In order to become a school psychologist, the first step is obtaining a four-year undergraduate degree and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, education, or sociology. Next, one would need a specialist or master’s degree in school psychology, psychology, or counseling. This will span a three year period, and has to be followed with a one year internship. Every state requires school psychologists to be certified. One can get certification through the National Association of School Psychologists, which requires one to have completed the master’s program. A master’s program is approximately sixty semester hours. There is also a twelve hundred hour supervised internship. Once this process is completed, one would have to pass the National School Psychology Examination.
The noted leaders in the field of school psychology is Lightner Witmer and G. Stanley Hall. Witmer provided services for the child by using a more idiographic clinical model, while Hall focused more on research to develop characteristics for groups. This led to Witmer and Hall developing the foundations of school psychology through the testing movement. However, the first school psychologist was Arnold Gesell. One can find a job as a school psychologist in an academic environment in an elementary school or even high school, where one would be working with children or young