Student perspectives on recruiting and orienting prospective school psychology trainees.

This study investigated current school psychology students’ perspectives on recruiting and orienting prospective trainees to the profession. Two hundred sixty-two student members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) responded to two open-ended survey items regarding: (a) information they wished they had known prior to beginning their training and (b) their beliefs about effective recruitment practices for increasing racial and ethnic (R/E) diversity in the profession. Qualitative analyses revealed that approximately one-third of participants from R/E minoritized backgrounds reported wishing they had known more about the roles and functions of school psychologists. Participants also generated a wide range of potentially valuable recruitment strategies. Implications for improving recruitment practices are discussed.