Points for Sharing

Points for Sharing

 

  • CACREP standards have been officially recognized for over 30 years and have been revised regularly over the years to accurately reflect current professional preparation standards and to better protect the public.

 

  • The Institute of Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public, recognizes CACREP as the accrediting body for counselor education.

 

  • The Veterans Administration recognizes licensed professional counselors who graduated from a CACREP-accredited program as approved providers.

 

  • Currently, 27 states specifically cite CACREP in their rules or regulations as meeting the educational requirements for licensure. Of the remaining 23 states, 15 require the CACREP core areas without specifically citing CACREP.

 

  • Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia require 60 graduate semester hours for the highest level of licensure and 3 more states will be adopting this in the next 1-3 years putting them in alignment with CACREP Standards for credit hours.

 

  • The ACA Governing Council passed resolutions formally recognizing CACREP as the accrediting body for Counselor Education programs and CORE as the accrediting body for Rehabilitation Counseling programs.

 

  • CACREP Standards are outcome based requiring that programs measure and evaluate student learning outcomes.

 

  • CACREP Standards require faculty members to engage in continuous systematic program evaluation indicating how the mission, objectives, and student learning outcomes are measured and met.

 

  • The Masters in Counseling Accreditation Council (MCAC) is a branch of the Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC). It is not currently recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

 

  • MCAC aims to accredit programs with faculty who may or may not identify with the counseling profession.

 

  • MCAC plans to lobby counselor licensure boards to license graduates of their programs as counselors even though they may not have been taught by faculty who identify themselves as counselors and even though the graduates may not identify with the counseling profession.

 

  • CACREP Standards accredit counseling programs that are taught by faculty members and supervisors with counselor identities and who prepare students to become professional counselors with counselor identities.