Section 415-5-1 - EducationThe applicant must possess a master's degree in psychology that at the time the degree was awarded met either of the following criteria:
1. NASP ApprovalThe program is approved by NASP at the specialist level.
2. Master's Degree ProgramsThe program meets all of the following criteria:
A.Master's level training in professional psychology is master's level training offered in a regionally accredited institution of higher education. A regionally accredited institution is an institution with regional accreditation in the United States, an institution with provincial authorization in Canada, or in other countries, an institution that is accredited by a body that is deemed by the board to be performing a function equivalent to U.S. regional accrediting bodies;B.The program, wherever it may be administratively housed, must be clearly identified as a psychology program. Such a program must specify in pertinent institutional catalogs and brochures its intent to educate and train psychological examiners (i.e., master's level psychologists);C.The psychology program must stand as a recognizable and coherent organizational entity within the institution;D.There must be clear authority and primary responsibility for the core and specialty areas whether or not the program cuts across administrative lines;E.The program must be an integrated, organized sequence of study;F.There must be an identifiable psychology faculty sufficient in size and breadth to carry out its responsibilities and an identified psychologist responsible for the program. The faculty must be located on site at the campus where students complete the 1 year of full-time residency required by paragraph J below;G.The program must have an identifiable body of students who are matriculated in that program for a degree;H.The program must include a coordinated practicum, and 1 year of supervised experience that meets the requirements of Section 2 of this chapter;I.For master's degrees awarded prior to June 2, 1994, the program consisted of a minimum of 36 credit hours of graduate work in psychology. For master's degrees awarded on or after June 2, 1994, the program consisted of a minimum of 48 credit hours of graduate work in psychology; andJ.The curriculum must encompass a minimum of 2 academic years of full time graduate study that includes a minimum of 1 year's full-time residency at the educational institution granting the master's degree. The core program must require every student to demonstrate competence in each of the substantive areas listed in subparagraphs (1) - (7) below. This typically will be met through substantial instruction in each of these foundational areas, as demonstrated by a minimum of 3 graduate semester hours, 5 or more graduate quarter hours (when an academic term is other than a semester, credit hours will be evaluated on the basis of 15 hours of classroom instruction per semester hour), or the equivalent: (1) Professional ethics and standards of practice;(2) Research design, methodology and statistics;(3) Assessment (e.g., measurement theory, psychological testing, clinical diagnosis);(4) Biological basis of behavior (e.g., physiological psychology, comparative psychology, neuropsychology, sensation and perception, psychopharmacology);(5) Cognitive-affective basis of behavior (e.g., learning, thinking, motivation, emotion);(6) Social basis of behavior (e.g., social psychology, group processes, organizational behavior, systems theory, family dynamics, cultural psychology); and(7) Individual differences (e.g., personality theory, human development, abnormal psychology).