Office of Teaching Initiatives

Acceptable Coursework for Individuals Who Apply for the Permanent or Initia/Professional School Counselor Certification 

The number of graduate semester hours (S.H.) required for School Counselor Certification through the “Individual Evaluation” and/or “Certificate Progression” pathways are listed in the table below.

Acceptable Coursework

Acceptable coursework for the School Counselor certificate must be at the graduate level and be completed at an institution of higher education that is accredited by an institutional accrediting agency recognized for this purpose by the U.S. Department of Education and could be a combination of courses from a state approved school counselor education program and courses related to school counseling.

Acceptable graduate coursework must include study in the following eight core School Counseling content areas listed below. 

Please note for the Initial and Professional School Counselor certificates the graduate School Counseling coursework required must be in the eight-core School Counseling content areas.

• Foundations in professional school counseling: This includes coursework in understanding the history and purpose/philosophy of, and the laws, policies, and regulations governing school counseling. School counselors engage in continuous professional growth and development, advocate for appropriate school counselor identity and roles, and adhere to ethical practices.
• Career development and college readiness: This includes coursework in the use of a variety of research-based school counseling approaches to provide services to meet the career needs of all students.
• Supportive school climate and collaborative work with school, family and community: This includes coursework in collaborating with colleagues, families, and community members to cultivate an inclusive, nurturing, and physically safe learning environment for students, staff, and families.
• Equity, advocacy and diversity in programming and in support for students: This includes coursework in understanding cultural contexts in a multicultural society, demonstrating fairness, equity and sensitivity to every student, and advocating for equitable access to instructional programs and activities.
• Child growth, development and student learning: This includes coursework in using knowledge of child development, individual differences, learning barriers, and pedagogy to contribute to and support student learning.
• Group and individual counseling theories and techniques: This includes coursework in prevention, intervention, and responsive services to meet the academic, personal, social and career needs of all students.
• Best practices for the profession and in-school counseling programming: This includes coursework in assessing, developing, implementing, leading, and evaluating a data-driven school counseling program that is comprehensive, utilizes best practices and advances the mission of the school.
• Research and program development: This includes coursework to advance the school counseling program, its components and the profession.

For additional information on acceptable School Counselor coursework, you may wish to review our listing of New York State College and Universities that offer State approved School Counseling programs.  This information can be found by viewing the Inventory of Registered Programs which can be found at the following link:

https://www2.nysed.gov/heds/IRPSL1.html