School Psychologist

The Earliest Years

The beginning of school psychology is commonly associated with Lightner Witmer and the opening of the first “psychological clinic” at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896. As a result of requests he [Page 474]received to help children with school-related problems, Witmer turned part of his scientific laboratory into a clinic to diagnose and treat children with such problems. Witmer suggested the term “clinical” psychology to describe his research and services for children. As a result he is considered the founder of both clinical and school psychology. Witmer's primary interest was the application of the young science of psychology to solve problems for individual children, especially problems related to school.

At roughly the same time, work by Francis Galton, James Cattell, and Alfred Binet on the development of mental tests was to have a powerful influence on the field of school psychology. Both Galton and Cattell conducted experimental attempts to develop individual intelligence tests. However, modern intelligence testing and its application to education are most directly linked to the work of Binet. In 1904, Binet was appointed to a commission by the French government to develop a test to identify children most likely to benefit from placement in special classes. Working with a colleague, Theodore Simon, Binet developed a series of tests published in 1908, the Binet-Simon Scales of Intelligence. Binet introduced the notion of a mental “level” and proposed the first classification of intelligence based on the test results. A mental level was determined by how far the score of a particular child was in years from the average score of normal children of the same age. Binet then proposed that a child with a mental level that was two years below the average score of normal children of the same age should be classified as below normal and placed in special classes. The Binet-Simon test was revised in 1916 by Lewis Terman at Stanford University and later became known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales. With this revision, the concept of a mental level or mental age was replaced with the intelligence quotient (IQ), defined as the mental age divided by the chronological age. The Stanford-Binet became widely used in the United States, and intelligence testing and the identification of children with special needs became a foundation of early school psychology.

The period between 1890 and 1920 is generally considered a progressive era of social reform, and many of these reforms either directly or indirectly promoted interest in the emerging profession of school psychology. Important events during this time included the enactment of child labor laws (which recognized childhood as a unique period of life), the development of juvenile courts and associated child guidance clinics, and, perhaps most important to school psychology, the enactment of compulsory education laws.

...