Course Descriptions

Introduces the field of school psychology and analyzes the roles school psychologists serve in regional and global settings. Explains the historical, current, and future trends in school psychology with emphasis on culturally responsive and ethical practices for diverse student populations. Examines ethical standards and legal issues and application in school and community settings. Provides in-depth understanding of school systems that promote equity and inclusion. 

Examines theory, research, and issues in child and adolescent development and focuses on applications most relevant to development and learning in school settings. Includes in-depth explorations of characteristics and factors important to human development, including socio-cultural identities, individual differences, and abilities.

Provides theory and practice in culturally responsive counseling techniques for youth. Focuses on the application of school-based counseling practices with children and adolescents using a social justice and equity lens. Emphasizes strengths-based, solutions-oriented frameworks and provides skills necessary for evidence-based interviewing and helping techniques that promote empowerment and resilience in youth. 

Covers current research, theoretical foundations, and group intervention dynamics as applied in school settings. Addresses culturally appropriate techniques for group-based social, emotional, and behavioral interventions in school settings. Includes types of groups, group formation, development, process, facilitation, monitoring, and assessment. Discusses ethical, legal, and professional issues in school-based group counseling and intervention and promotes skills needed for effective facilitation of diverse groups.

Discusses leading theoretical frameworks in the study of trauma including neurobiological, psychosomatic, and cognitive-behavioral. Emphasizes preventive and healing-oriented practices in schools. Discusses the roles and responsibilities of educators, school psychologists, and other school personnel in effective crisis prevention and response. Provides an in-depth study of crisis prevention, mitigation, response, and recovery strategies as applied in schools. Also discusses ethical and legal considerations.

Focuses on culturally responsive, applied research models in educational settings for evaluating programs and interventions. Includes refining research questions; operationalizing key variables and concepts; choosing designs that maximize validity; selecting culturally appropriate data collection approaches and instruments with accuracy and reliability; conducting analyses; and interpreting findings. Includes group and single case research.

Focuses on the development of culturally responsive, specially designed instruction (SDI) across content areas for individual education programming. Includes program adaptation, modification, and the use of technology to create universally accessible and differentiated instruction. Includes research design, analysis, and progress monitoring techniques to evaluate student outcomes.

Focuses on the ethical selection, administration, scoring, interpretation, and use of methods and tools to evaluate social, emotional, and behavioral skills and adaptive functioning of students. This course draws from ecological theories and culturally responsible models of assessment. Students will learn about disabilities related to social functioning, sensory differences, and emotional/behavioral challenges.

Prepares school psychologists for ethical and culturally sensitive assessment and interpretation of cognitive skills. Focuses on the appropriate selection, administration, and scoring of individually administered cognitive assessments, including verbal and nonverbal instruments, for diverse student populations. Emphasizes accurate and thoughtful interpretation within the context of other data collected and linkages to school-based interventions.

Examines theories of learning including behavioral, cognitive, constructivist, and sociocultural. Expands understanding of the psychological and socio-psychological contexts within which students learn. Analyzes and critiques each theory as it applies to education, including teaching, assessments, programming, policy, equity, and intervention. Provides opportunities to enhance professional philosophy and pedagogical knowledge and skills.

 

Introduces psychometric properties of assessment with an emphasis on standardized assessment. Focuses on reducing bias through the ethical selection and interpretation of culturally sensitive assessment measures. Offers applied practice with select standardized and developmental measures. 

Introduces students to research in education. Provides students the opportunity to review and critically analyze multiple types of educational research reflecting diversity in topic and researcher lens. Emphasizes the evaluation of research with a critical eye towards the research process, including positionality, methods, interpretation, and generalizability. 

Covers theory and research related to diversity, equity, and inclusion with youth, families, schools, tribes, and communities. Helps educators create socially just curricula and practices, promote student success, advocate for social justice, and support their own personal growth and understanding of the role power, privilege and oppression play in schooling. Facilitates knowledge, methods, and skills necessary to develop anti-racism, along with decolonizing, culturally responsive, and gender-inclusive education practices.

Provides overview of educationally related exceptionalities with focus on recognized categories for special education eligibility. Examines the nature of exceptionalities and intersections with facets of identity including social, cultural, race, gender, and linguistic differences. Critiques and evaluates theory and practice as related to equity, culturally responsive programming, advocacy, collaboration, and service delivery options.

Develops an understanding of multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) in schools and how they can promote positive and inclusive environments and learning outcomes. Emphasizes theories of change including facilitators and barriers to effective and sustained multi-tiered models and approaches. Includes team facilitation skills, including those necessary for effectively leading schoolwide MTSS efforts. Discusses current literature in equity-centered social, emotional, behavioral, and academic systems that engage the voices and partnership of stakeholders, use data to inform the selection and implementation of prevention and early intervention programming, and promote meaningful outcomes for students across diverse needs and identities, including general and special education.

Utilizes theory, research, and validated methods for designing literacy instruction. Focuses on effective teaching for beginning and struggling readers. Includes instructional design, assessment, and monitoring progress with additional attention to reading in special education contexts. 

Provides theory and research-based methods for creating safe and equitable classroom and school environments that support wellbeing and academic engagement. Emphasizes multi-tiered systems of prevention that are culture and identity-affirming. Builds the capacities of educators to develop equity-centered classroom management structures and collaborate in school teams that promote an environment in which all students thrive.

Utilizes theory, research, and validated methods for designing effective mathematics instruction for academic interventions and support for students struggling in mathematics. Includes instructional design, assessment, and monitoring progress with additional attention to math learning in special education contexts. 

Prepares school psychologists and special educators for ethical and culturally sensitive academic assessment and interpretation. Focuses on the appropriate selection, administration, and scoring of individually administered academic assessments, progress monitoring tools, and other academic assessments for diverse student populations. Emphasizes interpretation within the context of other data collected and linkages to school-based interventions. 

Provides a theoretical basis for supporting youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. Biological, cultural, developmental, and social influences are addressed. Includes evidence-based strategies to support academic and social learning, functional behavior assessment and individualized positive behavior intervention plans. Strategies for engaging with families to enhance outcomes for students are discussed.

Provides a comprehensive understanding of theory and research in school-based consultation at the individual and organizational levels. Emphasizes models that are culturally affirming, equity-centered, collaborative, and grounded in a problem-solving process. Emphasizes empowering relationships between the consultant, families, professionals in schools, and those in community settings. Applies specific communication and coaching skills that promote implementation of psychoeducational strategies and interventions that are evidence-based and data-informed.

Examines the complex set of laws, regulations, and court cases that govern the identification and education of students with disabilities. Provides a comprehensive introduction to various legal issues in special education through the larger context of education, law, equity, and inclusion frameworks. 

Prepares educators to meet the social and emotional needs of primary and secondary students. Addresses theory and practice including evidence-based supports across the universal, targeted, and intensive levels of prevention. Also addresses issues of professional self-care along with the use of mindfulness, connections with nature, service learning, and social action for SEL. Geared toward the promotion of resilience and well-being. 

Focuses on schools and educational agencies as systems. Orients students to the culture of schools and the roles and responsibilities of a school psychologist in service to the school communities, including equitable partnerships with families/caregivers, other professionals working in schools, and community agencies. Draws from ecological, culturally responsive, and strengths-based models of systemic change.

Focuses on the selection and implementation of effective programming and strategies that promote resilience, reduce risk, and serve students needing supplemental supports in schools. Draws from ecological, problem-solving, and strengths-based models of collaborative consultation. Focuses on interventions implemented within tier two, the secondary level of prevention within multitiered systems of support.

Focuses on the selection and administration of culturally appropriate assessments for comprehensive psychoeducational evaluations. Utilizes strengths-based methods and collaborative, ecological problem-solving models. Connects evaluation findings with evidence-based strategies. Offers methods and technologies to measure student progress and outcomes. Emphasizes holistic evaluations that lead to culturally responsive and supportive interventions. 

Offers supervised, culminating field experiences as a school psychologist. Integrates knowledge and skills from coursework through applications in field settings, portfolio, and reflective learning in seminar meetings. Supports comprehensive practices in data-based decision making; consultation; interventions; services to promote supportive schools; collaboration; equitable and evidence-based practices; legal, ethical, and professional practice. Offered Autumn, Winter & Spring.