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The application deadline for the Specialist in School Psychology (SSP) program is December 1st.

School psychologists are individuals that have a positive impact on the academic, social/behavioral, and mental health competence of all children and their families. They work proactively with others in schools and the community in the identification and remediation of social/behavioral and educational problems through data-based decision making. School psychologists work with educators, parents, and other professionals to create safe, healthy, and supportive learning environments for all students. There are great resources available at the .

You can find an application online at the .

There are various differences between SSP and Ph.D degrees. At the 91��Ԫ, the Ed.S. degree typically takes three years, including two years of coursework and practicum experiences and one year of internship. It is approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), with graduates typically working in Pre-K to grade 12 schools around the country. On the other hand, the Ph.D. program typically takes 5-6 years to complete, including 4-5 years of coursework and practicum experiences, and a one-year doctoral internship. Students also participate in a variety of research endeavors, including the completion of a dissertation. Doctoral graduates work in a variety of settings, including schools, pediatric clinics or hospitals, private practice, public agencies, and universities.

There is no difference in terms of the level of training ‐‐ the important thing is that it is a "specialist-level" degree.  For example, the specifies "To become a school psychologist, you will need to complete a graduate school program that awards a degree (specialist-level and/or doctorate) specifically in school psychology."  We recently (May 2016) changed our degree from "Education Specialist in School Psychology" to "Specialist in School Psychology" because we are housed in the Department of Psychology at the College of Humanities and Sciences, and not the College of Education.

Students who complete school psychology programs at the 91��Ԫ are recommended for licensure to the state Office of Public Instruction. Individuals are not eligible for licensure in Montana until the Licensure Manager verifies to the Office of Public Instruction that all academic requirements for the licensure requested have been completed. Each individual recommended for initial licensure in Montana is required to complete a national fingerprint-based background check. Teaching licenses are issued by OPI upon receipt of the licensure application, the university recommendation, and results of a background check.

All licensure application materials are routed through the Licensure Office at UM PJW College of Education who then completes the university portion and submits all the materials to OPI.

Information about licensure through the

We do not offer a NASP-approved respecialization program in school psychology. However, we do allow some individuals seeking Office of Public Instruction Class 6 Education License respecialization within the state of Montana to take some of our graduate courses. This is done on a case-by-case basis and with instructor permission. Please contact the Director of the School Psychology Program.

Your letter writers can use the online system or they may opt to send hard copies directly to the Psychology Department.  If they choose the online system, while filling out the online application you will be asked to provide an e-mail address for each letter writer.  Your letter writers will receive an e-mail message with instructions for completing the recommendation online.

No, GRE scores are not a required component of your application materials.

All applications are read and given thoughtful consideration.  Applications are not eliminated on the sole basis of GPA alone, though we do ask that applicants have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0. We consider your GPA along with other possible indicators (letters of recommendation, research experience, clinical experience) as a whole, so that no one factor is considered in isolation.  

At this time, students are not required to have an undergraduate degree in Psychology and faculty review all applications equally, although we do expect that applicants have a foundation in the science of psychology.

Each candidate's application is evaluated by at least one member of the school psychology faculty, with most files being read and evaluated by multiple faculty members. Highly ranked candidates are contacted for an initial phone or Zoom interview. Following phone interviews, the admissions committee selects a pool of finalists invited to participate in our interview day in February. Attendance at interview day is strongly recommended, but not mandatory. Please also inquire about available funding to attend interview day in person. Individual alternative interview arrangements may be possible.

The School Psychology Program typically admits 5 to 10 Specialist students per year.

Specialist students typically do not receive funding; however, because of the significant need for school psychologists in the state of Montana, the has a tuition reimbursement program and the RAISE Initiative also offers funding.

No, we do not offer online graduate level course work nor do we offer an online degree option.

Yes, our program is a full-time program, and all of our courses take place on our campus in Missoula. Students in our program have off-site practicum placements in local Missoula schools.

School Psychologists traditionally focus on the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of all children. School psychologists will work on many issues that have the potential to impact educational functioning. Clinical psychologists have traditionally focused on the evaluation and treatment of individuals with chronic mental health disorders. However, there is overlap between the two career options, with both school and clinical psychologists working in a variety of settings. There are a number of excellent materials available for helping you to choose the type of program that would best fit your needs from the . It is worth your time to make sure that you are selecting programs that will meet your career goals and interests.

Absolutely!  We offer specific training in working with Native American, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), and rural populations.  Several of our faculty have research emphases in diversity, as well.  We welcome and encourage applications from individuals of diverse backgrounds, including differences on basis of age, gender, gender identity and expression, ability status, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, and socioeconomic background.  We strive to represent diversity in these areas among our faculty and student body.

Generally, no; courses in our school psychology program are available only to admitted graduate-level degree-seeking students in Psychology.  Some departmental graduate-level coursework that is not clinically focused may be available to non-degree seeking students, but enrollment in these courses requires the instructor's consent.

Rural and Indigenous School Based Mental Health and Empowerment

The 91��Ԫ and Salish Kootenai College are partners in this grant. The RAISE Initiative includes a school-based mental health (SBMH) internship for SKC students, an undergraduate course on SBMH for UM and SKC students, and free trainings for SKC students. RAISE will also recruit at Tribal Colleges and Universities across Montana using innovative strategies to best reach Indigenous students.

First, apply for the Specialist in School Psychology (SSP) program at UM. After applying, you will have the option to express your interest in the RAISE Fellowship through an additional application. When you receive your acceptance to the SSP program you will also be notified of your RAISE Fellowship application status.

Fellows are awarded 3 semesters of free tuition and a $2000 stipend/year to go toward student fees. Fellows will also receive a $16,000/year stipend. This stipend is distributed like a typical graduate assistantship, which means that it is paid out bi-weekly from mid-August through mid-May and is subject to taxes.

We are an accredited specialist program by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), so students are eligible to submit paperwork for their NCSP after meeting all program requirements. This is a very easy process if you are coming from an accredited program and most students do apply for and obtain their NCSP by the end of the program.

Both. We have school psychologists on internship that move away from Missoula after they graduate to live in the communities that they serve. We also have students who stay in Missoula and travel about an hour to an hour and a half to serve schools. Those school psychologists are usually a part of an educational cooperative and get paid for their travel.

An educational cooperative is an agency that serves rural schools or smaller schools that may not be able to afford a full-time school psychologist. Cooperatives share resources and personnel.

The orientation for the school psychology program and separate RAISE Fellowship orientation are typically the Thursday or Friday before classes start. For Fall 2025, classes start on Monday, August 25th.

The summer courses will be offered either in Summer Session 1 or Summer Session 2 (each 5 weeks long) depending on the course. Session 1 typically runs from mid-May to the 3^rd week of June. Session 2 is usually from the last week of June through the end of July.

No additional semester-long courses will be added to the courseload but RAISE Fellows will be required to participate in several specialized trainings, such as crisis intervention, which range from 2 hours to 2 days in length. All trainings are free for RAISE Fellows and will be spread out across the two years on campus.

The trainings vary from 2-hour long sessions to 2-day long workshops. These trainings will occur at different times throughout the 2 years on campus. For example, during the first year in the program, Fellows might have one training during the Fall Semester and one in the Spring Semester.

Indigenous School-Based Mental Health workshop (6 hours), evidence-based practices in grief (4 hours) and suicide assessment/intervention (4 hours), PREPaRE training (crisis intervention, two-day workshop), Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools for American Indian Youth (8 hours), Bounce Back (6 hours), and Students, Trauma, and Resiliency (STAR, 4 hours).

Students will be placed in the schools in Arlee and St. Ignatius for their first-year practicum. For the second-year practicum, students are matched with a school psychologist in Missoula and the surrounding areas. Past examples of second year sites are Missoula County Public Schools, Stevensville, Florence, Frenchtown, etc.

We will work with students on an individual basis to see which site is the best fit for the student.

The goal of the graduate assistantship stipend is to support Fellows’ work at high-need LEAs in MT. This includes driving to practicum sites and participating in additional trainings.

After graduating, RAISE Fellows have choice over where in Montana they work given that there is an open school psychologist position and that the site qualifies as a high-need local educational agency (LEA). The RAISE advisory board will help RAISE Fellows determine whether the sites they are interested in meet the requirements of the RAISE Fellowship. RAISE Fellows must work in a high-need LEA in MT for 2 years post-graduation. Within an hour of Missoula, there are many schools that would likely qualify as high-need LEAs.

Superintendents determine whether their school districts qualify as a high-need LEA by evaluated several criteria outlined by the Department of Education. If you are wondering about a particular school, please reach out to the RAISE Project Coordinator, Gillian Wilcox (gillian.wilcox@umontana.edu).

Internship year requires you take 6 credits per semester. The cost of 6 credits depends on in-state vs. out-of-state status. For in-state, 6 credits cost $2,667/semester. For out-of-state, 6 credits cost $9,112/semester. You can find the full breakdown of costs here. These costs include university fees and are subject to small changes from year to year.

We don't require students to return to Missoula for in-person meetings even though students have a university-based supervisor in addition to their internship site supervisor. Interns meet with their university supervisor monthly. The meetings are an opportunity to check in about the internship experience, make sure that students are meeting the requirements of the internship class, and problem solve cases. These meetings can be on campus or online, depending on the student’s preference.

No. The RAISE Advisory Board will identify schools that meet the high-need LEA requirements. Students will then apply to jobs as typical. We need to make sure the school students work in meet the requirements of the grant but we also do not want to just place someone in a job.

The network of school psychologists in MT is very connected so there is a lot of support if you seek out those connections. You also can reach out to university or practicum site supervisors, as they often become more long-term mentors for students. Connection is a huge part of our community and graduate program as a whole, so the mentorship exists post-graduation, it just isn’t necessarily formal.