Educational Specialist: Counseling and Guidance
The Educational Specialist degree in counseling and guidance is a post-masters program designed for experienced counselors who desire to improve, update or add another area to their professional expertise. Emphasis areas include mental health counseling, couples and family counseling, school counseling with concentration in elementary or secondary, and substance abuse counseling.
The Educational Specialist program has four options: expand the area of their master’s degree, re-specialize in a different emphasis area, become certified as a school counselor, or add an emphasis area. Those electing the School Counseling emphasis will, upon successful completion of the coursework and passing of the Praxis Exam for counseling, become eligible for school counselor certification in Missouri. The other counseling emphases are designed for students who wish to work in a variety of settings other than the public schools. Those earning degrees in counseling become employed in community colleges, four-year colleges, specialized areas in large universities (e.g. career planning and placement, drug and alcohol counseling), the court system and community-based mental health services.
Student Learning Outcomes
Graduates demonstrate skills and knowledge in the following areas:
- Theories of counseling
- The counseling relationship
- Human growth and development
- Social and cultural foundations of counseling
- Career development
- Assessment
- Research methods
- Counseling skills
- Professional identity
- Ethical standards and issues
- Psychopathology and Diagnosis (for graduates from the Mental Health and Substance Abuse emphasis areas only)
- Program development and management (school counseling emphasis)
- Counseling supervision
Requirements for Admission
Applicants must:
- Satisfy all requirements for unconditional admission to the School of Graduate Studies.
- Hold a master's degree in counseling from an accredited institution.
- Have completed courses in theories and methods of counseling and in counseling practicum with grades no lower than B.
- Have a graduate GPA of at least 3.25 on a 4.0 scale.
- A minimum verbal score of 450 or a combined verbal and quantitative score of 900, and a minimum analytical writing score of 4.0 on the GRE is required for consideration under regular admission criteria. The GRE requirement can be waived if the applicant is a graduate of a master's degree program equivalent to the UMKC Master's degree in Counseling and Guidance (at least 48 credit hours) with a graduate 3.75 GPA.
Admission Procedures
Individuals must make a formal application to the Division of Counseling and Educational Psychology for admission into the educational specialist program. Applications are accepted and reviewed on an ongoing basis.
Send the following materials:
- UMKC Application for Admission.
- Application Fee : $35.
- Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions.
- Official GRE scores.
to the following adress:
- Mailing Address
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University of Missouri-Kansas City
UMKC Admissions
120 Administrative Center
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
Send the following materials:
- Cover sheet for the Education Specialist Degree in Counseling and Guidance Program.
- Three letters of recommendation.
- Raters should address your suitability for professional studies in mental health.
- Raters should have knowledge of your interpersonal and intellectual functioning and skills in research, counseling and written and oral communication.
- Raters should enclose their letters of recommendation along with the provided rating sheet in an envelope and sign their names across the back of the envelope.
- All letters should be collected by the applicant and returned with all other application materials, or raters may mail directly to the Education Specialist Counseling and Guidance Admissions Committee.
- Personal statement.
- Submit a concise two-three page statement concerning your professional goals.
- Include your professional and applied interests/experiences.
- Self-addressed stamped envelope.
to the following address:
- Mailing Address
-
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Counseling and Educational Psychology
215 Education
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
Curriculum
Program of study must include the equivalent of the current M.A. degree in Counseling and Guidance at UMKC plus an additional emphasis-area minimum of 18 credit hours. Coursework is dependent on the emphasis option chosen and will be determined with the help of an adviser. Students must maintain a B average in all coursework associated with the Ed.S. program.
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No grade below B in professional counseling courses will be acceptable.
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Students are required to confer with advisers prior to enrolling in any course leading to the educational specialist degree.
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Courses at the 5600 level cannot be taken until students are admitted to the Ed.S. program.
Requirements for Graduation
Students must complete all courses in the Ed.S. program with at least a 3.0 (B) final GPA.
Students must apply for graduation by the posted deadline during their final term of enrollment. All students must be enrolled during the term they intend to graduate.
More information about the program can be found at http://education.umkc.edu/CEP/edspecialist/index.asp
