Achieving ethnic minority parity in school psychology

Abstract

The article addresses the demographic characteristics of students in school psychology programs nationwide with respect to providing a rationale for the importance of increasing the proportion of minority school psychologists who are underrepresented. Emphasis on training culturally competent psychologists is reviewed within a historical context. Barriers impeding the graduate training of minority students in school psychology are delineated. Feasible strategies to recruit minority students and faculty are presented. The implications for training and practice are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The growing number of ethnic minorities in the United States presents a challenge to school psychologists and other mental health professionals who have been trained in assessment, counseling, consultation, and intervention strategies targeted primarily for European Americans. During the past decade, population growth rates have been the highest for Asian, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic individuals. It is expected that by the Year 2050, people of color will represent 50% of the United States' population (Hall, 1997; National Association of School Psychologists, 2003). Further, these trends have been reflected in the population of children enrolled in elementary and secondary schools (Loe, 2000).The majority of school-age children's primary languages is other than English. This demographic change requires new perspectives in the training of school psychologists and thus necessitates unique skills on their understanding of this population. This increase in the diversity of student bodies requires culturally and linguistically competent school psychologists. However, school psychology remains an ethnically homogeneous profession that nonetheless provides services to a diverse population of students and families (Loe, 2000).The paucity of minority students and faculty needs to be addressed. The purpose of this article is to address the shortages of minorities in school psychology. The first section briefly describes the historical emphasis on cultural diversity in psychology. The second section presents the current demographic characteristics of minority students and faculty. In the third section, barriers impeding the graduate training of minority students are described. The fourth section focuses on recruitment and retention of students and faculty from underrepresented populations. The fifth and final section covers the implication of ethnic diversity in training and practice of culturally competent school psychologists.

Diversity research literature on the rise? A review of school psychology journals from 2000 to 2003

“…The first limitation is that publications in school psychology journals are only one indicator of the extent to which diversity is incorporated into a field. Among other indicators that were not examined but are believed to be important toward promoting cultural competence among school psychologists are recruitment and retention of students and faculty from underrepresented populations (Rogers, 2005;Zhou et al, 2004), the extent to which diversity issues are incorporated into school psychology training (Rogers, 2005), diversity-related presentations at state, regional, and national conferences, diversity-related publications in other sources (e.g., professional newsletters), availability and utilization of training for cultural competency, and position statements adopted by state, national, and international organizations that represent school psychologists. Also, by not counting all studies that contained a minority sample as "diversity related," this study may have underrepresented the actual amount of research being conducted with minority students.…”

“…Adding linguistic and socioeconomic variables, this makes school psychologists quite different from the children they work with, and these demographic differences are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future (Zhou et al, 2004).…”

School psychology's significant discrepancy: Historical perspectives on personnel shortages

“…Unlike gender, minority representation has posed a persistent shortage (Zhou et al, 2004). Driven by societal changes in demographics and civil rights, the minority shortage of school psychologists has been a consistent theme throughout the Thoroughbred Years.…”

Culturally competent school assessment: Performance measures of personality

“…Non-White membership in the National Association of School Psychologists approximates 10% (Rogers, 2005) and is somewhat below recent student/faculty percentages in all graduate programs of 27%/12% (Norcross, Kohout, & Wichierski, 2005). The continuing absence of a "critical mass" of nonWhite students and faculty in school psychology requires careful student recruitment planning to address this dilemma (Zhou et al, 2004).…”