Meeting the Training Blueprint: Diversity Awareness and Sensitive Service Delivery

Abstract

The National Association of School Psychologists (Blueprint III; Ysseldyke et al., 2006) and the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 16 (Rogers et al., 1999) each published sets of recommendations for school psychologists who work with diverse populations. Using these recommendations as a guide, researchers surveyed opinions of school psychology faculty members regarding how well diversity standards are implemented in training programs across the United States. Questions were asked across three settings: 1) programs of origin, 2) programs where they teach, and 3) an “ideal” program. An evaluation of the ratings indicated significant improvement from what faculty members were taught about diversity in their programs of origin to what they now teach their students. Even with such improvement, several diversity-training topics are identified that currently fail to meet the standards of what would be found in an ideal program.