Through research and practice, school psychologists help children develop positive relationships, build skills, and achieve academic success as well as overcome social, behavioral, and academic difficulties. Depending on training, school psychologists can work in schools, clinics, universities, research centers, juvenile justice facilities, medical centers, and private practice offices. The Educational Specialist (EdS) program is typically completed in three years, including an internship during the final year. This is the minimum degree required to practice in schools or educational settings.
Degree At-A-Glance
Commitment: 3 years, year -round instruction and practicum experience
Program Type: Educational Specialist in School Psychology (Ed.S)
Credits: 66 graduate credits
Tuition: $800 per credit (resident and non-resident) additional fees may apply
Application Deadline: December 1 for admission the following Fall semester
Format: In person instruction
Degree Conferred
Educational Specialist in School Psychology
Offered By:
School of Education
Department of Educational Psychology
Funding Opportunities: Students enrolled in the School Psychology EdS program are permitted to apply and hold teaching assistantships, project assistantships, research assistantships, and/or other combined appointments up to 30% FTE. Students enrolled in the School Psychology EdS program are not permitted to accept a position that results in a tuition waiver.
The School Psychology Program is fortunate to have three federal training grants supported by the Office of Special Education Programs through the U.S. Department of Education. The training grants provide financial support for EdS students with scholarship funding that can be used to offset tuition costs. All three opportunities provide for cross-collaboration and interdisciplinary training with other graduate programs.
Project LEADSS (Leading Educators to Advance School-Based Services in Mental Health) (#H325K200050) is a training grant focused on preparing school psychology EdS and social work MSW students to lead interdisciplinary school mental health (SMH) practices. The focus is on training master’s-level pre-service school psychology and social work graduate students to demonstrate the competencies needed to
- Assess/identify school mental health (SMH) concerns for K-12 students
- Implement SMH evidence-based interventions across settings
- Use evidence-based supervision skills and practices to promote the adoption and implementation of district-wide SMH services.
This project addresses a critical need to prepare school psychology (SP) and social work (SW) personnel to provide services for school-aged children with mental health concerns and apply evidenced-based practices in supervision. The specific aims for Project LEADSS are to recruit and train a total of 20 high-quality graduate student scholars and benefit special education service delivery by
- Recruiting high-quality SP and SW trainees who will gain expertise in SMH and supervision skills
- Alleviating personnel shortages in both areas
- Training students in an interdisciplinary approach, with specific competencies in leadership, assessment, intervention, and supervision
Project contacts: Dr. Kristy Kelly (PI; kmkohler@wisc.edu); Dr. Jennifer Asmus (Co-PI; asmus@wisc.edu) or Dr. Amanda Ngola (Co-Investigator; ngola@wisc.edu). Trainees who accept this funding should have an interest in developing supervision and collaboration skills necessary to provide improved mental health functioning for students in grades K-12.
Interested applicants can apply here.
As a stipulation of these federally funded traineeships, upon exiting the training program, you must subsequently maintain eligible employment: 1) on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis, and 2) for a period of at least two years for every academic year for which scholarship assistance was received.
Project CASTLE (Clinical Assessment, Screening, Treatment and Leadership in Evidenced-based Practices for Children with Autism) (#H325K190100) will be accepting EdS level school psychology and master’s level speech-language pathology students. Project CASTLE will prepare future school psychologists and speech-language pathologists to provide leadership and services for children with autism.
This is an intensive 2-year training program that emphasizes evidence-based practices and interdisciplinary collaboration with seminars covering autism assessment and intervention as well as practicum placements in school and clinic settings to utilize learned skills. Scholars chosen to participate in this program will receive a scholarship as well as advanced leadership training through the Wisconsin Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program administered through the Waisman Center.
For more information about CASTLE please contact Dr. Jennifer Asmus (PI; asmus@wisc.edu) or Dr. Lindsay McCary (Co-PI; lmccary@wisc.edu). Trainees who accept this funding should have an interest in deepening their leadership and collaborative skills to provide high-quality assessment and intervention in school-based settings to children with ASD.
Interested applicants can apply here.
As a stipulation of these federally funded traineeships, upon exiting the training program, you must subsequently maintain eligible employment: 1) on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis, and 2) for a period of at least two years for every academic year for which scholarship assistance was received.
RtI Training Grant (Response to Intervention and School Teams: Training Pre-service School Psychologists and Special Educators to Be Team Problem Solvers) (#H325K180161) The consistent selection and implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to maximize opportunities for children with behavior difficulties to benefit fully from the many social and learning opportunities available through the general curriculum remains an important challenge.
The role of the school psychologist and special educator has expanded over the past several years to meet this challenge. In an effort to provide improved quality and quantity of personnel who can work effectively within school-based Problem Solving Teams (PSTs), the RtI training grant serves elementary children with or at risk for behavior disabilities by training EdS level school psychology and master’s-level special education graduate students.
School psychology and special education graduate students will be trained to work in interdisciplinary teams to learn how to perform effectively as part of problem-solving teams (PSTs) involved in response-to-intervention (RtI). Training will focus on the following components of PST functioning
- Identification and response to student needs
- Data-based decision making
- Evidence-based prevention and intervention
- Student progress monitoring
- Collaborative PST planning and decision making
- Family and community involvement
For more information please contact Dr. Jennifer Asmus (PI; asmus@wisc.edu), Dr. Thomas Kratochwill (Co-PI) or Dr. Kimber Wilkerson (Co-Investigator; klwilkerson@wisc.edu). Trainees who accept this funding should have an interest in deepening their leadership and collaborative skills to provide improved education opportunities to students with significant behavioral challenges.
Interested applicants can apply here.
As a stipulation of these federally funded traineeships, upon exiting the training program, you must subsequently maintain eligible employment: 1) on a full-time or full-time equivalent basis, and 2) for a period of at least two years for every academic year for which scholarship assistance was received.
