School Counselor Education

The School Counselor Education programs of study prepare school counselors to be leaders in creating and maintaining learning communities that empower all K-12 students to excel and create meaningful, productive, and satisfying futures.  School counselor graduate students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become leaders in their schools and advocates for all K-12 students.  Training is provided to help all school counseling candidates become multiculturally competent, advocates for social justice and equity in education, and able to implement evidence-based, national professional school counseling standards and models of practice.

Click here for more information about our M.Ed. and CAGS training programs in School Counseling.

Program Highlights

The following information describes our M.Ed. and CAGS professional school counselor training programs.

• Collaboration. Candidates learn in an environment emphasizing collaboration within the school and between school, home, and the community.  We collaborate with, support, and follow national training standards and innovative initiatives (e.g., the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the American School Counselor Association’s National Model and National Standards, and the Massachusetts Department of Education).
• Reflective Practice. Becoming an effective professional school counselor requires candidates to explore and transform their own knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Reflective and intentional practice ensures that school counseling interventions and programs are supporting the development and success of all students in schools. Candidates use an electronic portfolio system to reflect on their growth and development across the key transition stages of their program of study.
• Multiple Ways of Knowing.  Candidates develop competency in mixed methods investigation strategies (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, and action research).
• Access, Equity and Fairness.  Effective professional school counselors need to be proactive and advocate for all students by paying close attention to both social justice and diversity issues.  Through close collaboration with our Social Justice Education Program in SDPPS, school counseling candidates develop requisite knowledge, dispositions, and skills.
• Evidence-Based Practice.  School counseling students learn empirically supported intervention strategies by learning from faculty who are research leaders in the field and utilizing all of the resources made available through our nationally and internationally recognized Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR).

Required Courses

In order to graduate, students in the School Counseling program (M.Ed.) must complete a minimum of 48 credit hours.  Students are required to take the following courses (unless otherwise noted, all courses are three credit hours):

Course #                      Course Title

EDUC 570              Professional Orientation to School Counseling
EDUC 605              Evidence-Based School Counseling Practice
EDUC 606              Interventions and Consultation with Families and Schools
EDUC 607              Career Development Education, and Placement in Schools
EDUC 631              Laboratory in Developmental Counseling/Theory
EDUC 639              School Counseling Curriculum: Development and Implementation
EDUC 688              Multicultural Counseling in Schools
EDUC 886              Group Counseling in the Schools
EDUC 560              Issues and Practices in Special Education
EDUC 632              Principles of Educational and Psychological Testing
EDUC 673              Advanced Child Development
EDUC 670              Human Development in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
EDUC 698              Pre Practicum
EDUC 701              Practicum (total of 9 to 12 credits over 2 semesters)

Students earning a CAGS degree pass an additional 15 credits (63 Total Credits).  Students work with their faculty advisors to choose courses that meet state and national licensure standards, as well as the professional development goals of each candidate.

Contact Information

For more information about our School Counselor Education programs, please contact:

Coordinator: Rich Lapan, (Professor, Program Coordinator, and Department Chair)
(413) 545-2231
Email:

Associated Faculty

John C. Carey (Professor), Catherine L. Dimmitt (Assistant Professor)