Graduate Education Office

All other Master of Education Programs

Application Deadlines

Applicants should submit all required material (see below) and application for admission by March 1st.

Admission Criteria

The Educational Specialist in School Psychology program is a terminal degree program designed to train future school psychologists to work in school settings and meet Missouri certification as a School Psychologist. The program consists of 60 hours of graduate coursework designed to prepare school psychologists for professional roles in the scientist-practitioner model of service delivery. In addition to courses in psychological and educational foundations, assessment, and direct interventions, a primary emphasis within the program is upon prevention and early intervention of academic, behavioral, and social-emotional problems through consultation, inter-disciplinary collaboration, and the facilitation of organizational change. Throughout the program, including 400-hours of supervised practicum and a year-long 1,400 hour internship in the schools, students will work closely with the school psychology faculty and field based supervisors to develop practical skills.

Interested applicants are required to submit undergraduate and graduate transcripts, current Graduate Records Examination scores, two letters of recommendation, and a personal statement describing professional goals (not to exceed five double-spaced typed pages). All required application materials will be considered in making admission decisions, but preference will be given to applicants with at least 3.0 GPA and a combined GRE verbal/quantitative score of 1,000. Finalists will be invited for a personal interview with members of the school psychology faculty. A prerequisite of 12 hours of graduate or undergraduate psychology courses in developmental psychology, statistics, tests and measurement, and theories of personality is required for admission. Conditional acceptance into the program may be granted pending completion of prerequisites and/or satisfactory progress in the program (i.e., 3.0 graduate GPA) for students who lack prerequisites or do not quite meet the admission requirements.

The Educational Specialist in School Psychology degree program requires three years of intensive, full-time training; however, students may be able to complete up to half of the curriculum as a part-time student. Graduate coursework completed prior to entering the program will be evaluated and considered for credit on an individual basis, but a minimum of 30 hours used for the degree must be completed at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In addition, students must satisfy a residency requirement that involves taking nine credit hours per semester for two consecutive semesters or the completion of a planned sequence of required activities. Please note that the internship year involves a full-time placement with a school district during an academic school year, and as such cannot be done on a part-time basis. Students planning to work toward the specialist degree on a part-time basis are advised to meet with their adviser and develop a professional education plan at the start of their program.