The school psychology program in the Department of Educational Psychology has once again been accredited by the APA Commission on Accreditation (APA-CoA). According to the APA, this accreditation recognizes doctoral programs that provide broad and general training in scientific psychology and in the foundations of practice, and have as a goal to prepare students for the practice of professional psychology. The program will undergo its next accreditation review in 2021.

“The seven year accreditation is a credit to the department, college, and university, and particularly to the school psychology program and faculty – especially program coordinator, Dr. Amanda Sullivan – who has worked hard both to redesign and explain the program to APA. The APA’s decision is gratifying and affirming of the quality of our program,” said Department of Educational Psychology chair Geoffrey Maruyama.

In 2014, the Department of Educational Psychology trained 13 school psychologists 100% of whom found jobs after graduation.

Dr. Sullivan attributes the program’s success to a number of key partners, “The renewal of the program’s APA accreditation reflects the faculty’s continued commitment to the highest quality training for psychologists, as well as department and college’s ongoing support to make this possible. We are grateful to the faculty throughout the department who help to ensure our students are provided with cutting edge, research-based curriculum consistent with the commission’s standards and to the school psychologists throughout the community who are the backbone to our field training.”

APA-CoA is recognized by both the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, as the national accrediting authority for professional education and training in psychology.

“With the program’s dedication to this training and research, we will surely remain a leader in the field,” said Dr. Sullivan.