April 10, 2018, KMUW—Public Radio, Wichita, KS: Kansas Turns To School Psychologists For An Education Fix But Finds A Shortage http://kmuw.org/post/kansas-turns-school-psychologists-education-fix-finds-shortage Jim Persinger tells the story with a little frustration. A school administrator saw school psychologists — his field — as interchangeable with counselors and social workers. … But school psychologists figure out which students need special education, or identify learning difficulties early enough to help kids — and their schools — avoid costly special education. Increasingly, Kansas looks to school psychologists to cure its education woes — banking that their expertise can help students meet ambitious education goals and tackle a growing student mental health crisis. … The remaining psychologists across the state feel the strain of a growing workload. … Fiorini said the number of students in her program has doubled, though that’s still not enough to solve the Kansas shortage. And she’s running into another problem other school psychology programs across the state are facing: not enough professors to train all the new school psychologists Kansas needs.
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