Ed Psych receives MDE grant to alleviate school psychologist shortage

The school psychology program in the Department of Educational Psychology was recently awarded a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education to help reduce Minnesota's severe, longstanding shortage of school psychologists. Led by Drs. Amanda Sullivan, Lisa Aguilar, and Annie Hansen-Burke, Project ASPIRE (Advancing the School Psychology Pathway for Inclusion, Representation, and Equity) will provide $500,000 in scholarships to support recruitment and retention of future school psychologists, particularly those from Minnesota who come from racially, culturally, and economically marginalized backgrounds.

Aguilar will lead the project's BIPOC Learning Collaborative, which will facilitate peer support, mentoring, and networking for students from racially and culturally minoritized backgrounds. The grant will also provide funding for the supervision and fieldwork required for school psychology degrees and state licensure. The project aims to reduce financial, social, and institutional barriers to higher education access and induction into the profession in order to increase the number and diversity of school psychologists providing essential mental health, learning, social, emotional, and behavior supports in P12 school settings.