School Psychology Masters/Specialist Program Rankings

[audchik]

Hi All,

For those in school psych programs (masters and/or specialist), what factors can one use to determine the quality of a program? So far I haven't seen any rankings and since MA programs are not APA accredited I don't know how to determine program quality. Are there certain things to look for?

Thanks!

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[Therapist4Chnge]

There are no reliable rankings for any psychology programs. You'll want to ask where students get jobs after the graduate, if there is any funding available, and what kind of training experiences you will have while in the program. Contacting someone in the school system to see where they get their school psychologists from may be worthwhile, though I'm not quite sure who specifically you could ask. Lastly, you'll want to talk to current and former students to see what they think about the training program.

 

[audchik]

Thanks... I have talked to 2 professors who are the heads of the program I am looking at and they said that all of their recent graduates have found employment and that many internship placements lead to employment. There is also high research productivity by both students and faculty so I think that's a good sign as well. I am in the process of trying to get in contact with recent graduates and current students.

 

[audchik]

You'll want to ask where students get jobs after the graduate, if there is any funding available, and what kind of training experiences you will have while in the program.

How will I know if the training experiences offered are good or not? I'm not sure what to look for in that area...

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

How will I know if the training experiences offered are good or not? I'm not sure what to look for in that area...

I would ask if the students felt like their supervisors were available, helped them learn, and treated the experience as a training experience and not free/cheap labor. Some practica sites may be more focused on "getting things done" and less focused on making sure you are learning while you are doing what needs to be done.

 

[coldsweat]

Determining whether a school psychology program offers good training experiences requires asking the right questions of students, as T4C mentions. If you simply ask the students whether they like their training opportunities, they will most likely say yes, which is not informative. Ask them what types of activities they do and how many of them they have performed. If the interns are primarily testing and not performing other activities as consultation, counseling, or direct academic intervention, then the training may not be great. Ask how many hours of supervision they receive per week. Ask about the environment of the schools they work in.

Reviewing the grant-funded research that the program faculty are conducting can also provide you a sign of the quality of training they provide. For example, faculty in the school psychology programs at the University of South Florida, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of Minnesota have large grants to implement Response to Intervention (RtI) in the schools. Therefore, you will likely receive high quality training in RtI at these programs, which is essential as a school psychologist in this era.

 

[audchik]

Great, thanks for the information. I will certainly ask those questions.

 

[bluemoon2022]

I only applied to schools with NASP accreditation (National Association of School Psychologists)- They approve programs that follow certain criteria, and a school that has this accreditation makes it easier to get licensed in new states. More info at the link below, but I basically used the list they compile with approved programs as a bible.

http://www.nasponline.org/

 

[audchik]

Yes, thanks, I am using that list as well!