Educational Leadership/School Psychology Track
Course Requirements
Each doctoral student is required to take doctoral core courses and research and dissertation courses. These required courses and their semester hour commitments are listed below. This common core represents areas of knowledge which the graduate faculty considers essential for all doctoral candidates in education. In addition to the core and research requirements, students will complete the Educational Psychology/School Psychology core, doctoral practicum, doctoral internship, and electives.
Doctoral Course Requirements
| Doctoral Core |
6 |
| Research/Dissertation |
21 |
| School Psychology Core |
15 |
| Doctoral Practicum |
6 |
| Doctoral Internship |
6 |
| Electives |
9 |
| Total Degree Requirements |
63 |
Doctoral Core
| EPD659 |
Studies in Family-School Partnerships and Relationship-Building |
3 |
| EPD660 |
Advanced Studies in Cognition: Learning and Knowledge as Social Practices |
3 |
| EPD667 |
Advanced Studies in Cognition: Learning through Design-Based Research in Schools |
3 |
| EPD668 |
Advanced Studies in Social Issues Relevant to Education: Interpersonal Relationship in Culturally Diverse Educational Environments |
3 |
| EPD669 |
Advanced Studies in Problem-Solving Special Education and School Psychology Service Delivery Systems |
3 |
Doctoral Practicum
| EPD692 |
Doctoral Practicum in School Psychology |
6 |
This practicum is designed to broaden the applied skills of doctoral level school psychology students to include activities essential for the delivery of mental health services to children and youth in schools and other educational contexts. Practicum activities include early identification and intervention activities designed to promote mental health and resiliency. Doctoral students will work under the supervision of mental health professionals, such as a licensed doctoral level psychologist, and the university practicum instructor. A total of 600 practicum hours and 6 semester hour credits are required.
Practicum seminar
Students enrolled in the practicum must attend a bi-weekly seminar. The seminar, which is associated with the field experience, will be primarily problem-based, and will involve presentation, analysis, and discussion of actual practice experiences. Students may complete the practicum in either one or two years, and will participate in practicum seminars concurrently with their field experience. Students will typically register for 2 semester credits per term. A total of 6 semester hours are required.
Doctoral Internship SH
| EPD690B |
Doctoral Internship in School Psychology |
6 |
The School Psychology doctoral internship is a twelve-month full time experience in broad areas of school psychology, under the supervision of both university and license psychologists in the field. The internship goals, requirements, activities, evaluation, etc. have been developed and are delivered through the Illinois School Psychology Internship consortium (ISPIC). The experience is designed to meet all the professional associations’ requirements for doctoral level School Psychology internship.
Internship goals, activities, and methods of evaluation:
Students begin the internship after completing the required coursework and after successfully passing the comprehensive exam. Students who elect to do their dissertation after the internship can take the Dissertation Proposal Seminar and the advanced research course during or after the internship, while they are working on the dissertation. To obtain an internship, students must apply to the Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium (ISPIC) and participate in the National Matching Service. National Louis University is one of the four Illinois Universities that sponsor the consortium, which is APA approved. (6 sh)
Elective courses are selected in consultation with an academic advisor.
Additional information about program policies and procedure, comprehensive examination, etc. is available in the NCE Doctoral Handbook
