Mission
The Master of Science (MS) and the Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) Programs at PCOM are fully committed to the goal of training, in the practitioner-scholar model, school psychologists who are throughly and carefully preapred to meet the challenges of school psychological practice in the 21st century. The explicit mission of the programs are, in a spirit of cimmitment to excellence, to preapre school psychologists who, as practitioners-scholars, are uniquely capable and committed to the provision of high quality, effective, ethical, professional school psychological services. This includes a full range of direct and indirect services ranging from assessments to consulations with teachers and parents on various academic and environmental issues. Moreover, the program strives to train students to collaborate and form partnerships with families, educators, health care providers, and the community at large. 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 preapred to assume the role and responsiblity of the school psychologist.
Learning Goals
1. To train students to become general practitioner-scholars such that school psychological practice is firmly grounded on the knowledge base and ethical standards of psychology and education.
2. To train students to provide both direct and indirect school psychological services based in 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 culture, religiosity, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation are understood and respected.
