What is Unique or Special About the CSULB School Psychology Program?

We understand that there other school psychology programs to choose from in our geographical area. We share many characteristics with the other NASP approved programs, including high-quality instruction, faculty who are engaged in research, supervised practica and fieldwork experiences, and adherence to NASP’s standards for training and practice.

However, some of the unique aspects of our program include:

Educational Psychology Clinic

Students conduct psychoeducational evaluations and provide interventions to children in our clinic while under the direct supervision of program faculty. The clinic contains 21 observation rooms that allow faculty to unobtrusively observe students and provide immediate, formative feedback. Few programs have the facilities to offer such training experiences.

Early Childhood Assessment

Advanced graduate students complete an advanced assessment linked to intervention course that addresses specific populations, such as preschool-age children and children with moderate to severe disabilities. As part of this course, our students complete an assessment of a child age 3 to 6 in the Clinic.

Response to Intervention (RtI) Focus

Long before IDEIA 2004 codified RtI as an alternative and preferred method to assess for learning disabilities, our students learned RtI-related skills (i.e., problem-solving, idiographic assessment, goal-setting, progress monitoring, identifying and implementing empirically-based interventions). Our three major capstone assignments require the application of RtI to address student behavioral or achievement problems in clinic and school settings.

OSEP Training Grant

Related to our focus on RtI, our program was awarded a $755,000 personnel preparation grant from the U. S. Department of Education to recruit and train 41 diverse school psychology graduate students in instructional assessment and intervention practices to promote the academic success of PreK-12 students with achievement deficits, including those with disabilities. The project, Training School Psychologists as Instructional Consultants in a Response to Intervention Model, is based on a scientist-practitioner approach to training where graduate students engage in the research literature during grant seminars, and apply their knowledge to clinical case studies in the Educational Psychology Clinic as well as in field-based projects in local public schools. Grant participants recieve up to $11,000 over the three years to off-set the cost of attending graduate school.

Diverse Students

Because our classes are offered in the afternoons and evenings, we attract applicants who have a variety of work and life experiences. Because we are affordable, we have students who are economically diverse, including many who are the first in their generation to attend college. In addition, we receive many more applicants than we accept so we can select students whose background or second language skills are likely to make a significant contribution to class discussions and to their efficacy in working with culturally and linguistically diverse students of California.

Research Opportunities

Program faculty are actively engaged in conducting applied research that directly impacts PreK-12 students, teachers, and families. Graduate students are encouraged to contribute to these efforts, and use faculty research resources to fulfill theses requirements. Students also have opportunities to present research at state and national conferences with faculty, and contribute to faculty publications.

Post Graduate School Outcomes

All of our graduates who pursue careers in school psychology secure jobs after graduating from our program. Increasingly, our alumni are pursuing doctoral degrees. Students who conduct Theses projects are well positioned for a doctoral program. Alumni who are mentored by one of the program faculty while pursuing a doctoral degree may be eligible for the CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive/Loan Forgiveness program http://www.calstate.edu/hr/cdip/

Last update: 9/10/09