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NASP Program Approval/National Recognition: Information for Graduate Programs
The mission of the National
Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is to represent school psychology
and support school psychologists to enhance the learning and mental health of
all children and youth. NASP’s mission is
accomplished through promotion of professional competence; recognition of the
essential components of graduate education and professional development;
graduate preparation of school psychologists to deliver a continuum of services
to children, youth, families, and schools; identification of professional practices that are empirically-based, data
driven, and culturally competent; and advocacy for the value of school
psychological services and for appropriate research-based education and mental
health services, among other important initiatives.
Since 1988, NASP has been pleased to provide a
national review and approval service for graduate programs in school psychology
as part of our efforts to support preparation of graduate candidates for
effective school psychology practice. The NASP program review and approval
process contributes to the development of effective school psychology services
through the identification of critical graduate education experiences and
competencies needed by candidates preparing for careers in school psychology.
NASP program approval/national recognition is an important indicator of quality
graduate education in school psychology, comprehensive content, and extensive
and properly supervised field experiences and internships, as judged by trained
national reviewers. Thus, NASP approval/national recognition confers multiple
advantages to programs, program graduates, the profession of school psychology,
and, most importantly, to the children, families, and schools that we serve.
Specialist level (60+ graduate credits) and doctoral
level programs in school psychology are reviewed and approved by NASP. For
school psychology programs that submit documentation for a NASP review by
trained national reviewers, the
NASP Program Approval
Board awards “NASP-approval” (national recognition) status
for those programs that provide evidence of consistency with the NASP
Standards for Training and Field Placement Programs in
School
Psychology. The NASP training standards provide the
foundation for program review and approval, and school psychology program
submissions for NASP-approval/national recognition status are evaluated to
determine that programs meet NASP standards in policy and practice.
NASP is one of the
specialized professional associations (SPAs) of the
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and conducts
program reviews as a part of the NCATE unit accreditation process. As an
NCATE
SPA, NASP does not
accredit school psychology programs, but identifies approved programs. NCATE
accredits units (e.g., Schools of Education), not programs, but does provide
"national recognition" status (full or with conditions) to
NASP-approved programs in NCATE-accredited units. In order to provide all
school psychology programs with access to the NASP review process and
potentially to national approval/national recognition, NASP also conducts
reviews of school psychology programs that are not in NCATE units and that
submit materials for review by NASP on a voluntary basis.
There are three types of
decisions that result from NASP review of school psychology programs. NASP
approval/national recognition may be “full” or “with conditions,” or a program
may not receive approval/national recognition because further development is
needed. Information about the two NASP approval/national recognition outcomes
is summarized below:
- NASP
approval/national recognition-full indicates the NASP review process found that a school psychology program demonstrated consistency with NASP
standards. The period of NASP approval/national recognition-full for a
program is 5 or 7 years.
- NASP
approval/national recognition with conditions indicates the NASP review process found that a school psychology
program demonstrated general consistency with key NASP standards, but must
submit additional documentation, usually within 18 months, to be evaluated
for possible continuation of NASP approval.
It should be noted that NASP treats
programs with full or conditional status equally in terms of the rights and
benefits of NASP approval. This is true of NCATE’s national recognition status as well.
An advantage of NASP program
approval, especially for program graduates, is its link to National
Certification in
School Psychology
(NCSP). All graduates of specialist level graduate programs of study in school
psychology are eligible to apply for the NCSP. All applicants for the
NCSP must document an internship consistent with NASP standards and
attainment of a passing score on the national school psychology examination
(PRAXIS II) administered by Educational Testing Service. Applicants for the
NCSP also must document having met graduate education requirements consistent
with NASP training standards in the 11 domains of knowledge and outcomes.
Graduates of NASP-approved programs (full or with conditions) provide evidence
of meeting the graduate education requirements by documenting their completion
of a NASP-approved program; the NASP program approval process ensures that the
program graduates have met these requirements. Graduates of school psychology
programs that do not hold NASP-approval must submit a portfolio to document that
they have met this graduate education requirement.
Please note that NASP
program reviews are conducted during fall and spring cycles. A school
psychology graduate program’s submission of online materials (see instructions
below) must be received by September 15th for the fall review
cycle. A program’s submission of materials must be received by February 1st for the spring review cycle. NASP will notify the program director or other
contact person listed on the cover page of the submission when the submission
materials have been received. Typically, fall cycle review reports and
outcomes are sent to programs in January and spring cycle review reports and
outcomes are sent to programs in June.
BEGINNING IN 2007, all
programs submitting full reviews for consideration for initial approval or
re-approval must use an online submission process to correspond to NCATE’s online submission requirements:
NASP is committed to
assisting training programs in the process of self-evaluation and development
as well as in preparing and submitting materials for program review and
approval. Various documents and support materials are available to assist in
this process. Additional helpful resources include:
I hope the
information about submitting for NASP program review
is helpful. Please feel contact me if I may provide assistance: Dr. Enedina García Vázquez, Chair of the
NASP Program Approval Board, phone: 575-646-9601,
e-mail: nasppab@psl.nmsu.edu
More
information
about the NCSP is located at http://www.nasponline.org/certification/index.aspx.
For
information regarding NCSP
applications for individuals, please contact the Director of Professional
Development and Standards, c/o Cynthia Donnelly, Manager of Certification,
phone: 301-657-0270, e-mail: cdonnelly@naspweb.org.
Sincerely,
Enedina García Vázquez, PhD
Chair,
NASP Program Approval Board