Graduate Programs: School Psychology
Degree Plan
Graduate Psychology Program Handbook
This degree program is offered in Victoria only.
This 66-semester-credit-hour graduate psychology program leads to a Master of Arts degree in School Psychology.
If your career goal is to assist the psycho-educational needs of school children and adolescents, then consider the School Psychology program. It meets the academic requirements for the Texas Licensed Specialist in School Psychology (LSSP) credential. With this licensing, you can practice as a Specialist in School Psychology in K-12 public schools. You might work with students, parents, and teachers in assessment and intervention of student behavioral, learning, or emotional conditions. In this program, you can also take additional courses to complete the LPC academic requirements.
As an LSSP, your professional practice may involve evaluation, intervention, and/or consultation.
Evaluation
As a team member with school staff, parents and other evaluation personnel, an LSSP may evaluate:
- Academic Skills
- Cognitive Ability
- Classroom Interventions
- Emotional and Behavioral Functioning
- Eligibility for Special Education
Intervention
- Help youth overcome barriers to success in school and at home
- Provide group and individual counseling, behavioral interventions, and other support services
- Provide in-service training on a variety of disabilities, parenting skills, classroom management strategies
Consultation
- Consult with parents, educators, and school staff about learning and behavioral issues
- Coordinate services between the school, parents and the community
- Create an understanding of how a child's development relates to learning and behavior
If your educational goal is to pursue a doctoral degree in Psychology, then the Master of Arts in School Psychology provides a valuable foundation toward that pursuit.
Students may reach other students with interest in psychology through the Psi Chi page.
For more information about UHV's School Psychology program, please contact Anitra Shelton-Quinn, Program Director at SheltonQuinnA@uhv.edu.
Admissions Requirements
Admission to the counseling psychology or school psychology program is based on an evaluation by the program's admission committee of the following information.
- A 1-2 page essay that states the applicant's reasons for applying to the program and the applicant's career goals.
- One letter of recommendation from a non-UHV, non-family source.
Recommendation Form for Graduate Psychology Programs - Evidence of having completed undergraduate or graduate courses in statistics, research, and abnormal psychology. A particular course will be waived as a requirement if the student passes a comprehensive final or its equivalent for the designated course with a grade of C or better. The exam may be taken no more than once for a particular course.
Note other admission requirements are that the student must have satisfactorily completed the GRE and have an acceptable GPA for the last 60 credit hours. GRE scores and transcripts need to be sent directly from the original source to the Office of Admissions and Records.
Students are considered for admission to graduate programs on the basis of an admission index, as indicated below.
The admission index results from a combination of the following:
- Grade point average (GPA) over at least the last 60 hours multiplied by 200.
Verbal score plus quantitative score on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Admission index of 1,400 or higher: Students are admitted, so long as they meet any additional criteria specific to a particular degree program.
Admission index below the 1,400 minimum but not lower than 1,300: Students may be admitted by the dean of the school, considering scores on the analytic portion of the GRE (or equivalent), grades in particularly relevant courses, or other relevant indicators of a student’s potential to succeed in a given graduate degree program. Such admission may be conditional or probationary with initial coursework specified.
Students with baccalaureate degrees who have not obtained formal admission to the graduate program may still take up to 12 semester hours of graduate psychology courses. They may apply for temporary graduate admission status. With the temporary admission status, they may enroll in any graduate psychology courses they have met the prerequisites for. Students with temporary admission status may not enroll in PSY 6334 Theories and Issues in Psychotherapy or PSY 6336 Introduction to Assessment since these courses have the prerequisite of formal admission to the psychology graduate program.