New Education Specialist (EdS) in School Psychology Program

UW Tacoma’s School of Education (SOE) is accepting applications for its new Education Specialist (EdS) in School Psychology program. The first cohort of students in the program will start at UW Tacoma in the fall of 2021.

UW Tacoma Professor Laura Feuerborn will serve as director of the EdS program. Feuerborn is a faculty fellow in social-emotional learning and is also a nationally certified school psychologist. “School psychologists generally work in public K-12 school settings, but they’re also found at clinics and private schools,” she said.

Feuerborn has worked as a school psychologist in different parts of the country. In some settings she helped craft education policy while in others she did risk assessments for students in crisis or evaluated students to see if they met special-education criteria. “A school psychologist’s role can vary tremendously across states, across districts, even across schools within the same district,” she said.

Here in our region in Washington, Feuerborn says the emphasis has been on assessments, but that is changing. “Professionals in the field have been very vocal about this more traditional and very narrow role,” she said. “The hope is that we move away from these more reactive practices to practices that are more prevention oriented, anti-racist and equitable.”

Through this new program, Feuerborn aims to prepare school psychologists that can serve the increasing and changing needs of our school communities. “The impetus behind this program is we want to train school psychologists who are prepared for the new evolution of school psychology,” she said.

The School of Education’s EdS program is built around the “10 Domains” developed by the National Association of School Psychologists. Domain Eight focuses on diversity in development and learning. Racial disparity in school discipline is a national issue. Black and brown students are often suspended or expelled at higher rates than their white peers. “Traditionally, the field has adhered to a deficit, medical model,” said Feuerborn. “We’ve tended to center the problem on students. We try to fix kids or find out what’s wrong with them rather than pulling back and looking at the larger issues of bias or institutionalized racism.”

Students in the EdS program will be trained in six areas of study, including foundations; multi-tiered systems of prevention; research; assessment; academic, behavioral, and trauma-informed interventions; and field applications. “We’ll be looking at how to create sustainable and meaningful change,” said Feuerborn. The program includes two years of coursework, practicum, and a year-long, school-based internship. Students can choose to go either full-time or part-time. Most of the courses are held at night. “We wanted to create something flexible,” said Feuerborn. A bachelor’s degree is required but it does not have to be in psychology or education.

For more information about the new EdS program, contact Dr. Laura Feuerborn (feuerl@uw.edu).