When you see the title of this blog, you may be thinking this is quite a recent area of interest, but in actuality, this topic has been an area of research and practical interest for decades. Take, for example, a book published in 1985 by Sue McCollough titled ‘Computers in School Psychology’ in which she states in the introduction, “There is little we do that is not touched in some ways by computers” (p. 7). Further, in the very first chapter, the issue of time is raised, with the author citing research showing a 75% reduction in report writing time when using a computer.
So where have we advanced since the 80s? More contemporary authors point not just to report writing, but to technology for digital assessment administration and scoring as increasing efficiency time-wise. Saving time sounds great, but the game changer is that this added time translates to practitioners being able to serve more students, as well as serve their current ones to a greater degree. Likely, we’ve all not just seen the school/educational psychologist-to-student ratios, but have lived them, including myself and my colleague, Dana Khudaverdyan in our roles as school psychologists and Psymark founders.
Looking toward the future, we know the big player is AI. In a paper published this year, Sansoti & Lockwood write that AI is no longer a speculative practice in school psychology—noting a significant driver is the ongoing and persistent shortages of time, personnel, and resources that school psychologists face. Their work, and that of other researchers, finds that AI is already integrated with how data are analyzed, reports are written, interventions are selected, and progress is monitored.
Of course, back to the main question posed here: how do AI technological advances help school psychologists save time? One answer is from a 2026 study finding, on average, practitioners who wrote reports with the assistance of AI saved over 6 hours per week.
The research is quite definitive that technology can save school psychologists time, but that is only part of the story. AI, ethics, and clinical judgment are essential to the conversation. And that’s the very topic we take up next month in our continuing series “What Will School Psychology Look Like in 2035?”
References
Farmer, R. L., Lockwood, A. B., Floyd, R. G., & Sisco, A. D. (2026). AI in psychoeducational assessment: A descriptive study of report generation. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 42(1), 46–68.
Jellins, L. (2015). Assessment in the digital age: An overview of online tools and considerations for school psychologists and school counsellors. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 25(1), 116-125.
McCullough, C. S. (1985). Computers in School Psychology: An Overview. International Council for Computers in Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR.
Sansosti, F. J., & Lockwood, A. B. (2026). Artificial intelligence and the transformation of school psychological practice. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 42(1), 84–86.
