Futures Conference

The Futures Conference was a multisite conference held in November, 2002, which provided the profession of school psychology with the opportunity to reflect upon its past, to examine current issues and practices, and to discuss its future. Participants of the conference were academicians, practitioners, and graduate students in school psychology who met at the host site in Indianapolis, Indiana, and 30 remote sites located around the world. Individuals at the 30 remote sites were able to communicate in thoughtful dialogue with participants at the host site through an interactive Web cast. The Futures Conference was sponsored by the:

• National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
• American Psychological Association (APA)-Division 16 (School Psychology Division)
• American Academy of School Psychology
• American Psychological Association (APA)
• Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs
• International School Psychology Association
• Society for the Science of School Psychology
• Trainers of School Psychologists

The conference was designed to “achieve consensus on current and future demands for school psychologists and our profession's ability to meet those demands, [to] conceptualize the practice of school psychology in the face of diminishing numbers and increasing demand for services, and [to] develop an agenda to use the resources we have to maximize the benefits to the children and schools that we serve” (Harrison & colleagues, 2004, p. 12). Several themes emerged from the conference including:

• Recognition of a shortage of school psychologists, and how the shortage will impact the field and the delivery of school psychological services
• A need to focus on evidence-based interventions (i.e., standardized, manual interventions), indirect psychological services models (i.e., problem-solving models), and prevention and early intervention
• Promotion of home–school partnerships (i.e., promote relationships between the home and school)
• Recognition of the value of action research (i.e., a systematic inquiry process to understand and solve specific problems with the goal of improving practice) and qualitative (i.e., descriptive) inquiry to the field, and to perform this kind of research in the schools in addition to the traditional research methods used
• The importance of technology to disseminate information, facilitate communication among professionals, and to redesign the practice of school psychology
• The importance of collaborating with other educators and professionals in psychology
• Recognition of the importance of diversity and how diversity impacts children and various contexts (e.g., families, schools, communities)
• A need to incorporate a public health approach in the practice of school psychology to make the best use of limited resources
• Inclusion of innovative approaches in the training of school psychology students and professionals to develop the skills needed to practice effectively in school and nonschool settings.

[Page 217]Conference participants suggested strategies to help the profession reach its long-term goals (i.e., improve academic competence and social–emotional functioning of children and adolescents; enhance home–school partnerships and parent involvement in the schools; provide more effective instruction to students; and promote full-service or school-linked services in the schools—that is, physical and mental health services in the schools—and integrate these services with community-based services) to better serve its constituency. Action plans were developed to ensure that the long-term goals set would be actively pursued and that the School Psychology Leadership Roundtable, an advisory council consisting of leaders in the field of school psychology, would implement and monitor the profession's progress in achieving these goals (Dawson & colleagues, 2004).

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