Best School Psychology Programs in Louisiana Rankings for 2026

Louisiana runs school psychology through two doors, and which one you use depends on where you want to work. To practice in public K-12 schools, you go through the Louisiana Department of Education and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). As of January 1, 2025, the rule is simple: a school psychologist who holds the Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential is considered certified by BESE. The old Standard Level A (doctoral) and Level B (specialist) ancillary certificates still exist for renewal, but the current path for new graduates is the NCSP.

Here is the step-by-step. First, finish a NASP-approved program officially titled School Psychology, at the specialist level (at least 60 graduate semester hours) or doctoral level. Second, complete the supervised practicum sequence and a 1,200-hour internship with at least 600 hours in a school, the NASP standard that both Louisiana SSP programs build in. Third, pass the Praxis School Psychologist exam (#5403) with a score of at least 155. Fourth, apply to NASP for the NCSP and submit your transcript, internship verification, and Praxis score. Fifth, certify through the Louisiana Educator Certification (LEC) portal on Teach Louisiana. If you trained out of state without the NCSP, Louisiana also issues a Provisional Certificate that lets you work for up to a year while you finish an internship, and a Standard Certificate for completed out-of-state preparation that the Bureau of Higher Education and Teacher Certification judges to meet Louisiana standards.

The second door is private practice. To see clients outside the school system, you license through the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP). LSBEP issues a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology for specialist-level practitioners and a doctoral Licensed Psychologist credential, the latter requiring a doctoral degree, roughly 4,000 hours of supervised experience, and the EPPP. Most school psychologists in Louisiana hold the school certification and never need an LSBEP license. You pursue it only if you want to practice independently.

Be honest with yourself about the money. Louisiana pays school psychologists a median of $69,020, well under the $95,990 national median in the BLS May 2025 data. That is about 28% below the national figure, and it is the single biggest tradeoff of training and working here. The bottom 10% of Louisiana school psychologists earn around $58,260, and the top 10% reach about $100,940, so the ceiling is lower than in high-cost states. The number that softens this is cost of living: Louisiana housing and day-to-day expenses run meaningfully below the national average, which stretches that salary further than the headline suggests. It does not fully close the gap, but it changes the math.

Where you work inside the state matters too. The New Orleans-Metairie metro is the high end at a $86,630 median, with the top 10% there clearing $130,450. Monroe ($80,660) and Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux ($74,460, the Nicholls State backyard) also beat the statewide median. Baton Rouge sits at $68,030, Lake Charles at $69,020, and Shreveport-Bossier City at the low end at $62,000 (the LSUS home metro). For comparison, Louisiana clinical and counseling psychologists (BLS 19-3033) earn a $71,330 median, so school psychology and clinical practice pay roughly the same in this state. If you can be flexible about which metro you land in, that flexibility is worth real money here.

With only three NASP-approved programs in Louisiana, the decision comes down to degree level, location, and cost more than anything else. Here is how the programs sort out.