Volume_7_Issue_1_Digest

11 TPC Digest Read full article and references: Merlin, C., Pagano, T., George, A., Zanone, C., & Newman, B. (2017). Moving beyond debate: Support for CACREP’s standard requiring 60 credit hours for school counseling programs. The Professional Counselor , 7, 76–88. doi : 10.15241/cm.7.1.76 11 | TPC Digest Clare Merlin, Timothy Pagano, Amanda George, Cassandra Zanone, Benjamin Newman Moving Beyond Debate Support for CACREP’s Standard Requiring 60 Credit Hours for School Counseling Programs I n 2015, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) released its 2016 standards. These revised standards include a new requirement that school counseling master’s programs have a minimum of 60 credit hours by the year 2020. In previous standards, school counseling programs were required to have a minimum of only 48 credit hours. This credit hour increase yielded considerable debate in counselor education. Proponents of the standard asserted that it is important to align school counseling credit hour requirements with those of other counseling programs. Standard opponents voiced concern over the financial and logistical burdens that will emerge. In this article, we conclude that increasing school counseling programs to 60 credit hours will lead to positive or neutral outcomes for those programs. The increased credit hour requirement also will positively benefit the field of school counseling as a whole. These assertions are supported by three points. First, we examined past examples of credit hour increases in counseling and related fields. Although previous credit hour increases in CACREP standards have caused debate, research on the changes do not indicate any significant negative outcomes. Second, we collected and analyzed pilot study data from CACREP-accredited school counseling master’s programs that previously transitioned to 60 credit hours. This data included quantitative admissions and job placement data, as well as participants’ open-ended feedback regarding perceived effects from increasing credit hours. Findings indicated that for the pilot study participants (N = 22), the credit hour increase led to either neutral or positive outcomes regarding admissions quality, admissions quantity and graduate job placement rates. Lastly, we noted anticipated benefits to the field of school counseling because of an increased credit hour requirement. For example, numerous researchers have called for additional school counseling coursework on topics like delivering school counseling core curricula, professional identity issues, and Response to Intervention training. As current school counseling programs with less than 60 credit hours look to increase their credits to 60 by 2020, these topics may be relevant ones to include in new courses in order to better prepare school counselors-in-training. The increased credit hour requirement also may benefit the field of school counseling by aligning it with the requirements of other counseling specialties, thus symbolizing that school counselors are as well-prepared as their colleagues in clinical mental health counseling and other disciplines. Overall, counselor educators are wise to consider the implications of any new accreditation standard for their own programs. At present though, no evidence suggests that CACREP’s credit hour requirement for school counseling programs will lead to widespread negative outcomes for school counseling programs. Future research on credit hour increases and admissions trends in counselor education will prove valuable in understanding this topic. Clare Merlin, NCC, is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Timothy Pagano, NCC, is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Dakota. Amanda George, NCC, is a Professional School Counselor for Loudon County Public Schools in Sterling, VA. Cassandra Zanone, NCC, is a J.D. candidate at the University of California at Los Angeles. Benjamin Newman, NCC, is a doctoral student at the College of William and Mary. Correspondence can be addressed to Clare Merlin, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28223, cmerlin1@uncc.edu .