The RAIL System team includes, from left, Dr. Heather Nudd (UTC), Dr. Merilee McCurdy (UT Knoxville), Dr. April Ebbinger (Tennessee Department of Education), Dr. Amanda Hardin (UTC) and Dr. Patrick Morin (UTC).
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga School Psychology program is bringing a new kind of railroad to school districts across Tennessee with the Rural Assessment Intervention Library (RAIL) System.
Beginning later this year, the RAIL System will give rural school psychologists the chance to access assessments they need to properly diagnose students so they can provide adequate services and support.
Through the initiative, school psychologists will be able to check in and out assessments. There is no cost to participate.
Dr. Amanda Hardin, an assistant professor and director of the UTC school psychology program, came up with the idea for the RAIL System in April 2024 after she heard about funding available through the UT System Grand Challenges Grant.
“I was over in the counseling department … and all of a sudden it just popped into my head and I’m like, ‘We could do this rural assessment and intervention library,’” Hardin said. “Our logo could be a train. We have all these tracks, we connect people system-wide and we can continue to grow the program even after the grant—just like you’re adding on a new station.”
Out of the nine finalists in the latest grant cycle, four were chosen for funding. After presenting the pitch for the RAIL System on Nov. 13, Hardin and her colleagues were happy to learn they would get to set their plans into motion.
Other members of the RAIL System team include:
- three co-investigators: Dr. Merilee McCurdy (UT Knoxville Educational Psychology and Counseling), Dr. Patrick Morin (UTC School Psychology) and Dr. Heather Nudd (UTC School Psychology)
- content specialist: Dr. Alexandra Frank (UTC Counselor Education)
- external partners: Dr. April Ebbinger (Tennessee Department of Education), all rural school districts participating in Project RAISE
- external consultant: Dr. Daniel Drevon (Central Michigan University)
- external evaluator: Dr. Tyler Oberheim (UTC Counselor Education)
Grant funding begins this month, with resources expected to be available at the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
To people in the field of school psychology, the problems they face are well-known and understood. However, outside of the profession, Hardin emphasized that people often do not know what school psychologists are and why they are important, let alone the issues they deal with.
A school psychologist’s job, she said, is to observe and assess students with special needs, setting them up to be properly diagnosed and treated so they can succeed in their own way. According to Hardin, ensuring those working in this field get the materials they need is a crucial step towards helping children reach their potential.
“If providing resources to just one school district or one school psychologist makes it to where some student gets the services they need or get wrongly identified because they haven’t been properly assessed, then it’s already worth it because you’ve already changed someone’s life,” she said.
Assistant Professor Amanda Hardin came up with the idea for the RAIL System after she heard about funding available through the UT System Grand Challenges Grant. Photo by Bethany Cothran.
With the RAIL System, K-12 school psychologists from across the state will have the ability to consult with Hardin and her school psychology colleagues on any issues or questions they have. All materials used for RAIL will be housed in a designated office space within UTC’s school psychology department—part of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies.
Growing up in a rural school district and working in a few throughout her career, Hardin remembered being limited to what she could access as a student and as a professional. Despite there being fewer resources, she remembers having to keep up with the same responsibilities no matter how many students there were.
“There are no breaks on deadlines or requirements or components or keeping your license up or going and getting professional development,” Hardin said, “so I saw right away the stark difference between the two.”
The National Association of School Psychologists recommends there be one school psychologist for every 500 students. However, during the 2022-2023 school year, the average ratio was 1,119 students to one school psychologist, and for rural communities, the disparity is even more significant.
Hardin went out into the community, talking directly with rural school psychologists in their home districts.
“The number one thing that they are always lacking are resources—whether it’s testing kits, protocols, staff to talk to and consult with,” Hardin said. “Sometimes there’s only one school psychologist in an entire county. So my thought was, ‘How could we create something to get them to these resources?”’
When conducting research for her pitch presentation, Hardin learned that 75% of school psychology interns reported that what kept them from working in a rural community was the lack of resources. However, with the RAIL System, Hardin hopes to combat these anxieties and problems, encouraging more people in this field to work in rural areas.
To determine who would get to partake in the RAIL System, Hardin will focus on districts involved with Tennessee’s Project RAISE. In this program, the state funds internships for school psychologists, social workers and school counselors in rural areas who have chosen to participate.
Giving these districts access to RAIL will further help schools support the success of their students, she said.
“Research has shown that students with disabilities who get the services they need are more likely to attend higher education,” Hardin said. “We’re doing a huge disservice to students by not getting them things that they need.
“A lot of it is because (school psychologists) don’t have a lot to work with. One of the most common things I hear in rural schools is, ‘Get creative or make it work.’”
The RAIL System will also include forms in Spanish for school psychologists to check out. Hardin said they may be able to get some assessments in other languages.
“I quickly realized when looking at research and academia that our rural populations are often forgotten minorities that don’t get included in research,” Hardin said. “Even if they get access, none of the studies are even relatable to them because their population hasn’t been included. So there’s a whole big lack of representation that occurs.”
According to Hardin, the Tennessee Department of Education will continue to fund the upkeep of the RAIL System after the grant funding ends.
“Once we get this established, it’s not going anywhere,” Hardin said. “The state department gets emails all the time … but the exciting part is this will never be an issue again.”
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