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Welcome to the Educational Psychology Master's Degree Program at Penn State!

We offer two different master's degree programs. The M.S. program with thesis is primarily for students who will continue on through the doctoral program. The alternative without a thesis requirement is intended for students who plan to terminate their graduate study after obtaining an M.S. degree.

Learn about EDPSY M.S. Degree

Concentration can be in areas such as learning and instruction, measurement, motivation, program evaluation, and instructional psychology. All credits are minimum numbers unless otherwise noted. This degree does not meet all of the requirements for entering the doctoral degree program.

Requirements:
 

  1. Core Courses - 12 credits
    • EDPSY 406 - Applied Statistical Inference for the Behavioral Sciences - Students without a strong prior statistics background may be required to take EDPSY 400 to improve their foundation prior to taking EDPSY 406. (EDPSY 400 credits do not count toward any of the graduate degrees.)
    • EDPSY 421 - Learning Processes in Relation to Educational Practices
    • EDPSY 450 - (PSY) Principles of Measurement
    • EDPSY 475 - Introduction to Educational Research
  2. Required Courses - 3 credits
  • EDPSY 524 – Advanced Learning Theories
  1. Foundational Requirement - 3 credits
    • One course in the foundational area of: historical and philosophical foundations
  2. Areas of Concentration - 12 credits
    • These credits must be at a 500-level or higher, and they must define an area of specialization. Of these 12 credits, at least 6 must be in Educational Psychology and related to area of concentration
  3. Master’s Paper

TOTAL CREDITS 30 credits

Concentration can be in areas such as learning and instruction across the lifespan, measurement, motivation, program evaluation, and instructional psychology, with an introduction to doing research in the area of concentration. All credits are minimum numbers unless otherwise noted.The student must take exactly 6 credit hours and not more, of EDPSY 600 or 610.The Master of Science degree with thesis fulfills the master’s level prerequisites for the doctoral program.


Requirements:
 

  1. Core Courses - 12 credits
    • EDPSY 406[1] - Applied Statistical Inference for the Behavioral Sciences - Students without a strong prior statastics background may be required to take EDPSY 400 to improve their foundation prior to taking EDPSY 406. (EDPSY 400 credits do not count toward any of the graduate degrees.)
    • EDPSY 421 - Learning Processes in Relation to Educational Practices
    • EDPSY 450 – (PSY) Principles of Measurement
    • EDPSY 475 - Introduction to Educational Research
  2. Required Courses - 3 credits
    • EDPSY 524 – Advanced Learning Theories
  3. Foundational Requirement - 3 credits
    • One course in the following foundational of: historical and philosophical foundations.
  4. Areas of Concentration - 6 credits
    • These credits must be at a 500 level or higher and they must define an area of specialization. Of these 6 credits, at least 3 must be in Educational Psychology and related to area of concentration.
  5. Master’s Thesis - 6 credits - Students must take exactly 6 credits of either EDPSY 600 or 610.

TOTAL CREDITS 30 credits

Concentration can be in areas such as learning and instruction, measurement, motivation, program evaluation, and instructional psychology. All credits are minimum numbers unless otherwise noted.


Requirements:
 

  1. Core Courses - 12 credits
    • EDPSY 406[1] - Applied Statistical Inference for the Behavioral Sciences - Students without a strong prior statistics background may be required to take EDPSY 400 to improve their foundation prior to taking EDPSY 406. (EDPSY 400 credits do not count toward any of the graduate degrees.)
    • EDPSY 421 - Learning Processes in Relation to Educational Practices
    • EDPSY 450 – (PSY) Principles of Measurement
    • EDPSY 475 - Introduction to Educational Research
  2. Required Courses - 3 credits
    • EDPSY 524 – Advanced Learning Theories
  3. Foundational Requirement - 3 credits
    • One course in the foundational areas of historical and philosophical foundations
  4. Areas of Concentration - 12 credits
    • These credits must be at a 500-level or higher and they must define an area of specialization. Of these 12 credits, at least 6 must be in Educational Psychology and related to area of concentration
  5. Master’s Paper

TOTAL CREDITS 30 credits