Northeast Region Wyoming School Psychology October 2020 Survey Results

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A survey was sent to the WSPA Northeast Region School Psychologist members to gauge their views of our current Wyoming school psychology needs and employment related insights.  Based on a survey of the WSPA Northeast members, the top 2 topics that school psychologists need to address in the state of Wyoming are Specific Learning Disability eligibility and Developmental Delay eligibility determination issues.

Which of these topics do you feel we as school psychologists need to address with our state and/or districts to align with best practices?

To support these needs there are efforts being made to address these topics.  A PLC team working in a school district in the region is currently studying the Developmental Delay eligibility criteria in hopes of better understanding the rules and regulation of the disability classification.  In addition, the WSPA is developing leadership information on SLD eligibility requirements and Re-evaluation guidance in the form of position papers.

The survey also asked about job satisfaction and school psychologist shortage issues.  The large majority of the school psychologists that responded to the survey felt that their current school district had the right number of school psychologists staffed in the district.  They liked their current job and wanted to stay employed where they were currently employed.  They indicated that the biggest reasons the school district might have for not being able to fill a school psychologist position were either the location was not desirable or the applicant was not aware of the good opportunities available within the district.  If given the choice of school psychologist roles, most respondents stated that they would like to focus their time and effort on SPED eligibility evaluations and building system change consultation.  Currently, there are no School Psychologist job opening posted for the Northeast Region on the Wyoming School Board Association website.