Mission
The program has a clearly articulated mission and set of goals and objectives. The School Psychology Psy.D. Program at PCOM is fully committed to the goal of training, in the practitioner-scholar model (Vail Model), doctoral-level school psychologists who are thoroughly and carefully prepared to meet the challenges of psychological practice in the 21st century. The training includes an integrated and sequential program of study and supervised practice that is consistent with the mission, goals and objectives. The explicit mission of the program is, in a spirit of commitment to excellence, to prepare school psychologists who, as practitioners-scholars, are uniquely capable and committed to the provision of high quality, empirically based, ethical and legal professional psychological services. This includes a full range of direct and indirect services including psychological assessment and evaluation services, with a special focus on the developmental process of children within the multicultural context of schools, families, and other systems.
Grounded in the cognitive-behavioral orientation, students also will be prepared to provide research-based, effective interventions and programs that prevent and treat problems and promote learning in all children. The program also strives to train students to collaborate and form partnerships with families, educators, health care providers, and the community at large, as well as to engage in scholarly activities essential to contributing new knowledge in the field of school psychology. The program seeks to bring the best of the discipline and practice of school psychology to understanding and enhancing the development of all children. As such, the graduate is fully prepared to assume the role and responsibility of the school psychologists at an advanced level with specialized training in advanced assessment practices and application of cognitive-behavior therapy.
Learning Goals
1. To train students to become general practitioner-scholars such that school psychological practice is firmly grounded on the scientific knowledge base and ethical standards of psychology and education.
2. To train students to provide both direct and indirect school psychological services based on data-based decision-making and empirically supported strategies and interventions.
3. To train practitioner-scholars who are capable of being an integral part of the interdisciplinary teams, interfacing to collaborate and form partnerships with families, health care providers and the community.
4. To train practitioner-scholars to provide school psychological services in the context of a multicultural, pluralistic society such that inter-individual differences and differences in social, culture, ethnicity, experiential, gender-related, socioeconomic status, linguistic and other such factors are understood and respected.
