University of Nebraska–Lincoln

The modern-day School Psychology Program at UNL dates back to 1974. In 1980 it became the eleventh school psychology program in the nation to receive full accreditation by the American Psychological Association.

The primary school psychology faculty are Drs. Ed Daly(Program Director), Beth Doll, Merilee McCurdy, Susan Sheridan, and Susan Swearer. The program also features a number of community-based adjunct faculty. There are approximately 50 graduate students in the school psychology program.

The school psychology faculty makes programmatic decisions regarding school psychology training, with input from school psychology student representatives.

The School Psychology Program is one of four programs within the Department of Educational Psychology and, at the doctoral level, one of eight programs falling under the administrative auspices of Psychological Studies in Education.

The UNL Educational Specialist Program in School Psychology is fully accredited by the: - American Psychological Association (APA) and the - National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) in association with the - National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).

Both the Doctoral and Educational Specialist Programs are also accredited by the Nebraska Department of Education.

Philosophy & Goals

The UNL School Psychology Program is premised on an ecological view of human behavior and psychological services.

Rather than relying on more traditional views that attribute psychological problems primarily to the intrapsychic pathologies of individuals, we view human behavior as a complex result of how developing individuals interact with the various social and psychological systems that comprise their life.

As such, understanding both functional and dysfunctional human behavior requires: (a) a thorough grasp of individual, setting, and environmental variables that are operative in any particular situation, and (b) analysis of the complex interactions among these variables as they influence each other. Understanding this total ecology is necessary to have an adequate perspective for practical decision-making and effective functioning as a professional psychologist.

We train school psychologists to function as scientist-practitioners. As such, students draw upon the scientific literature as a primary basis for professional practice and focus their research agendas so as to have meaningful implications for practice.

Beyond this, functioning as a scientist-practitioner means that professional practice is conducted in ways that are congruent with the scientific method. That is, presenting problems are operationalized in measurable ways, data pertaining to presenting problems are collected and analyzed, analyses of these data lead to the formulation of hypotheses, resulting hypotheses form the basis for the design of interventions, the effectiveness of these interventions are monitored over time via ongoing data collection, and hypotheses and interventions are modified in light of these outcome data.

Within an ecological framework and the scientist-practitioner model, we train school psychologists to deliver both remedial and preventative services across a wide range of educational and health-related systems (e.g., schools, families, hospitals, residential and outpatient mental health facilities, community agencies) while working with clients from diverse populations and cultures.

Although norm-referenced assessment and diagnosis of individual children has historically been the primary focus of school psychology training, the UNL School Psychology Program views these professional functions as only one of many means to an end, rather than as an end in and of itself.

The ends to which we strive are the delivery of effective direct (e.g., therapy) and indirect (e.g., consultation) psychological services to diverse individuals, groups, and organizational systems.

The School Psychology Program provides training at both the Educational Specialist (Ed.S.) and Doctoral (Ph.D.) levels. While the Ed.S. program is designed primarily for individuals who wish to work in public school settings, the Ph.D. program also prepares graduates for practice in universities, schools, hospitals, developmental centers, mental health centers, clinics, and private practice