Specialization
School Psychology at SIUE
The Department of Psychology offers the specialist degree in school psychology. This program provides advanced academic and professional training for students pursuing a career in school psychology. The program leads to certification as a school psychologist in the state of Illinois and has been fully accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) since 1999.
This program is designed for students who have completed the master's program in clinical child and school psychology at SIUE. Applicants interested in becoming a school psychologist should apply to the clinical child and school psychology program and pursue the school psychology track.
A number of unique strengths allow the school psychology program to stand out as a premier program.
- Ongoing partnerships with local school districts, Head Start and other local agencies
- Breadth of training, including courses in prevention, psychotherapy and crisis intervention
- One of less than 10 school psychology programs in the nation to include a course on autism assessment and intervention
- SIUE hosts the Attention & Behavior Clinic (ABC) and the Comprehensive Autism Spectrum Evaluation (CASE) clinics, which are unique to the St. Louis region
- The program was established in 1970, and the specialist program in school psychology has been fully accredited by NASP since 1999
- Our students work closely with faculty to develop their own thesis or research project
- The school psychology program ranks seventh nationally for scholarly production
- According to a recent analysis of publication productivity among school psychology faculty among all NASP-accredited, specialist-level programs (Laurent & Runia, 2016)
Program Format
Program coursework is offered as traditional daytime courses.
Career Opportunities
Job prospects for students who complete the requirements for the specialist degree program in school psychology are excellent due to a nationwide shortage of school psychologists.
Admission Requirements
- Graduate School application
- Internal applicants only
Applicants for the specialist in school psychology must have a grade of C or higher in all courses in the SIUE master's in clinical child and school psychology program and must have also earned a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher in that program. Applicants must have passed the Illinois Test of Academic Proficiency (TAP) or show proof of an acceptable score on the ACT or SAT. Applicants who wish to gain a specialist in school psychology degree should first complete the Master of Science in clinical child and school psychology. It should be noted that the school psychology track of the Master of Science and the specialist in school psychology together typically take only three years to complete, which is a similar amount of time compared to other school psychology degree programs.
Coursework
The specialist degree in school psychology requires a minimum of 32 hours beyond the Master of Science (MS):
- Required Courses (15 hours):PSYC 539, 544, 545, 584, 594
- Required practicum (4 hours): PSYC 524
- Internship (10 hours): PSYC 596
- Thesis (3 hours): PSYC 599
Graduation Requirements
Candidates for the specialist degree must submit a thesis proposal for approval by a thesis advisory committee, carry out the proposed thesis, submit a written report, complete an oral examination and have a minimum GPA of 3.25.
