Educational Psychology Programs

Educational Psychology Academic Programs

Typically, a graduate student majoring in educational psychology will take most of his or her course work from offerings within the Department of Educational Psychology. Courses in the related field/supporting program or minor area are typically taken from offerings outside the department. All graduate students must be accepted into one of the four programs within the Department of Educational Psychology:

Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology

The Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology (CSPP) Program prepares counselors and counseling psychologists for work in a variety of settings, including education, business, community, and agency environments. If you are seeking a profession that emphasizes counseling and human development, career development, staff development, consultation, human resources management, school counseling, and college student development, the CSPP program can help you achieve your goals. More about CSPP

Psychological Foundations of Education

The goal of psychological foundations is to provide students with a reasonable balance of theory, research, history, practice, respect for other disciplines, and human relations. Student programs of study are most often individualized, requiring only minimal core course work. In this regard, students are encouraged to take courses throughout the rich academic environment found at the University of Minnesota, one of the top graduate and research centers in the world. More about PFE

School Psychology

The School Psychology Program is designed to prepare psychologists who have a strong and broad-based knowledge of psychology, educational psychology, and child development to apply that knowledge to school settings using an ecological focus. A highly organized program of graduate studies allows professional psychologists to focus on one of the four primary areas: consultative, administrative, educative, and evaluative. More about School Psych

Special Education

The goal of the Special Education Program is to develop national leaders in special education, research critical issues in special education, promote the best practices in teaching, and train preservice and inservice teachers. Overall, the program is interested in factors affecting the learning of children in the Twin Cities urban communities, as well as the need for rural outreach training in low-incidence areas. This split focus means the Special Education Program is making unique contributions to services for children and adults with special needs throughout the state.

Program faculty specialize in several critical areas including developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, and sensory impairments. Additionally, a rich complement of clinical and adjunct faculty supplement course work and provide ongoing relations with school districts throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area and across the state.

Our faculty are highly productive and the work initiated at the University of Minnesota has influenced national discussions in special education. Faculty research has included innovative studies in student assessment, literacy, social behavior, recreation, family supports, early intervention longitudinal studies, behavioral interventions, communicative competence, learning and motivation, educational outcomes, transition services and systems change. Students who are primarily interested in policy, demonstration, and information dissemination find our affiliation with the Institute on Community Integration especially beneficial.

In addition, our students have been affiliated with the Center for Early Education and Development, the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, the National Transition Network, and the Early Childhood Research Institute. Opportunities for teaching courses, supervising student teachers, and assisting in course instruction also are available.

Students in the Special Education Program enjoy close working relations with faculty members. New students are paired with advisers who work in their areas of interest. In the initial stages, the adviser helps the student to plan her or his program of study and to identify other professionals and resources in the college and in the community who can support the studentąs learning.

The program offers three degree tracks: M.A., Specialist Certificate, and Ph.D. Both the M.A. and Ph.D. options include distributed core course work in the psychological foundations of education and focus work in special education and related fields. The M.A. program requires an original research thesis or an in-depth analysis and synthesis paper in an area of the studentąs interest. These are designed with the studentąs faculty adviser. Preparation for the Ph.D. includes the completion of four required doctoral level seminars on special education. These seminars focus on specific applications of psychological research in special education, research approaches in special education, and contemporary issues in specific disabilities.

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