The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education: An Interview with Dr. George DuPaul

The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education: An Interview with Dr. George DuPaul

The Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education, or CPSE, was initially formed in 2002 to help promote psychological principles and ideas in education and school settings. SCCAP joined CPSE as a coalition member in 2003 and George DuPaul, Ph.D., began serving as SCCAP’s liaison to CPSE in 2011. In his role as SCCAP liaison, Dr. DuPaul has worked on numerous initiatives to inform education based on psychological knowledge and to provide resources to educators and parents regarding mental health. Dr. DuPaul ended his tenure as CPSE liaison this past summer and Dr. Andres de los Reyes has taken on SCCAP liaison duties. SCCAP is extremely grateful to Dr. DuPaul for his contributions to CPSE and SCCAP, and we interviewed Dr. DuPaul to help share with SCCAP members more about CPSE’s important work:

How did your professional path lead you to serve as liaison for CPSE?

Throughout my career, I have tried to design and carry out assessment and intervention research that would directly lead to implementation in applied settings, schools in particular. Unfortunately, I’ve consistently experienced the oft-lamented gap between research and practice that has plagued our field for decades. When I was offered the opportunity to serve as Division 53 (SCCAP) representative on the coalition in 2011, I jumped at the chance because the mission and activities of the CPSE directly address the need to connect psychological research to educational practice in schools (https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/coalition).

For SCCAP members who may not be familiar with CPSE, do you mind describing CPSE’s mission and aims?

The mission of the coalition is to bring together psychologists from a variety of relevant subdisciplines to promote and make publicly accessible applications of psychological research to improve the quality of public and private pre-K to 12 education. The coalition further endeavors to influence APA’s involvement in policymaking and legislation associated with the US educational agenda. In addition, the mission of this coalition is to encourage cooperation among those APA entities and affiliates whose focus is on children and youth, and the teaching and learning processes. Specific aims include to improve the quality of psychology instruction offered in teacher preparation and professional development; to collaborate with other professions (e.g., special education, counseling) to address the needs of children in schools; and to make education and schooling more central to APA’s agenda.

In what ways have you observed CPSE’s initiatives impact students and teachers in our schools? Are there specific initiatives that have been most meaningful to you?

Teachers, parents, and ultimately students have been positively impacted by the multiple products that the CPSE has disseminated since its inception in 2002. Chief among these products include the Top 20 Psychological Principles for K-12 Education which has been translated into multiple languages and used in teacher preparation programs across the world (https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/teaching-learning/top-twenty). These principles have been applied to specific student populations including young children, youth with disabilities, and students identified as gifted and talented. Most of the coalition’s products have focused on K-12 students; however, in recent years the CPSE has expanded its focus to early childhood and pre-K education. These have included the Early Learning Guidelines Educator Toolkit (https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/early-learning-guidelines) and the High Five: Searching for the Best Early Childhood Program brochure for parents (https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/high-five). The latter is an example of how the CPSE has added parents and caregivers as a target population in recognition of the important role that parents play in children’s education. Probably the most meaningful product from the perspective of clinical child and adolescent psychology is the development and dissemination of Mental Health Primers (https://www.apa.org/ed/schools/primer). These primers are designed to help educators identify classroom behaviors that may be symptomatic of mental health and psychological challenges (e.g., inattention and distractibility, sadness, low perceptions of competence).

What are some highlights from your time serving as SCCAP’s liaison to CPSE?

In addition to the publication and dissemination of Top 20 Psychology Principles for Education and its variants across multiple languages and cultures, the Mental Health Primers, and the expansion of products to Pre-K education, one of the highlights was an educator needs survey that we conducted a few years ago. We surveyed a national sample of pre-K to 12 educators regarding their perceived understanding of psychological principles and the degree to which they confidently applied those principles in their classrooms. The CPSE has used results of this survey to guide identification and development of materials and products that are highly relevant to educators. I’m also proud of the coalition’s contributions to APA’s public service efforts during the height of the pandemic (see for example, https://www.apa.org/topics/covid-19/education-behavior-management). Finally, I am thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with psychologists from a variety of subdisciplines on this coalition as this experience has given me a greater appreciation for the many areas of psychological research that can inform educational practice and policy.

Which trends or future directions do you see for the role of psychology in education?

There are many possible future directions for our field’s contributions to pre-K-12 education; however, the area that I am most excited (and anxious) about involves the leveraging of emerging technology tools (e.g., generative artificial intelligence, immersive virtual reality) to improve the educational and mental health functioning of all children. In particular, there is the potential for us to use these technologies to prompt and deliver evidence-based psychological supports and interventions to students, teachers, and caregivers at the point of performance (i.e., at the time and in the setting where those supports and interventions are needed). Of course, we also need to ensure that these technologies are deployed equitably while being designed to accommodate the varied contexts of children, schools, and families.

In closing, I want to thank the Division 53 leadership for supporting my collaboration with the CPSE over the past 12 years. It has truly been one of the most valuable experiences of my professional career. I wish our new Division representative, Andres De Los Reyes, all the best in taking over this important role.

Thank you Dr. DuPaul for all of your efforts!