Youngstown State University last week graduated its first group of students with the new Educational Specialist degree in School Psychology.
Graduates receiving the EdS in School Psychology, the second of two degrees awarded under the three-year program, are: Anna Adams, Canfield; Sarah Brocker, Canfield; Elizabeth Coloutes, Poland, Ohio; Melanie Evans, Ashtabula; Brian Glenn, Youngstown; Stephanie Gordon, Liberty Township; Carl Scott Keller, Willoughby, Ohio; Elizabeth Pugh, Youngstown; and Melanie Shipman, Greene, Ohio.
All nine already earned Master’s of Education in Intervention Services degrees in 2013 following their first year of coursework. The EdS in School Psychology is earned after an additional year of coursework, plus 251 hours of practical and field experience and a 1,400-hour supervised internship at an Ohio school district.
Richard VanVoorhis, program director, said all nine degree candidates achieved passing scores in the School Psychology Praxis test earlier this year to become eligible for licensure in Ohio as school psychologists.
“They are already finding success in the school psychology job market, and many have been offered positions in the field for the next academic school year,” he said. “Certainly, we are filling a critical need, not only in the Mahoning Valley region, but throughout the state of Ohio.”
YSU’s School Psychology program is housed in the Beeghly College of Education through the Department of Counseling, Special Education, and School Psychology. The program has a current enrollment of 33 graduate candidates.
YSU created the program in 2012 to address a critical shortage in school psychologists locally and across the nation. The program is one of only nine school psychology programs in the state, and the EdS degree is the first ever degree at that level to be offered at YSU.