CACREP

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) is over twenty (20) years old. CACREP was created in 1981 to be the independent accrediting arm for the American Counseling Association, a membership organization for over 50,000 practicing counselors. From its inception, CACREP has provided an effective measure of quality assurance for counselor preparation programs. CACREP also provides leadership to programs interested in furthering their own capacity for self-evaluation.

As an independently incorporated organization, CACREP sets its own charge. That charge is clearly articulated in the Articles of Incorporation as follows:

…to promote the advancement of education by establishing and administering a program for the accreditation of graduate programs at colleges and universities in the fields of counseling and related educational programs, and of programs in counselor education and supervision, and to engage in such other and further means as may be necessary and proper to accomplish the foregoing purposes.

The Winona State University Counselor Education programs have been accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) since October 2001. As the gold standard in counselor preparation and training, graduates of the WSU-CE program will be recognized by by most state licensing and registration boards in community and school counseling specialties.

NCATE

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) is the profession’s mechanism to help establish high quality teacher preparation. Through the process of professional accreditation of schools, colleges and departments of education, NCATE works to make a difference in the quality of teaching and teacher preparation today, tomorrow, and for the next century. NCATE’s performance-based system of accreditation fosters competent classroom teachers and other educators who work to improve the education of all P-12 students.

The Counselor Education Department School Counseling program is fully accredited by NCATE and is an approved licensure program in School Counseling by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

NCACS

The Higher Learning Commission is part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS). The Association was founded in 1895 as a membership organization for educational institutions. It is committed to developing and maintaining high standards of excellence.

The Association is one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States. Through its Commissions it accredits, and thereby grants membership to educational institutions in the nineteen-state North Central region: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The Higher Learning Commission is recognized by the US Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Winona State University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (a member of COPA).