2024 Standards Glossary

The terms listed here are used in the standards and have contextual meaning in relation to them. The Glossary does not provide definitions for terms and concepts used in counseling and counselor education.

Academic quality indicators	Outcomes that the faculty have chosen to demonstrate the program’s achievement of its critical functions and purposes. Indicators are used to evaluate program objectives. Faculty determine minimum thresholds.
Academic term	The institutionally defined unit of time of course delivery (e.g., quarter, semester).
Affiliate faculty	See Faculty.
CACREP specialized practice area(s)	In the context of these standards, CACREP specialized practice areas are those delineated in Section 5.
Community partners	Individuals and organizations who employ, consult, or otherwise engage with a program and/or its graduates.
Continuous and systematic efforts	Efforts that occur in a regular, ongoing, and planned manner.
Core counselor education faculty	See Faculty.
Counselor education	A distinct academic discipline that has its roots in educational and vocational guidance and counseling, human development, supervision, and clinical practice. The primary focus of counselor education programs is the training and preparation of professional counselors who are competent to practice, abide by the ethics of the counseling profession, and hold strong professional counselor identities. At the doctoral level, counselor education programs may focus on the preparation and training of future academic professionals who will teach the curriculum of counseling theory and practice and include specialized practice areas.
Counselor education program	The academic department or specifically defined subsection of a department identified and defined in a college or university that has programmatic and operational responsibility for curricular and field experiences for which accreditation is sought. A counselor education program includes allocated faculty and resources.
Course credit hours	The number of credit hours of the course, not the number of student credit hours generated by the course.
Cultural identity	A person’s intersectional identities that may be defined by but are not limited to the following: age and generational status, disability status, race, ethnicity, gender/gender identity, affective/relational/sexual identity, religion and spirituality, social class, national origin, language, migration status, and veteran status.
Culturally sustaining	Inclusive practices that preserve, support, and affirm a person’s diverse heritage, values, language, and cultural identities.
Direct service	Supervised use of counseling, consultation, or related professional skills with actual clients (individuals, couples, families, or groups) for the purpose of fostering social, cognitive, behavioral, and/or affective change. These activities must involve interaction with others and may include: (1) assessment, (2) counseling, (3) psycho-educational activities, and (4) consultation. The following would not be considered direct service: (1) observing others providing counseling or related services, (2) record keeping, (3) administrative duties, (4) clinical and/or administrative supervision, and (5) role plays.
Diversity	All aspects of intersectional and cultural group identity, including age and generational status, disability status, race, ethnicity, gender/gender identity, affective/relational/sexual identity, religion and spirituality, social class, national origin and language, migration status, and veteran status, among others.
Entry-level	In the context of these standards, entry-level refers to a minimum of a master’s degree program.
Evidence-based	The use and application of the best available current research to inform decision-making and practice.
Faculty	Affiliate faculty: Any faculty teaching in the counselor education program who do not meet the criteria for the core counselor education faculty designation. The affiliate faculty designation can include full-time faculty in the counseling program, full-time faculty at the institution but not in the counseling program, part-time faculty, and adjunct faculty. Core counselor education faculty: Faculty employed by the institution and who hold a full-time academic appointment in the counselor education program for at least the current academic year and meet the criteria for core faculty as delineated in Standards 1.Y and 1.Z. Faculty members may be designated as core faculty at only one institution regardless of the number of institutions at which they teach classes.
Formative and summative evaluations	Formative evaluation examines the development of professional competencies with a focus on identifying strengths and deficiencies and corresponding learning interventions. Summative evaluation focuses on outcomes and is used to assess whether desired learning goals are achieved consistently with a professional standard.
Group supervision	See Supervision.
Individual supervision	See Supervision.
Institutional media	Publicly available digital and print sources that provide information about the institution and the counselor education program(s).
Internship	A distinctly defined entry-level, post-practicum, supervised fieldwork experience in which the student refines and enhances basic counseling or student development knowledge and skills and integrates professional knowledge and skills.
Key performance indicators (KPIs)	Student learning outcomes that are connected to the required curriculum and that program faculty have chosen to represent student knowledge and skills related to program objectives.
Live supervision	See Supervision.
Marginalized populations	Individuals or groups who were historically and/or are currently underserved or experiencing discrimination. Identification may be based on but is not limited to any of the following: age, generational status, body size, disability status, race, ethnicity, gender/gender identity, affective/relational/sexual identity, religion and spirituality, social class, national origin and language, migration status, and veteran status.
Multiple measures	The use of two or more different types of measures per assessment area.
Multiple points	Data collected at two or more points in at least two academic terms throughout students’ program of study.
Practicum	A distinctly defined entry-level, supervised fieldwork experience in which the student develops basic counseling skills and integrates professional knowledge. The practicum is completed prior to internship.
Professional counseling organizations	Organizations whose primary mission is to advocate for and to provide counseling development, support, and/or recognition for professional counselors across the specialized practice areas.
Professional dispositions	The commitments, characteristics, values, beliefs, and behaviors that influence the counselor’s professional growth and interactions with clients, faculty, supervisors, and peers, including working in a diverse, multicultural, and global society with marginalized populations.
Program delivery type(s)	Programs may deliver curriculum in-person synchronous, digitally asynchronous and/or digitally synchronous.
Program evaluation	The review and interpretation of information that has been gathered from and about individuals, programs, or processes that lead to decisions and future actions. Evaluation refers to the method and process of determining and judging overall program effectiveness using the assessment and other data that has been gathered to review the program and implement improvements based on the results.
Qualifying assessment	An activity or culminating experience that is used to determine students’ readiness to move to an advanced experience in the curriculum or advance to candidacy in a doctoral program.
Service delivery modalities	The ways in which counseling services may be provided (e.g., in-person or by distance using technology)
Student assessment	The systematic gathering of information for decision-making about individuals, groups, programs, or processes. Assessment is the measurement of an individual student’s level of attainment of knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Student assessment is distinct from program evaluation that includes aggregating the individual student data into the overall student assessment data used in the process of program evaluation.
Supervision	Group supervision: A tutorial and mentoring relationship between a member of the counseling profession and more than two counseling students. Individual supervision: A tutorial and mentoring relationship between a member of the counseling profession and one counseling student. Live supervision: Direct observation of the counseling session with in-vivo communication from the supervisor influencing the work of the supervisee during the session. Triadic supervision: A tutorial and mentoring relationship between a member of the counseling profession and two counseling students.
Sustained	Maintained or occurring consistently over an extended period of time.
Systematic	In a regular, planned, and comprehensive manner.
Thresholds	Minimum performance outcomes for acceptable results associated with program performance, including student achievement, consistent with program mission and objectives.
Triadic supervision	See Supervision.
Underrepresented	Within the context of the program’s mission, a student or faculty subset that holds a smaller percentage within the counselor education program than it does in the communities served.

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