What Happened at Spring Hill?

Abstract

The Spring Hill Symposium on the Future of Psychology in the Schools took place in June 1980. The Symposium was the first comprehensive examination of school psychology by US school psychologists since the Thayer Conference in 1954. The latter meeting, like others at Vail and the University of Chicago, focused primarily on guild issues and led to modifications in professional practice and training. It is tempting to think that the Spring Hill Symposium, too, will be considered a historic event and that its influence will be traced in the future applications of psychology to the schools. However, conferences and change may be only correlated; national meetings tend to be called at critical points in time, and the points are critical because change is imminent. School psychology appears to be at such a point.