Reconceptualizing Educational Contexts: The Imperative for Interprofessional and Interagency Collaboration in School Psychology

The increasingly diverse and complex student population school psychologists serve necessitates a reconceptualization of the field with explicit emphasis on interprofessional, interagency collaborations (IIC) to promote equitable and high-quality services for all students. School psychologists are positioned to play a central role in IIC with specific training and experience in consultation, psychology, education, and multidisciplinary knowledge to ensure effectiveness. We highlight the historical context of IIC in the field and advocate for school psychologists to engage in IIC to better meet the needs of all students and families through coordinated and streamlined services. We conceptualize this paradigm shift through three multidisciplinary frameworks: (a) interprofessional team-based care, (b) population health, and (c) implementation science. We posit that school psychologists are ideal school professionals to engage in IIC, which has been adopted by other fields; educational and mental health inequities may be improved through effective IIC; and that implementation science concepts, which are familiar to the field of school psychology, can be applied to successfully implement IIC in schools. We conclude by providing recommendations that span graduate training, practice, and research in an effort to stimulate meaningful change in graduate training and preparation, practice, and research in the area of IIC. Impact Statement The increasingly diverse student population that school psychologists serve warrants a paradigm shift in the field with explicit emphasis on interprofessional, interagency collaborations (IIC) to promote efficient, equitable, and high-quality services for all students. School psychologists are well-positioned to play a central role in this effort, but their training may require expansion to include a specific focus on IIC and comprehensive service delivery. We advocate that IIC can be embedded in school psychologists' roles and informed by three multidisciplinary frameworks: (a) interprofessional team-based care, (b) population health, and (c) implementation science.