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Bilingual School Psychologist Concentration Area

The Bilingual School Psychologist concentration area provides school psychology students with the knowledge and skills to effectively serve culturally and linguistically diverse English language learners in the school setting. Furthermore, the concentration area consists of language proficiency assessments to ensure that school psychologists are adequately proficient in another language to provide psychoeducational services. Although the demographics in the United States are becoming increasingly diverse, there is a well-documented shortage of bilingual school personnel that can effectively evaluate and work with English language learners. School psychologists need to be aware of the various cultural, language, and systemic factors that uniquely influence ELL performance in the school-setting and be prepared to work with this growing population. At the completion of the concentration area, students will be able to:

Evaluate and identify flexible, appropriate psychoeducational evaluation strategies to identify strengths and areas of need within diverse populations
Collaborate with school professionals and families on best practice when assessing and intervening with diverse students
Have knowledge in appropriate psychotherapeutic, psychoeducational, and academic interventions appropriate for diverse populations and be able to evaluate current methods for appropriateness and effectiveness
Have adequate language abilities to conduct meetings, write psychoeducational report summaries in a language other than English, and conduct academic and psychological assessment and intervention effectively in their second language.

We welcome applications from motivated school psychology graduate students at UC Denver. Students must have completed two full-time semesters and be in good academic standing.
For more information, please contact Marlinda Hines at Marlinda.Hines@ucdenver.edu or Dr. Bryn Harris at Bryn.Harris@ucdenver.edu. Students will be interviewed prior to admittance.

This is a 9-hour program consisting of the following courses:
Psychological Assessment of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students - SPSY 6410 - 3 credits
Covers psychological assessment, language acquisition, educational models for bilingual students, and school staff and parental consultation/collaboration.

School-Based Interventions for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students - SPSY 5900 - 3 credits
Covers psychoeducational, psychotherapeutic, and academic interventions in the school setting with an emphasis on providing these services to diverse students. Racial/ethnic development, acculturation, racism, oppression and other factors influencing the educational and mental health services of diverse students will be covered.

Practicum with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students - SPSY 6915 - 3 credits
This course consists of either a practicum in a metro-Denver school or a cultural immersion practicum in Mexico during the Maymester.

Please note that the first two SPSY courses (6410 & 5900) are requirements for all EdS students and are offered each year. Courses will be taken over the second year of the EdS program. Additional requirements include:

Passing oral and written language proficiency exam in another language
Students who speak Spanish will be evaluated on their competency by Luiz Diaz, the Spanish language proficiency evaluator for Denver Public Schools. It is possible that you will not need to be re-evaluated if you wish to work for Denver Public Schools
- Students proficient in another language will be evaluated through a oral and written examination offered through the UC Denver school of foreign languages.
Practicum requirements in culturally and linguistically diverse areas that coincide with SPSY courses
- Students will be required to spend 150 clock hours in activities related to this practicum, and will turn in logs documenting their activities. Logs will be graded as part of the total conduct of practicum cases. Logs should reflect integration of appropriate services for culturally and linguistically diverse students.
- Students can take either the Denver-metro based practicum course or the Mexico immersion program.
- Students in both practicum experiences will be meeting with Dr. Harris for supervision. A total of 10 supervision hours with Dr. Harris are required for successful completion of this practicum. Students involved in the Denver-metro practicum placement will also receive supervision from their site-supervisor.
- Students are required to enroll in 3 credits of practicum during the Maymester. Because you will have extra practicum hours than required for completion in our school psychology program, students can take 1 credit of practicum during their spring semester prior to enrollment in SPSY 6915.
Artifacts in the portfolio must demonstrate sufficient experience and proficiency when working within their second language and demonstrated multicultural competencies aligned with NASP standards
- Students will be required to provide a minimum of two artifacts in which they worked with culturally and linguistically diverse children/families/services. These artifacts must demonstrate UC Denver required competencies when working with diverse populations and NASP standards.
Students must complete all required activities by the end of the Maymester during their internship year to complete this concentration area.

Bilingual School Psychologist Concentration Area completers become more effective:

School psychologists in U.S. urban and diverse educational, private practice, and hospital settings
School psychologists in foreign countries

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