Graduate Program

School Psychology

Degree Name

Specialist in School Psychology

Semester of Degree Completion

1996

Thesis Director

J. Michael Havey

Abstract

With the increasing national demand for credentialed school psychologists, it is essential that every effort be made to recruit qualified individuals into the field of school psychology. This paper describes the important role and function of the school psychologist. Research demonstrating the present and future need for school psychological services is presented. Literature investigating several factors that contribute to the gap between supply and demand is reviewed. An intervention is presented based on the recommendations of the reviewed research. A brief informational presentation on school psychology, in conjunction with distributed materials about the profession, was assessed with a retrospective pretest-posttest design. The intervention was shown to increase undergraduates' knowledge of school psychological service, the amount of information they had on school psychology as a potential career choice, and the amount of information they had on graduate training in school psychology. The intervention also significantly increased the number of students considering graduate training in school psychology. The majority of the students indicated that they planned on seeking more information about school psychology. The intervention was deemed relevant, interesting, and informative by the participants.

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