NEWS

The 7-item survey was sent/posted via email on the Listserv of both Division 16 of APA and CDSPP. Subscription to the listserv is purely voluntary, but was felt to be the easiest method of reaching as many training directors as possible. A second notice of the survey was posted 2 weeks after the initial request. One week after the second posting, email messages were sent personally to a total of eight program directors of APA-accredited programs who had not responded.

A total of 50 programs responded to the survey. All but four of the APA-accredited programs responded, along with several other non-APA accredited doctoral programs. Because the total number of programs who subscribe to the listservs are unknown, an exact response rate for the survey cannot be ascertained. Based on the number of APA accredited programs listed in the December 1998 issue of the American Psychologist (50), it is felt that the survey represented 80-90% of all doctoral training programs nationally.

Across these programs, a total of 271 students were reported as seeking internships for the 1999-2000 academic year. Of these, 125 (46%) sought internships through the Uniform Notification Day Process. Of the 125, 114 were actually matched on UND (91%). A total of 9 of 10 students who were not matched on UND, later found internship placements (see Table 1 below).

These data compare favorably with those reported for the 1998-99 academic year by Guerrero (1999). Results of that survey conducted by APA noted that there were 183 students seeking internships, with 98 (53.6%) not placed on UND. However, the Guerrero (1999) survey did not ask how many students of the 183 actually applied for internships under the UND process. In the APA survey, 12 students found APA or APPIC internships after UND, and 69 of the remaining 86 were placed in non-APA or APPIC internships.

In our survey, we found that all students found internships (with one exception which was for personal reasons). The primary reasons offered for why students did not elect to enter the UND internship process were:

These reasons match up well to the APA survey which found 34.7% of applicants not matched because of geographical restrictions, and 34.7% indicating "other" as the primary reason.

Table 1

In sum, it appears that school psychology students who wish to find an internship through the UND process are very successful. Indeed, 91% of applicants were matched. Although the APA survey does not report the percentage of clinical and counseling students who applied for internships through the UND process, it is assumed that the number who did far exceeds the 46% of school psychology students found in our survey. As such, it is likely that the number of school psychology students who were matched (91%) compares quite favorably to clinical and counseling psychology students where 81.1% of clinical and 83.6% of counseling students were matched in the 1998-99 APA survey. Of particular interest is the number of school psychology students who elect not to enter the UND process. Clearly, for many students the types of internships available with the UND process do not match well with the interests nor training backgrounds of these students. In particular, those interested in school-based internships are not part of the UND process. The majority of students seeking internship across all doctoral training programs appear to be looking for school internships. Thus, the data reported by APA’s survey are somewhat misleading.

It is also important to note that virtually every student in school psychology seeking an internship finds an internship placement. With very few exceptions, which are mostly for personal reasons, finding an internship is not problematic.

The meeting began on Friday morning with separate meetings of the different training councils. CDSPP had a lively discussion of issues related to the conference led by CDSPP Chair Tom Fagan. The afternoon began with APA past-president Martin Seligman’s Keynote Address entitled "Positive Psychology and Training for the Next Decade." The rest of the afternoon saw members of the four sponsoring groups joining together in break-out sessions to discuss issues related to Training Systems (Practicum Breadth and Quality, Diversity Training, Training Clinics and Sites, Internship Issues, Cooperative Training Programs) and Student Issues (Student Competencies; Impaired Students; Americans with Disabilities Issues; Student Support; Recruitment, Admissions, and Fuller Disclosure). Friday concluded with a reception and dinner in a ballroom where the Beatles once played.

Saturday began with the second keynote address, this one by Thomas Borkove and entitled "Toward an Integrated and Empirically-Based Future for Mental Health Services." This was followed by more break-out sessions, this time covering Models and Philosophy (Educational Goals and Objectives; Competencies, Empirically-Supported Treatment, and Assessment; Outcomes and Feedback; Emerging and Changing Identities) and Training for Future and Society (Technology; Multidisciplinary/Joint New Roles; Market-Sensitive Training; Social Responsibility; Training and Faculty Development). Saturday afternoon some individuals attending an APA workshop on preparing for a site visit or on legislative advocacy. Others attended a wrap-up session just for school psychologists where we discussed what went on at the various break-out sessions. Saturday concluded with a cocktail reception for Congressman Ted Strickland.

There are a number of people who contributed greatly to the success of this meeting. CDSPP was represented on the planning committee by Tom Fagan and Dan Reschly. They put in many hours of work to ensure that school psychology issues were well represented at the conference. Other members of the CDSPP board (Ed Gaughan, Terry Gutkin, Steve Little, Bonnie Nastasi, and Chris Skinner) also were involved in planning and organizing the conference. Each of the break-out sessions had a discussion facilitator from each of the three practice areas. Facilitators from school psychology included: Lisa Bishoff, Jeff Braden, Cindy Carlson, Elaine Clark, Jack Cummings, Ed Gaughan, Gloria Miller, Stacy Overstreet, LeAdelle Phelps, Frances Prevatt, Ron Reeve, Dan Reschly, Rick Short, Terry Stinnet, Gary Stoner, Ronda Talley, and Anne Teeter. They all did a great job.

The conference was very well attended with over 80 individuals from 62 universities/programs represented. The following participated in the program: Alfred University (Edward Gaughan), Barry University (Joe Perry & Agnes Shine), Brooklyn College (Laura Barbanel), California School of Professional Psychology (Rhonda Brinkley-Kennedy), Central Michigan University (Matthew Burns), City University of New York (Philip Saigh), Fairleigh Dickinson University (Ron Dumont & Linda Reddy), Florida State University (Frances Prevatt), Fordham University (Anthony Cancelli), Georgia State University (Joel Myers), Hofstra University (Steven Little), Howard University (LaMonte Wyche), Illinois State University (Mark Swerdlik), Indiana State University (Lisa Bischoff), Indiana University (Jack Cummings), James Madison University (Harriet Cobb), Lehigh University (Ed Shapiro), Loyola University Chicago (David Prasse), Louisiana School Psychology Internship Consortium (Constance Kindrick Patterson), Michigan State University (Jean Baker & Evelyn Oka), New York University (Iris Fodor), Oklahoma State University (Terry Stinnett), San Diego State University (Valerie Cook-Morales, Colette Ingraham, Carol Robinson-Zanartu, & D. Anna Toliver), St. John’s University (Raymond DiGiuseppe), Teachers College, Columbia University (Stephen Peverly), Temple University (Joseph Rosenfeld), Tennessee State University (Lynn Boyer), Texas A&M University (Cynthia Riccio), Texas Woman’s University (Dinah Graham), Tri-T Associates, Inc. (Ronda C. Talley), Tulane University (Stacy Overstreet & C. Chrisman Wilson), University at Albany - SUNY (Deborah K. Kundert), University at Buffalo - SUNY (LeAdelle Phelps & Stephen Truscott), University of Alabama (Patti L. Harrison), University of Connecticut (Melissa Bray & Tom Kehle), University of Denver (Gloria Miller), University of Georgia (A. Michelle Lease), University of Kentucky (Stephen T. DeMers), University of Maryland (Hedy Teglasi), University of Massachusetts (Brunilda DeLeon, John Hitze, Bill Matthews, & Gary Stoner), University of Memphis (Tom Fagan & Wendy Naumann), University of Minnesota (Sandy Christenson & Marika Ginsburg-Block), University of Missouri (Rick Short), University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Terry Gutkin), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Harrison D. Kane), University of Northern Colorado (Rik Carl D’Amato), University of Rhode Island (Paul de Mesquita), University of South Carolina (Richard Nagle), University of South Florida (Kathy Bradley-Klug & Kelly Powell-Smith), University of Southern Mississippi (Ron Edwards, Joe Olmi, Heather Sterling-Turner, Dan Tingstrom, & Susan Wilczynski), University of Tennessee (Chris Skinner), University of Texas (Cindy Carlson), University of the Pacific (Linda Webster), University of Utah (Elaine Clark), University of Virginia (Ronald Reeve), University of Washington (Jim Mazza &Scott Stage), University of Wisconsin, Madison (Jeff Braden), University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (Anne Teeter), Vanderbilt University (Dan Reschly), Western Michigan University (Edward Daly), and Yeshiva University (Abraham Givner).

The conference also had a number of sponsors which helped keep costs down for attendees. Sponsors included the APA Insurance Trust, APA Board of Educational Affairs, American Guidance Service, Association for the Advancement of Psychology, Barry University, Riverside Publishing Company, and The Psychological Corporation.

The Healthy Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students Project seeks to reduce the risks of HIV infection, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other salient health issues of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. The program’s goals include helping to meet the health needs and improving the health outcomes of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth in school-based settings. The activities of the Project will be focused specifically on building the capacities of school psychologists, nurses, counselors, and social workers to serve LGB adolescents on topics of health. In order to effectively meet the needs of these professionals, APA is working on a collaborative basis with the American Counseling Association, the American School Counselor Association, the National Association of School Nurses, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Social Workers, and School Social Work Association of America. Each of these six organizations has dedicated a representative for the ongoing work of the Healthy LGB Students project.

The current 5-year plan for the Project includes conducting a needs assessment of school professionals in the field, creating an educational resource to meet the identified gaps from the needs assessment, and developing/conducting an effective training and dissemination strategy. Based upon APA’s proposal to the CDC, the initial training activities will begin in March of 2003.

In addition to the efforts focused upon school professionals, the Healthy LGB Students Project will also seek to build the capacity of schools in adapting and evaluating models of HIV prevention curricula to appropriately include content and activities to prevent same-sex sexual risk behaviors. Finally, the project anticipates strengthening the capacity of national organizations of school stakeholders to address issues of psychosocial climate and culture of schools for LGB adolescents.