School Counseling - Master of Arts Degree in Education

The program is designed to prepare school counselors to meet the needs of a diverse population at all developmental stages and its main emphasis is preparing school counselors to work with poor and minority youth. The program has integrated multicultural and gender information at all levels of training and education and fulfills all of Connecticut's requirements for certification as a school counselor. The program emphasizes integration of theory and research and subscribes to the American School Counseling Association's (ACSA) National Model for School Counselors.

This program is designed to prepare highly skilled and qualified school counselors to practice in school settings. It emphasizes self-understanding and self-development through individual and small group activities and stresses an ecological, multi -system intervention perspective to promote effective interventions in a school setting at the elementary, middle, or high school levels. Counseling in the schools denotes a professional relationship that involves a trained school counselor, a student, and significant others: parents, siblings, peers, and teachers/administrators in the student's life. The focus of such relationships is personal development and decision-making based on self-understanding and knowledge of the environment. Services provided by school counselors are comprehensive and developmental in nature. The school counselor possesses knowledge and skills that enable delivery of an effective program that includes attention to cultural diversity and special needs of children.

The program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the State of Connecticut and it provides knowledge and skills that can lead to national certification as a professional counselor by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and/or licensure as a professional counselor (LPC) in the states that currently license professional counselors.