Accredited School Psychology Programs

Program Director: Dr. Christine Malecki

The NIU Department of Psychology is pleased to announce that the Ph.D. program in school psychology has been granted full accreditation by the American Psychological Association (APA). APA accreditation is the culmination of a rigorous process of program development, self-study, and on-site review by program reviewers. It represents the highest standard of accreditation in school psychology and places the NIU program at the forefront of school psychology programs in the nation. Please contact the APA Commission on Accreditation with any questions.

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC

Phone: 202-336-5979
TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123

Program Overview

Welcome! The School Psychology Program offers a 60-hour, full-time M.A. degree (leading to Specialist-level certification) and a 90-hour, full-time Ph.D. program that provides comprehensive training in general psychology as well as specialized training in the applied area of school psychology.

Instituted in 1978, the NIU school psychology certification program received full approval from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) and the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) in 1992 and has maintained this status. Our Ph.D. program has recently received American Psychological Association (APA) accreditation. Please contact the APA Commission on Accreditation with any questions.

The primary goal of the program is to train professional psychologists to work in schools, state agencies, clinical practice, and university settings. Coursework and practica experiences provide a synthesis of essential theoretical and applied approaches across developmental, cognitive, social, and behavioral areas. Graduates of the program are prepared to function in multiple practitioner roles including treatment, assessment, and consultative modalities, as well as teaching and research roles.

We have developed a number of short videos to showcase what our program has to offer. These videos are posted throughout our webpages, but to view them all (and to see new videos we continue to add), please go to our YouTube channel at .