Programs of study in student development in higher education : job relevancy of the CACREP accreditation standards

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the job relevancy of the core and specialty standards of the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs by determining the importance to work of the standards by surveying current student development professionals' opinions. Such a study has not so far been reported in the literature. A survey questionnaire was developed to solicit opinions on importance of the standards, pilot tested, and mailed to student development practitioners in the southeastern United states. A response rate of 45.3% was achieved. The independent variables were years of service in the field of student development; level of degree received; level of position or title; future career plans to remain in the field; membership in professional organizations and type of degree program, CACREP or non-CACREP. The dependent variables were the eleven core areas or subscales drawn from the CACREP entry-level standards and environmental and specialty standards for student affairs practice in higher education