The doctor of psychology (Psy.D.)
program in school psychology at the Graduate School of Applied and Professional
Psychology (GSAPP) of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, prepares
doctoral-level psychologists for professional practice with children and youth
in schools and other community settings. We emphasize integration of
scientific knowledge with innovation in the delivery of psychological services
to individuals, families, groups, and organizations.
The school psychology program is
based on the Psy.D./Practitioner-Scholar model of training, initially developed
at the 1973 Vail Conference on Levels and Patterns of Professional Training in
Psychology. This model places primary emphasis on delivery of
psychological services and on the evaluation and improvement of services. The program emphasizes professional practice based on an understanding of
research-supported knowledge in the discipline. The program supports a
view of professional school psychology practice that is guided by knowledge of
the theory and research related to school psychology and by data-based decision-making in the practice setting.
The school psychology program
educates and trains graduate students to think psychologically and
systematically about the nature of schooling, using a science-based approach to
the design, implementation, and evaluation of practices, programs, and services
at the individual, group, and organizational levels, in order to support the
emotional, social, and academic development of students in schools. School psychology faculty members believe that school psychological service
delivery should be grounded in research findings that professional practices or
programs are likely to contribute to beneficial results for clients. In
addition, faculty members believe that decision-making about initiating,
maintaining, modifying, and terminating practices, programs, and services should
be data-based and therefore reflective of the individual needs and goals of
clients. Throughout the program's curriculum, theoretical and research
foundations are integrated with practice issues and didactic training is
integrated with field experiences, in part, to emphasize the relationship
between science and practice.
Faculty members of the school psychology program educate and train students to provide school psychological
services that are referenced to educational and psychological needs and are
evidence-based, culturally sensitive, collaborative, and coordinated with other
school practices, and informed by literatures on systems and organizational
functioning. The program promotes use of an approach to professional
practice that includes data-based clarification of needs and concerns, in which
evidence is evaluated in terms of its technical reliability, validity, and scientific
meaningfulness, and the practitioner seeks to understand the problem or task
within a theoretical framework. The social/organizational context is
understood as a critical dimension of professional service delivery. Evaluation of the results of professional activity is seen as an essential
component of professional practice. Social responsibility of the school
psychologist is also emphasized as it relates to issues such as diversity.
School psychologists trained in this manner will understand: a) how to
provide effective research-based interventions for individual students with an
emphasis on addressing emotional, social, and/or behavioral problems that impede
learning; and b) how to work with teachers, school administrators, and other
stakeholders to develop classroom, school, and other learning environments that
promote healthy psychological development and educational achievement.
