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Advocacy
The Government Publications (GPR) chair connects ISPA with national and state developments in education relevant to School Psychology. They communicate the needs of School Psychologists to state and leaders in an effort to influence legislation and public policy as it relates to the provision of school psychological services. ISPA GPR Chair: Teagan Sullivan (teaganbsullivan@gmail.com) |
Advocacy Opportunity Regarding our Title "School Psychologist"
The American Psychological Association (APA) has begun the process of revising their Model Licensure Act (MLA), which represents their guidance for regulating the use of the title ‘psychologist’ and licensure of psychologists. APA has long held the position that only those with doctoral level training be able to use the title “psychologist.” But, for about the last 30 years the MLA has carved out an exemption for school psychologists, credentialed by the state department of Ed (or relevant body) to practice in school settings, to use the title school psychologist.
The APA is considering updating this part of the model to change the language of our title but is taking public comments into account. Continuing to be able to use this title is vital to our practice and allows us to maintain our legitimacy in our roles and communicate what we do clearly and effectively. We urge you to take a few minutes to submit a public comment by the deadline of February 29th. See this guidance document from NASP with instructions and a sample comment.
Thank you for helping us advocate for our position and communicate why we think our title is valuable!
Advocacy Updates:
The ISPA GPR Committee and our NASP representative are currently working with NASP and an Idaho Legislator to get Idaho in on an Interstate Compact Agreement. This would hopefully help school psychologists who arrive from out state after receiving licensure/certification in another state and do not have their NCSP (e.g., military spouses/partners, those school psychologists along our borders with Wyoming, Utah, Oregon, and Washington, etc.). More on this to come!
Idaho Legislature of Interest
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SENATE BILL NO. 1326: An interesting bill to keep an eye on regarding efforts of the state to retain highly qualified educators in Idaho. This is a bill that allows teachers and pupil service employees to get part of their student loans paid off.
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HOUSE BILL NO. 415: This bill would allow concealed carry in schools and goes against the NASP's philosophy as the only way to have safer schools. More guns and hardware in schools makes students feel LESS safe and there are better more proven ways to increase safer schools. Here is a link to the NASP's A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools (A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools) which outlines a more robust method to reaching the goal of safe schools.
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HOUSE BILL NO. 447: More details to come.
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HOUSE BILL NO. 539: More details to come.
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SENATE BILL NO. 1289: More details to come.
Please read over these bills and reach out to your legislators or committee chairs to provide feedback and/or written testimony! Not sure who your legislators are? Check here.
Policy Matters, NASP's policy and advocacy blog, contains up-to-date policy news from Capitol Hill and across the country, helpful policy and practice guidance, and real-world examples of how NASP, state associations, and individual school psychologists are advocating for change at the national, state, district, and school-building levels.
Take Action with NASP by sending letters on behalf of school psychologists and NASP. Various campaigns are posted to encourage your elected officials to support public policy issues that are important to school psychologists.