Important Information about Psychology Licensure Available for Students, Faculty and Supervisors  

 

The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) is the alliance of state, provincial, and territorial agencies responsible for the licensure and certification of psychologists throughout the United States and Canada. The impetus for its founding was to create and maintain a standardized written Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) and to create mobility for licensees. ASPPB’s mission is to assist its member boards in protecting the public.

      Today, in addition to creating the EPPP, ASPPB acts as a voice for those responsible for the regulation of the practice of psychology.  ASPPB resources can be best understood within the five aspects of the ASPPB Mission Statement:  1. Credentialing, Examinations and Assessment; 2. Ethics and Discipline; 3. Regulatory, Professional and Legislative Issues; 4. Mutual Recognition of Standards; and 5. Professional Relations. 

      ASPPB generates a number of publications to aid psychology students in preparing for licensure and maintains an on-line presence at www.asppb.org.  The site lists contact information for all 62 member boards, including links to their web sites. 

       

CREDENTIALING, EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT.   Of direct relevance to students and faculty are ASPPB’s documents created to facilitate successful completion of the EPPP, and/or to provide more information about the EPPP. 

            Information for Candidates is a brochure available to all candidates for licensure.

Items from Previous Examinations contains 250 retired items from the EPPP and an answer key for those items. It also contains a content outline for the exam, and the percentage of exam questions contained in each content area.  Also included is a list of some but not necessarily all of the references and texts used by the ASPPB Examination Committee in preparing and reviewing examination items.  This is available for purchase from ASPPB.

Frequently Asked Questions for Candidates is a section on the ASPPB web site (www.asppb.org) which is regularly updated to address concerns of those applying to take the EPPP.

The Study of the Practice of Licensed Psychologists in the United States and Canada (Greenberg, et al., 1996) summarizes the initial comprehensive analysis of the practice of psychology in the United States and Canada conducted in 1995 and serves as the foundation for the test specifications for the EPPP.  It also provides data needed to guide development of curricula that will prepare future psychologists.

The Study of the Practice of Licensed Psychologists in the United States and Canada (Greenberg, et al., 2003), an update to the 1995 study is also available for purchase.  This study resulted in minor revisions to the test specifications for the EPPP.

The Third Edition of the Research Digest: the Examination for Professional Practice (Rosen, 2000) summarizes available studies relating to the validity of the EPPP.

Psychology Licensing Exam Scores by Doctoral Program, formerly the Educational Reporting Service Listing: EPPP Performance by Designated Doctoral Program in Psychology, includes a comparison of the performance of Designated Doctoral Program graduates on the EPPP since 1988, including the number of candidates from each of the programs and, when that number is three or greater, the mean and standard deviation of those scores. The score comparisons are updated annually. 

Entry Requirements for the Professional Practice of Psychology is a booklet created to educate psychology students about general legal requirements for licensure or certification to practice the profession.

Practice Exams. ASPPB offers two computer-administered Practice Exams, which can help candidates become comfortable with the computer-based testing environment. A Practice Exam application is available at www.asppb.org.

ASPPB Score Transfer Service is provided individuals to report their EPPP scores to states and provinces in addition to those where they were initially licensed.

 

MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF STANDARDS.  ASPPB maintains four programs to facilitate professional mobility:  The Credentials Bank, the CPQ, the Agreement of Reciprocity, and the Score Transfer Service.

ASPPB Credentials Bank.  The credentials bank allows information pertaining to education, training and experience to be archived. Information can be stored in the ASPPB credentials bank and retrieved in the years ahead,  long after the last contact with internship supervisors or postdoctoral experience supervisors has occurred and  long after other crucial licensure‑related information is readily accessible. Such archived documentation can be helpful in obtaining initial licensure, as well as in maintaining your licensure records to facilitate mobility after initial licensure.  For more information, go to www.asppb.org.

            The Certificate of Professional Qualification in Psychology, or "(CPQ)." The CPQ is based on the individual psychologist who has been licensed at least 5 years meeting core licensure criteria. A CPQ holder is thereby not required to document their exam scores, transcripts and supervised experience over and over again each time they move to or practice in a new state or province that accepts the CPQ.    

 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES. 

      The Handbook of Licensing and Certification Requirements for Psychologists contains the basic requirements for licensure or certification in 52 U.S. jurisdictions and ten Canadian provinces. It sets out the educational, examination and experience requirements of each jurisdiction, and is available on the ASPPB web site.