Master of Education in Counseling Psychology
School Counseling Track
The Ed.M. in school counseling provides students with the necessary coursework and training to obtain the school counselor certification in New York State. Our program is dedicated to the preparation of professionals who 1) facilitate the optimal development of individuals, groups, and organizations through 2) strategies of prevention, intervention, and remediation that are 3) culturally-relevant and psychologically-appropriate across the lifespan.
Program Highlights
In-depth infusion of racial-cultural and social justice emphases throughout program components. Although our curriculum features certain courses with words like "multicultural" in the titles, our multicultural-social justice instruction does not reside in just those courses. Rather, we conceptualize every course and program experience within the context of a social justice and racial-cultural framework. Not only is this orientation consonant with our belief that socially-just practice is ethical, effective practice, it also allows us to align our work with broader movement toward social equity.
A commitment to the crucial role of experiential training and self-awareness within the best counselor preparation. As a counselor or therapist, the instrument that you use to enact your professional work is you -- so the more aware you are of your own interpersonal style, skills, and biases, the more effectively you can use your instrument. Many students find that some of the most important, challenging, and transformational aspects of their TC training results from courses like Foundations, Group Counseling, and Racial-Cultural Counseling Lab, where students learn about themselves as they learn about the practice of counseling.
Research exposure and opportunities. As a license-eligible Ed.M. program, our first priority is to train caring, ethical, effective practitioners -- yet, at Teachers College, you have the opportunity to get first-rate practitioner preparation in the context of first-rate scholarship. Our faculty includes researchers whose work has shaped the counseling profession, and every faculty member maintains ongoing research teams to which students at any level of training may apply. To find out more about our faculty's research interests, please consult their individual pages on the TC website.
Our students are prepared to work in a variety of settings, including those emphasize education (e.g., schools, colleges, and universities) . Graduates will be able to apply their skills in clinical practice, administration, assessment, and research as well as to produce knowledge, to be leaders in policy development and implementation, and to work in independent practice.
With the help of a faculty advisor, students register for required and elective courses relevant to their needs and career objectives. Depending on their areas of interest and levels of training, graduates have found employment in colleges, adult education centers, hospitals, clinics, health centers, and community and government agencies. Many of our students also go on to study at the doctoral level.
To learn more about licensure requirements, please visit the New York State Education Department's Office of the Professions. If you are interested in eventually obtaining licensure in another state, you will need to research that state's requirements. View our Mental Health Counseling Program Data.
Admissions Information
Displaying requirements for the Spring 2024, Summer 2024, and Fall 2024 terms.
Master of Education
- Points/Credits: 60
- Entry Terms: Fall Only
Certification
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- School Counselor
Application Deadlines
- Spring: N/A
- Summer/Fall (Priority): January 15
- Summer/Fall (Final): April 1
* The final deadline for this program has been extended to May 1, 2024*
Supplemental Application Requirements/Comments
- Online Degree Application, including Statement of Purpose and Resume
- Transcripts and/or Course-by-Course Evaluations for all Undergraduate/Graduate Coursework Completed
- Results from an accepted English Proficiency Exam (if applicable)
- $75 Application Fee
- Two (2) Letters of Recommendation
- Application Supplement (included in online application)
Requirements from the TC Catalog (AY 2023-2024)
Displaying catalog information for the Fall 2023, Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 terms.
The Ed.M. in School Counselor is granted after successful completion of a comprehensive examination, a special project, and 60 points of planned, sequential study beyond the bachelor’s degree, of which at least 42 points must be taken at Teachers College. Approval of transfer credits to the Ed.M. program must be conducted upon admission into the program; transfer credits will not be accepted thereafter. The Ed.M. degree could lead to the doctorate at Teachers College and elsewhere but usually with some loss of time and credits because of differences in emphases between master’s and doctoral programs. Students who apply to the program during or after taking classes at Teachers College as a non-matriculated student can transfer up to 12 points if accepted as a matriculated degree student. Students who complete the Ed.M. degree are also welcome to apply for the M.A. en passant degree in Psychological Counseling which is earned with a minimum of 32 points along with the successful completion of the Comprehensive Examination. Additional information may be found in the School Counseling Program Handbook.
School counseling is one of several areas of specialization within the Ed.M. program in Psychological Counseling (COUS). It is a specialty that allows students to develop appropriate skills to deliver services that are specific to school settings, in addition to learning the essential functions generally found in the counseling profession. A graduate of this specialization is eligible for certification as a School Counselor in New York State after completing the program, including a series of specified courses. Consult the School Counseling Program Handbook for more information about the School Counselor specialization..
All students in the School Counseling Ed.M. degree program must take specific required courses in the following content areas:
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Human growth and development: HUDK 4022, Developmental psychology: Childhood (3); HUDK 4023, Developmental psychology: Adolescence (3); HUDK 4024, Developmental psychology: Adulthood and the lifespan (3); or HUDK 5029, Personality development and socialization across the lifespan (3)
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Social cultural foundations of counseling: CCPJ 4873, The Winter Roundtable on Cultural Psychology and Education(1), CCPJ 5164, Multicultural Counseling and Psychology and one of the following: CCPJ 5165, Racial-Cultural Counseling Laboratory (4); CCPJ 5020, Racism and Racial Identity in Psychology and Education () CCPJ 4050 Microaggressions in Institutional Climates (3); CCPJ 4180 LGBT (Q) Issues in Psychology (3);CCPJ 4070 Counseling Linguistically Diverse Populations: Latina/o Psychology (3); CCPJ 4068 Counseling and Gender (3); Reconstructing Gender: Exploring Transgender Experiences (3) or IND 5020 Participatory Methods(3). Counseling theory and practice: CCPJ 4064, Theories of counseling (3) and CCPJ 5371,Foundations of counseling (3)
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Psychopathology: CCPJ 4000, Multicultural psychopathology (3) or CCPX 5034, Child psychopathology (3)
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Group counseling: CCPJ 5025, Group counseling (3)
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Fundamentals of School Counseling: CCPJ 4160 School Counseling for Children and Adolescents (3) and CCPJ 4170 College Admissions Counseling For School Counselors
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Lifestyle and career development: CCPJ 5062, Career counseling and development (3)
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Assessment and appraisal: CCPJ 5060, Assessment in counseling psychology (3), and one of the following: HUDM 5059, Psychological measurement (3); HUDM 4050, Introduction to measurement (3); CCPJ 4066, Foundations of testing and accountability (3) or or HUDM 4120 Basic Concepts of Statistics (3)
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Research and program evaluation:
CCPJ 5070 Evaluation and research methods in counseling psychology (3) -
Professional orientation and ethics: CCPJ 4560, Professional and ethical issues in psychological counseling (3)
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Foundations of mental health counseling and consultation: CCPJ 5371, Foundations of counseling (3) (also listed under Counseling Theory and Practice) and CCPJ 4165, Consultation in community agencies and resources (3)
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Clinical instruction: CCPJ 5360, Practicum in career and personal counseling (1)
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One year of supervised fieldwork: CCPJ 5263, Supervised fieldwork in elementary school counseling (6 points total spread over two or three semesters); or CCPJ 5265, Supervised fieldwork in secondary school counseling (6 points total spread over two or three semesters).
School counselor students (COUS) also are also required to:
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Complete two workshops, one on school violence prevention and one on child abuse reporting. The workshops can be found online at http://www.violenceworkshop.com and www.childabuseworkshop.com
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Complete a special project in addition to the 60 points of coursework. Students should plan to complete their project in the same semester that they apply for the Ed.M. degree.
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Complete the comprehensive exam, which is a mandatory requirement for obtaining the en passant M.A. and the Ed.M., is generally taken in the semester in which 45 credits are completed.
Required courses often are during the day , so it might be difficult for some students to attend on a part-time basis and complete the program; however, it should be noted that at times, required courses may be offered during the evening and students must be prepared to make needed accommodations. Full-time students generally complete the program in about five semesters. The length of program completion for part-time students varies with the number of points in which they enroll each semester.
In addition to required core courses, students will be expected to select electives from the various areas of psychology and other appropriate disciplines that will provide breadth and depth to their preparation as counselors. Consult the School Counseling Handbook for further information on elective coursework .
New York State Education Department (NYSED) mandates teacher and counselor certification requirements that are needed for program completion and graduation which are listed in the Office of Teacher Education section of the catalog.