THE FUTURE OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY
2002 INVITATIONAL CONFERENCE
November 14-16, 2002
Indianapolis, Indiana
AGENDA PACKET
INDIVIDUALS PARTICIPATING IN THE CONFERENCE FROM THEIR
OWN COMPUTERS
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Welcome
2. Suggested Preparations BEFORE the conference
3. Mission and Goals of the Conference
4. Values and Assumptions to be Observed during the Conference
5. Background Reading List
6. Essay Analyses
7. Conference General Principles and Critical Issues/Outcomes
8. Pre-conference and Conference Process—A Problem-solving Model
9. Conference Agenda
10. Forms and Instructions
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Introduction and Welcome
Welcome to the 2002 Conference on the Future of School Psychology. For the past year and a
half, the planning committee has been privileged to engage in intensive planning that culminates
in this meeting. We believe that the activities in which you will engage in these days will
provide crucial guidance to our discipline to ensure our relevance and responsiveness in meeting
the needs of children, their families, and their schools. During the two and half days from
November 14-16, all of us will work to lay out school psychology’s role in addressing critical
issues that face children, families, and schools in the 21st century. Past conferences have
represented significant milestones in forming school psychology’s identity—milestones that
have both guided and marked our development into a mature specialty within American
psychology. We know who we are and where our competencies lie. Now is the time for us to
turn outward, to apply our extensive expertise and organization to improving the health,
education, and mental health of those we serve.
The 2002 conference will be a single point in time where we will pause collectively by turning
off cell phones and taking a hiatus from email. We have worked to ensure that input to the
decisions we will make is a broad-based as possible. In addition to the Indianapolis site, there
are 42 other locations where school psychologists, university faculty and graduate students are
gathered to analyze, debate, and discuss school psychology’s contribution to children, their
schools, and their families. Additionally, every school psychologist that has a computer and
wants to participate can contribute to every step of the process.
There is a long road ahead. We will not change the profession overnight. However we must
recognize the tremendous resources school psychology can marshal to effect change. The
participants at the 1954 Thayer conference could not have imagined that 15 years later the
National Association of School Psychologists would form and over the next 30 years grow to an
organization of 23,000 school psychologists. Or that the American Psychological Association
would have an annual budget in excess of $80 million. Could anyone have forecast that that
NASP, Division 16, the Society for the Study of School Psychology, Council of Directors of
School Psychology Programs, Trainers of School Psychologists, American Academy of School
Psychology, American Board of School Psychology, and the International School Psychology
Association would be sponsoring a multi-site conference asking hard questions about how the
specialty of school psychology can use our collective resources to better meet children’s needs?
We have a lot to accomplish. Regardless of whether you are student in training, at the early,
mid, or well-seasoned stage of your career, it will be stimulating to wrestle with the pivotal
questions facing our specialty. We have high hopes for the 2002 Futures conference. It is a
working conference, including significant background preparation, challenging discussions,
critical analysis, consensus building, and much effort to follow-up. Again, welcome to the
conference. You have an important task ahead of you.
CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS
Jack Cummings
Rick Short
Peg Dawson
Susan Gorin
Pat Harrison
Ron Palomares
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http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/preparation_individual.html
Suggested Preparations for individuals BEFORE the Conference
1. Confirm that your computer has RealOne Player or a comparable program capable of
playing the following a videostreamed webcast. To check whether your computer has
RealOne Player or a compatible program, click on the following link.
http://video.indiana.edu:8080/ramgen/vic/soe_webcast_20020919.smil
If you are on a 56K modem the download time will take a substantial amount of time.
2. If your computer does not have the RealOne Player already installed, the software is
available free (http://www.real.com/). You can get a full screen image, medium size
window, or small window by adjusting the settings of the RealOne Player. Also there is a
setting on the RealOne Player that allows improved performance based when the setting
is matched to the speed of your network connection. Thus the image you see may be
improved substantially by “tuning” the RealOne Player to make sure it is optimized. I
suggest working with your technical people to get the settings optimized. If you are still
having trouble, contact the ETS service desk at 812 856.8400.
3. Download each speaker’s PowerPoint presentation. The presentations are available in the
Schedule (make this an invisible link http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/program.html)
By saving the presenters’ slide shows you will be able to see a crisper image than what
would be available using RealOne Player.
4. If you have two computers (a laptop and a regular work station), show the live
presentation using RealOne Player on one computer. On the other computer display the
PowerPoint slide show. The computer with the PowerPoint slide show does not need to
be connected to the internet. You will however need to save the PowerPoint file to the
laptop. The slide show then will be under your control. You will be able to change the
slides by clicking forward or reverse.
5. If your have only one monitor, show the speaker via RealOne Player on one side of the
screen and place the PowerPoint slide show on the other side of the screen. Again you
will be able to control the forward and back movement of the slides while still seeing and
hearing the presentation. This is something that you must experiment with before the
actual presentations. Another option is the print a hard copy of the PowerPoint slide
shows in advance. Having a hard copy of the PowerPoint slide show would mean that
you would only need one monitor.
6. Print hard copies of the Resources and have them available during the conference. In
Indianapolis we are printing two (2) copies of all items for each small group. Go to
Resources (add invisible link http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/resources.html)
section of the Futures website. This way the participants will have the material available
during the discussions.
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7. We are encouraging participants to bring articles or materials to the conference that they
believe will be useful in planning strategies for the profession of school psychology to
address the most pressing needs of children, schools and families.
8. The ability to access professional literature and web resources will be useful during the
small group sessions. Access to PsycARTICLES, ERIC, or other databases with full test
search engines will likely save time.
9. Review the material in the E-Forum. Explore topics and practice posting a message in
the “Test” Forum.
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Mission and Goals of the Conference
It has been 25 years since school psychology last held a major conference to reflect on the
profession and to develop an agenda for the future. School psychology has undergone a
tremendous growth in terms of membership in our profession and the vision we have for the
work that we do. Currently, and for the foreseeable future, we are faced with a shortage of school
psychologists that threatens our capacity to meet the needs of children in schools. Furthermore,
the needs and pressures facing children growing up in America today are greater than they have
been in our lifetime. Given the changes we are facing and their implications for the practice of
school psychology, the goals of the conference are the following.

Achieve consensus on current and future demands for school psychologists and our
profession's ability to meet those demands.

Conceptualize the practice of school psychology in the face of diminishing numbers and
increasing demand for services.

Develop an agenda to use the resources we have to maximize the benefits to the children,
families, and schools that we serve.
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Values and Assumptions to Guide Conference Participants
1. The focus of the conference is on current and future needs of children, families, and schools
and the capacity of school psychology to provide services to meet the needs. The focus of
the conference is not simply to advance the field of school psychology or protect the jobs of
school psychologists.
2. Diversity—of the clients we serve, of school psychologists, of other professions—will be
celebrated and respected at all times.
3. We are faced with a shortage of school psychologists, with some parts of the country
impacted more than others. However, the shortage cannot be addressed adequately by
simply recruiting more individuals to the profession. We recognize that we must consider
alternatives to, and possible restructuring of our service delivery practices, as well, in order
to plan for the shortage and ensure that adequate services will be provided to children,
families, and schools.
4. In order to maximize our future services to benefit children, families, and schools, we
recognize that we must consider all aspects of school psychology, including pre-service
graduate training; services provided by individual school psychologists and school
psychological services units; the organizational components of school and community
agencies; public advocacy at the local, state, and national levels; etc.
5. The conference participants are encouraged to be innovative—to go beyond the “tried and
true” of school psychology practice.
6. The conference will provide many opportunities for discussion on-site and at remote sites,
but will be structured and organized to focus on outcomes and actions. It is important that
the conference be viewed as much more than an opportunity for talk and interaction---the
conference must lead to the actual implementation of plans at the local, state, and national
levels.
7. A number of professional groups are participating in the conference, including the eight
major national sponsors and many groups at the state and local level. One outcome of the
conference will be a national agenda that all eight sponsoring associations will be asked to
contribute to in some way. Groups at the state and local level are asked to develop agendas
that serve the purposes of the state and local groups, but that also may contribute to the
national agenda.
8. To facilitate accomplishment of conference goals, a problem-solving process will be used in
the 2002 Futures Conference. On-site and remote site participants will proceed systematically
through problem-solving steps, beginning with pre-conference activities and continuing
through conference and post-conference tasks. Although a number of different group activity
models could have been selected for the conference, the problem solving model was selected
because it is a familiar model for most participants, is expected to result in efficient and
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effective activities, and will allow the contributions of both on-site and remote site
participants.
9. It was necessary to limit the agenda in order to have sufficient time and resources to
implement the recommendations that result from the conference. Thus, pre-conference
activities included selection of 6-8 issues/outcomes that will be the focus of the conference.
We will maximize our influence by concentrating on our efforts on no more than six to eight
outcomes. We recognize that we cannot possibly cover all issues at the conference, but must
focus on the most important.
10. When conceptualizing strategies we will be able to do more by recognizing the importance of
resources that exist beyond school psychology. Social workers, counselors, other
psychological specialties, paraprofessionals, etc. represent important mental health resources.
All professions will be treated with respect for their potential contributions to services for
children.
11. Some of the associations participating in the conference historically have disagreed about
certain guild issues. Discussion of these issues of disagreement (e.g., doctoral/specialist
entry level, licensure for private practice) should be conducted at other venues, not at the
2002 Futures Conference.
12. The on-site and remote conference participants represent a wealth of backgrounds,
experiences, and viewpoints. The diversity of participants is recognized as an important
contributor to the success of the conference. Differences of opinion are expected (and
welcomed), and all participants—and their viewpoints—will be treated with courtesy and
respect.
13. In order to facilitate the effectiveness of the conference in developing workable action plans,
the conference schedule has been carefully planned. Please stay on time and on task. Please
note that break-out group facilitators on-site and at remote sites have been given structured
tasks to accomplish for each breakout session. Facilitators will keep all group activities
moving along at a fast pace.
14. All breakout participants are expected to contribute equally to discussions, brainstorming,
and action planning. Participants will allow others in their group with opportunities to
contribute to the discussion, will stay on task and focused on the topic of discussions, and
will not dominate the discussions in their group. Group facilitators will promote
contributions from all participants and will keep discussions from getting bogged down on
less relevant topics, and will prevent discussions from being dominated by one or two
outspoken individuals in the group.
15. Change is inevitable and naturally will result in some anxiety about the future of school
psychology. Although our conference is about improving services to children, families, and
schools, we must recognize and be sensitive to the anxiety and fear within our profession.
We must anticipate the predictable consequences of change.
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Background Resources
Along with input from remote and pre-conference sources, these documents comprise
foundational materials for decision-making at the conference. Full text documents are available
online at http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/resources.html
American Psychological Association. (1998). Archival description of school psychology.
Curtis, M. J., Chesno-Grier, J. E., Abshier, D. W., Sutton, N. T., & Hunley, S. (2002). School
psychology: Turning the corner into the twenty-first century. Communiqué.
DHHS. (2001). Report of the Surgeon General's Conference on Children's Mental Health: A
national action agenda.
Hatzichristou, C. (in press) Alternative school psychological services: Development of a model
linking theory, research and service delivery. In N. M. Lambert, I. Hylander & J.
Sandoval (Editors), Consultee-Centered Consultation: Improving the Quality of
Professional Services in Schools and Community Organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Kratochwill, Thomas R. & Stoiber, K. C. (to be published in Winter 2002) Evidence–Based
Interventions in School Psychology: Conceptual Foundations of the Procedural and
Coding Manual of Division 16 and the Society for the Study of School Psychology Task
Force. School Psychology Quarterly, 17(4).
NASP. (2000). Guidelines for the provision of school psychological services.
NJCLD Learning Disability Policy Roundtable. (2002). Specific learning disabilities: Finding
common ground.
President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. (2002). A new era: Revitalizing
special education for children and their families.
Reschly, D. J. (2000). The present and future status of school psychology in the United States.
School Psychology Review, 29(4), 507-522.
Sheridan, S. M., & Gutkin, T. B. (2000). The ecology of school psychology: Examining and
changing our paradigm for the 21st Century. School Psychology Review, 29(4), 485-501.
Siegel, M. (2002). The future of education. In Zolli, A. Catalog of Tomorrow: Trends shaping
your future. Indianapolis, IN: Que.
The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and The Policymaker
Partnership for Implementing IDEA at The National Association of State Directors of
Special Education. (2002) Mental Health, Schools and Families Working Together for
Children and Youth: Toward a Shared Agenda.
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Essay Analyses
Applicants for on-site participation at the Indianapolis site submitted essays that requested three
types of information regarding the shortage of school psychologists: (a) how may we attract
more professionals to the field, (b) how can school psychology meet service demands given our
diminishing numbers, and (c) how should school psychology training change. Content analysis
of essay responses is provided below. The analysis identifies some themes, or categories, that
seem to be running throughout a number of essays. Especially representative items from essays
are included with each category. Themes are organized under three broader dimensions:
attracting more professionals into the field, service delivery, and training).
A larger version of this document, with more representative items for each category, is located at
http://www.indiana.edu/~futures/essay_analysis.xls
Attracting more professionals to the field
Response
Category:
School psychologists need to continue to regard and market themselves as
Public
professionals who offer a necessary and essential function to the schools
Relations and
and the students they serve.
Promotion
Visibility of the profession will be a key, and especially, visibility of the
need (e.g., there are jobs to be obtained) is essential.
By highlighting and strengthening the ways that school psychologists can
serve all students through consultation, program planning, program
evaluation, mental health services, and assessment activities, the expected
shortage of school psychologists can be offset by maximizing the
effectiveness of the contacts that school psychologists have with students.
Psychologists need to promote their role in program development,
implementation, and evaluation to school administration
Strategies for informing the general public about what school psychology is
and what school psychologists do, could be explored. This will not only
help to inform the public (and thereby increase the expectations for school
psychological services), but may also facilitate the development of students
new to the field of school psychology
Publicizing school psychology as a profession, but also encouraging
universities to fund this expansion
To survive and flourish as a resource for children and families, education of
the public and expanded training programs must be developed and
supported.
Certainly the opportunity is there for psychologists in school districts to
Modeling/
mentor students in accelerated programs like "Running Start" which allows
Mentoring
high school students to take college level courses and shadow professionals
on their jobs.
Bringing students in to contact with an exciting work environment in which
the result of good intervention is clear and will motivate students to choose
the setting.
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Recruitment
Attracting more school psychologists will require the current school
psychologists serving as examples for a model that is concerned with the
success of all children, not just being content with the “test and place”
model.
The final recommendation I have for addressing the expected shortage in
school psychology is for NASP, Division 16 of APA, and the state
associations to do a better job of educating college students, especially
psychology majors, about the field of school psychology.
Our first step should be educating undergraduate students about school
psychology and the employment opportunities available in the field. This
may occur though in-class lectures, presentations at Psi Chi, career days, etc
Offering school psychology classes at the undergraduate level may also help
to attract more people to the field in another way.
Recruitment. We should look toward finding prospective professionals
through an active campaign of recruitment. This should include students
from both educational and psychological undergraduate training programs
as well as professionals from special education, counseling, and related
fields. Visibility of the profession will be a key, and especially, visibility of
the need (e.g., there are jobs to be obtained) is essential
One strategy is marketing. The university school psychology program
attracts students through Internet advertising, direct solicitation in
mainstream and minority undergraduate psychology newsletters and by
reputation.
The final recommendation I have for addressing the expected shortage in
school psychology is for NASP, Division 16 of APA, and the state
associations to do a better job of educating college students, especially
psychology majors, about the field of school psychology.
Recruitment to the profession of school psychology has to take place on
many levels, not just the traditional “college fairs” and presentations to Psi
Chi clubs and psychology classes.
Promotional materials could be made available to undergraduate advisors
and others who work directly with college students. Importantly, I believe
that school psychologists need to make themselves available for "career"
day events, job shadowing, and other programs which will allow
prospective students to learn more about the field of school psychology
Can be addresses by working with undergraduate education and psychology
instructors (and text book authors) to increase the emphasis of school
psychology as a profession within their undergraduate course offerings.
Another need from the field is to actively recruit undergraduates.
School psychologists can attend school career days to discuss our role and
function. We can also contact local community colleges/universities and
offer to make presentations to their students about the profession of school
psychology.
Additional thoughts on how the profession might further attempt to achieve
the opportunity presented by the shortage of school psychologists would
involve working with undergraduate education and psychology instructors
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Adjusting
Services &
Roles to Make
Profession more
Attractive
Developing
Competencies
of Related
Professionals
(and text book authors) to increase the emphasis of school psychology as a
profession within their undergraduate course offerings.
Recruitment for school psychology probably should be starting at the high
school level.
The training in traditional educational assessment might be reduced. This
might attract some more people to the field.
I believe that an emphasis on providing mental health services to children,
families and schools will be vital to our survival. Being providers of these
services will also, in my opinion, increase the attractiveness of becoming a
school psychologist.
The training in both mental health assessment and how to do mental health
counseling and consultation might be strengthened. The training in
traditional educational assessment might be reduced. This might attract
some more people to the field.
I believe that an emphasis on providing mental health services to children,
families and schools will be vital to our survival. Being providers of these
services will also, in my opinion, increase the attractiveness of becoming a
school psychologist.
Educational assessment might be reduced. This might attract some more
people to the field.
[Clear obstacles] to psychologists trained in related areas from working in
the schools. We need to develop realistic standards regarding
respecialization of these individuals. They do possess the core competencies
and may bring additional perspectives on best practices.
A combination of Internet programs, summer course work, and local
mentoring should help those who want to switch to school psychology. The
same sort of flexible program would allow those who already have Masters
or Doctoral Degrees in Counseling or Clinical Psychology to pick up the
courses they need to be certified as a school psychology.
Many training programs are making provisions for professionals who wish
to enter our field, having served as a psychologist, teacher, or counselor.
Many also continue to maintain a flexible enough program to enable
preservice students and change-of-career professionals to work while they
are attending a school psychology training program.
The field of school psychology must develop a formal respecialization
program for related fields, i.e., clinical, as well as other school-based mental
health providers, i.e., school social workers
Evaluating prior training and experience is largely approached by programs
on an individual basis and some excellent candidates for respecialization are
discouraged by perceived overly restrictive expectations. Professional
organizations need to formulate and promote standards for respecialization
that inform and attract qualified candidates and also insure that the
transition from a clinical/hospital/educational setting prepares candidates
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for the unique aspects of school based practice
In addition, supporting, designing, and monitoring the respecialization of
psychologists whose training is in areas other than school psychology can
also be an effective way to increase our numbers while insuring appropriate
training.
The field of school psychology must develop a formal respecialization
program for related fields, i.e., clinical, as well as other school-based mental
health providers, i.e., school social workers.
Promote standards for respecialization that inform and attract qualified
candidates and also insure that the transition from a
clinical/hospital/educational setting prepares candidates for the unique
aspects of school based practice. Organizations like APA and NASP need to
approach the topic of respecialization a bit more seriously than in the past.
There are few guidelines or formal routes available for practitioners in other
specialty areas and training programs to apply to the respecialization issue.
We may be at the time that we need to contact other related training
programs, i.e. child clinical, and devise a method for them to fulfill the
requirements in the area of school psychology as well as their intended
major.
In addition, supporting, designing, and monitoring the respecialization of
psychologists whose training is in areas other than school psychology can
also be an effective way to increase our numbers while insuring appropriate
training.
How School Psychologists Can Meet Service Demands With Diminishing Professionals
Collaboration
and Relationship
With other
Professionals
A model in which the entire faculty comes together, prioritizes student
needs collectively, and commits resources to addressing these needs without
competing for scare resources. In this model the school psychologist has
greater opportunities to engage in the systems approach adopted to address
the mental health needs of the entire district.
Collaboration with all of the stakeholders within the schoolhouse will
continue to provide students with what they need in this time of shortage in
our field.
We must have close relationships with other professions and organizations
that face similar issues related to personnel shortages. In the overall scheme
of education and health services provision, school psychology and
psychology are relatively “small players.” organizations that represent our
profession must collaborate closely with each other.
Collaborate with other service providers (in school and outside in the
community) to forge a more comprehensive system of mental health
services to children.
Involve counseling and clinically trained psychologists in school-tocommunity forums. Such forums would allow for the participation of
counseling and clinically licensed psychologists without placing them
directly in the schools where they would not be aptly trained for the diverse
responsibilities of the school psychologist.
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Consultation
With Teachers
and Parent
(problems &
interventions)
Overall
Expansion
(Beyond
Testing)
Psychologists also need to promote their role in program development,
implementation, and evaluation to school administration.
It is true that collaboration with other multidisciplinary team members will
be essential to our survival during times of budget cuts and personnel
shortages, we must continue to emphasize and utilize the tools and skills
that make us unique from the other members of our multidisciplinary teams
By consulting with administrators, teachers, and system level staff to plan,
implement, and evaluate multi class, whole school, or system level
interventions, one psychologist can create positive outcomes for even more
students.
We don’t write a behavior plan without enlisting the help of the child’s
caregiver; we approach change within the student’s life as a team project,
thus impacting change in the life of the family.
In the light of projected shortages, school psychologists in the future must
also develop greater competency in indirect service provision, i.e.,
consultation and prevention.
An emphasis on effective consultation and collaboration will help future
school psychologists interact with teachers in a more favorable light as they
share appropriate interventions and model positive problem solving skills.
Training school personnel in both assessment and intervention strategies;
strongly emphasizing consultation over direct services, particularly
consultation directed at systemic and prevention issues in order to impact
more students; getting “more bang for the buck” through program
evaluation and grant writing services that ultimately impact entire systems.
I feel an emphasis on consultation methods and effective behavioral
interventions will give school psychologists the tools they need to move
from assessment to interventions and ultimately successful interactions in
the schools.
Collaboration between school psychologists, social workers, learning
consultants, teachers, and school administrators need to be enhanced
The role of consultant needs to be emphasized with greater emphasis on a
Child Study Team process
New practitioners need to approach evaluation with a new vigor, making
strong connections to interventions (learning and mental health), assessing
the program as well as the student, using the most up-to-date and
appropriate measures, with the focus on function not eligibility.
We might want to downplay assessment -- too many referrals, too little time
-- and emphasize interventions, working with teams of professionals, etc.
The future school psychologist should focus on a more broadly defined
concept of assessment, which may include various types of testing, but it
should, for example, focus on procedures that are relevant to interventions.
An excellent illustration comes from one of the Blueprint domains
“Effective Instruction and Development of Cognitive/Academic Skills”.
This Blueprint domain offers an important way in which school
psychologists can expand their role, not as a tester and number generator,
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but as an active participant in a process of assessment for the purpose of
generating effective interventions.
We should consider expanding our practice to include more mental health
functions. Most people in the school and in the community tend to see us as
mental health professionals and we should take advantage of that.
Prevention
While it is clear in the research that school psychologists generally have
Focus
time for such activities only in districts with low ratios, consultation and
prevention activities may be the only ways to reach the larger numbers of
children in districts where the ratio is high.
One hour a week for prevention will reach more children in one year than
ten years of evaluation. It is the most cost effective service we provide.
An emphasis on systematic change is critical: To place greater emphasis on
preventive approaches in classrooms, schools, families, and communities.
I think that school psychologists could help prepare individuals before they
become parents about the demands of parenthood and how to meet the
needs of their developing children. This would be a more proactive, than a
reactive approach to helping children.
Substitute systems-focused preventive activities for these ineffective and
labor-intensive traditional practices to place greater emphasis on preventive
approaches in classrooms, schools, families, and communities.
Emphasizing and encouraging early intervention through instructional
consultation and data based decision-making.
Nature of Training
Training for
Expanded Roles
(Beyond
Testing)
Training for
Actual Practice
(Ivory Tower vs.
Real Practice)
Additional courses in counseling, crisis intervention and addressing school
safety issues should be emphasized. Training in designing and
implementing academic as well as behavioral interventions for students
referred for services should also be emphasized.
A paradigm shift in the way school psychologists are trained. Training too
needs to be redefined to accommodate the information already available,
which clearly shows the qualifications of the school psychologist must be
diverse (i.e., psychological evaluations, counseling, behavior interventions,
crisis intervention) and applicable. As such, training must become purely
pragmatic.
Training programs will need to restructure their focus away from one-onone service delivery to a broader team delivery system in which the school
psychologist serves a consultative role.
Training needs to be redefined to accommodate the information already
available, which clearly shows the qualifications of the school psychologist
must be diverse (i.e., psychological evaluations, counseling, behavior
interventions, crisis intervention) and applicable.
Much of school psychology training takes place “in the field,” not in the
university classroom
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School psychologists new to the field need training in becoming direct
service providers. Additional courses in counseling, crisis intervention and
addressing school safety issues should be emphasized.
There are three areas where training might be changed. These are in the
areas of mental health, consultation, and assessment.
Improved alignment between training programs and actual practice. Too
often, course offerings emphasize narrow competencies rather than the
broad competencies needed by today’s practitioners
Mentoring Issues Training programs should develop relationships with school districts and
in Training
state associations who could provide additional mentoring and supervision
without adding to the university payroll.
We need to attend to the issue of retaining people in the profession. This
may well necessitate greater attention to mentoring and supporting early
professionals.
Alternative
A combination of Internet course, weekends, and summer courses combined
Routes to
with local supervision would make for an excellent program and not skimp
Training
on content.
Entry level for school psychologists in most states is currently at the
specialist level (60+ hours). Many people see this as a daunting challenge
and prefer to obtain a masters degree in a related area (e.g., school
counseling) so they will be able to begin their professional life sooner. I
propose that a uniform standard be adopted that would allow individuals to
begin limited practice as a school psychologist at a 35 graduate hour level
with the stipulation that they receive additional training to upgrade their
education to the specialist level in 5 years. This would create an apprentice
level that would allow some individuals to begin practice in the field who
may otherwise never be given the opportunity.
Diagnosticians trained at an undergraduate level with a specialty
certification could likely complete the greater part of these tasks. The
diagnostician could graduate in four years with an applicable skill, and the
school psychologist would be freed from time-consuming hours of testing to
accommodate a larger number of students, teachers, and administrators
throughout the school to address the true obstacles to a student’s learning.
Many school psychology university training programs are making
provisions for professionals who wish to enter our field, having served as a
psychologist, teacher, or counselor. Many also continue to maintain a
flexible enough program to enable preservice students and change-of-career
professionals to work while they are attending a school psychology training
program.
While I’m not necessarily advocating alternative professional “tracts” for
school psychology, I think we need to have the option, and perhaps the
confidence, to consider alternatives.
The training standards also should not compound the shortage – particularly
if the competencies can be mastered with continuing professional
development and coaching during the initial period of employment and
practice.
15
Training for
Specialized
Roles
Training for
Consultation &
Collaboration
Too many of our current school psychologists do not receive quality
supervision designed to build and strengthen skills and produce well trained
clinicians, proficient in clinical skills and skilled in self assessment of
professional training needs.
Developing service coordination models with other disciplines to reduce
fragmentation of school mental health services, more emphasis on
preventive activities, more in depth training on instructional issues,
consultative skills, program planning/evaluation, educational leadership
skills, and system level intervention competencies must all be infused into
our training programs to support school psychologists as effective mental
health consultants
Diagnosticians trained at an undergraduate level with a specialty
certification could likely complete the greater part of these tasks. The
diagnostician could graduate in four years with an applicable skill, and the
school psychologist would be freed from time-consuming hours of testing to
accommodate a larger number of students, teachers, and administrators
throughout the school to address the true obstacles to a student’s learning.
Offer specializations in early childhood, family systems,
neuropsychological and biological bases of behavior, adolescence and
bilingual school psychology.
A focus on consultation and behavioral interventions from a training and
practice vantage point should allow the future school psychologist to move
beyond boundary/turf issues and still be valued by a school district
I believe that consultation methods and behavioral interventions should be
the cornerstone as we transform the graduate educational experience and the
professional role to meet the increasing demands of the 21st century.
Training programs will need to restructure their focus away from one-onone service delivery to a broader team delivery system in which the school
psychologist serves a consultative role.
16
Conference General Principles and Critical Issues/Outcomes
Identified by Indianapolis Conference Participants as Part of a Pre-Conference Activity
(May be used by remote sites, or remote sites may identify their own critical issues for focus
during breakout sessions)
GUIDING PRINCIPLES ACROSS ALL OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND
SCHOOLS

Currently, and for the foreseeable future, we are faced with a shortage of school
psychologists that threatens our capacity to meet the needs of children in schools. While
the profession must increase efforts to recruit and retain professionals in our field, such
strategies alone will be insufficient and inadequate to increase our capacity to meet the
imminent needs of children, families, and schools. As a result, changes in school
psychology practices and service delivery will be required to use the resources we have
to maximize the benefits to the children and schools that we serve.

Prevention and early intervention will be necessary to achieve positive outcomes for
children, families, and schools.

Evidence-based practices will be necessary to achieve positive outcomes for children,
families, and schools.

In order to be effective, school psychological services must demonstrate respect for and
understanding of diversity factors for children, families and schools, including factors
related to cultural, individual, and role differences (e.g., age, gender or gender identity,
cognitive capabilities, developmental level, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin,
religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status).
ISSUES/OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND SCHOOLS
Note: Each issue/outcome is listed, followed by possible indicators of that issue/outcome
that may be addressed during group problem-solving activities.
ISSUES/OUTCOMES FOR CHILDREN
Improved academic competence and school success for all children
 Increased academic competence for all students
 Increased academic competence for students with diverse needs and backgrounds
 Increased academic competence for students with disabilities
 Improvements in children’s readiness for learning
 Improvements in children’s early literacy and reading
 Increases in graduation rates
 Increases in attendance rates
 Increases in test scores
 Decreases in disciplinary rates
 Decreases in drop-out rates
17





Increases in occupational success after school
Decreased rates of referral for special education
Decreased rates of referral for early intervention
Decreased disproportionate placement of children and youth from culturally and
linguistically (ethno-linguistically) diverse backgrounds in special education
Increased parent confidence in schools because of children’s academic success
Improved social-emotional functioning for all children












Increased social competence for all students
Increased social competence for students with diverse needs and backgrounds
Increased social competence for students with disabilities
Improved problem solving and coping skills to deal with stressful situations at
home and school.
Improved social skills with peers, teachers, and families
Increased positive behaviors
Increased student resilience
Enhancement of factors (both internal and external) that contribute to children’s
resilience
Enhanced mental health status
Increased psychological well being and safety
Increased used of social-emotional learning strategies
Reductions in incidents of school violence
ISSUES/OUTCOMES FOR FAMILIES
Improved parenting skills and increased ability of families to support students
 Increased parent/family skills to promote healthy development.
 Increased capacity for parents to provide for their children through advocacy and
problem solving
 Increased educational and psychological resources for families to develop as
healthy families with healthy children.
 Increased parent training to deal with developmental issues, compliance issues,
knowledge of children's abilities and disabilities, and support for their children's
learning.
 Increased numbers of parent training programs offered in schools conducted by
inter-disciplinary teams, including school psychologists, lawyers, social workers
and educators.
 Increased parent training in positive and effective parenting skills, including
training for parents who come from diverse cultures and those who speak limited
English
 Increased support for positive parenting practices
18
Enhanced family-school partnerships and parental involvement in schools
 Increased parental support for/involvement in children's education through
collaborative problem solving and coordinated prevention/ intervention efforts.
 Increased family connection to school
 Increased participation of parents as partners with schools in the learning process
 Increased family involvement in multiple systems of support and services,
including schools
 Increased parent satisfaction with schools and with partnerships with school
personnel
 Increased parental knowledge about their importance in their children's education
 Increased opportunities for positive involvement of all families and family
members
 Improved quality of home-school partnerships
 Increased parental advocacy for schools
 Increased communication and collaboration between families and schools
regarding children’s education and other services within the school and
community.
 Increased school collaboration and communication with all families at all levels
 Increased school collaboration and communication with families from culturally,
economically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds
 Increased school collaboration and communication with families of children with
disabilities
 Increased home-school notes, homework help, parent-teacher conferences, parentpsychologist consultation, and IEP attendance and participation
ISSUES/OUTCOMES FOR SCHOOLS
More effective education and instruction for all learners







Increased quality of appropriate and effective instructional practices, regardless of
special education eligibility status, ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic, and other
factors
Increased use of early identification and prevention programs using empirically
proven techniques (e.g., Direct Instruction, CBM) to maximize academic success
(especially in early literacy/reading)
Improved teaching practices using empirically supported programs and reduced
gaps between school programs and efficacy data (e.g. more effective teaching
practices, effective school climate, methods of teaching reading, retention,
violence prevention, etc.)
More accurate and effective education and special education planning, based on
needs rather than current categorical models.
Increased strategies and programs to meet the needs or learning styles of lower
level students (slow learners, ESOL, etc.)
Enhanced instructional practices that address diversity issues
Increased effective use of positive behavior interventions through the
understanding and application of functional behavior assessment.
19






Decreased reliance on high-stakes tests, and increased reliance on other variables
that take into the ecologies that impact the child’s learning and success (e.g., highschool success/performance, individual persistence, culture, motivation, reasoning
skills, creativity, interpersonal skills, writing skills, and prior achievement).
Improvement in measures of academic achievement that guide effective
instruction
Improved identification of educational needs, with greater specificity in
interventions, so as to strengthen the link between intervention and need identified
Increased general education classroom opportunities and resources for children
with learning difficulties, employing pre-referral models and a significant increase
in school consultation services.
Increased data-based decision making and interventions with data based case
management and follow up, directed toward academic functioning and mental
health of all students, by all school personnel
Improved services of school personnel to address a range of student
needs/backgrounds in academic, social, emotional development in both general
education and special education, which would facilitate more flexible pedagogy to
meet their student’s needs.
Increased child and family services in schools that promote health and mental health and
are integrated with community services












Greater child and family access to quality comprehensive health and mental
health services through the public schools, including availability of services
beyond the school day
Increase availability of and access to a broad range of mental health and support
across school and community agencies
Increased access to reliable school and community-based prevention and
intervention health services that address developmental needs of children and
families
Increased access to services for young children that reduce the likelihood of
developing more severe pathologies
Increased access of family-centered services through schools/community agencies
(not "simply treat the child" model)
Increased school and community mental health services to support needs of
culturally, linguistically, educationally and intellectually diverse learners
Increased early identification of at risk behaviors of children and adolescents
Increased preventive, proactive, systemic interventions that support children’s
healthy development (both academic and emotional)
Expanded programs that integrate health, mental health, safety, and school
success
Redesign of programs to become more outcome/solution oriented.
Increased interagency collaboration to eliminate service redundancy and service
provider silos
Increased evidence of safe, caring climates with connected/involved students in
the a significant percentage of the nation's schools
20





Increased attention given to the social –emotional needs of children in schools,
including increased opportunities to make children and youth feel that they
"matter" in order to create a greater sense of autonomy, competence and selfesteem
Increased identification, availability, coordination, and use of effective and
efficient mental health support services, including school psychological services
Increased use of ongoing formative and summative program evaluations of the
effectiveness, efficiency, costs, and benefits of school psychological services
(e.g., evaluations have limited benefits and high cost, indirect services
(consultation and in-service training have low costs and broader benefits)
Increased use of alternative funding sources to allow school psychologists more
time to engage in early intervention and prevention practices.
Increased clinical training for school psychologists who tend to be the frontline
mental health professionals in the schools
21
Futures Conference
Problem Solving Model
Individual Remote Participants
To facilitate accomplishment of conference goals, you may participate from your own computer
in a problem-solving process. As this process is similar to the primary problem-solving model
used in our practice, it should be familiar to you. Using the remote conference agenda,
participants at a distance may proceed systematically through the following steps, continuing
through conference and post-conference tasks. Use the attached conference agenda to view
webcasts of conference keynotes and other sessions and to submit your suggestions online at the
conference website. Go to the “E-Forum” on the conference website to submit your suggestions.
Step I: Define the critical issues currently confronting school psychologists. Onsite
participants completed this phase prior to coming to the conference---the critical issues/outcomes
listed earlier are the product of Step 1 for the onsite participants. . The product of this step was
a list of two critical issues/outcomes in each of three dimensions central to school psychology:
schools, children, and families.
Priority Issues/Outcomes
Final List as Judged by Indianapolis Conference Participants
Children
Improved academic competence and school success for all children
Improved social-emotional functioning for all children
Families
Improved parenting skills and increased ability of families to support students
Enhanced family-school partnerships and parental involvement in schools
Schools
Improved parenting skills and increased ability of families to support students
Enhanced family-school partnerships and parental involvement in schools
22
Step II: Identify threats/opportunities in relation to school psychology addressing these
issues.
Remote site participants may create and submit online their own list of potential
threats and opportunities associated with each critical issue/outcome. Threats, or
restraining forces, are those factors that prevent, impede, or minimize school
psychology’s role in addressing the issue. Opportunities, or driving forces, are factors
that facilitate or enhance school psychology’s role in addressing the issue. You may
submit your own list of threats and opportunities following the opening presentation
on Thursday. Again using the E-Forum at http://www.indiana.edu/~futures/discus/. In
the evening, onsite conference coordinators will produce a master list that will be
disseminated to on-site and remote participants via the web on Thursday night.
The product of this step will be, for each critical issue/outcome identified in Step I, a
list of threats to school psychology’s addressing the issue and a list of opportunities for
school psychology to address the issue.
Step III: Brainstorm solutions/strategies; identify the most promising solutions/strategies
For Friday’s breakout sessions, remote participants will have the assignment of
brainstorming solutions and strategies for addressing identified critical issues and
outcomes. As much as possible, this activity should be done using the master list of
threats and opportunities as a resource. Participants will generate strategies on Friday,
following each of the keynote topics addressing the three issue categories (school,
children, and families). Submit these to the main conference site, using the E-Forum
at http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/discus/. In the evening on Friday, conference
coordinators will collate solutions from all groups, both on-site and remote. At this
stage, sharing resources across groups (via the E-Forum) will allow better solutions to
be developed.
The product of this step will be, for each critical issue/outcome, a short list of possible
solutions and strategies.
Step IV: Develop action plans
Using solutions and strategies identified on Friday, Saturday’s work will involve
developing action plans to implement the strategies identified for each of the 6 critical
issues/outcomes.
The product of this step will be, for each critical issue/outcome, a specific plan of
action for school psychology.
Step V: Implement action plan
23
The first steps will take place following the conference. It is expected that a second,
larger conference, with representation from state and national associations as well as
training programs meeting to identify additional steps in implementing the action plan
and committing to taking those steps. This process should identify evaluation
mechanisms that can be used to assess effectiveness of implementation.
Step VII: Evaluate outcomes
24
Conference Agenda
(Remote individual participants may use the agenda below, or a revised agenda depending on
their schedule and resources. Times for live webcasts are noted, although the archives of the
webcasts may be viewed later. Timelines for online submission of Conference Activity forms
are noted All times listed below are Eastern.)
NOTE: During the agenda below, times are noted in which remote participants are asked to
submit materials online at the main conference website (http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/)
for Conference Activities 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Remote participants are asked to click on “E-Forum”
to enter the information for the specified conference activity.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
NOTE ALL TIMES LISTED IN THIS SCHEDULE ARE EASTERN, FOR
LINKS TO THE SCHEDULES FOR OTHER TIME ZONES, PLEASE SEE:
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/program.html
3:00-3:15
LIVE
WEBCAST
Orientation to overall conference mission, outline schedule, and review use of
electronic forum that will be used throughout the conference
www.indiana.edu/~futures/. NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for
remote sites
3:15-4:00
LIVE
WEBCAST
Michael Curtis, Ph.D., Former President of the National Association of School
Psychologists and noted researcher on professional issues in school
psychology. The goals of Dr. Curtis’ presentation are to
 provide data on personnel shortages in school psychology in relation to
practice and training
 outline possible effects of these shortages on the field and on services
to children, families, and schools
 describe implications
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites
4:00-7:30
Develop lists of threats and opportunities for school psychology for each
priority issue that we’ve identified. These sets will serve as a major resource
for subsequent strategy/solution generation. Discussions should focus on
broad enhancing and impeding factors related especially to school
psychology’s role in addressing these issues (e.g., training, identity, skills of
school psychologists), rather than specific solutions to problems (e.g.,
medications, counseling, etc.). The product of this session will be a set of
threats and opportunities for school psychology for each of the six priority
areas. NOTE: Use the form for Conference Activity 1 (attached) for taking
notes. Remote participants should submit the information from Conference
Activity 1 to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/.
Please submit Conference Activity 1 before 9:00 p.m EST on Thursday,
November 14, 2002.
time to work
independently
25
Thursday, November 14, 2002
7:30-8:30
LIVE
WEBCAST
Robert Sternberg, Ph.D., President of the American Psychological Association
and noted researcher on schools and education. The goals of Dr. Sternberg’s
presentation are to
 provide a context for school psychology’s role in addressing the needs
of children, families, and schools
 address schools as a primary delivery site for psychological services
 outline ideas on needs and issues facing schools in this decade and,
perhaps, this century
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites
26
Friday, November 15, 2002
7:00-8:00am
9:00-10:15
time to work
independently
10:15-10:30
10:30-11:15
LIVE
WEBCAST
11:15-12:45
time to work
independently
12:45-1:45
LIVE
WEBCAST
1:30-2:30
time to work
independently
2:30-2:45
2:30-5:00
time to work
independently
A master list of threats and opportunities will be available on the conference
website and should be used by the remote participant.
Formulate possible solutions/strategies for school psychology’s role in
addressing the two school-related priority issues. Remote participants are
encouraged to use threat and opportunity sets (which will be provided to them)
as a resource, but are not limited to them. Focus on what school psychology
needs to do to be a positive factor in dealing with each of the school-related
priority issues. The product of this session will be an initial set of
solutions/strategies for school psychology for each school-related priority area.
NOTE: Use the form for Conference Activity 2 (attached) for taking notes
Break.
Deborah Crockett, Ph.D., Former President of NASP. The goals of Dr.
Crockett’s presentation are to
 outline critical issues that children face, or will face, in the 2000s.
These issues should be broadly defined to extend beyond special
education and academic failure.
 propose roles for school psychology, within constraints of the shortage,
to address these issues.
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites
Formulate possible solutions/strategies for school psychology’s role in
addressing the two child-related priority issues. The product of this session
will be an initial set of solutions/strategies for school psychology for each
child-related priority area.
NOTE: Use the form for Conference Activity 3 (attached) for taking notes
Sandra Christenson, Ph.D. The goals of Dr. Christenson’s presentation are to
 outline critical issues that families face, or will face, in the 2000s in
relation to schools and children. These issues should include the
important role of parents in education.
 propose roles for school psychology, within constraints of the shortage,
to address these issues
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites
Formulate possible solutions/strategies for school psychology’s role in
addressing the two family-related priority issues. The product of this session
will be a set of solutions/strategies for school psychology for each familyrelated priority area.
NOTE: Use the form for Conference Activity 4 (attached) for taking notes.
Break.
Generate an integrated set of solutions/strategies for school psychologists for
each of the 6 priority issues. Review your solutions/strategies for school
psychology for each priority issue, based on notes from forms for Conference
27
time to work
independently
Activities 2, 3, and 4. The product of this session should build on the previous
sessions, to include a substantial pool of possible solutions/strategies for action
planners. The remote participant should complete a final list of
strategies/solutions for the sites, using forms for Conference Activities 2, 3,
and 4.
Following the last group session on Friday, remote participants should submit
their final suggestions for solutions/strategies for (a) schools, (b) children, (c)
families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/discus/
Please submit solution/strategies before 9:00 p.m EST on Friday November
15, 2002.
These sets will serve as a major resource for Saturday’s action planning.
28
Saturday, November 16, 2002
7:00-10:00
time to work
independently
10:00-11:00
LIVE
WEBCAST
11:00-12:00
time to work
independently
A master list of solutions/strategies will be available on the conference website
and may be reviewed. Enter comments in E-Forum
Panel Discussion in Indianapolis: From Chaos Come Resolutions. Several key
change agents will be identified to participate in the Indianapolis panel. Based
on proceedings of the conference to this point, they will pull from their
experiences as change agents to propose practical areas that we must consider
in moving school psychology forward.
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites
Continued review and assimilation of information about solutions/strategies
for each priority issue/outcome. Initial development of implementation steps
for solutions/strategies using Conference Activity 5 (attached) for action plans.
1:00-3:00
Continued development of implementation steps for solutions/strategies using
Conference Activity 5 (attached) for action plans. For Conference Activity 5,
one form for each critical issues/outcome in the children, school, and family
area should be developed. Remote participants may determine if they wish to
develop an action plan for each critical/issue outcome, or selected
critical/issues outcomes. Input from remote participants will be solicited
continuously and integrated. Remote sites should submit their action plans
(Conference Activity 5) for critical issues/outcomes for (a) schools, (b)
children, (c) families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/discus/
Please submit solution/strategies before 3:30 p.m EST on Saturday, November
16, 2002.
3:00-4:00
Master group of action plans generated and posted on the conference website.
Remote participants should review the master group.
Integrative session to present and review implementation steps for strategies
for each priority issue. Remote input will be included.
NOTE: This will appear as a live webcast for remote sites.
4:00-6:00
LIVE
WEBCAST
29
Forms and Instructions
30
Preconference Activity: Group Selection of Priority Issues to Be Addressed
This activity was completed by Indianapolis groups PRIOR to the conference.
After reading background materials carefully, each group distilled and integrated ideas from
readings to develop a list of critical issues and outcomes for school psychology. This list was
organized to reflect critical issues and outcomes related to children, families, and schools. As
much as possible, issues on this list were discrete (e.g., children’s issues were clearly distinct
from school issues). With input from their groups, facilitators further integrated, narrowed, and
prioritized each list to select only two critical issues/outcomes for each level (children, families,
schools). Group facilitators submitted the group list of six critical issues/outcomes to the
planners, who worked with the facilitators to identify an overall list of 6 issues that are the focus
of the conference.
31
Group Selection of Priority Issues to Be Addressed
Type of Issue
Children
Indianapolis Final List (Two Items
per Category)
Improved academic competence
and school success for all
children
Improved social-emotional
functioning for all children
Families
Improved parenting skills and
increased ability of families to
support students
Enhanced family-school
partnerships and parental
involvement in schools
Schools
Improved parenting skills and
increased ability of families to
support students
Enhanced family-school
partnerships and parental
involvement in schools
32
Remote Participant Final List (if
different from Indianapolis list)
Conference Activity 1: Identification of Threats and Opportunities
Using the six priority issues for school psychology organized by type of issue (child, family,
school), each remote participant should consider each issue carefully. Then, each remote
participant should identify school psychology’s opportunities to address it, as well as threats to
school psychology’s capability to address it. Threats, or restraining forces, are those factors that
prevent or minimize school psychology’s role in addressing the issue. Threats might include
shortages of school psychologists, training program capacity, lack of time, etc. Opportunities, or
driving forces, are factors that facilitate or enhance school psychology’s role in addressing the
issue. Opportunities might include practitioner competencies, school psychology’s reputation,
relationships with other professions, etc. An example of possible threats and opportunities for a
critical issue for children might be the following.
Critical Issue
Children
Increase in ADHD
diagnosis
Opportunities—factors that
enable school psychology to
address the issue
Threats—factors that
prevent school psychology
from addressing the issue
Examples of opportunities
here might be school
psychologists’ training in
prevention/intervention
techniques that can be
implement early in life and
reduce ADHD, or school
psychology’s resources to
advocate for better diagnosis
Some examples of threats
might be school
psychologists’ lack of time
to implement interventions,
or administrators
stereotyping school
psychologists only as
assessors
Following review and thought, each remote participant should complete the following form. To
enhance task manageability, we suggest listing approximately 5-8 threats and 5-8 opportunities
for each critical issue. Then, the information on the attached form will be submitted by the
remote participant to the main conference website at http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/
33
Threats and Opportunities
Critical Issue
Opportunities—factors that
enable school psychology to
address the issue
Children
1. Improved academic competence
and school success for all children
2. Improved social-emotional
functioning for all children
Families
1. Improved parenting skills and
increased ability of families to
support students
2. Enhanced family-school
partnerships and parental
involvement in schools
Schools
1. More effective education and
instruction for all learners
2. Increased child and family
services in schools that promote
health and mental health and are
integrated with community
services
34
Threats—factors that prevent
school psychology from addressing
the issue
Conference Activity 2: Generation of Strategies and Solutions for Addressing Needs of
Schools
Using compiled threat/opportunity lists, comments from Dr. Sternberg’s address, and other
available resources, each remote participant will develop a list of strategies and/or solutions to
address school-level needs. Using the above example, a possible solution/strategy could be
generated from either removing a threat or implementing/enhancing an opportunity. For
example, possible solutions to the issue of increasing diagnosis of ADHD might be to mobilize
school psychology’s resources for advocacy for better diagnosis, or a national or local education
campaign for administrators to promote the indispensability of school psychology in quality
diagnosis of ADHD. It should be noted that the lists of threats and opportunities should serve as
resources only; possible solutions are not limited to the lists of threats and opportunities.
However, given the nature of our task, emphasis should be given to relatively broad
solutions/strategies that apply to school psychology as a field. Osborne’s rules of brainstorming
(listed below) may be useful for this part of the activity.
Rules for Brainstorming
(from Osborne, 1963)





Avoid criticism or self-monitoring of your ideas.
Defer judgment or evaluation of ideas. Be positive.
Be as free-wheeling as possible—the wilder the ideas, the better. Offbeat, impractical
suggestions may trigger practical solutions that might not otherwise occur.
Focus on quantity—the greater the number of ideas, the greater the likelihood of
solutions. It is easier to eliminate ideas than to add new ideas to the list.
Combine and improve ideas—use ideas you’ve already generated to come up with new
possibilities.
After brainstorming strategies/solutions for each critical issue for schools, each group will select
the 3 or 4 best ones for each issue. Consider using such criteria as relevance (How likely is this
idea really to address the issue?), feasibility (How likely is it that school psychology can put this
idea into action?), and effectiveness (Will this idea work?) to make selections. Remote
participants should use the following form to take notes during this activity.
Following the last group session on Friday, the remote participant should complete a final list of
strategies/solutions for the sites, using forms for Conference Activities 2, 3, and 4. Remote sites
should submit their final suggestions for solutions/strategies for (a) schools, (b) children, (c)
families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/discus/
Please submit solution/strategies before 9:00 p.m EST on Friday November 15, 2002.
35
Strategies and Solutions for Critical School Issues
Critical Issue
Possible Strategies
1. More effective education
and instruction for all
learners
2. Increased child and
family services in schools
that promote health and
mental health and are
integrated with community
services
36
Conference Activity 3: Generation of Strategies and Solutions for Addressing Needs of
Children
Using compiled threat/opportunity lists, comments from Dr. Crockett’s keynote, and other
available resources, each remote participant will develop a list of strategies and/or solutions to
address child-level needs. Again, it is noted that the lists of threats and opportunities should
serve as resources only; possible solutions are not limited to the lists of threats and opportunities.
However, given the nature of our task, emphasis should be given to relatively broad
solutions/strategies that apply to school psychology as a field. Osborne’s rules of brainstorming
may be useful for this part of the activity.
After brainstorming strategies/solutions for each critical issue for children, each group will select
the 3 or 4 best ones for each issue. Consider using such criteria as relevance (How likely is this
idea really to address the issue?), feasibility (How likely is it that school psychology can put this
idea into action?), and effectiveness (Will this idea work?) to make selections. Remote
participants should use the following form to take notes during this activity.
Following the last group session on Friday, remote participants should complete a final list of
strategies/solutions for the sites, using forms for Conference Activities 2, 3, and 4. Remote
participants should submit their final suggestions for solutions/strategies for (a) schools, (b)
children, (c) families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/.
Please submit solution/strategies before 9:00 p.m EST on Friday November 15, 2002.
37
Generation of Strategies and Solutions for Critical Child Issues
Critical Issue
Possible Strategies
1. Improved academic
competence and school
success for all children
2. Improved socialemotional functioning for
all children
38
Conference Activity 4: Generation of Strategies and Solutions for Addressing Needs of
Families
Using compiled threat/opportunity lists, comments from Dr. Christenson’s keynote, and other
available resources, each remote participant will develop a list of strategies and/or solutions to
address child-level needs. Again, it is noted that the lists of threats and opportunities should
serve as resources only; possible solutions are not limited to the lists of threats and opportunities.
However, given the nature of our task, emphasis should be given to relatively broad
solutions/strategies that apply to school psychology as a field. Osborne’s rules of brainstorming
may be useful for this part of the activity.
After brainstorming strategies/solutions for each critical issue for families, each group will select
the 3 or 4 best ones for each issue. Consider using such criteria as relevance (How likely is this
idea really to address the issue?), feasibility (How likely is it that school psychology can put this
idea into action?), and effectiveness (Will this idea work?) to make selections. Remote
participants should use the following form to take notes during this activity.
Following the last group session on Friday, remote participants should complete a final list of
strategies/solutions for the sites, using forms for Conference Activities 2, 3, and 4. Remote
participants should submit their final suggestions for solutions/strategies for (a) schools, (b)
children, (c) families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/.
Please submit solution/strategies before 9:00 p.m EST on Friday November 15, 2002.
39
Generation of Strategies and Solutions for Critical Family Issues
Critical Issue
1. Improved parenting
skills and increased ability
of families to support
students
Possible Strategies
2. Enhanced family-school
partnerships and parental
involvement in schools
40
Conference Activity 5: Action Planning
Using the initial list critical issues/outcomes within the areas of children, families, and schools,
remote participants will select the critical issues/outcomes that they will focus on for action
planning. Remote participants will have the opportunity to work on issues/outcomes that they
feel are most critical for their areas. Each remote participant will select strategies and identify
the steps that will need to be followed in order to implement strategies and evaluate outcomes,
manage implementation, and evaluate its action plan.
1.
Remote participants will evaluate and select strategies, based on recommended criteria of
potential effectiveness, feasibility, and relevance, to achieve the desired outcome, from the
master list for both onsite and remote site suggestions. The master list of these materials
will be provided on the conference website. To ensure that the task is manageable, remote
participants should identify no more than 5 or 6 possible solutions/strategies for each
critical issue/outcome. Remotes participants should address major facets of our field in
their selection of solutions/strategies, including practice, training, professional identity, and
advocacy. Again, solutions/strategies should focus on school psychology, rather than on
what individual school psychologists can or should do. Using the sample critical issue of
“Increase in ADHD diagnosis”, the remote participant might recommend a task force to
develop or select a comprehensive model, followed by integration into training programs,
pilot implementation in selected school/communities, and advocacy with federal, state, and
local decision-makers to change policy.
2.
Remote participants will develop initial implementation steps for solutions/strategies.
Remote participants may think broadly and in ways that will involve NATIONAL groups
representing school psychology (NASP, TSP, etc.). Or, remote participants may think
about local implementation steps and in ways that will involve local or state groups
representing school psychology. Participants also should keep in mind that their task
constitutes planning for broad, long-term change in the field. Even if designed for local
implementation, implementation steps should represent milestones in the path toward
system change that will be reviewed and adjusted as needed.
3.
Remote participants will identify initial steps for implementing solutions. These steps
should comprise start-up activities to get implementations started, and not necessarily steps
for implementation. For example, the implementation step might a cross-association
investigation of prevention of ADHD, start-up activities for which might be contacting key
stakeholders or developing proposals for school districts groups, training programs, or state
groups to work with other groups to accomplish the task.
The product of this session should be a broad, reasoned draft from each participant of
solutions/strategies/initiatives, along with desired outcomes, to address its assigned issue. A key
word here is broad. THE FORM BELOW SHOULD BE USED FOR EACH CRITICAL/ISSUE
OUTCOME ADDRESSED BY THE REMOTE PARTICIPANTS. Remote participants should
submit their action plans (Conference Activity 5) for critical issues/outcomes for (a) schools, (b)
children, (c) families to the main conference site using the E-Forum at
http://education.indiana.edu/~futures/. Please submit solution/strategies before 3:30 p.m EST on
Saturday, November 16, 2002.
41
Conference Activity 5: Action Planning
Critical Issue/
Outcome
Selected Strategies
Implementation Activities
42
Initial Step(s)
Responsible
Party for
Initial Step(s)