Flanagan, William R. Jenson, K. Angeleque Akin-Little, Steven G. Little, David E. McIntosh, LeAdelle Phelps, Natalie N. Politikos, Thomas J. Kehle, and Zheng Zhou.

School Psychology Quarterly

SPQ also sponsored a 2004 special issue addressing the faculty shortage in school psychology and related difficulties, edited by Drs. Steve Little and Angeleque Akin-Little. This issue considerd the “State of the Academy” given current shortages and features topics including trends in graduate program faculty production, perceptions of academic positions by graduate students, strategies for promoting academic careers and increasing faculty numbers, and perceptions of women in school psychology. The special issue featured articles by Drs, Little, Akin-Little, Daniel Tingstrom, Richard Nagle, Sandra Christensen, Tanya Eckert, Melissa Bray, Thomas Kehle, Thomas Kratochwill, Edward Shapiro, Kevin Stark, and Michelle Perfect.

Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation ³

Consultation emerged as a major thread throughout the School Psychology Futures Conference as participants brainstormed problems and solutions to meet the critical issues faced by school professionals as they work towards improving educational and mental health outcomes for children and families. The conference proceedings (now published in SPR and SPQ) provided the momentum for the special issue “The Future of School Psychology Conference: Framing Opportunities for Consultation.” The special issue will be published in the JEPC and will focus on examining the future of consultation as framed by the conference participants and proceedings. Among the contributors are Drs. Janet Graden, Kathryn Grogg, Chryse Hatzichristou, Aikaterini Lampropoulou, Adina B. Meyers, Joel Meyers, Bonnie Nastasi, and Lorraine Wizda. Overall, the articles in the special issue address the role of consultation in meeting the critical challenges faced by schools today, while also exploring the implications of these challenges within the context of future research, practice, and training. The special issue is being published in Volume 15, Issues 3 and 4, of JEPC.

Conclusions

It is easy to hope for and dream of change but we all know that real life implementation is much more difficult. The Futures conference has provided us with a great opportunity—perhaps the greatest opportunity that we will experience in our careers. What is the promise of school psychology? Who do we hope to serve? What do we hope to accomplish? How can we develop mentally and physically healthy children, safe schools, compassionate teachers, and committed parents? How can we get from there to here? That is our focus as we explore a variety of questions, systems, and possibilities in the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Review, and School Psychology Quarterly. We hope you will join us on our journey to improve the lives of children, youth, families, and school personnel around our globe.

References

Bardon, J. I. (1989). The school psychologist as an applied educational psychologist. In R. C. D’amato & R. S. Dean (Eds.). The school psychologist in nontraditional settings: Integrating clients, services, and settings (pp. 185-209). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Brown, D. T., Cardon, B. W., Coulter, W. A., & Myers, J. (Eds.). (1982). The Olympia Proceedings [Special Issue], School Psychology Review, 11.

Conoley, J. C., & Gutkin, T. B. (1995). Why didn’t—why doesn’t—school psychology realize its promise? Journal of School Psychology, 33, 209-217.

Cutts, N. E. (Ed.). (1955). School psychologists at mid-century. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

D’amato, R. C., & Dean, R. S. (1989). The past, present, and future of school psychology in nontraditional settings. In R. C. D’amato & R. S. Dean (Eds.), The school psychologist in nontraditional settings: Integrating clients, services, and settings (pp. 185-209). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Dawson, M., Cummings, J. A., Harrison, P. L., Short, R. J., Gorin, S., & Palomares, R. (2003-2004). The 2002 multi-site conference on the future of school psychology: New steps. School Psychology Quarterly, 18, 497-509. School Psychology Review, 33, 115-125.

Gutkin, T. B., & Reynolds, C. R. (Eds.), (1999). The handbook of school .psychology (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.

Raimy, V. C. (Ed.). (1950). Training in clinical psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Sheridan, S. M., & Gutkin, T. B. (2000). The ecology of school psychology: Examining and changing our paradigm for the 21st century. School Psychology Reviews, 29, 485-502.

Ysseldyke, J. E., & Weinberg, R. A. (Eds.). (1981). The future of psychology in the schools: Proceedings of the Spring Hill Symposium. School Psychology Review, 10.

Notes

1 SPQ can be ordered from Guilford Publications (visit www.guilford.com). Members of the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association receive, as part of their membership, a subscription to SPQ. SPR can be ordered from the National Association of School Psychologists (visit [email protected]). Members of the National Association of School Psychologists receive as part of their membership a subscription to SPR.

2 This special issue or a subscription to PITS can be ordered from Wiley at www.wiley.com.

3 Readers can purchase the special issue at www.erlbaum.com (click on journals and find

JEPC).

The 2002 Conference on the Future of School Psychology: Implications for Consultation, Intervention, and Prevention Services

Jack A. Cummings

Indiana University

Patti L. Harrison

The University of Alabama

Margaret M. Dawson

Seacoast Mental Health Center, Portsmouth, NH

Rick J. Short

University of Missouri

Susan Gorin

National Association of School Psychologists

Ronald S. Palo...