Future Challenges and Opportunities: Toward Culturally Responsive Training in School Psychology

Abstract

This article argues that school psychology programs must prepare future school psychologists to address the needs of our increasingly diverse society. Providing training and field experiences that are grounded in multicultural practices, research, and advocacy will foster greater competence in addressing diverse schools', students', and families' needs. Following a review of relevant research on training program practices in this area, the authors identify four major program challenges to advancing culturally responsive preparation of school psychologists. These include (a) integrating multicultural perspectives within the philosophical foundation of training programs, (b) adapting multicultural approaches to reframe education and psychological theory in school psychology training, (c) defining the multicultural scope for training, and (d) articulating and implementing multicultural competencies via criteria already sanctioned by our profession through the latest National Association of School Psychologists Standards for Graduate Preparation of School Psychologists. C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Preparing school psychologists to provide culturally responsive practices is a complex task that offers many challenges along with opportunities. The purpose of this article is to articulate four major challenges in the preparation of school psychologists to provide culturally responsive services. The challenges entail addressing the basic foundations of program development while embracing multicultural perspectives. We also identify these challenges as opportunities to shape future training and to prepare future school psychologists to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.Multicultural school psychology training is conceptualized broadly in this article and in the context of preparing school psychologists to work with students and families from diverse backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, language, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and exceptionality. We argue that school psychology programs must prepare all school psychologists to render services to students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds by providing training experiences that are grounded in multicultural practices and research. As programs prepare to meet the latest National Association of School Psychologists Standards for Graduate Preparation of School Psychologists (NASP, 2010), we offer recommendations for meeting these standards in ways that are responsive to students' and families' diversity. BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW OF MULTICULTURAL TRAINING IN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGYIn a review of the literature, Esquivel, Warren and Orlizky (2007) provided a comprehensive historical overview of the development of multicultural school psychology and argued that the emphasis on multicultural issues in school psychology "began slowly" but has become "a critical aspect of the identity of school psychology as a profession" (p. 3). According to Lopez and Rogers (2007), in the 1980s, the school psychology literature started to addre...

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“…School psychologists must understand the distinct needs of students from diverse backgrounds (e.g., race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexuality, gender identity) (Martines, ; Wright Carroll, ). Training programs play a critical role in ensuring future practitioners receive experiences grounded in multicultural research and practices (e.g., coursework infused with multicultural content, field‐based placements with diverse populations) (Lopez & Bursztyn, ; Rogers, ).…”

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