Kutztown University, Counseling & Human Services Department of Counseling & Human Services College of Graduate Studies KU Home

The Master of Education Degree in Elementary School Counseling - Certification

Hours: 51
Thesis: None

The M.Ed. degree program in Elementary School Counseling is designed to develop those competencies necessary for an individual to function as a counselor in an elementary school setting. The program is structured to enable graduate students to develop personal awareness of self as a counselor, knowledge of counseling and educational concepts, and skills in counseling elementary school students. Included in this program is an emphasis on developing assessment and research skills and using research findings in school counseling.

This program consists of fifty-one (51) semester hours and a comprehensive examination. Upon successful completion of the degree program, the specialist certification is granted through the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Admission requires The Graduate Record Examination, an autobiography, and an interview. Applicants are notified of the date of the interview after ALL general admission requirements have been completed. All students accepted into this program must complete all requirements within eight (8) calendar years. Students will complete seventeen (17) courses, fifty-one (51) hours, in the following order. Upon completion of the program, students will have met the academic requirements to sit for the PRAXIS examination for the Pennsylvania Certification in Elementary School Counseling. (NOTE: This degree does not meet the academic requirements for the Pennsylvania Licensed Professional Counselor Examination.)

The following is the course of study for this program. Acceptable substitute courses are listed in parentheses. Advisor approval is necessary for ALL course substitutes.

Area I Professional Core in Counseling (15 hours)
COU 525 Professional Orientation and Ethics in the Elementary School
COU 530 Fundamentals of Counseling
COU 535 Career Counseling Issues Across the Life Span
COU 546 Group Processes (Prerequisite: COU 530) OR
CPY 540 Group Counseling and Psychotherapy
(Prerequisite: COU 530)
COU 548 Counseling Theories Seminar
(Prerequisite: COU 530)

Area II Cognate Area (18 hours)
AVC/LIB 525 Microcomputers for Educators
EDU 528 Education and the Culturally Different Student OR
COU 519 Intercultural Issues in Counseling (Prerequisite: COU 530) OR
SOC 545 Ethnic Minorities and Group Conflict
ELU 540 Seminar in Elementary Curriculum Development
PSY 525 Developmental Psychology of Childhood
PSY 565 Theories of Learning
SOC 510 Deviant Behavior OR
PSY 546 Psychopathology

Area III Research and Evaluation (6 hours)
COU 507 Tests and Assessment in Counseling AND
COU 508 Research Methods in Counseling (PREREQUISITE: EDU 507)
       OR
CPY 511 Inferential Statistics and Research Design AND
PSY 512 Psychological Testing (PREREQUISITE: CPY511.)
 (Prerequisite: CPY511.)

Area IV Electives (3 hours)

These are examples of electives, but others may be chosen after consultation with the advisor. Students with limited education background should consider EDU electives. Students with limited psychology background should consider PSY electives.

ANT 541 Peoples and Cultures of the Third World
COU 518 Professional Orientation & Ethics in the Agency Setting
COU 519 Intercultural Issues in Counseling
(Prerequisite: COU 530) COU 528 Seminar in Marital Therapy
COU 538 The Addicted Family
COU 558 Structural and Strategic Family Therapy
COU 578 Case Analysis
COU 581 Independent Study
CPY 544 Professional Orientation & Ethics in Family Therapy
CPY 554 Psychology of Family Systems (Prerequisite: CPY 544)
EDU 555 Reading Disabilities
EDU 597 Change in Education
PSY 429 Behavior Modification Procedures
HEA 430 Fundamentals of Health Psychology
PSY 527 Developmental Psychology of Adolescence
PSY 545 Theories of Personality
PSY 546 Psychopathology
SOC 545 Ethnic Minorities and Group Conflict

Area V Practicum and Internship (9 hours, scheduled during final semesters) CPY 580 Seminar in Advanced Counseling (Prerequisites: COU 530, COU 548, and COU 546 or CPY 540) COU 590 Supervised Counseling Experience
(Elementary and Middle School) (Prerequisite: CPY 580)

The Supervised Counseling Experience Internship is 6 semester hours: No more than 3 semester hours of Internship Experience may be completed per semester; therefore, two consecutive semesters (Fall/Spring) of Internship Experience must be taken. The internship will be scheduled during the final semesters. Students are expected to have completed all course work prior to taking COU 590 The Supervised Counseling Experience. (Exceptions to this must be cleared by the Student’s Faculty Advisor.) Internship requires a pre-registration, permission form, professional liability insurance, Pennsylvania Child Abuse History Clearance, and a Pennsylvania Criminal Records Clearance.

The faculty members of the Department of Counseling and Human Services reserve the right to terminate the training or supervision of any candidate who does not show himself or herself capable of achieving an acceptable standard of personal and/or professional behavior. This standard also applies to candidates for admission.

NOTE: Upon admission, all students are given a copy of the Department Student Evaluation Policy. A copy of this policy is also on file in the Department Office.

Please check with your advisor concerning the appropriate PRAXIS testing.