Troy Dothan to revive two degree programs

Troy University’s Dothan campus is reviving its degree programs in psychometry and school psychology. School officials hope the move will put the university in a position to help fill slots in a career field facing a shortage.

The new degree programs are expected to be up and running by fall. Ten slots will be open for students in each program.

According to the National Association of School Psychology, about half of all current school psychologists are set to retire in the next five years. This mass exodus comes at a time when legislation mandating greater testing of and support for students with learning disabilities is creating more work for school psychologists and psychometrists. Adding to the workload is an increased demand for counseling services among students because of the decline of American society over the past half century, according to Ginger Mayer, assistant professor of Counseling and Psychology at Troy Dothan.

“When I started in mental health, bipolar was something related to people in their early 20s,” she said. “Now we’re diagnosing children in the sixth grade.”

A school psychologist addresses students’ learning and mental health needs. A school psychometrist handles testing designed to reveal learning disabilities and analyzes the data collected from these tests.

Illustrating the shortage of school psychologists and psychometrists, Troy Dothan has been without a degree program for two years because the former instructor of the program left, and the school had been unable to find a new one until now.