Background
DeBusk was born in 1877 in Shelbyville, Indiana.
DeBusk was born in 1877 in Shelbyville, Indiana.
He attended Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana, in the 1890s. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Indiana University in 1904, and he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in education from Clark University in 1915.
While at Danville, DeBusk taught students at rural Indiana schools. In 1904 DeBusk became a psychology instructor at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, and in 1910 he was appointed associate professor of psychology at Colorado State Teachers College. DeBusk joined the faculty at the University of Oregon College of Education in 1915, a job he kept until his death in 1936.
He quickly became a noted expert in educational psychology and school hygiene.
While at Oregon, DeBusk traveled and lectured frequently, serving as a consultant to school districts and even to the juvenile court in Portland, Oregon. In the 1920s, DeBusk headed the department of research at Portland Public Schools.
DeBusk died soon after suffering a myocardial infarction in July, 1936. The Clinic for Exceptional Children, a center for remedial testing and evaluation at the College of Education, was renamed DeBusk Memorial Clinic for Exceptional Children.