A Masters in School Psychology degree will allow you to act as a therapist for students at schools and universities. Studying can be a high-pressure activity, and youngsters often also have a variety of other pressures on them outside of school. A well-qualified and friendly school psychologist can make a big impact on a student who feels stuck in a corner and doesn’t know who else to turn to.

This is the perfect role for someone who is undecided on the choice between a career in psychology and one in education. You’ll still have a hands-on role in making sure students learn to the best of their potential, while also getting to deal with untangling the underlying psychological factors behind students’ problems.

The Best Masters in School Psychology Programs

We’ve highlighted two of the best Masters programs in School Psychology for you here. If you want to be at the top of your field, these are amongst the first schools you’ll want to take a look at.

California State University – Los Angeles offers a school psychology Master’s program which has accreditation from NASP (the National Association of School Psychologists, which is the most important accreditation in this field of study). Along with providing a solid education and an accredited degree, Cal State offers opportunities for internships so you can start accumulating some real-world experience.

The NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in New York is one of the leading places to study for a Masters in School Psychology. This program will give you a firm grounding in the ethics of counseling, as well as giving you plenty of freedom to specialize in your favorite area within the discipline of school psychology.

Masters in School Psychology Online Degree Programs

While you can’t get professional licensure to practice as a school psychologist from a purely online Master’s program, you can get a high quality education that will cover all the same information as many offline programs.

Capella University was one of the first to start offering accredited Masters in School Psychology online degrees. This program will teach you to think outside the box as a school psychologist, figuring out innovative ways to solve students’ problems based on the real-world context of each situation you face. This program also includes some offline training, with residency and field study built into the course.

Kaplan University runs an online Education Psychology Masters which can prepare you for a career as a school psychologist. Kaplan’s education psychology classes will be effective in helping you develop the skills of helping kids get better learning outcomes as well as helping them deal with any behavioral issues they experience in social situations. You’ll learn to spot and defuse potential problem scenarios before they happen.

Masters in School Psychology Jobs

The main role you can fill with this degree is that of a school psychologist. In general, a school psychologist is given a range of tasks, from helping kids learn to learn, through to reducing conflict on the playground. As a school psychologist you’ll be responsible for the psychological health of the students at your workplace.

There are also specialized jobs, both in helping disabled kids and helping kids with special talents. Often kids who have a genius-level IQ end up with a host of behavioral problems that come with being so far above average – they tend to get bored easily and may become disruptive when stuck in a class that is well below their abilities. In fact, it’s part of the job of any school counselor to recognize when behavior problems are stemming from the fact that a student simply isn’t being challenged enough.

Masters in School Psychology Salary

The salary you’ll bring in as a school psychologist will depend largely on the state in which you work, but in general you can expect to earn between about $47,000 and $67,000 a year. If you’re willing to work your way up into a leadership role or if you manage to land a job at a well-resourced private school with a masters in school psychology, you could end up with a pay packet of over $100,000 a year.