Commentary

The National Association of School Psychologists, Part 2: Continuing Professional Indoctrination

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • May 13, 2023
  • National Association of School Psychologists

The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, disseminates information to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), anti-racism, and critical race theory (CRT), as well as gender ideology in minors. NASP is also active in advocacy and public policy initiatives that have an impact on state and federal regulations and laws.

This is the second of three articles describing the initiatives, policies, and publications that NASP promotes to its members and makes available to the public.

Continuing Professional Development Requirements

We previously reported how the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) – with thousands of members who have extensive access to children in educational settings – is committed to the concepts of DEI and anti-racism, and we described several of the resources it provides to its members to perpetuate those ideologies. These efforts extend into the organization’s continuing education initiatives and the requirements it has recently forced onto members who hold NASP’s certification credential.

The Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) designation has been conferred upon more than 17,000 school psychologists who met the eligibility standards set by NASP. Thirty-four states recognize the NCSP as fulfilling some or all the requirements for state school psychologist credentialing, and the National School Psychology Certification System (NSPCS) seeks to promote uniform standards across agencies and training institutions. NSPCS also wants “to ensure a consistent level of training and experience in services providers who are nationally certified.”

As part of the process, NASP has defined the areas of study it places the greatest amount of importance on. Starting July 2024, NASP will begin monitoring for compliance with the continuing professional development (CPD) mandate it imposed in 2021. To renew the NCSP certification, current holders of the credential are “required to accrue 3 CPD hours in equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice” as part of the 75 hours of CPD needed for renewal. This is the same number of hours it requires for “ethical practice and/or the legal regulation of school psychology,” but is the only category NASP specifically mentions in next year’s monitoring mandate.

Figure 1. From “CPD Guidelines” on the NASP website.

Earlier this year, NASP notified its members of a learning opportunity to earn those mandatory CPD hours from the Leadership Institute II, “an advanced, four-part series focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).” The modules in this series were titled Personal Awareness and Privilege; Systems of Oppression and Antiracism; Operational Strategies for Social Justice Change; and Facilitating EDI in Structural Policies and Practices. The objective of the program was for school psychologists to learn how to “bring about change” in their organizations and remove barriers to implementing DEI-related policies and practices, indicating that NASP is conditioning its membership to be activists and promoters of ideology instead of intervening on behalf of students from the perspective of behavioral health and education.

Figure 2. From the NASP Online Learning Center.

While Leadership Institute II: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is no longer offered on the website, NASP offers similar training modules on its learning management system. The Online Learning Center contains 34 offerings in the “Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice” category – second only to the “Mental and Behavioral Health” category, with 36 offerings – illuminating the priorities of this organization. Examples:

  • Addressing Microaggressions in PK-12 Settings: Ample evidence suggests that K-12 students are adversely impacted by microaggressions from peers and adults in schools; however, school psychologists may lack the knowledge and skills to appropriately respond to these instances of covert discrimination.
  • Advancing Equity Through Social Justice Practices: Through interactive lecture and discussion prompts, participants will identify social justice practices to challenge inequitable systems and advocate for students and families with less power and privilege.
  • Decolonizing Social-Emotional Learning in Service of Justice and Racial Equity: This presentation will situate social-emotional learning (SEL) within a sociopolitical context and highlight practices that support the development of SEL in ways that are in service to justice and equity.
  • Nine Disrupter Principles: A Strength-Based Approach for Schools Psychology to Disrupt Racial Inequities and Shift From What’s Wrong to What’s Strong: Increasing attention is being given to inequitable education practices. But what role does deficit-thinking play in creating and maintaining racial inequities? 
  • Wounds of Colonial and Racial Trauma: The focus will be on contextualizing the experiences of people who have been marginalized and oppressed within a historical framework, and mapping those experiences onto our work in schools.

NASP charges anywhere from $30.00-$130.00 for the courses in the Online Learning Center.

The DEI and anti-racism rhetoric at NASP is loud and pervasive, and the organization has implemented measures to ensure ongoing compliance on the part of its members with the woke positions it promotes. But NASP takes on an even more troubling topic with equal fervor: Advancing the concepts of radical gender ideology in children and adolescents.

NEXT: The National Association of School Psychologists: Pushing Gender Ideology in the Schools

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