Student functioning in the Psy.D. program

93

The vast majority of students who have been enrolled in our doctoral program in SchoolCommunity Psychology have successfully completed all of their doctoral degree requirements and successfully defended their doctoral dissertation. An examination of data over the years shows a completion rate of over 90%.

In addition to assisting students in succeeding academically, our policy is to work with students on their professional skills until they reach a level of competence that the faculty considers satisfactory. This occurs well within the allotted number of cases and courses for most students. A few students do not reach an acceptable level of competence. Usually, this means that they may have to do additional evaluations and parent interviews or continue to work on remediation or psychotherapy cases until they reach the desired level of competence. In rare cases, a student is asked to complete an additional internship or practicum. If, after working on additional cases and receiving additional supervision, a student is unable to demonstrate an ability to relate in a meaningful and effective fashion to adults, children, and colleagues, or if the student is not able to adequately assess or remediate the problems presented, the student may be asked to leave the program. Students can appeal any such decision. The appeal process is shown below and detailed in a later section of this student manual. We believe that students with a wide variety of personalities can work successfully as School and Community Psychologists, but a few are unable to do so. When the Field Supervisors and Professional faculty judge that a student has such difficulty, that student is counseled to seek another area of psychology or another field altogether. Again, we would like to stress that this is a rare event since psychology is a broad field of inquiry and practice, and almost every doctoral candidate can be effective in one of the sub-specialties of the field. While rare, dropping a student is occasionally the best solution to a difficult set of circumstances. If a student behaves unethically, does not meet responsibilities in a timely fashion, acts aggressively, or shows signs of emotional or behavioral disturbance which the faculty believes will interfere with appropriate functioning, the faculty may decide that the public, and the student, are best served by not having that person graduate as a psychologist. If a student does not succeed at an internship or practicum placement, they are given a second chance at another site. The student is always given the opportunity to talk to the faculty and explain the actions that may lead to the dismissal. As noted above, this is a rare occurrence, although it does occasionally happen. Students are urged to behave ethically and bring any potential problems they may be having to the attention of the faculty. Accepted students are highly capable and can usually meet the academic obligations. Acceptable academic criteria are spelled out in the Graduate Studies Bulletin, where the criteria for all psychology programs are listed (page 56). Regarding professional behavior, professional school and community psychologists must serve the public and, in doing so, must behave in an exemplary manner both ethically and professionally.