Multicultural and Bilingual School Psychology Certificate Program

Program Description

Research consistently shows that speaking multiple languages offers cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional benefits that contribute to long-term success in both career and life. However, studies also highlight a concerning trend in U.S. education systems: multilingual students—particularly those classified as English Language Learners (ELLs)—face greater academic and social-emotional challenges compared to their native English-speaking peers. These challenges include lower test scores and higher dropout rates, often due to both individual and systemic barriers.

There is a growing consensus that the education of multilingual students is a matter of social justice. To address this, it is critical to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate educational and psychological services. An urgent need exists for school psychologists who are specially trained to work with multilingual learners, particularly those who are bilingual themselves.

To meet this need, the California Consortium for Bilingual School Psychology (CCBSP) was established with the mission to promote equity and justice in education. CCBSP prepares, supports, and empowers school psychologists to serve multilingual learners through culturally and linguistically responsive practices.

The Fresno State Multicultural and Bilingual School Psychology Certificate Program is one of four pilot training programs under the CCBSP. Our program is unique in two key ways:

1. Dual Training Tracks: We aim to prepare all school psychologists to effectively support multilingual learners, regardless of their language background. To this end, we offer two tracks:
   • A Multicultural School Psychology Track for school psychologists who do not speak the home language of their students.
   • A Bilingual School Psychology Track for those who do.
2. Language Certification Options: For the Bilingual Track, we provide specialized training and certification in three high-need languages: Spanish, Mandarin, and Hmong.

Grounded in research and built through local and national community partnerships, our program aligns with the CCBSP’s bilingual school psychology competencies. Our faculty includes nationally recognized researchers and experienced bilingual scholar-practitioners.

The certificate program includes 19 credit hours and is delivered 100% online, combining asynchronous and synchronous learning formats for maximum flexibility and accessibility.