INTERN SELECTION CRITERIA
The criteria utilized in selecting interns is as follows:
I. Application requirements on file by December 1:
a. completed APPIC application packet
b. completed PS Application Addendum
c. current, comprehensive resume
d. statement indicating goals for the internship
e. Three supporting letters of recommendations and endorsement which demonstrate
1) prior training, interests and goals appropriate to the internship program
2) ability to apply assessment/diagnosis and intervention/treatment knowledge in school psychology under supervision
3) ethical conduct
4) interpersonal skills appropriate to the professional practice of school psychology
f. Official transcripts of all graduate work (one of which verifies undergraduate degree or undergraduate transcript) indicating courses or course content in the following:
1) Biological, social, cognitive, affective, and individual bases of behavior; child and adolescent development (normal and abnormal); human learning; psychopathology; statistics and research design, and history and systems
2) Theories and methods of intellectual, educational, personality, and other relevant assessment strategies
3) Intervention, such as counseling (individual, crisis, group and family), consultation and behavior management, and evaluation of interventions
4) Advanced research and program evaluation courses
5) Language and/or computer courses
6) Practicum courses
7) Supervision; professional issues and standards; roles and functions of school psychologists; legal, ethical and cultural issues, and history and foundations of school psychology
8) Education of exceptional learners; multicultural education; organization, administration and financing of public schools; curriculum and instructional and remedial techniques
II. At least 900 practicum hours desirable as follows:
a. Four-hundred-fifty hours in direct school psychology services to diverse student populations which address a range of problems using a variety of assessment/diagnostic approaches and methods of intervention/ treatment
b. Three hundred hours of formal supervision (both individual and group) desirable
c. One hundred and fifty additional hours
d. Hours shall be distributed over at least one year of graduate study
III. Acceptable personal interview (telephone interviews are no longer an option)
IV. Recruiting considerations:
a. Professional skills needed by PS
b. Ethnic ratios
c. Bilingual skills
d. Enhancement of institutions, local and national, from which PS staff originate
e. Prior school experience and interest in a career in the schools
While applications from all areas of professional psychology will be considered, preference will be given to those from School Psychology training programs. Applicants from other programs, such as Clinical or Counseling, will receive serious consideration only if they have had extensive experience in schools, and/or coursework which prepared them to provide school-based psychoeducational services as described in this handbook.
Candidates who are no longer under consideration at any point in the application process will be notified after this determination is made. Applicants are similarly asked to notify us if they determine that our site will not meet their training needs.
About the Dallas Independent School District
