Abstract
As practitioners, school psychologists play an integral role in supporting students. School psychologists serve as much more than evaluators for special education; school psychologists collaborate with families, coordinate services for students, impact student outcome through behavior and academic intervention, facilitate positive school climate, and assist student development of effective social skills. Districts nationwide have documented the need and shortages of school psychologists. Despite current recruitment and retention strategies, the shortage of school psychologist persist. As such, school psychologists often serve large student bodies. For example, one study reported that 71% of school psychologist surveyed served 1,500 students, which is much greater than the National Association of School Psychology-recommended ratio of one school psychologist for 500-700 students (NASP, 2010). It is unlikely that the existing school psychologist-to-student ratio will improve without intervention given that student educational and social-emotional needs are expected to grow concurrently with poverty rates (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Evans & English, 2002; Felitti et al., 1998; McFarland et al., 2019). Students living in poverty are at a higher risk of negative student outcomes, such as requiring special education. As such, school psychologists are likely to experience a higher caseload of students requiring support services, further exacerbating the ratio of school psychologist per student served. In order to remediate this deficit, a greater effort must be made to recruit individuals into the profession of school psychology. A recruitment strategy that has shown to be effective is early introduction to the field; therefore, this project aims to develop an effective recruitment product that targets high school students, reaching a younger audience of potential future candidates.