What Is a Bilingual School Psychologist? A National Survey of the Credentialing Bodies of School Psychologists: Implications for the Assessment of Bilinguals

The present study explored the credentialing practices for bilingual school psychologists in the United States. Credentialing agencies of school psychologists, mostly State Departments of Education, across the 50 states and the District of Columbia were contacted via telephone by trained graduate student research assistants. Only two of the credentialing agencies that were contacted reported that their states (New York and Illinois) provided a specific credential for bilingual school psychologists. A careful review of the requirements for each state revealed a lack of agreement regarding how these practitioners should be trained. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research in this area are discussed.