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Accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs

Accreditation of an academic program reflects the initiative of faculty, administration, and even students at an institution. Accreditation provides multiple benefits for these constituency groups, as well as for consumers, by establishing a professional curriculum and by attending to specific aspects of quality assurance and gatekeeping. Though no panacea, accreditation offers one means by which an institution, an academic program, and its graduates can verify to both public consumers and professional peers that a contemporary and quality program of study has been embraced and promoted.

Accreditation of most graduate-level academic programs is advanced through one of two routes, these being (a) institutional accreditation or (b) specialty accreditation. The former is quite common for academic settings, because it fosters a measure of uniformity and standardization among otherwise disparate academic programs. Institutional accreditation has a rather lengthy history of implementation and is well known to citizens as well as educators. Institutional accreditation is frequently awarded by one of the six regional accrediting bodies recognized by the United States Department of Education (e.g., Southern Accreditation for Colleges and Schools, North Central Accreditation for Colleges and Schools).

By contrast, specialized accreditation has a somewhat less established history than institutional accreditation. Specialized accreditation involves review of a smaller unit than an institution by professional peers advancing a curriculum peculiar to that discipline. Examples of specialized accreditation are noted in the accreditation practices of the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Psychological Association (APA). A significant aspect of specialized accreditation is its oversight by a voluntary rather than governmental body. Currently, such oversight is by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Recognition by and affiliation with CHEA is an endorsement of the specific nature of the educational process for a profession. Thus, CHEA recognition of the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) represents both rigor and uniqueness for the specialized accreditation of counselor training programs.

History of Counselor Accreditation

The establishment of CACREP in 1981 was primarily related to efforts from the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), both divisions of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA), the forerunner of the current American Counseling Association (ACA). This initiative from ACES was logical, because its membership was largely representative of counselor educators and supervisors involved in the development of new counselor practitioners in public school, higher education, and mental health sectors of the field. The 1973 document that propelled the accreditation movement was titled “Standards for Entry Preparation of Counselor and Other Personnel Services Specialists.” This effort reflected a consensus of opinion concerning both classroom and applied academic experiences necessary for the minimally prepared graduate of a counselor education program.

In its initial 1981 standards, CACREP established the three practice environments of School Counseling, College Student Personnel Counseling, and Community and Other Settings. Beginning in 1988, CACREP embarked on a different route of accreditation with the adoption of standards for the accreditation of graduate programs in mental health counseling. Subsequently, various other specialty tracks of accreditation were instituted, including college counseling; gerontological counseling; career counseling; marriage, couple, and family counseling and therapy; and student affairs.

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