- The University of Washington and Seattle Public Schools have partnered on an initiative to recruit and train 12 Black male school psychologists over five years, funded by a $1.6 million grant.
- The program addresses the lack of Black school psychologists, which is essential for aligning the demographic representation of school psychologists with the student population.
- NPR highlighted the issue in an article titled “Few Black Men Become School Psychologists, Here’s Why That Matters”. It revealed that there currently exists disproportionate referrals for special education services, disciplinary actions and police involvement for Black children, particularly boys.
- This program seeks to address these issues and actively disrupt traditional patterns and biases to improve mental health and wellness in children, schools and communities.
- The ambition is also to kickstart a national movement; while currently the number of Black school psychologists across U.S. public schools is less than 1%, this collaboration offers powerful momentum to increase representation nationwide.
University of Washington launches program to recruit and retain Black men as School PsychologistsU
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Read the full article:University of Washington College of Education
