School Counseling, M.Ed.
Program History
A Brief History of the Master’s Program in School Counseling (Guidance and Counseling) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina began as the nation’s first public university in 1793. As directed by the North Carolina Constitution of 1868, the School of Education was established at the University in 1885 -- one of the three earliest professional schools at the University -- to educate teachers for the state’s schools. Today with 60 full-time faculty members and a student body of nearly 900, it offers a broad range of professional programs and graduate studies. The School prepares leaders for the education profession and assists in the development of strong and effective public schools.
Education faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been involved in counseling related studies since 1929, when “Guidance and Administration of Elementary School Pupils,” Education 67 an undergraduate-level course, was first taught by Professor William John McKee. The first half of the course focused on “Teaching Pupils How to Study” and was concerned with “physical and environmental factors that condition effective study.” The second half of the course focused on “The Pupil Personnel Program” and dealt with “the problems and techniques involved in helping pupils to make satisfactory social and school adjustments, in classifying and promoting pupils, in making records and reports of pupil progress, in developing a helpful program of extra-curricular activities, in dealing with the maladjusted pupil, and in handling disciplinary cases.” The course was offered during a summer quarter and met five hours a week.
By 1931, Education 67 course was divided into two separate courses – Education 105 (47) Guidance and Administration of Public School Pupils and Education 162 (67) Teaching Pupils How to Study. These courses were open to both graduate students and advanced undergraduates. During the 30s, a few more guidance courses were added to the School of Education’s curriculum but a specific graduate degree was not yet offered in that area. In 1939, Dr. W. D. Perry, who would subsequently exerted a major influence in the development both of the program and the University’s Guidance and Testing Center, joined the faculty and taught Education 172, The Problems of Maladjustment among Children.
In 1940, students who were completing a (generic) master’s degree in education were required to demonstrate proficiency on a written examination in two of the following fields: Educational Psychology, Elementary Education, History and Comparative Education, and Guidance and Personnel Work. As more researchers focused on the field of guidance and other areas of education, education students were required to take a course in educational research.
In 1950s, the admissions requirements for graduate study in education included a “Class A” teacher’s certificate. In 1954, Education 211, Supervised Practicum in Guidance is offered for the first time by Professors Perry and Ellis. Dr. Luther R. Taff joined the faculty in 1956 and taught Education 105, Guidance in the School and Education 205, Techniques in Counseling. Dr. Neil Rosser joined Drs. Perry and Taff in the early 60s, and together these three faculty members had major responsibility for the program until the early 70s.
In the 1960s, the curriculum expanded and reflected more recent trends in guidance and counseling. Courses included group process, design and analysis of research projects, and human development and individual differences. In 1965, Professors Perry and Taff began offering Education 213, Guidance Internship – Field Experiences in which students were supervised by university faculty and professional counselors under whom they were working. In 1969, they began offering Education 311, Internship in Guidance which involved a full-time work experience in a school setting and was “required of all majors in guidance and personnel work who do not qualify for a North Carolina Class A certificate.”
By 1970, guidance was listed as one specialty area of the 30-semester hour master’s degree in education. In the 1973, current faculty Drs. Duane Brown and John P. Galassi, Jr. joined the Guidance and Counseling faculty. In the 70s, semester hour requirements for the master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling expanded to 36 and then 42 hours as courses in areas such as school consultation and cross-cultural counseling were added to the program. In 1975 or 1976, Dr. Nancy Voight replaced Dr. Luther Taff who had retired. She remained on the faculty until January 1979 and was replaced by Dr. Courtland Lee. Dr. Lee was the first African American to teach in the program. He taught cross-cultural counseling and other courses from 1979-1987.
In 1980, Dr. Linda Brooks joined the faculty and remained with the program until her retirement in 2000. The 1980s saw the program expand from 42 semester hours to 45 and then to 52 semester hours. The curriculum now required an academic year and two summers to complete. In 1986, the Guidance and Counseling program was nationally recognized when it received accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP).
By the mid-90s, the program required 60 semester hours of coursework. Furthermore, graduates of the program were now eligible to be certified in North Carolina as school counselors at the Advance Graduate level rather than just at the master’s level (G-level certification). The program continued to be accredited by CACREP.
In 2001, Dr. Patrick Akos joined the faculty. Developmental Advocacy, which emphasizes the counselor’s mission to promote the optimal development of all students, was adopted as the guiding philosophy of the program. In 2004 the PRAXIS exam, required for counseling licensure in North Carolina, replaced the program’s comprehensive exam that had been required for graduation.
In the mid to late 2000s, Strengths-Based School Counseling (SBSC; Galassi & Akos, 2007) became the training model. Several courses were revised (e.g., Promoting Career Development) to reflect the school counselor’s primary role to promote and advocate for positive youth development for all students and for the environments that enhance and sustain that development. In addition, Dr. Duane Brown went through phased retirement and in 2007, Dr. Dana Griffin joined the faculty.
Seventy-five years after the first guidance course was offered at Carolina, this CACREP-accredited, M.Ed. program in School Counseling continues to have an innovative curriculum that emphasizes research and data-based interventions, is developmentally oriented, and responsive to the needs of 21st century students.