Minority Recruitment at School Psychology Graduate Programs

by Johnson, Audene Harvey

In most urban schools, the number of minority students currently does or is expected to exceed the current number of majority, or Caucasian, students. Training programs need information that can help them diversify the field of school psychology. National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) - accredited programs completed a questionnaire to determine the existence of recruitment policies and to measure the emphasis being placed on specific recruitment strategies. Other factors thought to affect program choice, such as institution location and minority faculty and students, were also surveyed. Program Brochures/Website was the most used category of strategies. Within that category, noting faculty interests in multicultural issues in the brochure or on the website was the most used strategy. Personal Contacts was the second most emphasized recruitment category, followed by Institution/Program Benefits, Admissions, and Speaking Engagements. The three most emphasized strategies were: Promote program reputation, Offer program visits, and Encourage faculty and mentor interaction. The number of minority faculty members had a significant association with both the percentage of minority students enrolled within a program and the percentage of minority graduates within the last five years. Institution location, especially urban settings, also related to the percentage of minority students enrolled. The existence of written recruitment policies and procedures had no significant bearing on the percentage of minority students enrolled within a program or minority graduates within the last five years. The percentage of minority students enrolled correlated significantly with the percentages of recent minority graduates. Training programs should place more emphasis on promoting the inherent and less obvious benefits of their institution location and utilize minority faculty to recruit applicants in more diverse areas. Implementing retention programs and gaining a more thorough knowledge of their applicants may assist training programs in increasing their student enrollment and graduation percentages. Future researchers should survey first year minority graduate students and minority students who do not complete their training program to gain more information.