Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Graduate Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

School Psychology Major, PhD


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Every PhD school psychology student is expected to meet the University of Tennessee school psychology training program’s knowledge and skill requirements. Opportunities for students to meet these requirements will occur in the classroom and during field experiences. The school psychology faculty, along with current and previous students, practicum and internship supervisors, and various other groups who help ensure quality control within the training programs, have contributed to the development of the curricula. Various accrediting and curricula oversight agencies (i.e., APA, NASP, SDE-Tennessee) have their own specific goals and objectives.

The University of Tennessee PhD program is designed to provide graded, sequential, and hierarchical training across the following areas.

  • Professional school psychology.
  • Consultation and intervention.
  • Assessment.
  • Research and statistics.
  • Psychoeducational core.
  • Field experience and professional practice.

Campus Code

Knoxville Campus

Admissions standards/procedures

  • Students must submit an online graduate application to the Office of Graduate Admissions. Following a review of applications, an interview with the faculty is required. Admissions decisions are made on a holistic basis to discern the candidate’s promise for doctoral study and to ascertain the match of the candidate’s educational goals with the resources and goals of the program/department.
  • Students with an undergraduate degree who are admitted to the PhD School Psychology Program will typically take 5 years of full time study to complete the program. In some instances students, with a relevant EdS or Master’s degree, can complete the program in 3-4 years.

Credit Hours Required

116 required graduate credit hours

Required Courses

Additional Course Requirements

  • SCHP 649  (3 credit hours) is taken while on internship. Students enroll in 1 credit in the fall, spring, and summer semesters. 

Non-course Requirements

  • Comprehensive Exam: Students complete the Praxis in School Psychology exam after their third year. Students must pass with a score of 147 to be eligible for state certification as a school psychologist. 
  • All students must complete a 2000 hour internship (SCHP 649  – 3 credit hours) in the final year of their training.
  • Doctoral candidates work closely with their dissertation chair to complete a dissertation proposal. A candidate will present the proposal to the dissertation committee, and once approved by all committee members, will begin work on the dissertation research. With the chair’s approval, the candidate will schedule an oral defense for the dissertation. During the dissertation defense, the candidate will present the work completed for the dissertation, which will be reviewed by the dissertation committee.

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