The Master’s in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC) awards accreditation to programs in the United States that meet a set of standards adherent to science-based psychology or counseling and to the goal of advancing the public good. MPCAC accreditation standards include eight core areas that need to be met by a Master’s program in counseling or psychology. These standards evaluate the teaching, curriculum, competency, and structure of a Master’s program. For instance, the Master’s program in question must have a systemic, rational, and non-biased way to evaluate program outcomes and individual students’ performances within the program.
In this article, we will review the eight standards of the MPCAC and address important considerations for both administrators and students.
MPCAC standards define what counseling and psychology master’s programs must demonstrate during accreditation review. They focus on scientific training, student competency, supervised clinical experience, institutional support, and continuous program evaluation.
At a Glance
- MPCAC standards define how counseling and psychology programs are evaluated and approved
- This page breaks down each MPCAC standard
- You will learn how programs demonstrate how they meet these expectations
- The article explains how standards are applied in real accreditation reviews
- Use this guide to understand what programs must show to earn and maintain accreditation
What Do MPCAC Accreditation Standards Include
MPCAC accreditation standards include eight required areas that programs must address during review. These standards evaluate the program’s mission, curriculum, clinical training, institutional support, faculty qualifications, administration, evaluation systems, and record keeping.
MPCAC accreditation is granted according to the criteria of eight standards. These include:
- Program Missions and Objectives
- Program Orientation and Core Curriculum
- Counseling & Clinical Instruction
- The Institution
- Faculty & Staff
- Program Organization and Administration
- Evaluations in the Program
- Communication and Record-Keeping
These standards determine whether a program can earn and maintain MPCAC accreditation, which signals that the program meets recognized expectations for academic quality, clinical training, and outcome evaluation.
These standards are listed in the Accreditation Manual maintained by MPCAC, and the most recent one was updated in 2024, which we will use in this article as a guide. Below, we’re going to break down each standard in more detail.
In general, MPCAC is focused on program outcomes rather than strict adherence to curriculum standards and prioritizes science-based programs.
What Are the Eight MPCAC Standard Domains?
MPCAC standard domains are the eight review categories used to evaluate whether a program meets accreditation expectations. Each domain focuses on a different part of program quality, from mission and curriculum to student outcomes and public communication.
Below is a short description of each of the eight MPCAC standards. These descriptions are meant as an overview and reference point for the general reader, and more information on each can be found in the 2024 manual.
Program Mission and Objectives
The first standard addresses the need for the program to have a self-reflective and clear statement regarding its rationale for its specific orientation and curriculum. Each mission must be clear in its epistemological perspective, systems for self-evaluation and reflection, and scientific scholarship. The mission should be able to incorporate these elements within the multicultural society in which the program exists. The program’s mission should “promote continuous improvement that emanates from a scientific base,” a principle that links this standard with the overarching mission of MPCAC, which is the promotion of science-based counseling and psychology programs.
Program Orientation and Core Curriculum
This is where the standards start to have a more concrete and specific feel to them. Program Orientation and Core Curriculum is multifaceted and includes various aspects of what is to be taught and how within the program with multiple sub-standards. In general, these sub-standards address a central issue already named in this article: the crucial importance of training counselors and clinicians to be scholar-practitioners, teaching students to both do clinical work and also be scientifically literate in their fields.
- Ethical and Professional Standards: the program understands how to instruct students to comprehend and navigate ethical, legal, and professional codes, guidelines, and regulations in their place of work and in the field of clinical practice as a whole. This includes supervision, promotion of accountability and responsibility of the student, and guided action in internship settings.
- Evidence-Based Theories and Practice: demonstrates the teaching of Knowledge (theory and research) and Skills (Relationship, Conceptualization, Intervention) necessary to the practice of evidence-based counseling psychology.
- Multiculturalism and Diversity: demonstrates the teaching of Knowledge and Self-Awareness (capacity for reflection and awareness of self/other) and Skills (working at the intersection of identities and systems) which relate to a multicultural and global world.
- Theories of Psychopathology: including classification systems, e.g., DSM and ICD, demonstrated by the teaching of Knowledge (theory and research) and Skills (implementation of theory into clinical practice via conceptualization and guided intervention).
- Methods of Evaluation of Individuals: demonstrated by the transmission of Knowledge (of assessments and measures) and Skills (clinical interviewing and formal assessments of individuals).
- Research Methods: demonstrated by the teaching of Knowledge (how to read and interpret research) and Skills (active reading and critiquing of current research).
- Career Development: understanding the role of work and career across the lifespan.
- Biological Basis of Behavior: demonstrates understanding of the interface between biology and human functioning.
- Developmental Basis of Behavior: understanding the role of development on human functioning.
- Systems Basis of Behavior: understanding of how human functioning is impacted by and exists within certain systems (families, cultures, institutions, and so on).
Counseling and Clinical Instruction
There are two major components to this standard: Training and Placement. First, the program should teach students the rationale for interventions and modalities and provide sufficient time for practice and feedback. Following classroom practice, students should be able to find a placement in the field for a minimum of 600 hours across two semesters, 240 of which are direct clinical hours. The Manual provides further details on how supervision is to be given, when, and more on the nature and credentials of the site.
The Institution
The Institution standard addresses the structure and dynamics of the program itself and how it is organized. It addresses details such as library access, budgets, and policies, and the importance of creating symbiotic relationships with other institutions, academic and non-academic.
Faculty and Staff
MPCAC requires programs to have a core faculty, a director, and other faculty members, each role with varying levels of responsibility of and within the institution. What is common to each, however, is having adequate credentials and experience to their role. For instance, a clinician with relatively little experience doing assessments would not be appointed to instruct a course in psychological assessment. In addition to the teaching faculty, there should be separate and adequate administrative and IT support for both faculty and students.
Program Organization and Administration
This standard ensures that the program is organized and maintained according to the mission of the program. This includes specific procedures to be implemented, such as publishing a program of study for prospective students to view, implementation of DE&I commitments, student retention strategy and policy, making advisors available to students at all times, and making seminars or workshops available for students and faculty.
Evaluations in the Program
The standard relating to evaluations ensures that both individual students and the program as a whole have adaptive, reliable, and self-reflective evaluation efforts. As such, programs demonstrate their implementation of empirically-based evaluations and the capacity to review and revise curriculum, syllabi, and learning objectives based on evaluation outcomes. The importance of outcome-based programs is a reflection of the larger emphasis on science-based counseling that MPCAC writes into their accreditation process. In addition to the implementation of such evaluation measures, programs must be able to articulate clearly how these evaluations are done and how they measure student and faculty competency in the core areas.
Communication and Record Keeping
Finally, programs must keep administrative notes and records of student admissions, retention, graduation, and outcome data for public review. In addition, the program must communicate with the accrediting body (in this case, MPCAC) of any relevant changes in and to the program. Finally, the status of the MPCAC accreditation must be listed on the program website homepage.
How Does the MPCAC Accreditation Process Works
There are ten steps to the MPCAC accreditation process, with three active steps (the other six involve waiting/review to some extent). The full list can be found here, but we will cover the active steps that the program needs to take in this article.
First is self-study. This is done internally, with program administrators and core faculty assessing the program as it currently exists and what to do with the program to align it with the standards of MPCAC. Once the self-study is complete with a report prepared, this is submitted to MPCAC, which leads to the second step, the site visit. A representative of MPCAC will visit the physical site and have access to necessary documentation and files. The accrediting body then makes the decision of whether or not the program meets standards. Finally, it is the responsibility of the program to keep up with and maintain accreditation through ongoing reporting.
Key Requirements Programs Must Meet
- Clear program structure and curriculum requirements
- Supervised clinical training requirements
- Minimum direct (and indirect) client contact hours
- Qualified faculty with relevant expertise and experience
- Outcome tracking and systems of evaluation
- Public communication about accreditation status
- Ongoing program review and improvement
2019 Policy Update
Every year, MPCAC updates and addresses its standards and processes as needed to keep up with the changing needs and dynamics of higher education. They publish their “MPCAC Annual Report” for the public to see. In 2019, there was an important update worth mentioning here.
Before 2019-2020, programs did not need to fully meet the standards and expectations of MPCAC to be accredited, but they were given a conditional status, meaning that the program could work towards meeting those standards within a given time frame. Since this annual update, programs applying for MPCAC accreditation after 2020 must fully meet all criteria before gaining accreditation. Additionally, this update made program accreditation public and reporting more rigorous.
MPCAC vs CACREP
You may be asking, as a student or a faculty within an institution looking to get accredited: What is the difference between MPCAC and CACREP, the other major accreditation body for counselors and clinicians?
We have written about the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (or, CACREP) elsewhere, so we won’t go into detail here. But we should spend some time sketching out the major differences between the two and what you need to know to make an informed decision.
The first major difference is between structure, history, and intent. MPCAC was created due to what it felt was missing from the field of counseling accreditation in the U.S., which included two major components. First, other accreditation programs do not include a Master’s in Psychology, only a Master’s in Counseling or a related clinical field. There was a gap between accrediting MA Psychology and PhD/PsyD Psychology that MPCAC sought to fill. Second, MPCAC brought the scientific basis of the field of clinical work into higher resolution with their standards, and have sought to establish a body that requires institutions to train students according to the scholar-practitioner model. To read more about the interesting history of MPCAC, check out their History page.
Another major difference is between how CACREP and MPCAC manage curriculum. CACREP gives very specific requirements for curriculum and what classes are taught in each program. For a program to be accredited with CACREP, for example, it must teach a class on Career Counseling. But as we see above in the MPCAC Standards, no such requirements exist. There is more curriculum flexibility as long as it satisfies the more general pedagogical orientation.
Finally, a similarity: both accreditation bodies require ongoing evaluation and revision. Once accredited, the responsibility of the program does not end there. Rather, it is incumbent upon the program directors and faculty to continually re-evaluate their program to make sure it aligns with Standards, especially when change is in the works.
From an Advisor’s Perspective
Programs accredited by MPCAC may differ from each other more than CACREP-accredited programs due to the flexibility of curriculum. But they will resemble each other in terms of practicum/internship requirements and overall orientation to the field of counseling and psychology with an emphasis on research and scientific scholarship. Both programs will be two to three years long (sometimes longer) depending on the pace the student moves through the program.
What this means more practically is that the program will be well-structured around the standards of MPCAC, grounded in the scholar-practitioner model for the student, and self-evaluation and reflection for the institution and its faculty. These standards must be met with consistency even after initial accreditation, ensuring that the student you might be advising will be in good hands of an academic institution which is committed to improvement.
What Do MPCAC Standards Mean for Students
What does all this mean if you’re a prospective student looking for a place to study and grow as a professional counseling psychologist?
The most important thing to know, as we’ve emphasized, about the MPCAC accreditation is that it ensures a certain degree of respect for the scientific model and basis of counseling and human behavior. You will be trained in the scholar-practitioner model, meaning that you will become both comfortable and competent sitting with patients in the consulting room as well as reading research papers from academic journals.
Why? Because it’s important, from MPCAC’s perspective, that practitioners be well-read and competent in their field in order to assume the responsibility it takes to be a clinician in our modern world.
FAQ
They evaluate areas related to the training of students, both directly and indirectly. This includes minutiae like supervisory hours as well as less obvious areas like technology support.
They first demonstrate it through self-study and a site visit. Then, there is the ongoing work of evaluations and reporting to MPCAC.
The standards are the same for every program.
Two potential outcomes. First, they may be put into Programs Deferred, in which case they can re-apply with certain requirements. Second, they may be put into Programs Denied, in which case they can re-apply after 12 months. Both are listed on their website for the public to view: https://mpcacaccreditation.org/programs-denied/.
Sources
- MPCAC Accreditation Manual
- MPCAC official website
- accreditation policy documents