Field Placement & Training

Policies & Procedures

Uniform Response Deadline (URD)

Sites that train MSPP students participate in a common notification procedure, the Uniform Response Deadline (URD).  Within the guidelines of the URD, sites may tender offers to students any time up to the Response Date, which is the third Tuesday in March.  We ask that all sites agree to begin reviewing our student’s applications during December 2007 and January 2008 and to make their offers no later than March 18, 2008.  Many of our sites will interview and make offers earlier to better suit their own training needs and scheduling.  It is acceptable to do so.  The URD date is intended only as a no later than deadline rather than an expected date for offers to be made.  Sites must allow students to “hold” an offer for up to two weeks, but students may hold an offer no later than noon on the third Wednesday in March.  Students do have the option of responding sooner, and must notify all placements at which they are being considered once they accept an offer.  The URD does not include sites accepting first-year students nor does it include APA internships which follow APPIC guidelines.

Student Evaluations

We ask field supervisors to complete two written evaluations of their supervisees, one at the end of each semester.  The Mid-Year Evaluation is due by January 4, 2008*, the Final Evaluation is due by June 2, 2008*.  We expect you to review the content of the evaluations with your student.  Please send the written evaluations to the Field Placement Office or e-mail them to fieldplacement@mspp.edu.  We will share the evaluations with the student’s Advisor who will use them, along with input from the faculty, to help the student assess their progress and set goals for future academic and field work, as well as to assign Field Placement Credit.

*Please respect the deadlines for evaluations.  Failure to do so creates problems for the students and the School.

The Assessment and Planning Conference (A & P)

This annual conference, held toward the end of the second semester, is a unique feature of the MSPP program, and of major importance to MSPP students.  Each student meets with their Advisor, selected faculty members, a fellow student, their current Field Placement Supervisor, as well as the next year’s Field Placement Supervisor.  In that meeting, communications about the student and evaluations of their work are reviewed and formal recommendations regarding academic and field work are made.
In the spring, your current supervisee and/or the MSPP trainee you have selected for the following academic year will approach you to set a time for the A & P conference.  We try to be sensitive to field supervisor’s schedules in arranging the meetings.  Coordinating schedules, however, is often difficult, so please anticipate this request around April.  Your input at the conference is essential.  While designed to meet students’ needs, the A & P’s have, in fact, proven to be enormously gratifying for faculty and field supervisors as well.

Professional Resource Survey

The Clinical Faculty represents a rich pool of resources that we would like to make more available to MSPP students.  In an effort to tap these resources more effectively and augment the role of the Clinical Faculty in the MSPP community, we invite all Clinical Faculty to complete a Professional Resource Survey by contacting the Field Placement Office.

Adjunct Clinical Faculty Appointment

Adjunct Clinical Faculty appointments may be awarded for the current training year to primary and secondary clinical supervisors. Supervisors who would like to be considered for this designation should send a letter of interest describing their professional work with MSPP students as well as an updated professional resume for review by the Dean of the Doctoral Program.

The Faculty Advisor

Each student is assigned an Advisor who oversees their program throughout their years at MSPP.  The Advisor approves the student’s program (including selection of field site) by means of the Field Placement Contract, chairs the annual A & P, and assigns Field Placement Credit based on the student’s successful completion of the training semesters (as reflected by the Primary Field Supervisor’s evaluations and mid-semester reports and recommendations).

Updated 10/15/07