School Counseling (P-12)

The School Counseling Program provides opportunities to develop essential competencies for School Counseling professionals within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The program is fully accredited through NCATE and has recently been restructured to comply with CACREP 2009 accreditation standards. This 48-hour program leads to the Master of Arts in Education degree and provisional certification for School Counselors in all grade levels, primary through grade twelve. All applicants for the School Counseling Program are required to submit GRE scores. Minimum scores are at least a Verbal + Quantitative total of 800 and an Analytical Writing score of at least 3.5. In addition, all applicants must document a minimum overall undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0. Admissions are competitive and these scores represent minimum acceptable scores. Applicants must also apply to the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs. For specific information on the steps in the application process see our admissions page. Applications for individuals not certified as teachers will be accepted for the school counseling program beginning in the fall of 2011.

The program commencing fall of 2011 ads additional courses related to the practice of School Counseling and extensive supervised experiences in school settings. The program complies with NCATE and CACREP accreditation curricular content standards and also with national models of School Counselor preparation. The School Counseling program in the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs at WKU is committed to training highly competent professional School Counselors. This challenging program is designed for individuals who want to develop a clear professional identity as a School Counselor.

The extensive supervised experiences required in the School Counseling program include a 100 hour practicum and a 600 hour internship. The School Counseling practicum and internship involve working in an elementary or secondary setting while receiving extensive supervision from site and faculty supervisors. While the practicum is completed in one semester, the internship takes place over two consecutive semesters and involves supervised counseling duties. These duties are those commonly performed by School Counselors and include individual counseling, group counseling, classroom guidance, advising, consulting, or testing. Students already working in a school will need to adjust their work schedule in order to acquire the necessary experiences. This may be accomplished by meeting with students/staff before or after typical work schedule, during planning periods or lunches, and it is often helpful to take personal days on occasion to get in-depth day-long internship experience. Some School Counseling interns have gone to a half day teaching schedule or have taken a leave of absence to accumulate the necessary hours. Each student’s situation is different, and talking with school administrators early in their program will help students plan a feasible situation. Often administration is supportive and will work with students if they can. Please contact a School Counseling faculty member for any questions about this requirement.