Voices of Color in School Psychology - Critical History Companion
Celeste Malone
I hope you're having an enjoyable and restful summer!
I'd like to share a resource from my project, Voices of Color in School Psychology (VOCSP). VOCSP documents the history and experiences of school psychologists of color through oral histories and archival research. The VOCSP Substack hosts a repository of essays based on the project's research to date.
The VOCSP Critical History Companion is a resource that deepens readers' engagement with the histories, experiences, and intellectual contributions of school psychologists of color and encourages viewing these narratives as more than just interesting stories. Rather, these essays reflect a critical history that
- provides counterstories that center the experiences of those historically marginalized in school psychology,
- challenges deficit-based explanations for the underrepresentation of people of color in the profession, and
- illuminates the historical and structural factors that influence the experiences of school psychologists of color.
The Companion covers 10 essays from the VOCSP Substack. For each essay, there is a summary, questions to prompt critical reflection, and additional readings to strengthen understanding of the essay's topics. It also includes two activities (Local Oral Histories and the Artifact Analysis Exercise) that support the development of school psychologists' historical thinking and encourage us to preserve the profession's history. Finally, the Topic Index and Name Index make it easier to locate essays on specific themes or historical figures.
The VOCSP Critical History Companion is attached and also available at this link: https://cutt.ly/VOCSP-CriticalHistoryCompanion
Whatever your role in the profession - graduate educator, practitioner, graduate student, or administrator - I hope your exposure to VOCSP's critical history content prompts reflection on the sociocultural and political contexts that shape school psychology and reminds you that we must learn from the past to shape our profession's future.
Warm regards,
Celeste
Celeste M. Malone, PhD, MS (she, her, hers)
Professor of School Psychology
Faculty Advisor, HU School Psychology Association
Howard University School of Education
Miner Building, Rm 201-I
2565 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20059
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Spring 2026 Office Hours: By appointment: https://calendly.com/celeste-malone/office-hours
Past President (2022-2023), National Association of School Psychologists
Curator of The Blue Sky Syllabus: Ideas to Move School Psychology Beyond the Clouds of Injustice and Voices of Color in School Psychology
Interested in school psychology? Visit the Directory of School Psychology Faculty Addressing Culture and Diversity
“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody else has already seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.” -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi