(a)Application Requirements.
(1)An application for provisional licensure as a psychologist
includes, in addition to the requirements set forth in Board rule §463.5
of this title (relating to Application File Requirements), an official
transcript which indicates that the applicant has received a doctoral
degree in psychology. Additionally, the applicant must meet the requirements
of §501.255 of the Psychologists' Licensing Act.
(2)An application for provisional licensure as a psychologist
may be filed up to sixty days prior to the date the applicant's doctoral
degree is officially conferred, but remains subject to Board rule §463.2
of this title (relating to Application Process). [Furthermore,
an applicant may be approved to sit for examinations prior to the
Board receiving an official transcript, but no license will be granted
until the Board receives an official transcript meeting the requirements
of this rule.]
(b)Degree Requirements.
(1)The applicant's transcript must state that the
applicant has a doctoral degree that designates a major in psychology.
Additionally, the doctoral degree must be from a program accredited
by the American Psychological Association or from a regionally accredited
institution.
(2)The substantial equivalence of a doctoral degree
received prior to January 1, 1979, based upon a program of studies
whose content is primarily psychological means a doctoral degree based
on a program which meets the following criteria:
(A)Post-baccalaureate program in a regionally accredited
institution of higher learning. The program must have a minimum of
90 semester hours, not more than 12 of which are credit for doctoral
dissertation and not more than six of which are credit for master's
thesis.
(B)The program, wherever it may be administratively
housed, must be clearly identified and labeled. Such a program must
specify in pertinent institutional catalogs and brochures its intent
to educate and train professional psychologists.
(C)The program must stand as a recognizable, coherent
organizational entity within the institution. A program may be within
a larger administrative unit, e.g., department, area, or school.
(D)There must be a clear authority and primary responsibility
for the core and specialty areas whether or not the program cuts across
administrative lines. The program must have identifiable faculty and
administrative heads who are psychologists responsible for the graduate
program. Psychology faculty are individuals who are licensed or provisionally
licensed or certified psychologists, or specialists of the American
Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP), or hold a doctoral degree
in psychology from a regionally accredited institution.
(E)The program must be an integrated, organized sequence
of studies, e.g., there must be identifiable curriculum tracks wherein
course sequences are outlined for students.
(F)The program must have an identifiable body of students
who matriculated in the program.
(G)The program must include supervised practicum,
internship, field or laboratory training appropriate to the practice
of psychology. The supervised field work or internship must have been
a minimum of 1,500 supervised hours, obtained in not less than a 12
month period nor more than a 24 month period. Further, this requirement
cannot have been obtained in more than two placements or agencies.
(H)The curriculum shall encompass a minimum of two
academic years of full-time graduate studies for those persons who
have enrolled in the doctoral degree program after completing the
requirements for a master's degree. The curriculum shall encompass
a minimum of four academic years of full-time graduate studies for
those persons who have entered a doctoral program following the completion
of a baccalaureate degree and prior to the awarding of a master's
degree. It is recognized that educational institutions vary in their
definitions of full-time graduate studies. It is also recognized that
institutions vary in their definitions of residency requirements for
the doctoral degree.
(I)The following curricular requirements must be met
and demonstrated through appropriate course work:
(i)Scientific and professional ethics related to the
field of psychology.
(ii)Research design and methodology, statistics.
(iii)The applicant must demonstrate competence in
each of the following substantive areas. The competence standard will
be met by satisfactory completion at the B level of a minimum of six
graduate semester hours in each of the four content areas. It is recognized
that some doctoral programs have developed special competency examinations
in lieu of requiring students to complete course work in all core
areas. Graduates of such programs who have not completed the necessary
semester hours in these core areas must submit to the Board evidence
of competency in each of the four core areas.
(I)Biological basis of behavior: physiological psychology,
comparative psychology, neuropsychology, sensation and perception,
psycho-pharmacology.
(II)Cognitive-affective basis of behavior: Learning,
thinking, motivation, emotion.
(III)Social basis of behavior: social psychology,
group processes, organizational and system theory.
(IV)Individual differences: personality theory, human
development, abnormal psychology.
(J)All educational programs which train persons who
wish to be identified as psychologists will include course requirements
in specialty areas. The applicant must demonstrate a minimum of 24
hours in his/her designated specialty area.
(3)Any person intending to apply for provisional licensure
under the substantial equivalence clause must file with the Board
an affidavit showing:
(A)Courses meeting each of the requirements noted
in paragraph (2) of this subsection verified by official transcripts;
(B)Information regarding each of the instructors in
the courses submitted as substantially equivalent;
(C)Appropriate, published information from the university
awarding the degree, demonstrating that in paragraph (2)(A) - (J)
of this subsection have been met.
(c)An applicant for provisional licensure as a psychologist
who is accredited by Certificate of Professional Qualification in
Psychology (CPQ) or the National Register or who is a specialist of
ABPP will have met the following requirements for provisional licensure:
submission of an official transcript which indicates the date the
doctoral degree in psychology was awarded or conferred, submission
of documentation of the passage of the national psychology examination
at the doctoral level at the Texas cut-off score, and submission of
three acceptable reference letters. All other requirements for provisional
licensure must be met by these applicants. Additionally, these applicants
must provide documentation sent directly from the qualifying entity
to the Board office declaring that the applicant is a current member
in the organization and has had no disciplinary action from any state
or provincial health licensing board.
(d)Trainee Status for Provisional Applicants.
(1)An applicant for provisional licensure who has
not yet passed the EPPP and Jurisprudence Examination, but who otherwise
meets all provisional licensing requirements and is seeking to acquire
the supervised experience required by §501.252(b)(2) of the Psychologists'
Licensing Act, may practice under the supervision of a Licensed Psychologist
as a provisional trainee for not more than two years.
(2)A provisional trainee status letter shall be issued
to an applicant upon proof of provisional licensing eligibility, save
and except proof of passage of the EPPP and Jurisprudence Examination.
(3)An individual with trainee status is subject to
all applicable laws governing the practice of psychology.
(4)A provisional trainee's status shall be suspended
or revoked upon a showing of probable cause of a violation of the
Board's rules or any law pertaining to the practice of psychology,
and the individual may be made the subject of an eligibility proceeding.
The two years period for provisional trainee status shall not be tolled
by any suspension of the provisional trainee status.
(5)Following official notification from the Board
upon passage of the EPPP and Jurisprudence Examination, or the expiration
of two years, whichever occurs first, an individual's provisional
trainee status shall terminate.
(6)This subsection, along with all of its subparts,
shall take effect on September 1, 2016.
The agency certifies that legal counsel has
reviewed the proposal and found it to be within the state agency's
legal
authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office
of the Secretary of State on June 13, 2016
TRD-201602978 Darrel D. Spinks
Executive Director
Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
Earliest possible date of adoption: July 31, 2016
For further information, please call: (512) 305-7706
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