One of my favorite careers in education to talk about, although I love them all, is School Psychology because I have a Master’s in School Psychology!
In this post, you will learn everything to prepare you for a school psychologist career.
School psychologists are different than psychologists because you have a master’s and work mainly in the schools. There are school psychologists that obtain a license to become an (LEP), which is a Licensed Educational Psychologist.
School psychologists are in demand more than ever before, and it is a great career in the field of education!
Major in School Psychology:
To become a school psychologist, you must have a bachelor’s degree and take required pre-requisite courses for whichever program you attend. Typically, pre-requisite courses may include additional psychology courses or university-specific.
I got my master’s degree from the same university I got my bachelor’s degree.
School Psychologist Career Details:
The pre-requisites I needed for my school psychology program were:
- General psychology
- Abnormal psychology
- Theories of personality
- Statistics
- Life span growth and development psychology
Before entering the program, make sure you have all of your courses completed for the programs you apply to. When applying, be prepared to write a summary about why you would make a great school psychologist. The program director will want to know your background, and what experiences have led you to major in school psychology.
Once your application is reviewed, you will most likely have an interview with the director of the program. The interview is to make sure you fit well within the program and will take it seriously since you are mastering the material, literally!
Courses in School Psychology Programs May Include:
Introduction to School Psychology is where you learn more about who a school psychologist is, what they do, and more in-depth about a school psychologist’s career.
Counseling theory will touch on different types of counseling, and why they are beneficial for different students you will work with.
Legal and ethical issues in school psychology will touch on how to provide legal practices in the field. It will discuss different laws in special education and how they came about. This course helps you cover yourself in your school psychologist career.
Advanced psychopathology touches on different mental health conditions that are in adults and children within the schools.
Report Writing will teach you all about the different pieces of a report. You will see just how long they are and what you should type in each part of the report. By the end of your program, you should have written a few full reports, which range between fifteen to thirty pages long, depending on the kiddo.
You will also have different assessment courses that will teach you how to administer intelligence assessments (IQ tests), processing assessments, behavioral assessments, and more!
Other courses may include something similar to:
- Research Methods
- Counseling Techniques
- Crisis Response
- Culturally Competent Practice
- Intervention, Consultation, Collaboration
- Individual Intelligence Assessment
- Culturally Competent Practice
- Human Communication
As a school psychologist receiving a master’s degree, you complete 400 hours of practicum and a minimum of 1,200 hours of internship. Practicum courses allow you to see how school psychologists perform in the field and help you learn how to administer assessments, collaborate with teachers, hold counseling groups, and more.
Your internship is usually completed within a school year at the end of your program, but each program director may have it set it slightly different. The courses listed are based around the same topics but are worded differently depending on what program you attend.
School Psychologists requirements:
- Complete 1,200 hours of internship
- 400 hours of practicum
- Pass the PRAXIS Exam
- Have a clean record to receive a credential through their state
Day in the life of a School Psychologist:
As a school psychologist, you will arrive before the students and stay after the students just like the most staff. School psychologists have a caseload of students that they work with, which ranges between state, country and district. Your caseload may be as low as 50 per year with a high of 120 per year. Yes, the more on your caseload, the busier you are testing and assessing those students.
Oftentimes, school psychologists have IEP meetings for students about their educational plans in the morning, around lunch, or after assessing students all day long. You could have a whole schedule planned out, but a crisis takes place, and things get canceled. Other times, you may plan to assess a kiddo and they are not at school, so you may assess different kiddo or work on a report for an annual or triennial meeting coming up.
School psychologists were many hats in the field, some work in schools, others only assess at the school, and work at the district office. Some states or districts have school psychologists deal with crises and counseling, others only assess and write reports.
School psychologists are in demand!
Job duties of a School Psychologist:
- Administer assessments on students K-12
- Collaborate with school staff such as the principal, teachers, counselors, etc.
- Help prevent and handle crises in the school setting
- Create individual educational plans (IEPs)
- Find ways to implement programs and improve systems in learning
- Recommend interventions that are effective for struggling learners
- Record behaviors in the classroom
- Refer students and families to counseling services
These are some of the typical job duties of a school psychologist, but the day of a school psychologist is non-stop, and there is always something to be done. School psychologists are usually referred to parents by teachers for various reasons. Most students are struggling learners in the classroom and need academic support so that teachers can understand how they learn best. School psychologists look at academic history, health history, and a student’s cumulative file to see what patterns are in their learning. That information is compared with teacher information, parent information, assessment data, and more. The goal is to see whether or not the student meets the criteria for special education services where teachers teach to students in their learning style.
School Psychology Programs
School Psychology Programs in California:
California State University Long Beach
University of California Riverside
School Psychology Programs in Texas:
School Psychology Programs in New York:
School Psychology Programs in Utah:
School Psychology Programs in Arizona:
I hope you have learned so much more about a school psychologist career and that these programs can get you started on the future you are looking for!
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