Child, Family, and School Psychology Education Specialist Degree
The Child, Family, and School Psychology Education Specialist (EdS) Degree has two tracks from which students may choose. The EdS degree is conditionally approved by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP).
School Psychology Generalist (EdS-Generalist)
This degree is a four-year program that prepares professionals in all aspects of school psychology services to work with children and families from birth to age 21 in school or community settings. Students take three years of coursework and a fourth year, 1,200-hour, full-time internship. All graduates of the EdS program are eligible for a Colorado Department of Education license in School Psychology after the successful completion of all coursework and after passing the Praxis II/National Association of School Psychology (NASP) licensing exam.
DU is one of only three Colorado graduate programs currently offering an EdS degree for training school psychologists. The EdS-Generalist track requires a minimum of 93 quarter hours depending on prior individual experiences and coursework.
School Psychology with Early Childhood Certification (EdS-EC)
This degree is a four-year program with three years of coursework and a fourth year, 1,200-hour, full-time, paid internship that prepares professionals in all aspects of school psychology services to work with children and families from birth to age 21.
Through the addition of 18 hours of integrated core and practical coursework beyond that required for the EdS-Generalist degree, this degree track also leads to a supplemental Certificate in Early Childhood School Psychology.
The EdS Early Childhood School Psychology Specialty Certification track requires a minimum of 111 quarter hours depending on prior individual experiences and coursework. Students accepted into the certification track will have a unique experience to be part of an integrated sequence of coursework and clinical experiences that will go beyond that expected at most institutions. Students will develop proficiency through experiences at school-, community-, and home-based settings. The high-level training will include:
- 90 Hours of Mentorship in Year 1
- 200 clinic hours in Year 2 (includes play clinic and psycho-educational clinic rotation)
- 300 field hours in field practicum in Year 3
- 1,200-hour, paid internship in Year 4 Community Placement Site
School Agencies: Adams County School District 12, Fischer Early Learning Center ,Ft. Lupton Public Schools, Jefferson County Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools, Pioneer Charter School, The Village for Early Childhood Education, Cherry Creek School District, Denver Public School District, Douglas County School District, Weld County School District: Windsor
Community agencies:
Ft. Collins Therapy Service MHCD- Pearl Project Mount Saint Vincent Home for Children Tiny Tim Center: Longmont Samaritan House
Home-based Agencies: The Children's Hospital: Child Development Unit JFK Partners: Project ENRICH TIKES of Weld County
Project InSPECT - Community Resource Council
The Community Resource Council (CRC) is comprised of invited members, ex-officio members and faculty and grant personnel members who represent a wide array of school and community service professionals with expertise and interest in early childhood from both the greater Denver metro area and Weld County.
Beth Jackson: School psychologist with the Windsor County School District in Weld County.
Barb Schintz: School psychologist for Adams County School District 12.
Sandra Link: EC occupational therapist working with PartC agency serving families and children in Weld County.
Kirk Ward: Licensed clinical social worker and Director of Clinical Services at Mount Saint Vincent's Home.
Laurie Beckel: Ms. Beckel is the Colorado Project Director of Harambe, an organization dedicated to promoting social-emotional development of young children through the promotion of a network of early prevention and intervention resources. She has extensive early childhood service delivery and program development experience and was instrumental in initiating the Aurora Mental Health Therapeutic Preschool.
Janet Flaugher: Dr. Flaugher is the Director of the Family Educational Network/Head Start in Weld County.
Karen Frankel: Dr. Frankel is the Director of the Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health. She is also the Director of Kempe Therapeutic Preschool and an Associate Professor at University of Colorado School of Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry.
Helena Huckabee: Dr. Huckabee is a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Executive Director of Emerge PC, an organization that specializes in services for autism and behavioral challenges. She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Houston, completed a doctoral internship at Baylor College of Medicine, and a post-doctoral fellowship at DePelchin Children's Center and JFK Partners.
Marcee Martin: Dr. Martin is the Director of the Fisher Early Learning Center, a preschool located on the University of Denver campus. She began her career in education nearly 33 years ago as a Kindergarten teacher in Pontiac Public Schools and over the course of her career was an upper elementary teacher, elementary principal, curriculum director, and assistant superintendent in various Detroit metropolitan school districts.
MB McDermott: Ms. McDermott has a wealth of experience with graduate training and work experience in mental health, school psychology, consulting for CDE, and as an administrator of Special Education. She served as the Special Education Coordinator for Littleton Public Schools for 8 years and also has worked as a school psychologist for 20 years in Colorado, Massachusetts, and California. Currently, she works for Cherry Creek schools as a school psychologist in early childhood education. Ms. McDermott has a passion for early childhood and plans to continue working with the preschool population.
Pam Parker-Martin: Dr. Parker-Martin is a school psychologist with Douglas County School District where her focus has been on Preschool and Child Find services for the past 14 years. Currently, she is also serving as the school psychology internship and practicum student coordinator for the district. She has also taught for Metropolitan State College and the University of Colorado at Denver. Tom Patton: Mr. Patton currently supervises preschool special education and child find at the Colorado Department of Education. He previously worked in and supervised the Part C of IDEA program, called Early Childhood Connections at CDE since 1996.
Christy Scott: Ms. Scott works for the CDHS Early Childhood Connections Program as the Program Quality Control Coordinator. She has been working in the birth to three field for 15 years.
Ex-Officio Members:
Barbara Bieber: Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Special Student Services Division
Ginger Maloney: Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at DU
Eugene Sheehan: Dean of the Morgridge College of Education at UNC
Nan Vendegna: Senior Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Early Childhood Preschool Division
Teresa Schrotberger: Consultant, Colorado Department of Education, Early Childhood Preschool Division Faculty and Grant Personnel Members
Michelle Athanasiou, PhD, associate professor and current Chair of the School Psychology Program at UNC-Greeley who completed an EC post-doctoral fellowship and who has been instrumental in promoting EC competencies for school psychologists at the state and national level.
Toni Linder, PhD, professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology program at DU who has worked with children with disabilities for more than 30 years and has developed nationally recognized play-based assessment and curriculum.
Gloria Miller, PhD, professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at DU who has worked extensively coordinating and designing effective early prevention services at the local and national level.
Karen Riley, PhD, clinical research assistant professor in the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program at DU who holds a Masters and Doctorate in EC who has worked extensively with birth to five populations in both medical and community settings.
To speak to someone about the Child, Family, and School Psychology Program, please call or email our Admissions Office at 303-871-2509 or 1-800-835-1607, edinfo@du.edu.