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NASP Program Approval
The National Association of School Psychologists
is pleased to provide a review and approval service to graduate programs
in school psychology. This service can be accessed via NASP’s affiliation
with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).
Programs in NCATE institutions and programs not in NCATE institutions may
submit for consideration for NASP-approved status.
NASP program review and approval is part
of the association's commitment to serving the mental health and educational
interests of all children and youth by promoting the preparation of competent
professionals in accordance with national standards of quality.
NASP approval confers multiple advantages
to programs and program graduates. Such approval provides recognition
for programs that meet national standards for the graduate education of
professional service providers in school psychology. Program approval
is an important indicator of quality training, comprehensive content, and
extensive, properly supervised field experiences as judged by trained national
reviewers.
Another advantage of program approval, especially
for program graduates, is its link to National Certification in School
Psychology. Graduates of approved programs are assured eligibility
for the National Certificate in School Psychology (NCSP), pending the completion
of an internship consistent with NASP standards and the attainment of a
passing score on the National School Psychology Examination administered
by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) as part of the Praxis II Series. The
graduates of non-NASP approved programs also are eligible to apply for
national certification but must submit extensive documentation that their
training is consistent with NCSP requirements.
Please note that reviews are conducted during
fall and spring cycles. A program’s submission of materials 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
are sent to programs by January 15th; spring cycle review
reports typically are sent by July 15th.
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,
including the following:
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:
Additional helpful resources include:
The following materials were used for
paper folio submissions for NASP approval, a process that was used previously.
However, please note that, beginning in 2007, all programs submitting
a full review for initial approval or re-approval will submit their program
materials ONLINE, using the procedures described above. Programs currently
holding conditional approval or 3 year approval should follow the instructions
for their next submissions found in the most recent decision letter sent
to them by the NASP Program
Approval Board. If your
most recent decision letter instructs you to submit a PAPER folio for
a conditional rejoinder of three year review, you will find the following
materials useful:
I am happy to assist programs via telephone
or e-mail, and/or to refer programs to individuals who are willing to provide
more extensive consultation to programs for a fee. Such consultants
would not officially represent NASP in this capacity, nor would they be
involved in any subsequent NASP review of the program.
I hope the information about applying for
NASP program approval is helpful. Please feel free to contact Dr. Joan Bohmann, Director, NASP Professional Standards and Continuing
Professional Development (phone: 301-657-0270; e-mail: jbohmann@naspweb.org ) or Dr. Pat Harrison, Chair of NASP Program Approval Board (phone: 205-348-7583; e-mail: nasppab@bamaed.ua.edu) if we can be of
assistance.
Sincerely,
Patti L. Harrison, Ph.D., NCSP
Chair, Program Approval Board