Five steps for teachers and allies to advocate for the psychology teaching credential

Effective advocacy requires effective leadership. Advocacy usually starts with one person or one group wanting to make change. A leader emerges early—usually someone who is working full time with other responsibilities but with a passion for change. That passion is critical but as challenges, obstacles and barriers are encountered (and they will be) and as more allies join the advocacy coalition, passion will not be enough to maintain momentum and advance the quality of the advocacy. As advocacy efforts grow, so will the need for additional leaders to help shoulder the responsibility of effective advocacy.

Effective leaders have good communication and collaboration skills. They recognize that their efforts are important to the success of the advocacy. They create an environment of open dialogue and inform others. Other key competencies of effective leaders identified by the Kansas Leadership Center include (O’Malley & Cebulla, 2015):

• Knowing their strengths, vulnerabilities and triggers.
• Understanding the process challenges.
• Identifying who needs to do the work.
• Inspiring a collective purpose.
• Getting used to uncertainty.
• Creating a trustworthy process.

Leaders must work well together. The goal as defined above is the top priority and efforts are focused on gradually moving closer to goal attainment. Advocacy is most efficient when the roles of the leaders are clarified.

Advocacy at the state level requires a group effort. Grassroots advocacy is often the most effective means of influencing policymakers. It is important to build and maintain not just a strong coalition, but also a strong and well-organized strategic planning team.

Keep in mind that a broad coalition is always valuable, but what works in one state might not be as effective in another state. The most important thing to do as you build your team is to recruit dependable, skilled, and invested members who share a vision and passion for psychology education. Consider members’ strengths as well as interests in determining the specific roles they will play.

Below are some suggestions for roles individuals may play in your collective effort.

• Individual members of your team may have connections through personal and professional networks that they can make use of to reach and influence policymakers. When contacting a policymaker, the person who makes the initial contact should also be the person to follow up. If a face-to-face meeting is arranged, the same individual should be in attendance, supported by an appropriate ally.
• Members who have strong organizational skills may better serve the team as coordinators, record keepers or other positions to take advantage of members’ comparable leadership skills
• Members with strong social skills might serve best in face-to-face meetings and phone calls.
• Members who have strong technology skills can coordinate uses of digital media to build grassroots support.

The most effective allies will be high school psychology teachers across the state, their current or former students, the parents of those students, and alumni who have completed the high school psychology course. The parents are voters and taxpayers. The students are the future citizens and leaders of the state. The high school psychology teachers are both voters, taxpayers and the professionals who must lead the change. Alumni can speak to the value of the content related to their professional pursuits. The breadth of your supporters will impact the effectiveness of your advocacy.

It is essential to communicate how the goal of the advocacy will benefit the allies who support your efforts. Advocates are encouraged to consider a variety of potential state and national allies for partnerships and coalition building. The state allies will demonstrate a wide array of support.

Clearly articulate your goals to all allies. It is important to keep in mind that these types of changes may dramatically vary in the amount of time they take to accomplish. Be patient, be persistent and expect to take cues on how to proceed from the policymaker. Be prepared to educate policymakers on this issue. If asked a question you don’t know the answer to, be sure to research the information promptly and get back to them in a timely fashion. To persist you need to point out and remind your allies that the goal is worth the fight. When there are victories and when there are defeats, be generous with expressions of gratitude.

When identifying allies, keep in mind that individuals may have separate issues with elected officials that they disagree on or have been outspoken about in the past. When advocating, encourage your allies to stick to the message and issue; do not bring up other legislation or pending activities that are unrelated to the one you are pursing.

Below is a list of prospective state and national allies. The list is not exhaustive as there could well be potential allies that are specific to your state.

All advocacy efforts are built upon a central message that is carefully crafted to convey what the present concern is, identifying the reasons behind the concern and the change that will alleviate the concern. Prompts to help craft that message include:

• What do you want to accomplish?
• What do you think your target audiences know about this issue and to what degree are they already invested in this issue?
• What compelling message are you bringing to this audience? Does it include a strong rationale, a persuasive argument and a specific action?
• Who has the authority to make the change relating to this issue? What connections do you currently have or need to develop to reach that individual or group?
• What do you know about the change for which you will be advocating?
• What additional information do you need to collect in order to effectively advocate your message?
• Thoroughly know what your state department of education’s position is on how teachers are credentialed to teach high school psychology (see Weaver, 2014)
  - Know the relevant content on the state department’s website
  - Anticipate how state personnel will respond and include your counterpoints in your message
• Although now archived, you can still use the Guidelines for Preparing High School Psychology Teachers to inform your planning.

Depending on the specific needs of your state, you will want to craft your message to take into account current credentialing requirements and advocate appropriate adjustments to ensure quality teacher preparation. The table below outlines sample talking points for Tier 1, 2, and 3 states.  

Note: APA has an infographic of enrollment data for high school and undergraduate psychology. The College Board also provides data on Advanced Placement exam participation per state at https://research.collegeboard.org/programs/ap/data (see “AP Program Participation and Performance Data”)

5. Keeping APA informed

If you advocate for the psychology teaching credential in your state or contact your state department of education, please let APA know of your efforts so we can track efforts across the United States and support you as needed. You can keep APA informed by sending an update by email or calling (202) 572-3013.

Below is an example of language that can be used when contacting individuals by phone. Identify the official that you are attempting to contact. If possible, ask for the individual by name (the principal, the vice principal, the curriculum supervisor, department chairperson). This script is designed for high school psychology teacher credentialing advocates to request new or modified certification for all high school psychology teachers in their state. If the state has no standards, follow the script below without brackets; if the state has standards that do not meet the recommended teaching credential criteria, use the brackets. Identify which label your state uses: credential; certification; or license prior to the call. Please read through the script a few times and make it your own. Try to include a personal element that expresses your passion for psychology instruction.

Below is an example of a letter that can be used to introduce yourself and purpose of your advocacy.

O’Malley, E., & Cebulla, A. (2015). Your leadership edge: Lead anytime, anywhere. Wichita, KS: Kansas Leadership Center Press.

Weaver, K. A. (2014). Credentialing high school psychology teachers. American Psychologist, 69(6), 612-619.