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Recruiting and Retaining School Psychologists: The Experiences of District Level Administrative Supervisors

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Title: Recruiting and Retaining School Psychologists: The Experiences of District Level Administrative Supervisors
Language: English
Authors: Young, Ellie L. (ORCID 0000-0002-2408-8305), Butler, Rachel, Smith, Timothy B. (ORCID 0000-0002-0363-0003), Hilton, Sterling C., Smith, Alivia
Source: Psychology in the Schools. Aug 2021 58(8):1501-1517.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 17
Publication Date: 2021
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: School Psychologists, Recruitment, Labor Turnover, Graduate Study, Administrator Attitudes, Work Environment
DOI: 10.1002/pits.22506
ISSN: 0033-3085
Abstract: A shortage of school psychologists has been evident since the profession was initially recognized as a distinct field, and there is insufficient research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address this problem. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of district level administrative supervisors regarding recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants reported the following: (a) school psychology graduate programs do not producing enough school psychologists, (b) administrators are challenged to find enough school psychologists to hire, (c) neighboring school districts compete to hire candidates, and (d) administrators recruit and retain in a worker's market that favors the school psychologist. These administrative supervisors also communicated a sense that they had little influence over the shortage. Actions within the administrators' control included developing close relationships with graduate programs for successful recruiting, creating appealing workloads that matched salaries, being responsive to the needs of their current school psychologists, and offering job flexibility.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2021
Accession Number: EJ1302236
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0151268042;pis01aug.21;2021Jul08.01:56;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0151268042-1">Recruiting and retaining school psychologists: The experiences of district level administrative supervisors </title> <p>A shortage of school psychologists has been evident since the profession was initially recognized as a distinct field, and there is insufficient research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address this problem. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of district level administrative supervisors regarding recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants reported the following: (a) school psychology graduate programs do not producing enough school psychologists, (b) administrators are challenged to find enough school psychologists to hire, (c) neighboring school districts compete to hire candidates, and (d) administrators recruit and retain in a worker's market that favors the school psychologist. These administrative supervisors also communicated a sense that they had little influence over the shortage. Actions within the administrators' control included developing close relationships with graduate programs for successful recruiting, creating appealing workloads that matched salaries, being responsive to the needs of their current school psychologists, and offering job flexibility.</p> <p>Keywords: employment; recruitment; retention; school psychologists; shortage</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-2">INTRODUCTION</hd> <p>School psychologists provide a wide variety of services in schools to help students succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally (National Association of School Psychologists, 2020). Most often a school psychologist's workload includes giving cognitive, academic, and social‐emotional assessments; consulting with teachers, other educators, and parents; and providing crisis interventions, counseling and therapy, program evaluations, and in‐service education (Perfect & Morris, 2011). The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) recommends a ratio of one school psychologist for every 500 students and in some settings the ratio may need to be lower to ensure that students' needs are met (National Association of School Psychologists, 2020). Regardless of these recommendations, the ratio of school psychologists to students has been much higher for more than half of school psychologists (Curtis et al., 2012). In the 2009–2010 school year, the ratio of school psychologists to students across the United States was at or above 1500 to 1 (National Association of School Psychologists, 2011). School psychologists have found it difficult to address multifaceted student needs due to large workloads and persistent shortages (Tharinger & Palomares, 2004). Shortages in the field of school psychology have lasted for several decades and are predicted to continue in future years (Castillo et al., 2014). While changes in the ratios of students to school psychologists remained stable from 2010 to 2015 (Walcott & Hyson, 2018), school psychologists do acknowledge that their job is stressful (Young et al., 2021). Specifically, there is a need to understand the roles and perceptions of administrative supervisors of school psychologists as they address these needs from a practical, field‐based perspective.</p> <p>The shortage may be due to a variety of issues related to recruitment and retention. Recruitment may specifically be connected to the lack of aggressive marketing of the profession and confusing the role of school psychologists with school counselors (Davis et al., 2004). Evidence of ineffective recruiting efforts may be implied by the lack of awareness of the field among psychology undergraduates. Results from a survey given to undergraduate psychology students about their perceptions of graduate degrees in psychology showed that over 20% had never been exposed to school psychology (Stinnett et al., 2013). Another survey study (Bocanegra et al., 2015), revealed graduate students having significantly more exposure to the fields of counseling and clinical psychology than school psychology. Results also showed that increased exposure to the field of school psychology positively correlated with an intent to apply for a school psychology graduate program.</p> <p>Retention may be influenced by administrative support and supervision, as noted by Silva et al. (2016), whose research found that burnout may be prevented by access to adequate support. Furthermore, employees are more likely to stay at their current jobs when they have suitable supervision, a positive relationship with their supervisor, support in balancing work life and personal life, and opportunities to learn and grow within their work environment (Kundu & Lata, 2017; McConnell, 2011; Rodriguez, 2008; Yamamoto, 2011). Traditionally, this support and supervision has been provided through the supervision process.</p> <p>The National Association of School Psychologists and other authors (National Association of School Psychologists, 2018; Simon & Swerdlik, 2016) have defined two distinct types of supervision: clinical and administrative. Clinical supervision focuses on supervising the direct services of school psychologists, and administrative supervision focuses on the legal, contractual, and organizational aspects within a school district; however, some areas of clinical and administrative supervision may occasionally overlap (National Association of School Psychologists, 2018). The distinctions and similarities between these types of supervision are useful, especially when considering the perceptions of administrators in the recruitment and retention of school psychologists. The focus of this study is on administrative supervision because administrative supervisors typically oversee the hiring of school psychologists for their district.</p> <p>Larger workloads are being placed on school psychologists due to increasing student needs and the shortage of school psychologists, adding to the importance of understanding and responding accordingly to the shortage (Fagan, 2004). Thus, considering the practices and perceptions of administrative supervisors regarding the recruitment and retention of school psychologists has the potential to help the field effectively increase the number of school psychologists and improve retention rates. The purpose of this study is to describe how administrative supervisors are responding to widespread shortages, including the methods they use to recruit and retain school psychologists. Two specific research questions were addressed:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> 1. How do administrative supervisors of school psychologists describe their current staffing needs?</item> <p></p> <item> 2. How do administrative supervisors of school psychologists recruit and retain school psychologists?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0151268042-3">METHOD</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0151268042-4">Participants</hd> <p>The participants of this study were administrative supervisors working at the district level in public schools who have the primary responsibility of hiring and evaluating school psychology personnel (National Association of School Psychologists, 2018). We used this definition to differentiate administrative supervisors from clinical supervisors, who provide professional one‐on‐one supervision that focuses on the specific work done with students in schools.</p> <p>Given that the Rocky Mountain region is one of two areas in the U.S. most impacted by the shortage of school psychologists (American Association for Employment in Education, 2016), we purposefully sampled school districts from Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming. Districts sampled were reported by the potential participant to have at least three school psychologists in their district. We identified the administrative supervisor through the district's website when that information was available. To gather state district information, we first obtained a list of districts in each state from the state's board of education website. We gathered the district's student population information from the National Center for Education Statistics (2018). We then organized districts in each state by size according to their student population: large, medium, and small districts respectively having 25,000+, 25,000–8000, and below 8000 students. Using a stratified sampling procedure, we selected equal numbers of large, medium, and small districts from each state, with district websites or phone calls identifying the district school psychologist administrative leader.</p> <p>Administrators from charter and private schools were not included because they typically have only one school psychologist and their perceptions and experiences may be markedly different than those who supervise several school psychologists. We were also unable to find information on the number of school psychologists working in charter schools or ways their roles may vary from public school settings (National Association of School Psychologists, 2020).</p> <p>Of the total of 50 individuals who were contacted by phone or email to participate in the study, 31 were not interviewed because they did not meet criteria or did not respond to the invitation. Of the 19 total participants, 13 identified as cisgender men and 6 identified as cisgender women; their mean age was 45 years. Ethnicity was specified by 15 as White/European American; one specified as LatinX, one as bi‐racial/multi‐racial, and one as East Indian; one preferred not to answer. Eleven participants had a master's degree, six had an educational specialist degree, and two had a doctoral degree; 15 participants held an administrative license, while four did not.</p> <p>Eleven participants described their school districts as suburban, four participants as urban, three participants as rural, and one participant as rural geographically and urban in size. Participants reported an average of 41 schools in their districts, with a standard deviation of 24.24 and a range of 4 to 87 schools. Participants reported an average of 30,112 students in their school districts, with a standard deviation of 23,330 and a range of 70 to 80,000 students. The participant who reported 70 students enrolled in their school district met criteria for supervising three or more school psychologists due to the district providing specialized instruction to students with specific social, emotional, behavioral, and/or educational needs. Finally, participants reported supervising an average of 20 school psychologists in their district, with a standard deviation of 16.1 and a range of 3 to 56. They also reported supervising an average of 58 professionals other than school psychologists, with a standard deviation of 72.3 and a range of 0 to 306.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-5">Procedures</hd> <p>After identifying the school districts and administrators from the respective districts, we contacted potential participants by telephone or email and invited them to participate in this study. We explained the rights of research participants and gained their consent to participate before proceeding. During this contact, we determined if the individual met criteria to be included in the study. One of the first questions asked was whether they were responsible for the hiring of school psychologists (See Appendix). Those who were responsible were then asked if they supervised at least three school psychologists within their district. Participants who met criteria were emailed a Qualtrics Survey containing demographic questions and a consent to participate (see Appendix). Researchers and the participant then agreed on a time to conduct the full phone interview. This interview consisted of semi‐structured open‐ended questions with potential follow‐up or clarifying questions (see Appendix). The researcher asked each participant the same questions in the same sequence. Responses were recorded and transcribed word for word. Interviews continued until responses became repetitive and saturation was achieved. Saturation, which is the ability to understand all of the data, usually occurs around 16–24 interviews (Hennink et al., 2017). For this study, we conducted 19 interviews. Each interviewee was offered a $50 VISA gift card as compensation for their time.</p> <p>This study was completed in collaboration with another researcher who explored the roles, responsibilities, and professional backgrounds of school psychology administrative leaders in school districts. The collaborating researcher used the same recruiting and interview procedures; the interviews included questions addressing both research projects.</p> <p>The interview questions were developed, followed by pilot interviews with those familiar with the roles of school psychology administrative leaders. Our institutional review board (IRB) reviewed the study procedures and determined that IRB approval was not needed because the professionals were asked only to contribute information about some aspect of the external world primarily from the perspective of their expertise rather than their personal opinions, preferences, perceptions or experiences.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-6">Measures</hd> <p>The interviews consisted of approximately four questions to determine if the potential participant met the needed inclusion criteria, ten demographic questions, and eight semi‐structured interview questions. Estimated completion time for the interview was about 25–45 min. A copy of the interview is found in the Appendix.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-7">Data analysis</hd> <p>Once all data were collected from the interviews, qualitative responses were analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA is used to uncover individuals' perceptions of situations they are experiencing and ways they make sense of those situations (Smith & Osborn, 2003). All of the 19 individual transcripts were read multiple times, and microthemes and macrothemes were identified. Microthemes are smaller themes specific to each research question; macrothemes are larger themes found integrated throughout the entire interview. These themes were then listed in one large table and analyzed by a group of researchers to identify connections among the ideas. The most commonly repeated themes found among the interviews were then translated into narratives that outlined the inherent meaning in each of the participant's experiences (Smith & Osborn, 2003). Researchers reported data by including direct quotations from the qualitative responses as evidence of the conclusions and interpretations (Brantlinger et al., 2005). Researchers used the reporting checklist provided by Kelley et al. (2005), which includes reporting how many individuals agreed to participate and the response rate. Research assistants then reviewed the transcripts and the narratives to check for accuracy of the themes.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-8">RESULTS</hd> <p>Based on questions asked during the interview process outlined in the method section, themes emerged in a problem/solution format addressing the two research questions:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> 1. How do administrative supervisors of school psychologists describe their current staffing needs?</item> <p></p> <item> 2. How do administrative supervisors of school psychologists recruit and retain school psychologists?</item> </ulist> <p>The first research question elicited five major themes; the second research question produced five solutions to problems described by administrative supervisors. Theme one does not have a corresponding solution and is answered by the implicit theme of a lack of control regarding recruiting and retention integrated throughout the interviews.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-9">Theme one: Difficulty in finding school psychologists</hd> <p>This theme emphasized the widespread difficulty finding school psychologists to hire and communicating a lack of control or influence over the situation. Issues related to graduate training or hiring interns was identified as a separate theme.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-10">Persistent shortages</hd> <p>When asked about their current staffing needs participants expressed awareness of persistent shortages of school psychologists and reported being significantly affected by these shortages. Across the interviews, the lack of applicants was the uppermost concern. The first answer given in response to the interview question of recruitment challenges from Participant A4 stated, "There's this overall lack of applicants. It's crazy. The overall lack of school psychologists looking for jobs is extremely challenging."</p> <p>A few participants who were not affected by the shortage considered themselves "lucky" because they were aware of how the shortage was affecting other school districts. Participant A1 explained, "We have been pretty fortunate the last couple of years; we've been able to recruit a number of good candidates and hire great candidates. I know there is generally a shortage across the state, we have not been there... We could be there this year." Overall, there is a sense that the school psychologist applicant pool is limited.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-11">Lack of control</hd> <p>Throughout the interviews, many of the district leaders implied lack of influence over the factors that contributed to addressing the shortages of school psychologists, despite their administrative role in the LEA. Many interviewees conveyed the idea that administrative supervisors can only "try" their best to improve conditions, and that a lot of issues related to recruiting and retention were beyond their control. Participant R9 expressed that her efforts hardly make a difference because of larger systemic issues in education.</p> <p>I just feel like the situation is very difficult, and I feel like I'm trying to do everything humanly possible to recruit and retain.... If I could wave a magic wand, I would fix public education to begin, and school finance, and funding, and really look at it from a systemic model, because I think the shortages that we experience with school psychologists and other professionals have to do with the profession, and it's currently a very broken and tired system that needs reform.</p> <p>Many other participants conveyed similar ideas. When asked how they recruit and retain despite shortages, their responses reflected unrewarded efforts, long negotiations, and a continual exertion to meet the needs of their school psychologists. Participant R1 expressed, "I've worked and worked with HR [human relations] to try to see if there's the kind of things that we can do to try and get the people more money." Overall, the interviews are littered with the same word: "try." This communicates a message that administrative supervisors often express a lack of influence in the recruitment and retention process, acknowledging little influence over the variables that would make a meaningful difference in their efforts.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-12">Theme two: Workload and compensation</hd> <p>In their responses, district leaders expressed that school districts are experiencing increases in the student population and in the intensity and complexity of the social/emotional/behavioral needs of students, and the number of school psychologists in the field is not enough to meet these burgeoning demands. Administrative supervisors indicated a concern with balancing workload and compensation for their school psychologists. Participants highlighted the demanding work that school psychologists do while emphasizing the mismatch between their salaries and workload. Participants shared that aligning job demands and compensation seems to be especially difficult due to increasing student needs and limited budgets. Participant R1 highlighted this problem:</p> <p>I think that we are dealing with increasingly more severe behavior problems that children are exhibiting. I think we're dealing with a lot more children, or maybe we just recognize now the number of children, that have been impacted by trauma and how we need to be trauma‐informed and try and provide more client resources.</p> <p>As student needs are steadily increasing, workloads typically increase while pay does not.</p> <p>Participant R4 summarized workload concerns:</p> <p>We have done a really good job with trying to match compensation; however, the compensation coupled with our workload... as it currently stands, we are having a hard time recruiting when we compensate similarly to another district except their workload is a lot less in terms of number of schools and number of students that [we] would be supporting.</p> <p>Participant R9 expressed similar concerns when discussing shortages:</p> <p>I think a lot of it has to do with workload. People get a high rate of burnout. It seems like a lot of people are going to contract employment. I do not have anything to put my finger on that, but you know they can make more money and not have to deal with district policies and rules.</p> <p>Participant R9 explained that the workload and compensation in schools is not as well matched as in contract employment, such as assessment positions independent from public school districts. Administrative supervisors found it difficult to recruit new school psychologists when the compensation does not reflect the demanding and difficult workload.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-13">Solution one: Appealing workload and compensation</hd> <p>Overall, administrative supervisors in this sample reported that they were trying to make their districts appealing to potential school psychologists despite facing limited budgets and increasing workloads. When asked what methods they used to recruit school psychologists, Participant A5 said,</p> <p>I try to tell people that our goal is always to improve our salary structure. And I think we probably will hear in the next year because it's kind of hit the point where they recognize we have to increase our salary because nobody can afford to live here otherwise.</p> <p>Participant R1 also recognized the importance of increasing salary to appeal to prospective school psychologists and shared the following:</p> <p>I've worked and worked with HR to try to see if [we can] try and get the people more money. Because, it's about money, you know. If you can walk out the door and walk down the street and make more money, well some people are going to do that.</p> <p>Workload also affects the appeal of work positions.</p> <p>Participant A9 explained, "We've tried to reduce our school psychologist load each year so [school psychologists] have fewer and fewer sites that they're responsible for, which I think has been helpful." To recruit school psychologists, supervisors acknowledge that they need to ensure that the workload and compensation would appeal to applicants. These district leaders indicated that they had to work closely with their HR department to communicate the need for competitive salaries and workloads.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-14">Theme three: Graduate programs</hd> <p>Administrative supervisors identified school psychology graduate programs as an essential resource for filling school psychologist and intern positions within their districts. However, many administrative supervisors explained two challenges regarding graduate programs. First, they believe that graduate programs do not produce enough graduates to address shortages in the field. Second, if they are located a far geographical distance from a graduate program, it is more difficult to establish strong recruiting relationships with the universities.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-15">Inadequate number of program graduates</hd> <p>During the interviews, administrative supervisors expressed concerns that graduate programs do not produce enough graduates to address shortages. Participant R8 stated,</p> <p>Well, just in general, our three graduate programs throughout the entire state of [name redacted] only generate 40–50 graduates a year. Sometimes there is even less. And that just does not even come close to touching what the demand is.</p> <p>Participant A2 expressed similar sentiments: "What we've found is that typically there are not enough seats in the schools in the state of [name redacted] to actually fill the number of psychologists that are needed."</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-16">Geographical distance from a training program</hd> <p>Participants from school districts that were not geographically close to graduate programs reported struggling to recruit new school psychologists. Participant A6 explained that due to geographical distance the district struggled to develop a relationship with graduate programs. "It's been very difficult even for us to establish relationships with the universities where they will send us interns." Similarly, participant R3 commented,</p> <p>One of the biggest challenges that we have is that we are 300 miles to the south [of a graduate program]. So, all the psychologists, when they go through their program up there, typically get picked up by local districts as a part of their practicum. We do not even get the opportunity to do [supervise practicum students]. And because we don't get to do that, we are really behind the eight ball in recruiting anybody coming out of these universities.</p> <p>Participant R4 expressed similar thoughts addressing distance and number of graduates being produced:</p> <p>I think some of the challenges that we face as a school district is just the pool of graduates that we can pick from based on our location.... We also, from a state point of view, do not have a ton of programs that offer school psychology as graduate programs.</p> <p>Overall, if graduate programs do not produce enough interns and school psychologists, the demand is not being met. Furthermore, administrative supervisors from districts farther away from graduate programs report finding it even more difficult to recruit interns and first year school psychologists.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-17">Solution two: Building recruitment relationships</hd> <p>Although many supervisors expressed feeling a disadvantage from being a distance from graduate programs, other supervisors noted the importance of having a relationship with graduate programs to hire school psychology interns. Participant A4 said,</p> <p>We try to stay in close contact with X and Y [university names redacted]. Specifically doing recruitment visits, talking to the cohort of the intern group for the next year.... I typically come and speak with the cohort that will be applying that school year and the following school year to talk about Z school district [district name redacted] and what that looks like for interns. And the second way that we recruit is through having those connections with the universities and helping anyone who is placed in the district have a positive experience.</p> <p>Participant A2 described recruiting methods that were attempts to reach out to graduate programs.</p> <p>The only methods we have is to let the universities in the state know that we have openings... we will send information up to X [university name redacted], we'll send information up to the Y [university name redacted], up to Z [university name redacted], to try and let them know that we have openings, and that people could apply if they wanted to.</p> <p>Participant A9 also mentioned the importance of their relationship with a graduate program in the area for recruiting the limited number of school psychologists,</p> <p>We have a good relationship with one of the universities... so I think that's a good place for us to be able to go and kind of present our district. But we don't do that with all of the universities and one university doesn't even have a program.</p> <p>Being able to recruit school psychology interns appears to be crucial to fill openings in school districts. Administrative supervisors reach out to neighboring universities by letting them know they have openings and by doing recruitment visits and talking to cohorts of school psychology students.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-18">Theme four: Competing with nearby LEAs</hd> <p>Administrative supervisors reported feeling pressure to compete with neighboring Local Education Administrations (LEAs) when hiring school psychologists. Responses aligned with this theme noted competition among neighboring districts based on pay and incentives. Administrative supervisors indicated that they needed to be aware of and able to match changes made by neighboring LEAs to avoid losing school psychologists to neighboring LEAs that might provide more favorable workloads, compensation, or service delivery models. Furthermore, administrative supervisors conveyed a sense of disappointment and discouragement that they needed to be in competition with neighboring districts. Participant R2 explained, "Having several districts around us that are all competing for largely the same pool of people is a challenge." Participant A5 disclosed,</p> <p>We do not pay very well at the district. It used to be part of competitive pay, but just in the last like three years the cost of living... has gone up significantly. So, we are not really keeping pace with that as a district, and it is causing problems because other districts across the nation pay better.</p> <p>Participant A7 also expressed concerns with the district was not being competitive enough when recruiting school psychologists. "There are a lot of people that are very strenuously recruiting and offering fairly decent sized incentives. And so, we need to up our game to compete with that." Furthermore, Participant R1 said,</p> <p>The other challenge is that some of the other districts pay more and that is very difficult because anytime we think we are getting ahead of the curve by offering something, other districts will trump us on that. I lost three people from out of state in one week to another district, another local district. They chose the other district instead of coming to us. So, it is kind of hard.</p> <p>Administrative supervisors reported feeling pressure to stay competitive with offers for salary and benefits when recruiting school psychologists. They indicated that they can easily lose opportunities to hire because of competitive neighboring districts, and they used language that conveyed a sense of distress and negativity. Administrative supervisors stayed aware of changes made in neighboring districts and many tried their best to match those changes to salary and workload to remain competitive. Many administrative supervisors who could not compete with neighboring LEAs felt the burden of losing school psychologists.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-19">Solution three: Offering support and being responsive</hd> <p>Many of the administrative supervisors interviewed indicated that their relationship with their school psychologists is a key factor in recruitment and retention. Participant A1 said, "Because we don't have control over the pay... I think we really try to make up for that with the level of support that we do provide our psychs, and that's something I think we're known for."</p> <p>Participant A3 also emphasized relationships with the school psychologists.</p> <p>I think at the grassroots level, building those relationships... taking the time with staff, supporting them, valuing them, conversing with them in a fashion that hopefully conveys "we appreciate you," "you're doing a great job," "you're essential," and making sure people feel that if they feel they need something, they need some assistance, we are going to deliver on that... I think we are just working diligently to be responsive, and supportive.</p> <p>Participant A9 also mentioned that the collaboration among school teams in the district is helpful for school psychologists. "[We're] really collaborative and so... if they have questions, they have somebody to go to."</p> <p>Participant R2 also explained that supporting their school psychologists and being available to answer questions is important for keeping them in the district.</p> <p>I just try to be really responsive to whatever my staff needs. That is part of the reason why I try to stay in the office as much as I can, so if they have a problem and they need an answer I can be there and give them that answer. I try to always have an open door policy, and if they have any kind of concerns—whether it's with a specific case or if it's with a policy—to try to be really open to hearing what their concerns are and either helping them to understand why things are the way they are if they are not things we can change, or help them problem solve through whatever issues that they are with.</p> <p>Administrative supervisors report that being available to answer questions and offer assistance is one of the best ways to build a supportive relationship with their school psychologists. They report that a leadership style of having an "open door policy" and being readily available to their school psychologists is important for retention.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-20">Theme five: A worker's market</hd> <p>Supervisors are also aware that along with national and regional shortages comes the opportunity for school psychologists to be selective when choosing a district. The participants communicated that applicants can usually choose between multiple job options, and supervisors may have limited resources to influence their decisions. According to Participant A3, "It's a good time for people to be in the business of becoming a school psychologist because there are many opportunities, and they probably end up with a lot of say in where [they do] internship or employment."</p> <p>Another administrative supervisor described how school psychologists can consider salary, benefits, and ideal location when choosing where to work because LEAs will compete to hire them. Participant R7 told the following experience:</p> <p>The district to our west needed school psychologists so they actually came over and visited with our school psychologists and offered them signing bonuses and about fifteen thousand dollars a year more to move to that district. I had a couple [of school psychologists] that were interested and thought about it, but then just decided... if the quality of life... [was] equitable in both places they would be long gone.... But it's about where people want to live and be as well.</p> <p>It appears that school psychologists can weigh multiple options when choosing employment.</p> <p>Another administrative supervisor (Participant R8) put it succinctly, saying that whenever school psychology interns ask, "'Am I going to find a job?' what [I] tell them is in this market you're always going to find a position." School psychologists can typically choose between many offers when considering employment, and administrative supervisors have limited influence.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-21">Solution four: Job flexibility</hd> <p>Offering job flexibility and matching the school psychologists' preferences are important in recruiting and retaining school psychologists, according to participants. This includes allowing school psychologists to integrate different skill sets into their work and to broaden their role beyond completing assessments. For example, Participant A4 reported,</p> <p>We try to match school psychologists' interests with their assignments. So if someone really has a passion for elementary preschool, we can set them up with an elementary preschool assignment. If they have a passion for working with older students, we try to set them up with a secondary role. If they have a passion for autism, we have roles that we can put them in where they can use those skills.</p> <p>Participant A5 also highlighted an effort to offer flexible job roles to school psychologists.</p> <p>I really try to highlight just that we are allowed to be comprehensive school psychs, and that we are not stuck testing kids all day or running around doing two million meetings. We really do have flexibility in our assignments to do mental health support and work with teachers and, you know, support kids in the classroom and do all kinds of things that we're trained to do.</p> <p>Similarly, Participant A6 expressed,</p> <p>Nobody wants to come in and do straight assessments. They want to be like psychologists and do some of that... depending on where their passions lie, things that interest them and stuff, we want them to be not only school psychologists, but specialists in certain areas as well. And that's been something that's really helped us as well. So, you know, if somebody has a huge interest in autism then we allow them to do that.</p> <p>Overall, administrative supervisors recognize that school psychologists tend to prefer certain job roles, settings, or work with specific populations and that responding to these preferences and passions helps them to retain their school psychologists.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-22">Solution five: Surrounding community</hd> <p>Administrative supervisors commented that although the quality of life in the community may be somewhat out of their control, it is a factor in retaining their school psychologists. The participants reported understanding that their school psychologists want to live and work in the same area, so they try to help them feel welcomed and connected to the community. Participant A2 stated, "Our community is a great community, our school district is a great school district, and we really pride ourselves on being able to make people feel comfortable and help them feel comfortable in their working environment."</p> <p>Participant A8 also noted that community is an important factor.</p> <p>[A] lot of [retention] is... when they feel a part of the work but also when they have connections in the community, and I think our whole entire district office staff has really tried to make sure that our two interns are feeling welcomed, and that they have the supports needed but also not just at work—you know, inviting them to barbecues, making sure they're going to athletic events.</p> <p>The same message was reiterated by Participant R3.</p> <p>[T]hey love to stay because they love the climate in X [city name redacted], and they love the fact that they are in a very good family community, and they love the work. And I think they also really value the culture that we have here, that we're very progressive and that they're a key part of the decision making.</p> <p>These administrative supervisors shared their perceptions that school psychologists will remain with a district if the location is appealing and they feel integrated into the community. The climate and resources of the larger community may influence job retention.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-23">DISCUSSION</hd> <p>The school psychologist shortage has persisted, even during historical periods of limited employment (Fagan, 2004), and has been predicted by researchers to continue through 2025 (Castillo et al., 2014). Shortages of school psychologists have been reported in all regions of the nation, with the northwest and Rocky Mountain regions being most affected (American Association for Employment in Education, 2016). Participants shared that they are indeed heavily affected by school psychologist shortages. When asked to describe their staffing needs, participants responded that they have trouble finding school psychologists to hire. One particular reason they gave is that graduate programs do not produce enough school psychologists. This belief is also reflected in other research (Smith, 2020), showing that some students are not even aware of graduate programs available or are never exposed to school psychology in their undergraduate years (Bocanegra et al., 2015; Stinnett et al., 2013). This study showed that administrative supervisors recruit by trying to create appealing workloads and salary and by building relationships with school psychology graduate programs.</p> <p>Researchers have found that administrative supervisors can affect how currently employed school psychologists perceive burnout and other work‐related pressures (Silva et al., 2016), but previous literature did not show how supervisors describe what they do to retain school psychologists despite pervasive shortages. Administrative supervisors in this sample shared that they work to retain their employees by (a) offering support and being responsive to needs and immediate problems, (b) connecting them with the surrounding community, (c) trying to offer job flexibility to match their school psychologists' preferences, and (d) ensuring that their school psychologists had a reasonable workload. The participants specifically described their desire to ensure that their school psychologists' workload matched compensation to the extent possible. Participants explained that one of the few things they could control was the amount of support they offer.</p> <p>NASP recommends that school psychologists provide a wide variety of services focused on helping students academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally (National Association of School Psychologists, 2020); however, many school psychologists report that due to heavy workloads and competing demands, they spend the majority of their time conducting assessments (Perfect & Morris, 2011; Suldo et al., 2010). Our study showed that administrative supervisors also recognized a need for school psychologists to provide a wide variety of school‐based services to ensure that practitioners' interests match their assignments. They believed that one way to successfully retain their school psychologists has been to offer roles and responsibilities that align with the individuals' desires (e.g., working in a preschool setting or on district teams that reflect their expertise). Administrative supervisors try to do this by not limiting their school psychologists to completing traditional eligibility for special education assessments, but rather allowing them opportunities to practice the wide range of services taught in graduate programs and to work in areas that match their individual interests.</p> <p>Alternatively, the administrators noted several factors beyond their control that influenced recruiting and retention practices. The geographical location of the district influenced relationships with graduate programs. The general quality of life in the community was also emphasized as an element that influenced applicants' choices of where to work. Competing with neighboring school districts for school psychologists has been a difficult challenge to effectively address. Similarly, the limited enrollment in graduate programs was beyond the control of local leaders. Finally, ensuring competitive and reasonable compensation was viewed to be beyond the role or influence of some district leaders, being restricted primarily by human resources administrators and budgets.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-24">Limitations of the study</hd> <p>Because this study was limited to one region of the nation and included a nonrandom sample, further research conducted nationwide would contribute to better understanding of how a broader range of administrative supervisors describe their staffing needs and their recruitment and retention efforts. The results are intended to be descriptive only of the perceptions of this sample. Additional triangulation of the data could have identified other solutions to the problems identified by the participants and a fuller understanding of the problems. Even so, we propose that the findings may be informative to those that are looking for solutions to address shortages.</p> <p>Interviews were semi‐structured and completed by two different interviewers, each having the potential to elicit varied responses due to different interview styles and prompts. Finally, the interviews occurred over a 6‐month period that may have contributed to administrative supervisors prioritizing issues based on the time of school year. For example, an administrative supervisor can face different issues in October than in March, which tends to be a likely time for recruiting new school psychologists.</p> <p>As researchers we recognize that we may hold some level of bias in our results due to our work as interviewers and analysts throughout the entire process. We attempted to minimize any biases by having research assistants, who did not conduct interviews, review and compare the transcripts with the themes to ensure the themes accurately reflected the data. This checking process was repeated over time by the research team.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-25">Implications for practice and future research</hd> <p>This study can help inform practice in two distinct ways. First, it can show common methods that administrative supervisors are using when recruiting and retaining school psychologists. Second, it is a call to action for professional organizations, state and local leaders to work with universities to prioritize training of school psychologists and to find and implement innovative ways to prepare school psychologists. The second call for action is targeted at national and state professional associations to continue to promote the profession in a range of undergraduate majors (e.g., sociology, human development, elementary and secondary education) and even begin informing high school students about the advantages and contributions of the profession. The field also needs to find innovative ways to meet the needs of rural LEAs or others that are geographically further away from universities.</p> <p>Despite little empirical information on ideal and effective practices for recruiting and retaining school psychologists, this study helped identify ways that some administrative supervisors have recruited and retained school psychologists. To effectively recruit, administrative supervisors need to create and maintain appealing work conditions, such as competitive salaries, manageable workloads, and responsiveness to school psychologists' desires to work with specific groups of students (e.g., students in secondary settings). Administrative supervisors can work with HR units to ensure that school psychologists' workload matches their compensation. Establishing relationships with graduate programs through offering strong options for practicum students and interns seems especially important but driven by geography.</p> <p>To retain school psychologists, administrative supervisors need to offer responsive support by being easily available to answer questions and address concerns. Creating a community where school psychologists feel that they are a part of and connected to the broader community seems important. Finally, administrative supervisors need to facilitate a broad role for school psychologists that emphasizes flexibility and matches their preferences to retain them.</p> <p>Recognizing that many of the issues related to the shortage are beyond the influence of local leaders and school psychologists is key. This study showed that despite advocating for change, many administrative supervisors believe that they have limited means to successfully recruit and retain school psychologists, especially when shortages encourage competition among neighboring districts rather than collaboration. Therefore, the push for change must also occur on much larger, systemic levels. Collaboration between educational leaders in state and federal government positions and between trainers and graduate educators with NASP and American Psychological Association (APA) leaders seems important for contributing to increased understanding of what is affecting the shortage and barriers to training of more school psychologists. A public relations campaign to increase awareness of the need for more school psychologists, and an accurate picture of school psychologists' essential role in schools could be spearheaded by NASP, APA, state school psychology associations, and by local districts. Furthermore, the professional communities need to explore innovative ways to expand graduate training while still maintaining rigorous standards.</p> <p>Future research could explore what fully staffed LEAs do to recruit and retain school psychologists. Specific questions could identify innovative and effective leadership strategies, and efforts to have a robust applicant pool. Also, school psychologists could be interviewed to better understand why they choose to work in a specific LEA and what recruiting and retention efforts contributed to their decision making process.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-26">CONCLUSION</hd> <p>Administrative supervisors are vital in recruitment and retention of school psychologists in their district. Results from this study showed that administrative supervisors are aware of school psychologist shortages and are affected in their work by these shortages. First and foremost, administrative supervisors find it difficult to find school psychologists to hire, and they also find matching workload and compensation to be challenging. Additionally, administrative supervisors believe that graduate programs do not produce enough school psychologists and that being far away from a program adds to recruiting difficulties. Finally, administrative supervisors feel as though they are in competition with neighboring LEAs, and that the field of school psychology is a worker's market.</p> <p>Furthermore, when recruiting and training school psychologists, administrative supervisors find it necessary to create appealing work environments and build relationships with graduate programs. In efforts to retain school psychologists, administrative supervisors offer support, job flexibility, and connections with their surrounding community. Overall, administrative supervisors recognize what they need to do to recruit and retain school psychologists but feel as though influencing change is beyond their control. For that reason, this study sheds light on the need to advocate for the role of school psychologists on a systemic level.</p> <hd id="AN0151268042-27">CONFLICT OF INTERESTS</hd> <p>The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.</p> <p>APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> 1. Participation criteria questions asked during initial contact</item> <p></p> <item> a. Do you work at the district level as an administrator?</item> <p></p> <item> b. Are you responsible for hiring school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> c. Do you have at least three school psychologists in your district?</item> <p></p> <item> d. Are you responsible for evaluating school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> 2. Demographic questions asked via Qualtrics survey before interview</item> <p></p> <item> a. What is your age?</item> <p></p> <item> b. What is your gender?</item> <p></p> <item> c. What is your ethnicity?</item> <p></p> <item> d. What is your highest earned degree?</item> <p></p> <item> e. Do you have an administrator endorsement/license?</item> <p></p> <item> f. What is your official job title?</item> <p></p> <item> g. How many students are in your district?</item> <p></p> <item> h. How many school buildings are in your district?</item> <p></p> <item> i. How many school psychologists do you supervise?</item> <p></p> <item> j. How many other professionals do you supervise?</item> <p></p> <item> k. (Follow‐up. What the other professions do you supervise?</item> <p></p> <item> 3. Questions clarifying supervision responsibilities</item> <p></p> <item> a. What is the role of district leaders who directly supervise school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> b. What responsibilities do you fulfill as an administrative supervisor of school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> i. What do you consider your primary roles and responsibilities?</item> <p></p> <item> ii. How would you describe your typical work week?</item> <p></p> <item> 4. Questions indicating supervisory issues</item> <p></p> <item> a. What issues are currently challenging you as an administrative supervisor of school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> b. What else do I need to know to fully understand the role and function of district leaders who supervise school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> 5. Questions regarding current staffing needs</item> <p></p> <item> a. What challenges, if any, do you face in recruiting school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> b. What challenges, if any, do you face in retaining school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> c. How do you recruit school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> i. What methods do you use?</item> <p></p> <item> ii. What specific policies or benefits do you offer?</item> <p></p> <item> d. How do you retain school psychologists?</item> <p></p> <item> i. What methods do you use?</item> <p></p> <item> ii. What specific policies or benefits do you offer?</item> <p></p> <item> e. What would you need to better recruit and retain school psychologists?</item> </ulist> <ref id="AN0151268042-28"> <title> Footnotes </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Ellie L. Young and Rachel Butler contributed equally to this work.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <ref id="AN0151268042-29"> <title> REFERENCES </title> <blist> <bibtext> American Association for Employment in Education. (2016). Educator supply and demand report 2015–2016: Executive summary. Retrieved from https://aaee.org/resources/Documents/2015-16_AAEE_Supply_Demand_Summary.pdf</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Bocanegra, J. O., Gubi, A. A., Fan, C., & Hansmann, P. R. (2015). Undergraduate psychology students' knowledge and exposure to school psychology: Suggestions for diversifying the field. Contemporary School Psychology, 19 (1), 12 – 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0046-x</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Brantlinger, E., Jimenez, R., Klingner, J., Pugach, M., & Richardson, V. (2005). Qualitative studies in special education. Exceptional Children, 71 (2), 195 – 207. https://doi.org/10.11772/001440290507100205</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Castillo, J. M., Curtis, M. J., & Tan, S. Y. (2014). Personnel needs in school psychology: A 10‐year follow‐up study on predicted personnel shortages. Psychology in the Schools, 51 (8), 832 – 849. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21786</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Curtis, M. J., Castillo, J. M., & Gelley, C. (2012). School psychology 2010: Demographics, employment, and the context for professional practice—part 1. Communiqué (Milwaukee, Wis.), 40 (7), 1 – 28.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> Davis, A. S., McIntosh, D. E., Phelps, L., & Kehle, T. J. (2004). Addressing the shortage of school psychologists: A summative overview. Psychology in the Schools, 41 (4), 489 – 495. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.10192</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> Fagan, T. K. (2004). School psychology's significant discrepancy: Historical perspectives on personnel shortages. Psychology in the Schools, 41 (4), 419 – 430. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.10185</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> Hennink, M. M., Kaiser, B. N., & Marconi, V. C. (2017). Code saturation versus meaning saturation: How many interviews are enough? 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Ratio of students per school psychologist by state: Data from the 2009–2010 and 2004–2005 NASP membership surveys. https://<ulink href="http://www.nasponline.org/Documents/Research%20and%20Policy/Research%20Center/Ratios%5fby%5fState%5f2005%5fand%5f2010.pdf">www.nasponline.org/Documents/Research%20and%20Policy/Research%20Center/Ratios%5fby%5fState%5f2005%5fand%5f2010.pdf</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Association of School Psychologists. (2018). Supervision in school psychology. Retrieved from https://<ulink href="http://www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/policy-priorities/position-statements">www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/policy-priorities/position-statements</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Association of School Psychologists. (2020). NASP studies: NASP membership surveys. Retrieved from https://<ulink href="http://www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/nasp-research-center/nasp-studies">www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/nasp-research-center/nasp-studies</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Association of School Psychologists. (2020). The professional standards of the National Association of School Psychologists. Retrieved from https://<ulink href="http://www.nasponline.org/standards-and-certification/nasp-2020-professional-standards-adopted">www.nasponline.org/standards-and-certification/nasp-2020-professional-standards-adopted</ulink></bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Characteristics of traditional public schools and public charter schools. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cla.asp</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Perfect, M. M., & Morris, R. J. (2011). Delivering school‐based mental health services by school psychologists: Education, training, and ethical issues. Psychology in the Schools, 48 (10), 1049 – 1063. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20612</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Rodriguez, R. (2008). Learning's impact on talent flow. Chief Learning Officer, 7 (4), 50 – 64.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Silva, A. E., Newman, D. S., Guiney, M. C., Valley‐Gray, S., & Barrett, C. A. (2016). Supervision and mentoring for early career school psychologists: Availability, access, structure, and implications. Psychology in the Schools, 53 (5), 502 – 516. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21921</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Simon, D. J., & Swerdlik, M. E. (2016). Supervision in school psychology: The developmental, ecological, problem‐solving model. Taylor & Francis.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Smith, A. J. (2020). Understanding the administrative role of school psychology district leaders [Master's thesis, Brigham Young University]. Brigham Young University ScholarsArchive. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/8458/</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Smith, J. A., & Osborn, M. (2003). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. In (Ed.) Smith, J. A., Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods (pp. 51 – 80). Sage Publications.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Stinnett, T. A., Bui, L., & Capaccioli, K. (2013). Undergraduate student preferences for graduate training in psychology: Implications for school psychology. Psychology in the Schools, 50 (5), 520 – 530. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21686</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Suldo, S. M., Friedrich, A., & Michalowski, J. (2010). Personal and systems‐level factors that limit and facilitate school psychologists' involvement in school‐based mental health services. 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The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22 (17), 3550 – 3564. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2011.560871</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Young, E. L., Moulton, S. E., Julian, A., Smith, A., & Butler, R. (2021). Retention and job satisfaction of school psychologists. Psychology in the Schools, 58 (3), 569 – 584. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22465</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Ellie L. Young; Rachel Butler; Timothy B. Smith; Sterling C. Hilton and Alivia Smith</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author; Author; Author</p> </aug>
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  Data: A shortage of school psychologists has been evident since the profession was initially recognized as a distinct field, and there is insufficient research on what current administrative supervisors are doing to address this problem. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of district level administrative supervisors regarding recruitment and retention of school psychologists. Participants reported the following: (a) school psychology graduate programs do not producing enough school psychologists, (b) administrators are challenged to find enough school psychologists to hire, (c) neighboring school districts compete to hire candidates, and (d) administrators recruit and retain in a worker's market that favors the school psychologist. These administrative supervisors also communicated a sense that they had little influence over the shortage. Actions within the administrators' control included developing close relationships with graduate programs for successful recruiting, creating appealing workloads that matched salaries, being responsive to the needs of their current school psychologists, and offering job flexibility.
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            NameFull: Smith, Timothy B.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Hilton, Sterling C.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Smith, Alivia
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 08
              Type: published
              Y: 2021
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0033-3085
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 58
            – Type: issue
              Value: 8
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Psychology in the Schools
              Type: main
ResultId 1