Program Description: William Paterson University’s Professional Counseling Program in partnership with the Educational Leadership program is seeking program approval to offer the Director of School Counseling Services certification program to qualified students. The program is intended for candidates who want to be certified as Directors of School Counseling Services in New Jersey PK-12 school districts. The Director of School Counseling Services endorsement authorizes the holder to serve as a director, administrator or supervisor of school counseling services, including the supervision of educational activities in areas related to and within the counseling program in grades PK-12. Students who complete the course requirements as well as have at least three years of experience as a school counselor in grades PK-12 will be eligible for certification as a Director of School Counseling Services in New Jersey. View required courses and course descriptions in the University Course CatalogClick here: Loading... Program Details: The primary goal of this certificate program is to prepare students to become Directors of School Counseling Services in PK-12 school systems. This program follows the criteria from the NJ Department of Education (NJ DOE). This certificate program is 9 credits. There are two pathways students might obtain credits at WPUNJ for this certificate. Pathway 1 (A):Students who are enrolled in the WPU Professional Counseling program may choose to add the Director of School Counseling Services certificate to their current studies. In doing this, they will take all of the required courses and seek certification from the state once they have accrued the necessary experience working as a school counselor in a PK-12 educational setting. Courses can be used for both graduation requirements in their concentration of study, as well as the certificate, concurrently, though adding the Director of School Counseling Services certificate to their current program will require them to take two additional courses. (i.e., Adding the Director certificate program to their current program will move their required credits to graduation from 60 to 66). Pathway 2 (B):Students might obtain course work for the Director of School Counseling Services is via post graduate work. For this, students can return to WPUNJ after already earning their Master’s degree in counseling in order to fulfill remaining necessary coursework to obtain the certificate. In this instance, students may take 6 to 9 credits in order to prepare their application for the Director of School Counseling Services certificate to the state, depending on the course work needed to be eligible for the certificate.
