The development and approval of new Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology.
A $5 million increase in federal support for the Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) program over the past two years — during a time of sequestration and severe budget constraints — bringing program funding to an all-time high of $7.9 million annually.
Publication of a report on the top 20 principles from psychology that would be of greatest use in the context of pre-K to 12 classroom teaching and learning.
These are just three of the most recent accomplishments of APA's Education Directorate, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Dedicated to advancing education and training in psychology and promoting the application of psychological science in education and training, the directorate is involved in important and impactful work benefiting teachers and students at all levels of education, says Jaime "Jim" L. Diaz-Granados, PhD, who has served as the Education Directorate's executive director since January.
He notes that the directorate's breadth and depth has continued to expand since its establishment in 1990, thanks to the efforts of those who have come before him.
"One reason the directorate is in such great shape is, to quote Sir Isaac Newton, we are standing on the shoulders of giants," he says. "They have laid the foundation on which we have the responsibility to continue to build and progress."
The early years
In 1990, APA President and CEO Raymond D. Fowler, PhD, (who died in March, see May Monitor) asked Paul Nelson, PhD, if he'd help create an Education Directorate within APA and serve as its interim director.
"I, of course, said yes, and one of our first steps was to work with the board to establish the directorate's mission — to advance education and training in psychology and the application of psychology to education and training — which still stands today," says Nelson. He went on to become the deputy executive director of the directorate and director of the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education and Training until retiring from APA in 2006.
The directorate's formative years included expanding APA's Committee on Accreditation from a 10-person committee to one with 19 members, with allocated seats for organizations to appoint members from outside APA governance. In 2006, the committee became a commission and increased to 32 members, and it continues to serve as the national accrediting authority for professional education and training in psychology. Early on, the directorate also worked to establish the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA), to provide formal representation similar to the other directorate's boards. The 12-member BEA was given primary responsibility for recommending educational policy to the APA's Board of Directors and the Council of Representatives, and continues to work closely with the directorate's executive director on ongoing planning and operations, says founding Executive Director Joanne E. Callan, PhD.
"It was all part of establishing an agenda for education in psychology and psychology in education," says Callan, now a psychology professor at the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in San Diego. "Among the most important efforts during that time was establishing an advocacy team to drive that agenda."
In 1995, when Jill Reich, PhD, took over as executive director, the directorate was able to build on those early successes and expand into new areas.
"My task was really to stabilize the directorate within APA," says Reich, now a psychology professor at Bates College. Reich focused her time on helping grow the directorate's continuing-education program, and reaching out to educators at all levels, including those at community colleges.
"College is where the largest number of people will learn about psychology, so we need to make sure that it's a really good course that accurately represents our discipline," she says. Reich was also strongly involved in advancing the directorate's advocacy efforts to address federal policies regarding education.
"We as educators often don't get involved in public policymaking, and as a result, people don't know what we do and therefore don't always make good decisions about how to support education," she says. "During my time at APA, we worked to strengthen this in terms of bringing psychologists to Washington and providing advocacy training to help them feel more comfortable talking to members of Congress."
The Education Directorate today
The directorate's early work establishing an advocacy program paved the way for many later triumphs, including securing millions in federal funding dollars for the GPE program, the only federal program dedicated solely to the education and training of doctoral-level psychologists, says Cynthia D. Belar, PhD, who served as the directorate's executive director for 14 years before retiring last year. Since its launch, the program has awarded 137 grants providing more than $49 million to doctoral, postdoctoral and internship programs to train psychology students alongside other health professionals in providing mental and behavioral health services to underserved populations, in integrated health-care settings.
More recently, the directorate has been focused on meeting the changing demands of a multicultural society through education and training, Belar says, pointing to the importance of several white papers and task force reports developed in coordination with the directorate. In 2006, for example, the directorate helped develop APA's Zero Tolerance Task Force Report, which found insufficient data to support schools' use of a zero tolerance approach to disciplining students. A 2014 report, Assessing and Evaluating Teacher Preparation Programsopens in new window , offers evidence-based guidance on how to ensure that teachers graduate with the skills they need to boost learning among preK to 12 students. The report recommends that teacher preparation programs use reliable, valid and fair assessments to provide empirical evidence that their graduates will be effective in the classroom.
"These reports are being used by other groups in informing and guiding the development of new teaching standards," Belar says.
Educators are stewards of the discipline and the profession, she says, and responsible for passing on and in many ways creating the field's knowledge.
"We're continually in a feedback loop with society about what is needed from psychology in science, practice and policy," Belar says.
Diaz-Granados agrees, noting that one of his goals over the next several years is to make sure that the research being done within the directorate is distributed to those who need it most — educators, policymakers and the general public.
"We've been doing a great job of developing content and guidelines for our constituents, but not necessarily at getting this information disseminated and the guidelines implemented," he says. "It is our job to make sure that the voice of psychology is heard and heeded as we train and educate future generations."
Amy Novotney is a journalist in Chicago.