Target: Candidates for other professional school roles have a thorough understanding of the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of their fields as delineated in professional, state, and institutional standards and shown through inquiry, critical analysis, and synthesis.
The programs for "other professional school roles" offered by EMU include a master's program in school counseling; specialist-level programming in special education administration or curriculum; and master's, specialist, and doctoral programs in educational leadership. The programs are in compliance with all relevant standards. As a result, students learn the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of their respective fields.
In particular, the school counseling program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling-Related Programs (CACREP) through 2005. While there are no known national standards for special education leadership programs, it should be noted that all eligible programs in special education are approved by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). Materials related to graduate programs in education leadership have been submitted to the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) and the status of that review may be seen here.
The state standards for school counselors are embodied in Administrative Rules (click here). Similarly, the state standards for special education leadership roles are also found in Administrative Rules (click here, then scroll to 340.1771 and 340.1772). Compliance with state standards in these fields is demonstrated through the periodic review process. Michigan is one of the few states that does not license school administrators, so there are no state standards for principals, superintendents, etc. Functionally, our educational leadership programs are guided in many ways by the former state standards for administrators.
Program requirements are found in the EMU Graduate Catalog: school counselors; special education leadership roles; and educational leadership master's, specialist, and doctoral levels. The masters programs range in length from 37 semester hours of EDLD courses for educational leadership to 48 semester hours (primarily COUN courses) for school counselors. The specialist programs are 32 semester hours in length. The doctoral program is at least 60 semester hours beyond the master's program.
In order to be recommended for licensure as a school counselor, one must take and pass the guidance and counseling test of the Michigan Tests for Teacher Certification. The school counseling program requires not only extensive content in school counseling, but study of research methodology as well. The special education leadership program requires a thesis or independent study. The portfolio for master's students in educational leadership must include artifacts related to research. The specialist program in educational leadership requires 12 semester hours of applied research course work and, of course, the doctoral program in educational leadership is inquiry-intensive in several different ways.
Capstone, integrative experiences are found in such instances as the internship in the school counseling and special education leadership programs, the portfolio assessment in the educational leadership master's program, the internship and field research study of the educational leadership specialist program, and the dissertation of the educational leadership doctoral program.