Why School Psychologists Are More Important Than Ever (Alyna and Riya Johnson)

Introduction

In January, we filmed a podcast episode for our school’s psychology club. We would encourage you to head over to ThoughtBubble on Spotify to listen to the episode, but we also wanted to share a post that goes into a bit more depth on the same topic. Although we tend to focus on anthropology, we hope to explore another, quite related human science: psychology, or the study of the human mind.

This episode centers on school psychologists. We assess the extent to which different states and schools meet students’ mental health needs as well as analyze which barriers are preventing them from utilizing school psychologists to combat the mental health crisis. Although Massachusetts and well-funded schools like ours may seem detached from the problem, we sought to provide our peers with ways they could help the school community make a difference and now extend the call to action to you.

Part 1

The Mental Health Crisis

According to the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), American children and adolescents are experiencing a mental health crisis. Although one in five students have a mental health disorder, a staggering 80% of them do not receive the services they need. Most of the children who can access such services have this opportunity due to their schools, for students are six times more likely to obtain mental and behavioral health services if they are provided by their educational institutions. One may argue that clinical psychologists are an equivalent alternative to school psychologists; however, this statistic demonstrates that a readily available resource within one’s school environment allows them to overcome socioeconomic barriers and cultural stigma about receiving therapy. Additionally, students may benefit from meeting with psychologists who specialize in helping to cope with educational, social, and emotional challenges.

The mental health crisis amongst children has intensified and become more apparent due to the Covid-19 pandemic as more students are facing poverty and trauma. Specifically, based on a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021, 42% of high school students and 57% of teenage girls expressed that they continuously felt sad or hopeless. These percentages were the highest they had been in a decade. That same year, 20% of adolescents suffered from depression although fewer than half were receiving the necessary treatment. Suicide rates have also risen, for in 2021, 10% of high school students attempted suicide while 22% of this demographic deeply contemplated it.

https://blog.f1000.com/2021/03/29/continuing-research-to-measure-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-self-harm-and-suicidal-behaviour/

Educators have shared that younger children are exhibiting more combative and disruptive behavior, mood swings, and bullying. These tendencies, which include running out of classrooms and even away from schools, are likely due to isolation during the pandemic. Older children are also behaving in an academically counterproductive manner. Since the pandemic, almost 30% of high school students have been chronically absent, or have missed at least 10% of school days, although this percentage was roughly half prior. Overall, some children are not progressing academically, for they are performing below their grade level, and are telling their parents they do not want to attend school. For all these reasons, the value of school psychologists is increasing.

https://www.vox.com/2024/1/9/23904542/chronic-absenteeism-school-attendance

How School Psychologists Promote Students’ Mental Health

To further appreciate school psychologists’ critical role in helping students overcome the mental health crisis, we must understand what they do. They must be trained in psychology, child development, and education and are especially helpful in recognizing children’s mental health issues when their families lack the means to assess their children independently or are not fluent in English. As schools diversify, they need more multilingual school psychologists to communicate in a culturally sensitive manner with students of various backgrounds.

School psychologists also help students navigate disabilities, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, family conflicts, and bullying as well as discern if they have learning challenges. Even if children do not face such obstacles, many still experience immense stress to perform well in school, and students’ academic anxiety has only heightened. School psychologists help their communities grapple with disasters within the school, such as school shootings and suicides, after the fact although more funding would allow for preventative measures.

https://raptortech.com/resources/blog/student-toxic-stress-leads-to-anxiety-depression-and-poor-academic-performance/

In general, although they often receive minimal recognition, school psychologists enhance students’ capacity to learn as well as teachers’ capacity to teach. However, both school psychologists themselves and schools trying to hire them face numerous challenges. If we do not address these problems, they will not only harm school psychologists but also children who rely on their support. If our youth struggle, all of us do.

The Shortage of School Psychologists

Partially due to this increased need for school psychologists, there is a shortage of them in the United States. School psychologists, many of whom were already caring for thousands of students, have been overwhelmed with even more work. Since a single meeting with a student can take half a day, school psychologists no longer have time to perform behavior interventions, assist teachers, do counseling, and more.

Based on studies performed prior to the pandemic, up to 90% of school psychologists have experienced burnout. According to a 2018 survey in the Southeast of the country, which especially lacks school psychologists, roughly 22% expressed that they considered relinquishing their positions. If there were more school psychologists, tasks could be distributed to alleviate individual burdens. Another contributing factor to the shortage is that many university PhD programs take at least six years and thus produce only a few school psychologists.

https://blog.securly.com/avoid-school-counselor-burnout/

Although it is well understood that there is a general shortage of school psychologists, why is there geographical variation in the supply of them?

Geographical Variation

The NASP 2020 Professional Standards state that a ratio of 500 students to one school psychologist is ideal for maximum efficacy. Unfortunately, the country’s average ratio for the 2022 to 2023 school year was 1,119 students to one school psychologist. Many Southern states had a ratio above 2,000 students to one school psychologist, and Alabama’s ratio was a staggering 250,308 to one. Politics may contribute to this region’s insufficient supply. Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, whose ratio was 2,007 to one, prohibited social-emotional learning. In other words, schools may not teach content connected with social justice, intersectionality, and more ideas that are at the core of school psychology. Related bills have been suggested in other Southern states.

Only two states, Utah and Connecticut, met the NASP’s standard. Massachusetts had a ratio of 686 students to one school psychologist, one of the better data points but higher than its ratio from the 2021 to 2022 school year. Essentially, rural areas in Southern states, in particular, lack a sufficient number of school psychologists. Even Colorado, a Southwestern state, has a ratio of 2,128 to one in rural areas although its overall ratio is 942 to one.

There are fewer school psychologists in rural areas because there are undesirably long travel times and insufficient resources, such as special education programs, funding, professional development, assessment tools, and information. School psychologists here call for more literature on modern intervention strategies as well as modern assessment materials.

https://www.nasponline.org/about-school-psychology/state-shortages-data-dashboard

Part 2

There is variation in student to school psychologist ratios at the school level in addition to the regional level, for some public schools struggle to supply students with adequate mental health services.

Some Public Schools’ Inability to Support Students’ Mental Health

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2024, 48% of public schools stated that they could adequately support all their students’ mental health while this percentage was 56% from 2021 to 2022. Closely intertwined with this decrease in mental health support is that 75% of public schools used at least two types of mental health service providers whereas 80% did so previously. Specifically, only 75% of public schools provided students with school counselors while this percentage was initially 83%, another statistically significant decrease.

55% of these schools attributed their shortcomings to a scarcity of mental health professionals within the school, and 49% stated that there were not enough licensed mental health professionals to hire. Additionally, 54% mentioned their lack of funding.

The Lack of Funding

To truly understand how insufficient funding is hindering public schools, let us examine the root cause of these financial issues. September 2024 marked the deadline for designating the last of federal pandemic aid money, so schools were left with fewer funds. Fewer students are enrolling in their districts’ public schools due to lower birth rates and a heightened desire to attend alternatives. Specifically, U.S. public schools lost over one million students from 2019 to 2022, and much of this decline can be attributed to an increased interest in private school and home-schooling. Thus, U.S. school districts have been forced to make budget cuts that they postponed during Covid. Although more affluent districts have also made controversial budget cuts, such as omitting music classes, budget cuts will likely affect low-income and urban school districts the most, for they received more federal pandemic aid and have suffered from the decrease in student enrollment, which causes districts to receive less state and federal money.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nearly-100-billion-covid-relief-181556066.html

Additionally, due to inflation, costs have increased, and many school districts that provided larger raises than they had previously to remain competitive can no longer do so. For instance, Hartford, Connecticut, used federal pandemic aid to fund 260 school positions, including school counselors, for it recognized the importance of these roles in supporting students during Covid. Unfortunately, due to budgeting issues and the decrease in student enrollment, the district must transfer counselors to different positions to avoid firings. Although these temporary school counselors fulfilled students’ short-term mental health needs during Covid, post-pandemic support is still necessary.

These funding issues contribute to the shortage of school psychologists not only by forcing the dismissal and redistribution of staff but also by exacerbating indignation about salaries, which has caused teachers to quit; thus, schools must allocate money to filling other roles, not hiring school psychologists. According to an August 2023 report, before the 2023 to 2024 school year, there was a 51% increase in educator vacancies nationwide. The Government Accountability Office stated that due to Covid, teachers were dissatisfied with many aspects of their jobs, for they felt unsafe, undervalued, and overworked.

Part 3

Now that we have zoomed out to a nationwide level, let us explore both how well-funded schools are enhancing students’ mental health and the potential for even more positive change. Although we focus on our own school’s efforts, we acknowledge that there is variation even amongst well-funded schools.

What Our School Is Doing Well

Our school has just under 500 students and multiple health professionals, including a teaching and learning specialist, two school counselors, health teachers, and a nurse. Thus, we are actually exceeding the NASP’s standard.

Last year, a week dedicated to wellness provided many opportunities to engage in wellness-related activities, and the wellness room is always filled with comfortable pillows and blankets as well as fidgets. Numerous clubs promote schoolwide wellness and educate the community on mental health. Health class is integrated into each grade’s curriculum, and this year, students are participating in a study about the positive effects of exercise and mindfulness activities on the brain.

https://www.wellable.co/blog/wellness-room-in-the-workplace/

How Our School Can Improve

However, there are still ways in which our school can improve its mental health services. Before we get into our proposal for well-funded schools, we wanted to discuss the techniques the country has employed to address the shortage of school psychologists.

In 2023, the United States Department of Education granted 103 states and school districts $141 million so that recipients could hire more school psychologists. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a school psychologist is $77,440. Due to the current shortage, the public education system would need to pay $2.7 to $4.9 billion annually to fulfill the NASP’s recommended student to school psychologist ratio.

Training and Recruitment Programs

Yet, as mentioned, funding is not the only issue, for there is also a lack of qualified mental health professionals to hire. Thus, state policymakers should expand the availability of graduate programs that prepare students for this position. Dorothy Espelage, an experienced counseling psychologist, suggests that more programs provide master’s level EdS, or Education Specialist, degrees, which usually mandate two years of coursework and a yearlong internship, a relatively short period.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has implemented a program that lasts two and a half years and aims to retrain groups of 12 educators to be school psychologists so that they can obtain an EdS. There are part-time, hybrid, and online alternatives so that those in rural areas, with families, or without the option or desire to leave their full-time jobs can still participate. The program works with school districts to allow these individuals to complete fieldwork and internships, and subsequently, they commit to three years of work at local schools. The University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education has also worked to enroll and train 32 school psychologists so that they can fill the vacancies in Colorado’s rural areas.

Likewise, Stephanie Schmitz, a school psychologist at the University of Northern Iowa, has worked with her colleagues to encourage educators with master’s degrees to become school psychologists. She expressed that to combat the shortage, “grow-your-own” programs must recruit those who already reside and work in areas that experience the worst deficiencies.

https://www.breezejmu.org/news/academics/grow-your-own-program-aims-to-increase-education-access-in-low-income-communities/article_55ecf0ae-4503-11ed-af98-4bd9f6f84938.html

The NASP is also trying to ensure that school psychologists feel more content at their jobs through federal investments, paid internships for graduate students, fixed salaries that are regularly paid, and additional financial incentives. It provides school districts with instruction on how to improve school psychologists’ working conditions as well, and it aims to implement credentialing reciprocity to enable school psychologists to work in multiple states.

What Can Our School Do?

The NASP Shortages in School Psychology: Resource Guide is an excellent source for recommendations on how to support the cause. As the club for which this research was conducted plans to do, our school can increase interest in professions within educational psychology by inviting practitioners to speak. The school can also spread awareness about scholarship programs, such as the one offered by the New Jersey Association of School Psychologists, for high school students interested in educational psychology as well as about state and national organizations they can join.

Conclusion

Although well-funded schools may have an abundance of mental health services, mental health issues cannot be eliminated from any community. Do not be afraid to seek out existing services and advocate for additional ones in the spaces you frequent. We hope that by reflecting on your own mental health needs, you can empathize with those who may not have access to as many resources. Aim to be not only a recipient but also a provider of aid by promoting the importance of school psychology. Please let us know if you would like to read more posts about psychology in the future!