Program Highlights
The status of the MSU Moorhead School Psychology Program as a National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and National Counsel for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Approved Program has been extended to December 2009. That will mark 20 years as a NASP Approved Program. We have continually maintained our "Approved" status for as long as the NASP (in conjunction with NCATE) has been approving programs.
Program Orientation
The curriculum of the MSU Moorhead School Psychology Program is grounded in a scientist-practitioner model. Along with proficiency in technical skills, students must have and apply a broad understanding of the basic psychological principles of human behavior. The problem-solving orientation taught and encouraged throughout the program combines the scientific tradition of hypothesis development, hypothesis testing, and outcome evaluation, with a pragmatic orientation of addressing the real-world needs of children and schools. Our goal is to provide students with the education and skills that they need to effectively serve school systems not only now, but in the future. Toward this end, we teach traditional school psychological services along with alternative service models.
The recent rise of Response to Intervention (RtI) models of service in the schools fits very well with our model of training. Our faculty have become valued resources to regional districts as these districts have started to implement RtI procedures.
Course Requirements: Master's and Specialist Degrees combined (65 semester credits). Specific course requirements are listed under the Curriculum link.
The core of the school psychology curriculum is a series of four Assessment/Intervention courses, three of which are taught concurrently with a practicum. Our goal in our Assessment/Intervention sequence is to teach assessment principles and techniques in the context of intervention practices and for particular populations of students. Assessment/Intervention I: Basic Processes introduces students to the fundamentals of various assessment techniques (observation and interviewing skills, curriculum-based measurement, etc.) used in gathering data for referral and intervention purposes in schools. Students also learn basic principles in designing and implementing interventions. Concurrently, students learn standardized testing principles in their Measurement Theory class. In Assessment/Intervention II: Special Populations, the focus is on tests (particularly cognitive ability tests) used in making special education eligibility decisions and on interventions used with students with academic difficulties. Assessment/Intervention III: Early Childhood focuses on the birth to age 5 population. Assessment/Intervention IV: Psychosocial Problems addresses assessment and intervention theories and techniques for students with mental health issues.
Additional components of the curriculum address foundational knowledge in psychology, research applications and techniques, professional issues, and issues and practices in special education. Three practica and the internship provide the field experience opportunities for students to apply the knowledge learned in course work.
Field Experience
Students are in public school placements within the first month of enrollment. Over the course of the two years that they are on campus, students complete three practica within school settings. An effort is made to place the student in different settings for the three practica so the student has the opportunity to work with a variety of age groups, in more that one district, in an applied environment, and often in both rural and urban settings. Since MSUM is located on the border of Minnesota and North Dakota, students are able to see how schools operate in both states.
Internships are usually in school districts or education cooperatives in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. In the last several years, we have had several students complete internships in Iowa, as well. We also have had interns in other states, such as Kansas, Virginia, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington. These interns have made use of our distance learning capabilities to participate in the classes we teach in conjunction with the internship.
Faculty
All three of the primary school psychology faculty have doctorates in school psychology and experience as school psychologists in the public schools. They have developed close relationships with the area public schools both in regard to training and research.
The school psychology faculty work closely together as a team. While maintaining somewhat different perspectives, they attempt to coordinate instruction across classes within a data-based and problem solving model. The faculty acts as a supportive and educational sounding board for students to explore ideas in the field as well. The faculty focus on the success of the students and constantly open opportunities and discover new perspectives on topics in the field.
Students also take classes from other members of the psychology department, as well as from the special education and the counselor education departments on campus. MSUM students have the opportunity to learn from and get to know a variety of faculty.
Quality
The School Psychology Program is a NASP/NCATE approved program that has trained more than 250 school psychologists over the past 30 years. During that time, we have developed a reputation in the school districts that have hired our graduates for producing high quality school psychologists with a wide range of talents and a necessary understanding of diversity. Our interns and graduates are in demand throughout the region.
Over the past three decades, the School Psychology Program has regularly up-graded its curriculum to better meet the needs of schools and national training standards. When the NASP developed training standards in the mid 1980s in conjunction with the accreditation requirements of the NCATE, the MSU Moorhead Program became one of the first specialist level training programs in the country to become NASP/NCATE approved (1988). Since then, significant additional curriculum revisions have been made to not only meet updated training standards, but to better meet the needs of our students and the schools they will serve. Our most recent major curriculum revisions are effective as of Fall 2008.
The Specialist Degree
In 1985, the School Psychology Program at MSU Moorhead received permission from the State of Minnesota to grant the Specialist degree. Although the NASP/NCATE training standards require the equivalent of the Specialist level of training (minimum of 60 graduate semester credits), many institutions are not authorized to actually grant Specialist degrees. Instead, they may grant a Certificate of Advanced Study, or another non-degree acknowledgement of the student's level of training. Our students have appreciated the opportunity to earn not only the Master's degree, but the Specialist degree as well. Graduates who have earned the Specialist degree may use the PsyS abbreviation after their names.
Environment and Expectations
We are selective in our admission standards and admit only those students whom we are confident will be successful in meeting the rigorous requirements of the program. Our program is structured as a full-time on-campus program under a cohort model. Thus, each entering class of students takes almost all of their classes together, and they are encouraged to work together and form a support system among themselves. Since entering classes range from 6-10 students, the students get to know each other and the faculty well. Faculty are supportive of students, while still maintaining high academic and performance standards.
Mentoring Program
When a student enters into the MSUM program, they are immediately connected with a student from the past year who was chosen to act as the Mentoring Coordinator. The mentoring Coordinator is available to answer any questions the students may have before or during the program. Then, during the first day of orientation (or in some cases, class) each student is introduced to a mentor who is a student from the previous class. This relationship is created in order to smooth the new students' transition into graduate school and also to encourage a supportive and positive environment for all of the students in the School Psychology Program. Please feel free to contact this year's Mentoring Coordinator, April Wallace, at aprilwallace4280@hotmail.com.
The Alumni Perspective
To see what our alums have to say about the MSUM School Psychology Program, go to the Students and Alumni page.
For more about School Psychology as a profession, visit the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) web site at: http://www.nasponline.org