The Hybrid Years 419Problemsby Gertrude Hildreth (1930). In addition, the first
journal article including “school psychologist” in its title ap-
peared early during this period (Hutt, 1923).
Training Program Development
For psychology trainees desiring to work in the schools, rec-
ommended curricula were available at several colleges and
universities. In the late 1920s, New York University estab-
lished the first programs specifically titled “school psychol-
ogy” leading to undergraduate and graduate degrees and even
the doctorate (Fagan, 1999). In the late 1930s, Pennsylvania
State University also established graduate sequences for school
psychologists, although a specific school psychology doctoral
program was not available until much later. By the end of
the period, few training programs were specifically titled
“school psychology,” and most personnel continued to be
trained in general experimental psychology, educational and
clinical psychology, and teacher-education-related programs.
Credentialing Development
Governmental recognition of psychologists providing ser-
vices to public schools emerged in this period. The develop-
ment of standardized tests to facilitate the proper placement
and education of children made it necessary to impose some
form of regulation on those who administered the tests. By
1925, the New York City public school system was offering a
licensing examination for persons holding a master’s degree
from an institution recognized by the state’s board of regents
and who had at least 1 year of experience in mental measure-
ment. Although specific evidence of credentialing is lacking,
it is probable that several other major cities were also imple-
menting some regulation. In some locales, especially smaller
cities and rural settings, such regulation required no more
than a teaching certificate and a special course in Binet test-
ing; the experts were often referred to as “Binet examiners.”
The title “school psychologist” was growing in use but was
not widespread.
State-level credentials for school psychologists were first
approved in New York and Pennsylvania in the mid-1930s.
Although the requirements did not include graduation from a
training program in school psychology per se, recommended
programs of preparation appropriate to such practice were
included, as were expectations for fieldwork experience.
Graduate-level work (which might lead to the master’s de-
gree) was expected in addition to an undergraduate degree. In
Pennsylvania, practitioners were called “school psychological
examiners” or “school psychologists” (depending on experi-
ence); in New York, they were called “school psychologists.”
Characteristics of PracticeSpecific practice information is provided in Hildreth (1930)
and in her diary entries when she was a school psychologist
for the Okmulgee, Oklahoma, schools (1922–1923). (The
Educational Testing Service maintains her papers.) These and
other retrospective accounts reveal an expansion of services
from the previous period, though services were still domi-
nated by the psychoeducational assessment role. Newly de-
veloped tests of achievement, as well as the Binet scales,
revised in 1937 to include two forms (L and M), were in wide-
spread and frequent use. Practitioners were also involved in
group testing, academic remediation, adjustment services for
children with social and emotional problems, and consul-
tation, while administrative, in-service education, and re-
search duties continued to take up small percentages of time.
Watson’s behaviorism had a discernible impact on educators,
although it is unlikely that many practitioners were providing
behavior modification services. In comparison to psychoe-
ducational assessment services, therapeutic interventions,
behavioral or psychodynamic, were not common among
applied psychologists of this period (Loutit, 1939).
The 1935 New York State certification requirements spec-
ified the duties of the school psychologist:Subject to the direction and supervision of the superintendent of
schools, to examine children for ungraded classes, classes of
mentally retarded or gifted children and other special classes in
which mental ability of the pupils is the main factor; diagnose
learning difficulties of children and suggest remedial treatment;
investigate causes of personality and social maladjustment; su-
pervise the diagnostic and remedial measures and procedures
used by teachers and supervisors in overcoming learning diffi-
culties or social maladjustments of pupils, and advise and assist
teachers and supervisors in the application of such measures;
give pupils individual instruction in overcoming learning diffi-
culties or other maladjustments and advise supervisors, teachers
and parents with regard to the kind of instruction given to said
pupils; confer with teachers and parents with regard to the learn-
ing and behavior problems of children; advise teachers, princi-
pals and the superintendent of schools with regard to all matters
relating to psychological problems of children; and to related
work as required. (Cooper, 1935, pp. 14–15)The services described were probably more comprehensive
than most school psychologists were able to provide at that
time, especially in rural areas and in states less professionally
advanced than New York. The Bureau of Child Guidance in the
New York City schools and the Bureau of Child Study in
the Chicago public schools are examples of comprehensive
urban service delivery for that period (City of New York,