The School Psychologist Shortage: A Qualitative Examination of Doctoral‐Level School Psychologists' Perspectives on Employment in Public Schools

ABSTRACT Nationally, there is a shortage of school psychologists in public schools, and few practicing school psychologists hold doctoral degrees. This shortage puts an undue burden on practitioners and has implications for the quality of care provided to students. The current study explores the career choices of doctoral‐level school psychologists to better understand the national shortage as well as understand the benefits of pursuing a doctorate in school psychology. Sixty‐two doctoral‐level school psychologists completed an online survey in which they described their career paths and the factors influencing them. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified eight key themes shaping these trajectories: pay/compensation; lack of support/respect; politics; workload; stress and burnout; underutilization of skills; lack of autonomy; and external factors. Additionally, a binomial logistic regression indicated that participants’ year of certification and years of experience predicted whether participants left a career as a school psychologist working in a school system. The current study provides a detailed understanding of what leads doctoral‐level practitioners to remain in or leave school employment and can be used to help recruit and retain doctoral‐level school psychologists, potentially shrinking the shortage.