School Psychology

School psychologists work in deeply engaged and collaborative ways with students, teachers, families, administrators and other professionals to address the social, emotional, and learning needs of children in schools.

I appreciated the sense of vision in this program—we learned not just the functional skills, but also skills for beyond the first five years…the program had both the nitty gritty and the long distance vision.” School Psychology alumnus

School psychologists possess not only an in-depth understanding of children, families and schools, but also a highly-developed set of relational and communication skills. In this way, School psychologists are able to see and understand children in rich and comprehensive ways – through observation, consultation, data collection and assessment – and share those understandings in helpful ways to parents, teachers, and other school personnel. The primary goal of school psychologists is to help children flourish in schools, at home, and in life.

In our nationally-approved School Psychology Program at the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, we emphasize the development of this deep understanding of children, families and schools as well as the development of these effective relational and communication skills. Through coursework and practica in counseling, consultation, assessment, and intervention, our students learn to work effectively with individual children, whole families, special education teams, as well as whole school communities to help create learning environments that foster the healthy development of all children.

Advising and Contact Information

Program Co-Directors: Peter Mortola, Ph.D., pmortola@lclark.edu; Ruth Gonzalez, Ph.D., NCSP, gonzalez@lclark.edu
Program Faculty:  Mary Clare, Ph.D., Carol Doyle, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty: Colleen Hanson, Ed.D., Cynthia Velasquez Bogert, M.S., Sue Klapstein, M.S., Phil Bowser, Lee Ann Sharman

Resources for School Psychology Students

http://www.nasponline.org
http://www.ospaonline.com
http://oregon.gov/TSPC/index.shtml

Accreditation

This program is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and the Oregon Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC).