Bradley Paramore
Ohio Delegate to NASP
Lead Psychologist
Hamilton City Schools
Since the last update, NASP held the Annual Convention in Denver Colo. OSPA President-Elect Jenna Hete and I kicked off the convention by participating in the Regional Leadership Meetings (RLM). There we collaborated with practitioners from across the country on strategies for addressing the shortage of school psychologists.
If you were unable to attend the convention, or if you would like to relive some of the highlights, NASP has negotiated extended access to the 2023 Keynote Address by Dr. Shawn Ginwright. NASP members now have until June 30 to watch this inspiring address. You can also watch NASP President Celeste Malone’s remarks as well as the full General Session.
Here are a few notable highlights from NASP’s busy start to the Spring:
- Advocating for funding: For the third year in a row, NASP’s advocacy has directly contributed to increased and substantial funding in President Biden’s budget for school mental health services and addressing the shortage of school psychologists. The President's FY24 proposal represents a nearly 14% increase in education investments over FY23, including $428 million to address the shortages. The budget also would move the federal government closer to finally meeting its commitment to provide 40% of the additional cost needed to support students with disabilities.
- Protecting SEL and EDI supports and services: NASP has been vocal in countering alarming efforts to attack policies & practices—and education professionals—that support equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), as well as social–emotional learning (SEL) and other mental health services. This includes efforts to impose censorship at local, state, and federal levels and in K–12 and higher education settings. NASP recently released a statement opposing censorship and developed a toolkit to help members counter these efforts at the local level.
- NASP transitioned the NASP online communities to a new platform on March 20. The new platform is much more intuitive and easier to post, find resources, search topics, and connect directly with other members. If you haven’t explored the new communities and the app yet, I encourage you to do so. These quick videos linked at the top of this page can help you get started.
- NASP released new handouts on Selective Mutism. These new handouts discuss the behaviors that may be experienced as well as recommendations for supporting children with this disorder.
- NASP released the latest demographics report to help assess the diversity of the profession. If you have not done so already, NASP encourages you to complete your demographics profile in your online account to help with this data collection.
Connect with NASP this summer:NASP Advanced Skills Institute (ASI) will take place this summer July 11-12. Registration includes access to live sessions (on-demand for 60 days) handouts for all sessions, live chat with attendees, and the ability to earn NASP-approved CPD credit.
Register for the 2023 Public Policy Institute (PPI) taking place July 19-21 in Washington, DC. This year’s PPI will focus on helping participants to develop advocacy skills, strategies, and state association system supports, to advocate for public education and support students’ civil rights.
