Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies: School Counseling

The Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) program in School Counseling provides the skills and resources to support graduate students in developing competency in the myriad roles of a professional school counselor. The program is designed for individuals who currently hold a master’s degree in Counseling or a related area. Through successful completion of required coursework, including fieldwork and internship, participants will be prepared to serve as School Counselors, Pre-K-12. The curriculum addresses the standards for School Counselors in VT as well as the standards from the American School Counselor Association. Students will demonstrate appropriate content knowledge, professional responsibility, and the practical application of interpersonal skills within School Counseling. Students are expected to maintain professional membership with the Vermont School Counselor Association and the American School Counselor Association. A plan of study will be developed for each student based on review of transcript.

Program Objectives

1. Knowledge: Use academic study to develop content area knowledge in the common core areas in school counselor education, as well as for specializations in clinical mental health and substance use disorder counseling.

This includes counseling and helping relationships; history of and orientation to the counseling profession; ethical practice; social and cultural diversity; human growth and development; group counseling; diagnosis, assessment and testing, and research and program evaluation.

2. Counselor Disposition: Demonstrate, in the classroom and in field placements, growth towards a counselor disposition grounded in a strengths-based, person-centered, wellness and recovery-oriented and ethical approach.

This includes empathy, respect, genuineness, acceptance, openness, and professional behavior.

3. Counseling Skills & Practice: Demonstrate, in the classroom and in field placements professional counseling practice, grounded in culturally relevant, evidence-based and promising approaches.

This includes foundational counseling skills, teaming and collaboration, and state-of-the-art interventions in integrated mental health, health, and SUD counseling. (Evidence-based and promising approaches includes an understanding of the value of peer-run services and community-involvement and inclusion.)

4. Ethics: Develop a personal code of ethics, grounded in the ASCA codes, which reflects an understanding of diverse world views, cultural competence, equity and ethical practice.

This includes self-awareness, personal growth, self-care, supervision, and ethics related to the professional school counselor, research and academic honesty.

5. Leadership & Systems Change: Demonstrate ability to critically analyze information for purposes of program evaluation, advocacy, consultation, systems change and personal and organizational leadership.

Information includes: the research literature, data collected to evaluate personal practice and programs, first-person accounts, and client satisfaction.

Pre-Program Courses

The Program Director will conduct a transcript analysis of each applicant’s previous graduate-level coursework. The following courses are pre-requisites for qualification for licensure and endorsement and must be completed prior to enrolling in the CAGS School Counseling program. Uncompleted prerequisites can be completed along with the program coursework once matriculated. The student’s individual plan of study will list all required courses for CAGS program.

CSL 5010 Counseling Theories (L) (E)
CSL 5011 Career Counseling (L) (E)
CSL 5020 Counseling in Groups (L) (E)
CSL 5030 Lab Experience in Counseling I (L) .
CSL 5110 Counseling and Addictive Behaviors (L) (E)
CSL 5120 Family Counseling (L) (E)
CSL 5130 Psychopathology (L) (E)
CSL 5140 Legal and Ethical Issues in Counseling (L) (E)
CSL 5211 Lifespan Development (L) (E)
CSL 5212 Social & Cultural Foundations of Counseling (L) (E)

(L) = course required for Initial Licensure. (E) = courses required for endorsement in School Counseling for individuals who already possess an Educator’s License.

Coursework required for the program that was completed prior to one’s application must be within the five previous years at the time of application. An applicant may submit a written request to the Program Director for review of coursework completed more than 5 years before their application. Students must provide a course description, institution transcript, and course syllabus for review by the Program Director and the Graduate Committee.

The courses on the CAGS Plan of Study must be completed within 5 years of program entry.

CAGS: School Counseling Courses (27 credits minimum)

CSL 5220 - Comprehensive School Counseling Credit(s): 3
CSL 5810 - Fieldwork for School Counseling Credit(s): 3
CSL 6030 - Curriculum & Classroom Management for Counselors Credit(s): 3
CSL 6632 - Evaluation & Measurement Credit(s): 3
CSL 6110 - Counseling Children Credit(s): 3
CSL 6720 - Internship Seminar for School Counseling Credit(s): 1.5
(Take 2 semesters)
CSL 6820 - Internship for School Counseling Credit(s): 4.5
(Take 2 semesters)

Notes: The CAGS in School Counseling includes a Capstone Project: Either completion of the Vermont Licensure Portfolio (VLP) or, for participants who already possess a license, an Inquiry Project in CSL-6820.

Licensure Requirements

Participants who possess a master’s degree in Counseling or a related field, complete the prerequisite courses and all program courses with a grade of B- or higher, and all the requirements for licensure and an endorsement, may be eligible to apply for an Initial Educator’s License with an endorsement in School Counseling.

Participants must successfully complete the PRAXIS Core, or equivalent, the Vermont Licensure Portfolio (VLP) and all licensure policies outlined by the VSBPE and the academic requirements outlined in the graduate catalog and the CAGS plan of study.

Participants who already possess a VT Educator’s license may complete an Inquiry Project instead of the VLP and may be eligible to apply for an Additional Endorsement in School Counseling.