Abstract
Increased exposure of undergraduate students to the field of school psychology through coursework and interactions with professors are common recommendations to help address the critical shortage of school psychologists. However, the extent to which professors trained in school psychology interact via the curriculum with undergraduate students has been unclear. In 2008 and 2018, two surveys were administered to determine the extent to which full-time professors trained in school psychology instruct undergraduate students and undergraduate school psychology-related courses as well as the courses they teach. All institutions with APA-accredited and/or NASP-approved doctoral school psychology programs were targeted for inclusion. Separate surveys were sent to the director of the school psychology program and the chair of the undergraduate psychology department at each institution. Response rates were moderate to high, and outcomes were highly consistent across the decade of comparison. Only about a third of school psychology graduate programs have faculty who teach an undergraduate course, and school psychology trained instructors comprise less than 4% of full-time undergraduate psychology faculty. Rarely was a course with “school psychology” in the title offered. The combined results suggest that opportunities for undergraduate students to interact with professors with training in school psychology or take courses directly related to the field have been extremely limited. Implications for recruitment and retention of high quality undergraduate students into graduate school psychology programs are discussed.
