Dear Governor McAuliffe: 

I strongly object to the proposal to restrict initial counselor licensure in VA only to those who graduate from a CACREP academic program. I object for the following reasons: 1. Graduates of counseling programs from non-CACREP programs have been shown historically to serve the public very well in various types of settings, schools, community clinics, etc. In my career of over 40 years, I have not seen any data that demonstrates the superiority of CACREP grads over non-CACREP grads. 2. The vast majority of counseling graduate programs are housed in Colleges of Education and these colleges are accredited by various bodies. This accreditation covers all programs in the college to insure quality. There is no need for another very specialized and costly accreditation process specifically for counseling. 3. CACREP is very restrictive as to the training of faculty who  teach in the program. For example, faculty who are trained as counseling or school psychologists from non-CACREP programs (even if these programs are accredited by the American Psychological Association) can not fully particpate in a CACREP approved program. Faculty must have graduated from a CACREP approved Counselor Education program. In my view this is provincialism at its worse. Why would faculty with psychology doctorate degrees (in counseling and school psychology) not be suitable to teach clinical and school counselors, as they have done for years? Answer: It is beacuse CACREP wants to promote its brand and narrow vision of counselor training. 4. Requiring higher education institutions to become CACREP accredited so that their graduates can be licensed places additional and unnecessary financial burdens on these institutions, as the costs of accredition are steep. Also,  CACREP  requires specialized faculty (as noted above) to teach in the program, thus adding to to costs of instruction.  5. In MInnesota when the Board of Teaching proposed that only CACREP students could be licensed as school counselors, many of us in the state opposed the proposed rule for many of the same reasons I highlight in this statement. Our opposition was successful. I strongly recommend that Virginia also oppose a CACREP only proposal for counselor licensure in VA.  

Sincerely, 

John L. Romano, Professor Emeritus, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota