It was one of those late evening conversations at the NASP Northeast Regional Leadership Conference in November of 2005, when the comparison of NASP and NASCAR came up. It was a passing thought that evolved into semi-durable metaphor, at least in my mind.

Who among us has not had a day when you start out with a lot of energy, only to find a meeting cancelled, a parent not show for an appointment, a tenth grader you need to evaluate suspended, and/or a first grader absent because his family saw no conflict in missing school to take that trip to Disney. We have all had days when we felt like we were spinning our wheels and other days where it seemed like going around in circles was all we accomplished.

As the national organization, NASCAR establishes and regulates the rules of auto racing. If you are driving too aggressively, or speeding along “pit row,” NASCAR may “black flag” you and send you to the back of the pack. NASP regulates the practice of school psychology through publications such as Best Practices in School Psychology, the Blueprint for Training and Practice in School Psychology, the Ethical Standards of School Psychology, and many other publications. While NASP can’t “black flag” a school psychologist, there are roadways to take if one crosses ethical boundaries.

As anyone who has watched a NASCAR race will testify, pit stops are a critical part of every race. In a remarkably short period of time (often less than 15 seconds) pit crews will refuel the car, change all four tires, make subtle adjustments to the suspension, clean the windshield and offer the driver a cool drink. If they have to change the battery or repair body damage from a collision the interval may increase to 30 seconds. The purpose of the pit stop is to keep the racecar functioning at peak performance, without falling behind in the race.

Continuing professional development is the pit stop of school psychology. Keeping up with the relevant literature, attending workshops and conferences, clinical supervision, even taking courses have the same purpose as a NASCAR pit stop. Okay, it takes more than 15-30 seconds. But the idea of keeping your practice at peak performance and current with the state of the science is the same. With all due respect to the great names in school psychology, it’s amusing to think of Dan Reschly, Jack Naglieri, Tom Achenbach, Cecil Reynolds, and Jim Ysseldyke as your front tire changer, rear tire changer, jack-man, and gas man. Who among them would be the crew chief?

Practitioners are the drivers of school psychology. Without the practitioner, there is no race. NASCAR drivers make many critical decisions in the course of their workday; problem-solving decisions, where they consider the options, choose a strategy, and make their move, often at speeds approaching 200 miles per hour. The NASCAR driver bases his decisions on input from several sources, including gauges on the dashboard, spotters at the track, the experience of the crew chief and the car owner, and the research and design departments of their race team. The school psychologist makes critical problem-solving decisions based input from our own set of gauges (i.e., tests), teachers in the classroom, the experiences of our colleagues and the parents of the child, and all the relevant research. Okay, we aren’t making these decisions at 200 miles per hour, but the driver’s goal of good track position and finishing the race are not unlike the practitioner’s goal of the most appropriate educational setting and finishing high school.

So maybe the metaphor works, maybe it’s a stretch. I do recognize that readers of this may have little more than a passing awareness (or interest) in NASCAR. The key point, indeed the genesis of the metaphor at that meeting in November, is that as the drivers of NASCAR are the stars of their sport, practitioners are the stars of school psychology.

CW - February 2006

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