Master of Arts - School Counseling

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Program Description The School Counseling program at Northeastern Illinois University prepares students for employment as school counselors in elementary, middle and high schools. Students completing the master's degree in school counseling will meet the educational requirements for the Professional Educator License (PEL) in Illinois with an endorsement as a School Counselor, Pre K-Age 21. The degree also meets the educational requirements for licensure in Illinois as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). The School Counseling program is nationally accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The School Counseling program emphasizes a developmental counseling approach integrating the philosophy and standards of the American School Counselor Association's (ASCA) National Model, the Developmental Counseling Model for Illinois schools, the Illinois State Standards for School Counselors, and (CACREP). Learning Outcomes The School Counseling program trains counselors to work as school counselors who will be knowledgeable of, and demonstrate skills in the following: Common core, integrated understanding of theory and practice for all professional counselors: professional orientation and identity; human growth and development; counseling theories; assessment; helping relationship and individual counseling; group counseling; research and program evaluation; career development; social and cultural diversity; and ethical and legal practice. History, future issues and trends, and professional identity development of school counseling. Roles and functions of school counselors in grades Pre K-12 within the context of the comprehensive developmental school counseling models proposed and/or mandated by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), Illinois Developmental Counseling Model, ASCA National Model, and CACREP. School counselor roles of leadership, advocacy, teaming and collaboration, counseling and coordination, and assessment and use of data. Delivery of services to students, parents, school staff, and community in the following areas: (a) individual student planning; (b) responsive services (e.g., individual, crisis, and group counseling); (c) indirect student services (e.g., consultation, collaboration, referrals); and (d) school counseling core curriculum (e.g., structured lessons, psychoeducation). Professional issues dealing with ethics and the law in school counseling. Understanding larger sociocultural factors impacting the academic, career, educational, and personal/social development of diverse students in Pre K-12 settings, and effective strategies for building coordinated, systemic, school-based interventions.