Success in Graduate School

You are here in the School Psychology Program because we want you and because we believe that you will succeed in the program and in the profession. Pursuing a graduate and professional education is substantially different from taking courses in your major as an undergraduate student. Academic success is only one aspect of becoming a school psychologist.

The program provides the necessary skills to enable you to maintain accurate information and knowledge relevant to the changes which occur in this professional field. One national leader in school psychology reflected:

I have saved my course notes from graduate school. With the exception of statistics, almost everything I was taught is no longer true. Therefore, what did I learn? I learned to respect data, to think like a scientist, to strive to be objective, to respect change in knowledge, and to study new information as a way of professional life (Bardon, 1981).

By accepting the challenge of graduate school you are committing to a "way of professional life." Professional education involves fine tuning those skills which you have acquired during undergraduate study, and developing skills which set you apart from others in the work force. Commitment at this educational level involves the realization that the issues and situations you come up against are constantly "in progress." Your beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge of "facts" will be challenged as a part of your overall development as a professional.

What we share with you here are some general expectations and recommendations which will enhance your overall success in the program.

The courses you take and the field experiences you pursue are only a part of your graduate education. Students are expected to participate in program activities, colloquia, governance and to develop their leadership skills. Don't miss out on the "informal curriculum" of graduate school. Participate!

Upon admission to the program, you will be assigned a faculty advisor who is a core member of the school psychology faculty. Meet before beginning coursework to develop your Sequence of Studies. Organizing your sequence of studies in graduate school is substantially different from taking courses as an undergraduate. The School Psychology Program has been designed so that the professional development that occurs in one course or experience informs the next courses and experiences - even if prerequisites are not identified in the Graduate Bulletin. Also, some courses are only offered once a year - missing that course might extend your plan of studies for a year more than you had planned! Your advisor will know the invisible prerequisites and schedule cycle of courses.

It is your responsibility to make appointments with your advisor. Meetings should occur at least once each semester prior to the department's Course Request process.

As you get to know the school psychology faculty members, you may want to change advisors. This is possible by first approaching the faculty member who you would like to have as your advisor. If she/he agrees to be your advisor, meet with your previous advisor to inform him/her of your intent to change advisors. Your new advisor will inform the Program Director and School Psychology Office of the change.

We (i.e., the school psychology faculty and students) are working together to develop a knowledge base for the provision of services in multicultural, multilingual schools. It is reasonable to expect that the core school psychology faculty will integrate multicultural issues in the courses they teach. It is unreasonable, however, to expect that multicultural issues will be the central focus of those courses. You will also be taking many courses taught by support faculty (i.e., part-time faculty, other CSP faculty, and faculty in other departments). You need to expect that faculty expertise in multicultural context will vary widely. It is your responsibility to integrate multicultural perspectives by raising issues in class discussions, and developing papers with multicultural themes. The only way the program can develop a multicultural emphasis is for faculty and students to work together to expand our knowledge base.

Download handouts from Risk to Resliency workshop, presented by program faculty and students at the NASP Annual Conference, 2001.

The workload carried by your core faculty goes far beyond the courses they teach and includes, for example, student advising, project management, research, and committee responsibilities. We try to get to know each of you personally. One way to get to know each other and meet professional responsibilities at the same time is to become involved in research and professional activities together. Your involvement in faculty research efforts will enhance the development of your own research skills. Such involvement can be effected through a graduate assistantship, as a volunteer, as a work-study student, or for university credit in independent study. The faculty periodically present their research interests in courses, program meetings, or colloquia. If you have not heard these presentations, make appointments with them to discuss their research directions and your potential involvement.

Several students have found it helpful to develop a theme around which to write papers required for courses. Take an area of special interest to you and explore ways of integrating it in your assignments for classes. If you are interested in nondiscriminatory assessment, for example, you might write a paper on test bias for CSP 640, a literature review for ED 795A, and a research proposal pursuing a specific model for our new course in applied research.

Weaving does NOT mean submitting the same paper for different courses. Rather, weaving is the art of integrating exploration of your interests in a systematic manner across courses and throughout the program. Weaving results in the development of an area of expertise (unique to you) and a research base for your practice. You may want to meet with your advisor to discuss the syllabi for the courses you are taking each semester and to explore the potential for weaving.

If you feel that you are not getting what you want or need out of a course or field experience, meet with the faculty member to express your concerns. Be prepared to suggest alternatives (e.g., an APA-style paper instead of quizzes). If several attempts prove unsuccessful, discuss the situation with your advisor or the program director.

See, "How to Handle Concerns"

The most effective change agents in the schools are those individuals who know themselves, their own biases, baggage, and blind spots. All students are strongly encouraged to obtain personal counseling. Engaging in counseling helps you know yourself, assists your understanding of the perspective of a client, and provides a source of support during stressful times in the program. Money is not an object here - the Counseling and Psychological Services Office provides time-limited counseling and/or you can volunteer as a client in the department clinic.

There are times in the program when faculty or other students may want to reach you quickly. Surface mail from the university resembles the "pony express" - it often takes days to get from our office across campus to the U.S. Mail system. Thus, we need alternative modes for efficient communication.

E-Mail is available as a free service for all students. You are required to obtain an account; free accounts accessible only from campus are available from Technology Network Services in Business Administration 116 (see Section VIII-B). E-mail is the primary means of communication in the program: check your e-mail daily. Through e-mail you can receive almost instantaneous answers to questions, solutions to problems, and forge a closer bond with your fellow students and school psychology faculty and staff. You will receive notices of class assignments, schedule changes, and many other important pieces of information In addition, your account gives you access to the Internet, an incredibly rich resource. In order to access the Internet from home, you will need to subscribe to an independent Internet provider such as Google, Yahoo, or Hotmail.

Faculty Mail Boxes are located in the department office (NE 179). You may leave written messages there.

Student Mail Boxes are located outside of the program office (NE 183). The program office uses this as a secondary means of communication. You may also use this to leave messages for each other. Check your mailbox at least once a week - preferably every time you are on campus.

Throughout the program, you will find that both your academic progress (e.g., course grades) and your development as a professional is monitored. Professionalism as an expectation has been most explicit in the Internship Planning Conference where you present your academic and professional readiness for the culminating internship year.

see Student Evaluation section of this Handbook

Sometimes students misinterpret the informal and personal atmosphere of the program, perhaps thinking that "anything goes." While the environment is more informal than the public schools (e.g., professional "dress" is not expected here), professional behavior is expected. The only behavior we see is the behavior we see here on campus. If you demonstrate professional behavior here, we expect that you are conducting yourself as a professional in the schools (similarly, if unprofessional here, we have to assume the worst in the schools). You are expected to demonstrate your professionalism in the following ways:

Each of these expectations has a parallel in the public school setting. Arriving to class on time, for example, is parallel to keeping school appointments on schedule. Similarly, meeting course due dates is much like meeting the deadlines (legal) in providing services to children. Your professionalism on campus should parallel your professionalism in the schools.

In any community, and especially in a small, close-knit community, rumor mills can get started and occasionally run wild. This Handbook is an institutional response to try to separate fact from fiction and rumor from reality with respect to program requirements, policies, and practices.

When you encounter a rumor, use professional ethics as a guideline: Go to those involved and express your concerns. Remember also to apply what you know from systems theories (e.g., there are at least two sides to every story). If your concerns are answered, help alleviate the concerns of others who have heard the rumor. If your concerns are not answered, discuss the situation with your advisor or the program director. (See "How to Handle Concerns.")

There are times when faculty members are not at liberty to discuss a situation. This should be most obvious when the rights (including confidentiality) of someone (student or faculty member) are at stake. While it may be difficult in these circumstances to alleviate your concerns, it should be reassuring that your right to confidentiality will be respected if (heaven forbid) you find yourself in a difficult situation.

Start keeping your university file with your application: Make a copy of everything for yourself before submitting it to the program or to the university. Almost 30,000 students are enrolled at SDSU - thus, the university seldom accepts blame for misplaced files, etc. Only you can combat the tendency to make you into "a number" by keeping copies of every piece of correspondence, every report of test scores, every paper, everything.

Develop an organized filing system so that you can document that you did what you were supposed to when you were supposed to (which assumes that you have indeed kept track of the rules and requirements published in the Graduate Bulletin, etc.). You need to be aware of deadlines for filing your Official Program of Study, Sequence of Studies, application for graduation, and a number of other critical documents.

These recommendations apply to course papers and case reports, too! Make copies before you turn in your work.

The SDSU Counseling Services & Placement Office provides a free placement file service to students (once you graduate there is a nominal fee). As you progress through the program, you will have a variety of faculty and field supervisors. You will probably want to have letters of recommendation from these individuals in the future. Recommendation letters written immediately following experiences with you tend to have a sharper quality. If you wait until you graduate, both the experience and the letters become stale. Open the file early in the program, add letters from your supervisor immediately following field experiences, and use the file to assist your efforts to find your next field placement or to find part-time employment while in the program.