How Tim McIvor Built a Credentialed Continuing Professional Development Site for School Psychologists with LifterLMS

A Passion to Help Students Succeed Drives SchoolPsych.com’s CPD E-Learning Webinars

 Tim McIvor, Schoolpsych

Did you know that school psychologists and school counselors are different? While both perform important roles in helping students succeed, each has a different focus. School psychologists in particular need to renew their certification every three years—a task made easier by Schoolpsych.com and LifterLMS.

What is a School Psychologist?

School psychologists focus on special education needs and testing to ascertain whether a student qualifies for special education services for learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, and other health impairments. They also consult with teachers, liaise between instructors and parents, and assist in crisis prevention and management. Their role is more specialized, and their training more rigorous, than that of school counselors, the latter who work more directly with students, helping them improve their academic performance and establish goals for the future. 

In the United States, Nationally Certified School Psychologists (NCSP) must meet strict nationally recognized standards of professional practices, credentialing, and ethical behavior. According to guidelines set by the National Association of School Psychologists, commitment to these standards includes 75 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) every three years. 

School psychologists looking to complete their CPD can do so from NASP-approved credential providers like Schoolpsych.com. Started in 2017 by Tim McIvor, himself a school psychologist, Schoolpsych.com provides the requisite lessons, quizzes, evaluations, and certification.

We’re doing the special education evaluations… Our job is very rewarding in that sense in that we are directly able to work with students who are referred to us, test them… and determine whether they qualify for additional services under different special education categories.

There are benefits to completing the NASP certification. In addition to national recognition, it can also help when competing for better jobs by demonstrating professional excellence and credibility for employers. It can also lead to employment benefits, including monetary stipends and increased job flexibility…

“love LifterLMS because it gave me the tools to build a professional development platform that could issue certificates, track progress, and deliver accredited content — all within WordPress. It gave me control, scalability, and the ability to meet a real need in my field.”

— Tim McIvor, Schoolpsych

How Schoolpsych.com Got Started

Tim McIvor was a newly minted school psychologist himself when he helped create the non-profit Nevada Association of School Psychologists in 2014. After doing in-person training for two years he started launching live webinars for greater accessibility and outreach, reducing the need for participants to travel far distances for professional development. Eventually, to serve those who missed the in-person training, he started looking for a learning management system (LMS) to offer the webinars online.

The way lifter LMS just sets all this up as auto-generated helps save me a bunch of time. I can focus on what I really care about which is just teaching school psychologists best practices.

Schoolpsych.com’s E-Learning Structure

Much like Tim’s earlier in-person training in a presentation format, Schoolpsych.com’s courses are structured as one-hour webinars, rather than multiple lessons. Because the built-in LifterLMS lesson structure is flexible, he can use it to present the webinar, followed by a quiz, and then the evaluation feedback. 

Tim created the first twelve webinars on his shoestring budget. As he gained interest, he was able to reach out to guest speakers and expanded to over fifty webinars. Each webinar is worth a specific number of credit hours, allowing participants to choose the topics they want to count toward their licensure renewal.

The website also offers a wealth of free resources, ranging from useful aids like planners, spreadsheets, guides, and checklists, to school psychology-themed print-outs, graphics, and even games.

Marketing, Sales, and Tech

Having run Schoolpsych.com for over six years while working a full-time job, Tim recently left his school psychologist position to focus on growing the website and building on his dream to help more children.

It was getting to the point where this [website] was doing better than my full-time job as a school psychologist. I felt like I had more impact here globally to help children. It just aligned with my passions. LifterLMS has helped me substantially in getting to that goal, which is a dream of mine.

Both social media and well-planned sales have been part of Tim’s marketing. Facebook was one useful tool in building interest in Schoolpsych,com. He interacted in school psychologist groups and forums, engaged in mutual following, but refrained from any overt promotion—an approach that helped attract site visitors organically. With over 10,000 followers currently between Facebook and Instagram, he also uses humor and shares helpful tips and resources. This human-based authenticity has helped him stand out among the many competing professional development associations.

And despite the huge number of competitors, since its inception, Schoolpsych.com has had 5,000 users access the webinars—roughly 13-16% of the only 30,000 to 40,000 school psychologists in the US. School psychology professionals overseas, including expats who wish to keep up their certification, are also among the site’s course subscribers.

Another successful marketing technique Tim has used is offering promotional sales on bundles. While webinars are available to purchase individually at $25 each, it is the $99 bundle for access to all the webinars that attracts the most interest and makes up the majority of his revenue. Tim offers the sale three times a year to coincide with the school calendar: spring break, autumn before the school psychologists’ schedules fill up, and Black Friday. The bundle allows access to all the webinars and features for a year.

Another piece of the puzzle in online education success is solid technology. Among the tools in Tim’s tech stack are:

Ultimately, it is Tim’s passion and commitment to helping children that drives the success of Schoolpsych.com

You have a great product and the best support team I’ve ever seen.

We have published a podcast episode with Tim McIvor on LMSCast where you can learn more in detail about Schoolpsych.com. You can also follow Tim McIvor on LinkedIn