Educational Psychology
The Department of Educational Psychology, through academic programs and associated research centers and clinics, strives to enrich the community and extend its impact to the state and nation. Outstanding faculty mentor students to carry out high-quality research and training in areas including exceptionalities, learning and development, school psychology, and quantitative methods.
Areas of Study
Baylor’s ABA program prepares students to implement interventions to teach new skills and reduce problem behavior for people with disabilities including autism, Down Syndrome, and intellectual disability.
Educators trained in Gifted and Talented Education (GT) identify and serve exceptional students. Baylor offers programs at the undergraduate (supplemental GT certification) and graduate (master’s and PhD) levels.
With a shortage of professionals with quantitative skills, graduates have an advantage with Baylor’s PhD in quantitative methods, gaining strong and marketable expertise in quantitative research methods.
School psychology focuses on the science and practice of psychology with children and families, learners of all ages, and the schooling process. Baylor offers an EdS (60 hours) or PhD (110 hours).
Baylor’s special education program is guided by the belief that all children can learn if they are carefully taught. Baylor offers a BSEd leading to certification (early childhood – grade 12) and graduate degrees at master’s and PhD levels.
News
See More NewsBaylor’s Moody School of Education (SOE) recognized ten graduates as outstanding students at the annual Recognition Banquet on May 14, 2026. Graduating students were honored for their excellence in academics and fieldwork in education programs and for their readiness to impact the world. Along with Moody’s traditional awards, the School created a new award, the BearTEACH Impact Award for community service. Read all about these amazing graduates!
Dr. Grant Morgan ranks among the most influential researchers nationally and internationally, with work that advances both cutting-edge quantitative methods and real-world societal outcomes through extensive interdisciplinary collaboration. A professor of educational psychology and associate dean for research in the Moody School of Education, Dr. Morgan received the Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for Research. Dr. Morgan ranks in the top 2 percent of scholars worldwide for citations by other researchers, a key measure of scholarly influence.
Dr. Gospel Kim requires all her Baylor students—across every course from undergraduate to doctoral level— to work directly in community or school settings for field-based learning, applied projects, or research. She builds in these experiences because she believes taking theory into practice is essential to learning. That commitment and intentionality, along with superlative reviews from students and colleagues, earned her the 2026 Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for tenure-track teaching — the university’s sole such honor. Dr. Kim's work as an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology supports young children with developmental disabilities and their families.
Dr. Nicholas Benson, associate professor of educational psychology in Baylor University’s Moody School of Education and an expert in psychological and educational assessment tools, received the Outstanding Article of the Year Award from the journal School Psychology Review. Benson and two colleagues challenged the efficacy of Patterns of Strengths and Weaknesses (PSW), a widely used diagnostic method in schools, and determined it is no more likely to accurately identify specific learning disabilities (SLD) than chance.