Date of Conferral
2023
Degree
Ph.D.
School
Public Policy and Administration
Advisor
Mary Schnaubelt
Abstract
Despite the evolving role of school psychologists, policies have failed to address the high student-to-school psychologist ratios. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictability of contractual caseload advocacy among California school psychologists and their use of resources to engage in policy-oriented learning strategies. A quantitative research design was used, and data were collected from school psychologists in California (N = 138) who completed an online questionnaire. The theoretical foundation was Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith’s advocacy coalition framework. Ordinal logistic regression indicated that school psychologists’ location and job were not statistically significant predictive factors for advocacy for contractual caseloads. Binary logistic regression was used to analyze data, and advocacy for other issues within the field of school psychology and NASP membership were found to be statistically significant predictive factors of school psychologists’ use of NASP resources to engage in policy-oriented learning. While statistically significant predictive factors were not found related to caseload advocacy among California school psychologists, the data indicate that school psychologists are advocating for other issues that impact students, such as mental health and social justice. Further research is recommended to better understand the advocacy efforts of school psychologists. Decreasing these caseloads would create positive social change in that students would be able to receive adequate behavioral, academic, and social–emotional support within the school setting provided by their school psychologist.
Recommended Citation
Melendrez, Tess A., "California School Psychologists’ Advocacy Efforts Related to Contractual Caseloads" (2023). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 13054.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/13054
