Fall 2016 CACREP Connection

Council for Accreditation and Counseling

orange checkmarkChair’s Report

Dear Colleagues,


Even a cursory review of CACREP’s online directory reveals hundreds of programs housed in public and private institutions. While many institutions offer traditional “brick and mortar” counseling programs, an increasing number of institutions host online programs, hybrid programs, and/or programs housed at multiple campuses. We’re seeing widespread innovation in program delivery and curriculum, with new models of counselor education emerging each year. There are multiple facets contributing to the rapid changes we are seeing in counselor education, including advances in technology, changes in the economics of higher education, and major shifts in the expectations of degree-seeking students; not to mention increasing state and federal requirements around graduation from accredited programs!One benefit of serving on the CACREP Board of Directors is that I get the opportunity to review master’s and doctoral counseling programs from across the country. Participating in this review process is a great way to see how other programs operate; offering a perspective on our profession that I lacked prior to my time with CACREP. I am continually appreciative of the quality, creativity, and diversity evidenced in the programs reviewed. Each program brings with it a specific mission and vision for training counselors and/or counselor educators, and each program implements the CACREP Standards in ways that speak to uniqueness and diversity. All of this is accomplished while maintaining academic rigor and instilling in students a clear sense of what it means to be a professional counselor.

For CACREP, rapid change and innovation is exciting…and challenging! It’s exciting to see programs leverage new delivery methods and technologies, offering counselor education to increasingly diverse populations — and growing the profession in the process! However, as programs identify new methods for delivering counselor education, the CACREP Board is often challenged to evaluate and re-evaluate traditional conceptions of higher education.

A few examples of questions we face:

  • “What is the role of faculty in counselor education? Particularly in cases where programs implement program advisors, success coaches, instructional design teams, etc…that parse out traditional faculty roles into multiple areas of responsibility.”
  • “What are the profession’s expectations around residency? How much direct contact should students have with faculty? How do changes in residency impact mentoring opportunities with faculty and the development of counselor identity in students?”
  • “What role should prior learning assessments and competency-based learning have in counselor education?”

Challenging as some of these questions may be, I am optimistic about the future of counseling and counselor education. Why? Because these questions speak to a profession that is vibrant and growing. I would be far more concerned if we weren’t challenging ourselves and adapting to changes in higher education or if we lacked the kind of diversity in our programs necessary to build the profession. Our willingness to innovate and be different give us strength.

It is a great time to be a counselor and a counselor educator!

Warmest Regards,

Jeff Parsons' signature

Jeff Parsons

Fall 2016

IN THIS ISSUE…

Chair’s Report

Accreditation Decisions

Board Openings

Regional ACES Meetings

Mini Manuals Are Available

CACREP News

Essay Contest

NBCC News

Site Visitor Corner

ACCREDITATION DECISIONS

The CACREP Board met in Denver in July 2016 to make accreditation decisions.

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Accreditation Decisions

The CACREP Board met in Denver in July 2016 to make accreditation decisions.
Read more >>

Board Openings

CACREP is accepting applications for two Counselor Educator positions and one Practitioner position on the Board of Directors.
Read more >>

Regional ACES Meetings

CACREP will be providing two sessions at all Regional ACES meetings in Fall 2016, one on the 2016 Standards and one on Assessment under the 2016 Standards.
Details of dates and times >>

Mini Manuals Are Available

Instead of publishing a hard copy Accreditation Manual for the 2016 Standards, we have created a series of Mini Manuals that can be downloaded and printed. These Mini Manuals go through the stages of accreditation, including Policies and Guiding Statements relevant to each stage. They can be found under the Programs Menu Tab, here.

CRIGS APPLICATION

The CACREP Research Initiative for Graduate Students (CRIGS) is accepting application for the 2017 CRIGS Fellowships. CRIGS fellow work closely with each other and CACREP staff to plan, conduct and present studies that support CACREP’s research agenda. The program is open to any master’s or doctoral level student enrolled in a CACREP program, and the deadline is November 15, 2016.
Details and Application >>

FACULTY RFP

The 2017 Faculty RFP is available. Funds of $1500 are available for faculty research that supports CACEP’s research agenda. The deadline is December 5, 2016.
Details and Application >>

SAVE THE DATE

CACREP Advocacy Week will be February 20-24, 2017.

CACREP and Chi Sigma Iota Sponsor Essay Contest

The third annual CACREP/CSI Essay contest is underway! This year’s theme is “Wellness Leadership in Organizations.” The contest is open to CSI Members who are students, professional counselors, or counselor educators.
See details >>

Congratulations to last year’s winners, Halima Dargan and Tanisha Johnson. To inspire you, read their winning essay from last year’s contest.

NBCC NEWS

2017 Scholarships and Fellowships

The NBCC Foundation is pleased to announce the 2017 application period for the National Board for Certified Counselors Minority Fellowship Program (NBCC MFP) and the NBCC Foundation military and rural scholarships. More than 100 doctoral- and master’s-level counseling scholarships and fellowships are available, ranging from $5,000 up to $20,000.

The application period will open September 1, 2016, and will close October 31, 2016.

SITE VISITOR CORNER

Resources

The following resources are available for CACREP Site Team Visitors and Programs on the CACREP website. Keep an eye out in future newsletters for information about additional resources as they get posted.

Recording of July 2016 Online Team Member/Team Chair Update Session
Note: Contact CACREP Office for Access Code to Recording

Guiding Principles for the 2016 Faculty Standards

Guiding Principles for Program Evaluation and Student Assessment

Team Member and Team Chair Handbooks

Reminders

Team Report/Recommendation

  • Please provide a context for your findings in the team recommendation
  • Please include a final version of the visit agenda that reflects the actual events/meetings/interviews and where things occurred, when submitting the report
    • Periodically draft versions with tentative meetings indicated or editorial comments included are submitted initially
  • Please be sure to address multiple sites elements in the agenda (i.e., what sites were reviewed and included) and in the report (e.g., if a citation applies to one or more particular sites)
    • Carefully attend to the Multiple Sites Policy when reviewing multiple sites programs
    • All sites must be reviewed
  • Ideally provide some context for why a standard is indicated as not met
    • For example, what did you see to indicate standard is not met
    • Base requirements on the standard

Additional Consideration

It can be helpful when making requests for information to give an indicator such as, “There is a lot of information in the self-study so we may have forgotten where a piece of information is or couldn’t locate – if you are sure it’s in there if you could just help us locate it that would be helpful; otherwise if you could please provide a, b, c…”

As always, thank you for all you do in support of the CACREP accreditation process!