Practicum Training
At the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduate training in School Psychology integrates two complementary training components: academic instruction and supervised practicum experiences. Academic instruction consists of lecture, discussion, and reading and is an effective means for teaching the issues, attitudes, knowledge, and writing skills necessary for the professional practice of school psychology. Practicum experiences are considered to be equally important, consisting of actual practice of skills closely related in time and content to ongoing academic instruction. Practicum experiences are an effective means of instruction in these clinical skills and serve to illustrate the issues, theories, and principles defined in academic instruction. It is the philosophy of the School Psychology program at UW–Madison that effective preparation demands both types of training.
Description of Practicum Experiences and Internship(s)
Year 1 (Beginning Practicum): Students complete a two-semester Beginning Practicum (1 credit/semester) that includes applied experiences and field-based observations that are linked to specific courses in school psychology. Experiences have included administration of school-based benchmark assessment, small-group academic intervention, psychoeducational counseling at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center, and observation in the department training clinic.
Summer Clinic Practicum: Students register for the Summer Clinic Practicum in the summer between Year 1 and Year 2. During the Summer Clinic Practicum, students serve as student clinicians where they apply assessment, intervention, consultation, and evaluation skills to address referral problems with community clients. Students receive assistance from supervisors, who provide oversight for planning and implementing session activities, as well as provide direct or video supervision.
Year 2 (Field Practicum): Students complete a two-semester Field Practicum (6 credits/semester; 600 hours), two days a week in local elementary, middle, and/or high schools. The Field Practicum in school psychology is required as part of the second-year curriculum. In the Field Practicum, students are assigned to schools in the community and receive supervision from practicing school psychologists on-site in their schools and weekly supervision from a doctoral-level licensed psychologist from the program (field practicum coordinator). Although close supervision continues to be necessary, it is possible for this supervision to be less direct as the student displays skill mastery. The Field Practicum allows students to adopt an authentic, professional role, to work in multi-disciplinary settings, and to work in school sites where referral problems are first identified and usually addressed.
Year 3: Students complete a full-time, yearlong internship.