About

Are you interested in promoting wellness and resilience among school-age students and helping children cope with family and life stressors? Can you envision yourself providing assessment, consultation, counseling, and mentoring for those struggling with social, academic, and behavioral problems?

The goal of the school psychology master’s and certificate of advanced study program is to prepare highly qualified, entry-level school psychologists to work with children, families, and other professionals in public school settings. The school psychologist draws on multifaceted skills from both psychology and education for the purpose of promoting healthy academic, cognitive, social and emotional development. The program is developed following the scientist-practitioner model. Students are trained to be good consumers and producers of research.

Empirical knowledge serves as the basis for developing interventions and solving problems in practice. The curriculum exposes the student to theory, research and practice in school psychology, which are integrated through a planned sequence of course work, practica and internship. It is a three-year program requiring full-time attendance. Students are admitted with the understanding that they will pursue both degrees (MA and SSP) simultaneously. The program holds approval by the National Association of School Psychologists and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

ECU Advantage

Our well-established program in school psychology at ECU is NASP-accredited and has a long history of producing highly trained professionals. Our program provides strong training in all core areas of school psychology, with a balanced approach to covering assessment, intervention, consultation, and prevention competencies. You would be part of a small cohort of fellow students with a good student-to-faculty ratio, using a scientist-practitioner training model.

Our dynamic faculty members have a variety of research and practice interests related to school psychology, unique experiences and backgrounds, and a strong commitment to training quality school psychologists. Our faculty will be sure that you are prepared to enter the profession with the most up-to-date information and skills to practice psychology within the public school setting.

What You Will Study

Program Coordinator: Christy Walcott (214 Rawl Building; 252-328-1378; walcottc@ecu.edu)

The MA/SSP graduate program in school psychology is a three-year program to train psychologists for practice in school and related settings and requires 70 s.h. total. The program requires full-time attendance and students must complete both the Psychology, MA school psychology concentration (34 s.h.) and the Specialist in School Psychology, SSP degree (36 s.h.). The first two years of the program provide classroom training and field experiences in assessment, consultation, and interventions for children, adolescents, families, and school systems. The third year consists of a full-time paid internship in a public school setting.

Program completion of both MA and SSP meets the current requirements for licensure by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a school psychologist, for certification by the National School Psychology Certification Board, and satisfies the educational requirements for licensure by the North Carolina Psychology Board as a licensed psychological associate. The MA/SSP program is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The SSP requires 36 s.h. as follows:

I. Assessment - 3 s.h.
  • PSYC 6353 - Behavioral Assessment and Intervention
II. Consultation and intervention - 9 s.h.
  • PSYC 6402 - School Consultation
  • PSYC 7442 - School Interventions I
  • PSYC 7443 - School Intervention II
III. Educational foundations - 6 s.h.

Choose 6 s.h. of program coordinator approved electives. 

    IV. Practicum - 6 s.h.
    • PSYC 7950 - School Practicum I
    • PSYC 7951 - School Practicum II
    V. Internship - 12 s.h.
    • PSYC 7992 - School Internship I
    • PSYC 7993 - School Internship II
    For more information about this degree visit the university's academic catalogs.
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