IU, regional campuses launch new school psych program

Oct. 15—School psychology programs have historically been geared toward the full-time student, due to workload needed to earn what is somewhere between a master's and doctorate degree.

In an age where a record number of students require mental health services and student-to-school-psychologist ratios are ballooning, the traditional school psychology program could be considered a road block to providing those needed services.

"We had — and still do — a severe shortage, and we have folks who couldn't enroll or participate in existing programs," said Leah Nellis, vice chancellor for innovation and special projects at Indiana University Kokomo.

Indiana University and its regional campuses are trying to change that with a new program.

Called Addressing Regional School Psychologist Shortages, the program will allow working adults — many of whom are already employed by schools — to work toward an education specialist degree in school psychology. This degree is needed to be a licensed school psychologist.

"It's designed specifically for folks who might want to complete that program while they're working," Nellis said. "There aren't a lot of training programs where they can continue to work."

Regional campus partners include IUK, IU East and IU South Bend.

School psychologists work with children who have behavioral and mental health issues, consult with families, provide small group counseling, special education assessments and help determine if a child needs an individualized education program (IEP).

The latter means every school district needs a school psychologist. It is a required position.

"It's tense work," said Nellis, who proposed the program back in 2018 and has more than two decades of experience in the field. "You're often working with children dealing with significant challenges."

A $4.4 million grant from the United States Department of Education helped establish the program.

Kokomo School Corporation, Richmond Community Schools and South Bend Community School Corporation are partnering school districts.

The grant also provides tuition support for students.

The 65-credit hour program includes both online and in-person classes. Students will complete two to three classes a semester and three or four during the summer.

Classes do not meet during the day, aligning with the goal to make the program accessible to those with day jobs.

Nellis said students will need flexibility to complete clinical hours.

There are 13 students in the first cohort, many of whom work at Kokomo schools.

The goal is to bolster the state's numbers of school psychologists.

Indiana's ratio of students to school psychologists is 1,502 to 1, well behind the recommended standard of 500 to 1, according to the National Association of School Psychologists.

Caseloads were rising in the lead up to 2020, as more and more children require behavioral and mental health services.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.

"The referrals exploded," said Jennifer McNeany, assistant clinical professor of school psychology at IUK. "Parents and educators recognized what we were doing in a general education classroom isn't meeting the needs of all students."

McNeany is teaching the courses for this year's cohort.

More evaluation and more children needing services inflates the student-to-therapist ratio.

When there are more students — and less school psychologists — it prevents therapists from providing other, proactive services. This in turn leads to what McNeany called "putting Band-Aids on issues."

It's why increasing the ranks of school psychologists is so important.

"Hopefully, having more school psychologists will help us provide more interventions," McNeany said.

There are additional challenges to addressing not only the school psychologist shortage but also dwindling numbers of other school-based therapists like speech language pathologists (SLP) and occupational and physical therapists.

National accrediting standards limit how many students can be admitted into these programs as there are strict limits on student-teacher ratios.

To admit more students, more funding would be needed to pay more staff. The programs all require clinical hours. More students would require more participating facilities to host them so they can complete their hours.

More funding is also needed so schools can offer more-competitive salaries, especially when districts compete with the medical field for certain therapists, like SLPs.

And for school psychology, more general awareness about the profession is needed.

Nellis, who herself was a psychology undergrad student, said many psych, sociology and education majors aren't aware that school psychology is a possible career path.

"I think in some ways, it's a lack of familiarity," she said.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.