Section 56. Education requirements for school psychologists

A. The applicant shall hold at least a master's degree in school psychology, with a minimum of at least 60 semester credit hours or 90 quarter hours, from a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting agency, which was accredited by the APA, NCATE or NASP, or shall meet the requirements of subsection B of this section.

B. If the applicant does not hold a master's degree in school psychology from a program accredited by the APA, NCATE or NASP, the applicant shall have a master's degree from a psychology program which offers education and training to prepare individuals for the practice of school psychology as defined in § 54.1-3600 of the Code of Virginia and which meets the following criteria:

1. The program is within an institution of higher education accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, or publicly recognized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada as a member in good standing. Graduates of programs that are not within the United States or Canada must provide documentation from a credential evaluation service acceptable to the board which demonstrates that the program meets the requirements set forth in this chapter.

2. The program shall be recognizable as an organized entity within the institution.

3. The program shall be an integrated, organized sequence of study with an identifiable psychology faculty and a psychologist directly responsible for the program, and shall have an identifiable body of students who are matriculated in that program for a degree. The faculty shall be accessible to students and provide them with guidance and supervision. The faculty shall provide appropriate professional role models and engage in actions that promote the student's acquisition of knowledge, skills and competencies consistent with the program's training goals.

4. The program shall encompass a minimum of two academic years of full-time graduate study or the equivalent thereof.

5. The program shall include a general core curriculum containing a minimum of three or more graduate semester hours or five or more graduate quarter hours in each of the following substantive content areas.

a. Psychological foundations (e.g., biological bases of behavior, human learning, social and cultural bases of behavior, child and adolescent development, individual differences).

b. Educational foundations (e.g., instructional design, organization and operation of schools).

c. Interventions/problem-solving (e.g., assessment, direct interventions, both individual and group, indirect interventions).

d. Statistics and research methodologies (e.g., research and evaluation methods, statistics, measurement).

e. Professional school psychology (e.g., history and foundations of school psychology, legal and ethical issues, professional issues and standards, alternative models for the delivery of school psychological services, emergent technologies, roles and functions of the school psychologist).

6. The program shall be committed to practicum experiences which shall include:

a. Orientation to the educational process;

b. Assessment for intervention;

c. Direct intervention, including counseling and behavior management; and

d. Indirect intervention, including consultation.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 16, Issue 02, eff. November 10, 1999.

Statutory Authority

§§ 54.1-103, 54.1-2400 and 54.1-3605 of the Code of Virginia.