426 School Psychology
(e.g., neuropsychological and cognitive theories). Skinnerian
behaviorism, traceable to the influences of Thorndike and
Watson in child study many decades before, had a strong im-
pact on school psychology. Its offshoot, cognitive behavior
modification, found even greater acceptance by emphasizing
cognitive interactional variables of the child and the environ-
ment. Broader forms of theoretical application, including
reciprocal determinism, constructivist developmental psy-
chology, and ecological psychology, seemed well established
by the turn of the twenty-first century. School psychologists,
supported by the work of other pupil personnel special-
ists (e.g., guidance counselors, speech and language clini-
cians, social workers) were conducting more comprehensive
assessments that were better connected to interventions than
observed in the Hybrid Years.
The “gatekeeper” perception had been countered by team
approaches, especially prereferral approaches, and by the
persistent indication that school psychologists were spend-
ing at least 25% to 40% of their time in consultation and in-
tervention roles. These results reveal an expansion of the
consultation and intervention roles from data earlier in the
period (Farling & Hoedt, 1971). Part of this expansion seems
attributable to the widespread concern for “at-risk” students
during this period as opposed to the long-standing concern
for students suspected of being eligible for special education.
At-risk students (e.g., those living in poverty or single-parent
homes, students with pregnancy, substance abuse) demanded
nontraditional school psychological services, including con-
sultation and interventions with students and educators in the
regular education program. Another factor was the necessity
for crisis intervention skills that developed rapidly in the
1990s in response to a series of school violence incidents
across the country. Thus, since 1970, broader roles for many
school psychologists developed despite continued and persis-
tent demand for the traditional roles associated with special
education services.
Overview
The Thoroughbred Years brought to fruition the symbols of
professionalization emerging in the Hybrid Years and several
symbols not attained until after 1970. It was an era of estab-
lishing an identity for the field despite conflicting points of
tension along dimensions of doctoral and nondoctoral
practice, credentialing, and training. The field has survived
its divided organizational viewpoints and has continued to
thrive. Among doctoral psychology specialties, it has gained
a position of parity sought for many decades. Among non-
doctoral psychology groups, it is without peer for recognition
and stability. Nondoctoral school psychology may even have
established the model for how other nondoctoral psychology
groups (e.g., mental health workers) could better manage
their conflicts over training and credentialing.
As school psychology matured, tensions developed
along other dimensions related to practice. These included
the use of traditional normatively referenced tests versus the
use of nontraditional, criterion-referenced methods such as
curriculum-based assessment; viewing practice as primarily
related to issues of school instruction and learning versus a
school mental health orientation; viewing one’s training
orientation as primarily based in education versus in psychol-
ogy; practicing as a specialist versus as a generalist; empha-
sizing traditional psychoeducational assessment roles versus
consultation and intervention roles. These lines of tension
have not seriously threatened the vitality of school psychol-
ogy. Rather, they have signaled the diversity of the field and
its resilience against adopting a single model for its future.
The diversity is observed in the field’s organizational struc-
tures, literature, practice settings, training programs, and sub-
specialty development. The field has established an identity
that was only emerging in the late Hybrid Years and is now
poised to solidify its position among the specialties of psy-
chology and school-based pupil personnel services in the
twenty-first century.A COMMENT ON THE FUTUREHindsight is everything, and forecasting the future is risky.
Nevertheless, the following general opinions about the future
of school psychology in the coming two decades are offered.
A strong demand for school psychologists provides a favor-
able employment market. The practitioner workforce may
grow to 35,000, but there will be a strong need for new prac-
titioners to replace retiring personnel. Unless the number of
graduates increases substantially, school districts find others
to provide psychological services, or such services are per-
ceived to be less needed, the current personnel shortage is
expected to continue. The field should take decisive action to
increase the number of students in training to better provide
the needed supply of future practitioners and trainers. This
effort should include stronger recruiting by training programs
and the adjustment of accreditation and credentialing require-
ments, which were increasing at the same time that personnel
shortages were becoming more acute.
The NASP and the APA Division of School Psychology will
continue as the dominant national-level representatives and
continue to struggle at the national and state levels over policy
differences. The NASP will grow to at least 25,000 members
and the division to perhaps 3,500. They will maintain their