Internship Plans 2025-2026

[Pamela Fenning]

Dear Colleagues, Please see below. I am posting this message on behalf of Jimmy Walsh, Laura Swanlund, and the Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium -ISPIC - governing board regarding an ISPIC accreditation update. Best, Pam Fenning

Dear University DCT Colleagues:

By now it is likely that you’ve heard both the bad news and the good news. On July 20, 2024, ISPIC was “voluntarily withdrawn” from APA accreditation because the previous training director did not submit the self-study despite telling the ISPIC community that it had been submitted. The ISPIC Governing Board had 30-days to appeal the decision, which has been done.  The very good news is that we are executing a plan that will ensure that both our 2023-2024 and our 2024-2025 intern cohorts graduate from our program with APA accredited status!

The next question, of course, is what this means for students seeking internships for 2025-2026. While we have no guarantee that ISPIC will be APA accredited at the time these students are completing their internships, we can assure the graduate training community that all the components of the internship experience that have been part of the ISPIC internship experience in the past will continue to be in place (e.g., 2000 hours, training curricula on APAs PWC and NASP practice model, 2 hours of individual supervision, etc).

With regard to regaining our accreditation, we will be simultaneously pursuing two paths:

1. We will be following the timeline for appealing an accreditation decision laid out in the Commission on Accreditation’s policies and procedures. This is an elaborate process involving selection of hearing officers and several exchanges of written information. The process will culminate mid-July, 2025. Thirty days following the hearing (after our current cohort departs), we will receive notice of the results of the hearing -  if things go well we should be able to put all this behind us and move forward as an APA accredited internship site. That would mean we would immediately be due for a self-study and site visit.
2. If things do not go well  and the CoA’s decision to withdraw the program stands, we have a back-up plan. There is nothing preventing ISPIC  from applying for accreditation now as a new internship program seeking accreditation.  Dr. Brenda Huber, former ISPIC director, has been contracted to lead the submission of a brand new self-study although we will be reflecting on our last seven years as we would if all things had proceeded normally. Once ISPIC  submits the self-study (hopefully in the next month or two), it will be reviewed by the CoA, and we will likely be asked to respond to additional questions until such time as they approve ISPIC for a site visit. Our hope is that we can schedule a site visit before the 2025-2026 cohort completes their training experience in July 2026. As long as ISPIC  achieves APA accreditation status, our accreditation  would take effect on the second day of the site visit and there would be no observable gap in our accreditation. The sooner we get our self-study submitted, the more likely that ISPIC  will be able to  meet this timeline. 

To reiterate, our 23-24 had and our 24-25 ISPIC interns currently will complete an  APA accredited internship. However,  there are no guarantees for the 25-26 cohort who will be applying for internships this fall. We’ve been told by APPIC that we can go ahead and recruit through the National Matching System for 2025-2026 as long as we ensure that every applicant understands the situation. In addition to revising our APPIC Directory entry and our website, we will be asking each applicant to acknowledge that they are aware of the implications of the program being voluntarily withdrawn,  pending the submission and results of the appeal. 

Through sending you this update, our intention is to be transparent with the school psychology community and all its stakeholders. We will keep the training community abreast of developments as they occur. Please let us know if you have any questions and help in supporting your students as they make important  decisions about applying and ranking the internship opportunities available to them.

Warm regards,

Jimmy Walsh and Laura Swanlund

Co-Interim Training Directors, Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium

[Julia Coyne]

Pam, Jimmy and Laura, 

Your transparency is truly appreciated, and as an ISPIC graduate, this news hit me particularly hard. 

I am confident that you'll steer the consortium through to regain any temporarily lost ground. 

Warmest regards, 

Julia

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Julia H. Coyne, PhD, NCSP

Director, School Psychology Graduate Program 

Psychological Services Clinic 

Center for Clinical Services

147 Clove Rd. Little Falls, NJ 07424

(973) 655-3527

[T. La Salle- Finley]

Good morning everyone-

Please excuse my multiple postings on this topic. 😊

My colleagues at Georgia State University and I are excited to share our position announcement for a tenure-track assistant professor in School Psychology.  I’ve included the job description below. More information about the position and the application process can be found at this link: https://facultycareers.gsu.edu/postings/4709

Please share this opportunity with your recent (and soon-to-be) graduates. As you can see (in the description), we are pretty open in regards to research and teaching specialty. We are most interested in finding a great new colleague who can collaborate and contribute to our team. If you think you know someone who’d be interested in living and working in Atlanta, please send them our way.

Thanks,

Andy

 

The Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University is searching for a tenure-track, assistant professor in the School Psychology PhD and MEd/EdS programs. Potential research and training interests might focus on a variety of themes consistent with foundational strengths of School Psychology, including but not limited to consultation, prevention science, positive behavioral interventions & supports, inclusive education, early intervention/school readiness, and culturally responsive practice. Candidates will advance a focused line of research that has long-term potential for external research funding. An ideal candidate would have a research agenda that can support doctoral students in collaborative research. Preference will also be given to applicants with a vision for strengthening the strategy and goals of the Center for Research on School Climate (https://schoolclimate.gsu.edu/).  We are interested in innovative ideas for how to expand the long-term, national prominence of the Center. In addition, the faculty member will teach masters-, specialist-, and doctoral-level courses in the program and department.

Tamika P. La Salle-Finley, Ph.D.,NCSP (she/her/hers)
Associate Professor, School Psychology Program
Editor-in-Chief International Journal of School & Educational Psychology
Director, Center for Research on School Climate

Georgia State University 
Department of Counseling & Psychological Services
30 Pryor Street SW Suite 950
Office:404-413-8193
Email: tlas...@gsu.edu