DAYTON, Ohio – Ken Smith spends hours on the road, sometimes skips lunch and works at home in the evening to catch up with paperwork.
That’s the life of a school psychologist who serves 30 elementary and secondary schools.
“There has been a shortage of school psychologists in southern Ohio,” said Smith, 43, who works in two rural counties around the southern Ohio city of Portsmouth. “We definitely need more. Day to day – that’s what we’re dealing with.”
The problem isn’t limited to Ohio.
Kathy Cowan, a spokeswoman for the National Association of School Psychologists, said there is a serious shortage of school psychologists nationwide, especially in rural areas.
An association survey done in 2000 found there were between 25,000 and 30,000 school psychologists. The group estimated in 2002 that only about one-third of the nation’s school districts had at least one psychologist for every 1,000 students, the minimum the association recommends.
As a result, experts say the shortage of school psychologists in rural areas is making it tougher for districts to meet federal academic standards. They say school psychologists help students with learning disabilities and those who respond to different teaching styles or techniques.
“One of the main jobs of school psychologists is to find ways to help students not able to achieve academically,” said Sawyer Hunley, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Dayton. “Without that assistance, teachers are pretty much left on their own.”
But attracting people to rural areas is difficult.
Peter Currer, an assistant superintendent for Modoc County in rural northern California is looking for a school psychologist to help the other two who travel the county’s 5,000 square miles. One drives three hours a day to spend five hours with students.
“I started looking for a credentialed psychologist and I will be lucky to find a student intern,” Currer said. “It’s hard to make a match with someone who wants a rural, remote lifestyle. We’re 100 miles from a Wal-Mart. We’re 100 miles from a McDonald’s.”
That translates into less support for children and their families, Currer said.
“When you’re dealing with a child with significant behavior problems and their behavior is interfering with their ability to make progress, the school psychologist is the best resource,” said Ruth Fodness, who spent 14 years working as a school psychologist in rural South Dakota, driving up to 200 miles a day to meet with students at different schools.
Attracting and retaining school psychologists became such a problem in northwest Ohio’s rural Mercer County that officials came up with a creative fix three years ago.
“We weren’t finding good people that wanted to be in rural Ohio,” Superintendent Eugene Linton said.
So officials identified people with local roots who worked in the schools and were interested in becoming school psychologists. The district paid part of their tuition at the University of Dayton in exchange for their agreement to intern at Mercer County schools and then work there for at least five years.
The shortage in southeast Ohio has prompted three universities to join forces to establish a training center there. Marshall University, the University of Dayton and Shawnee State University will begin offering a psychology program in Portsmouth next year.
Ken Smith said he would welcome a fresh supply of school psychologists to boost his five-person staff. He’s sure teachers would too.
“There is no one else out there that has the training we do as far as testing and assessment,” he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
