The School Psychology program in the Applied Psychology Department at New York University offers doctoral education and training to prepare students for the practice of professional psychology. The program is registered with the New York State Department of Education. The American Psychological Association has accredited the Ph.D. in School Psychology since 1979; the program is currently in accredited, inactive status and is no longer accepting new applicants.

Program Philosophy and Goals

The philosophical principles underlying the doctoral program in School Psychology at New York University are:

1. a commitment to the accumulation of new knowledge, research and scholarly work;
2. dedication to continued growth and training, while being aware of the limitations of their knowledge and skills;
3. the capability of functioning independently in their area of specialty;
4. a firm commitment to the ethical principles; and
5. knowledge to work with diverse populations and sensitivity to ethnic and cultural diversity.

Graduates are knowledgeable in the application of relevant research in psychology, practitioner skills with special emphasis on children and adolescents, and a professional capable of integrating theory, research, and practice. On the scholarly side, moving beyond grounding in basic psychological knowledge and quantitative and qualitative research methodology, our students are trained to utilize research skills in applied settings. In addition, there is knowledge of clinical research and its integration with practice. Practitioner competencies include training in ethics, assessment, consultation, and intervention design and evaluation, as well as understanding of culturally diverse children, parents, teachers, and school personnel. Both sets of skills - the research and clinical - are grounded in familiarity with schools, with educational and mental health principles, with preventive approaches, and with the wider social context of family, community and society.

Length of Program and Residency Requirements

The Ph.D. Program in School Psychology calls for 99 points beyond the Bachelor's degree, in addition to related field experiences, internship requirements and scholarly and research requirements. Full-time students with Bachelor's degrees would carry a program of 24 to 36 points each of the first three years including possible summer courses and 6 points the fourth year. During the first two years of the program students are required to complete research apprenticeships, ten hours per week. Students also devote one day per week to externships for the first three years and then complete a one-year internship, either in a school or a clinical setting.  They are also required to conduct research and write a final dissertation. Full time attendance is recommended.  Each student is assigned a faculty mentor, designed as a Ph.D. program advisor, who works out their individual curriculum as described in the Faculty/Student Advisement Handbook and School Psychology Brochure. Each student's program is worked out with regular meetings with the program advisor. 

We designate students by level of advancement. At each level there are required research experiences and practicum training. At Level I, students were required to attend the first year Departmental Colloquium series for Ph.D. candidates which, featured research presentation.  In addition, students typically take two required year-long practicum courses, Laboratory in Cognitive and Intellectual Assessment and Laboratory in Behavior Change, as well as the Proseminar in School Psychology (an introductory course that covers professional, legal and ethical issues and history). Ph.D. do 10 hours a week of a research apprenticeship and they are also in a field placement in a school one day a week. They take other required courses, as well, their first year, e.g. departmental core courses, statistics, Educational Foundations requirements, missing core prerequisites, etc.)

At level II, for their research training, the students continue their research apprenticeships 10 hours a week. They may also join a research group facilitated by a School Psychology or Departmental faculty member. They will typically take the year long Research Design course designed for departmental Ph.D. students. In addition, they take two year long practicum courses, Laboratory in School Consultation and Laboratory in Personality Assessment. Other requirements are also taken at this time i.e. core courses, Educational Foundations, or elective specialty. They are in a supervised fieldwork setting one day a week in a school.

At level III (3^rd year) and III + (4^th year and beyond) research mentoring continues. By the third year, the students are expected to be working with a faculty member and to have identified a dissertation chair and topic, to work on developing a dissertation proposal. In the third year they typically take Advanced Practicum in School Psychology and are in a field placement 1 day a week in a mental health setting.  Additional course work includes research electives and/or specialty electives (e.g., Family Diagnosis and Therapy) and the departmental dissertation proposal seminar. Upon successful completion of five core courses, they are admitted to Candidacy. After Candidacy, they are eligible to take the Departmental Comprehensive Examination.

Ph.D students complete a full-year faculty-approved internship. The internship itself requires a minimum of 1500 hours and the students must have fulfilled at least 750 hours of approved supervised experience in school settings beyond the first year (which can include appropriate school experience internship. While on internship, students take the year long Seminar in School Psychology (which is an integrative course geared to issues relevant to the internship).

Concurrently with course work and field placements students complete a dissertation proposal followed by an Oral Review attended by two outside faculty members drawn across the Applied Psychology Department and beyond Completion of the dissertation and course work is followed by the doctoral oral examination. The final doctoral oral is an examination in competency in research and scholarly pursuits.

Program Faculty

Carola Suárez-Orozco, Ph.D., Director,                                          cso2@nyu.edu

Judith Alpert, Ph.D                                                              judie.alpert@nyu.edu

Iris Fodor, Ph.D.                                                                               ief1@nyu.edu

Sandee Graham McClowry, PhD, RN, FAAN.                             sm6@nyu.edu

ADMINISTRATORS

Christiane Manzella, Ph.D, F.T., Training Director                        cs35@nyu.edu