The "Vail Conference" of Graduate Educators endorsed the PsyD program from clinical training in 1973. By 1974, the APA had also endorsed the program. Twenty-eight years later, the PsyD degree is offered at more than 50 schools, conferring 700 degrees each year.
Do not be misled, however, the PsyD degree does support the clinician as a researcher, and does require a dissertation-like project. (In the case of my school, it is called a Clinical Research Project.) While other opportunities for research abound, there are not standard assistantships of the sort often provided by PhD programs.
