In January, 60 of Richmont’s graduating students took the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE) and, when scores were released this week, Richmont’s students substantially exceeded the national mean of 90.2 for the third year in a row. On the university’s Chattanooga campus, students garnered a mean score of 100.96 with students on the Atlanta campus scoring an equally impressive mean score of 103.6.
“The Board of Trustees and I are extremely proud of the quality of Richmont’s faculty and the performance of each of our students on the CPCE exam,” said President Bob Rodgers. “Their mean scores are nationally impressive and they reflect each person’s dedication to academic excellence.”
According to the Center for Credentialing & Education, the CPCE is used by more than 370 universities across the United States and is “…designed to assess counseling students’ knowledge of counseling information viewed as important by counselor preparation programs.”
The 160-question exam evaluates students on eight subject areas and allows universities to receive an objective view of student’s level of knowledge.
Performance on the CPCE is also typically an indicator of how students will perform on theNational Counselor Examination (NCE) which is required for licensure as a professional counselor in most states. Richmont’s 2015 CPCE scores are in line with students’ most recent performance on the NCE where they garnered a 98% passing rate and earned scores in the 90th percentile. These NCE scores outperformed the scores of students at CACREP accredited and non-CACREP accredited institutions in every CACREP and Counselor Work Behavior subject area.
“We are tremendously proud of our students and their commitment to becoming excellent clinicians,” said Dr. Keny Felix, Dean of the Schools of Counseling and Psychology. “Their outstanding performance on the CPCE reflects the exceptional quality of the counseling program at Richmont. We look forward to sharing feedback with each student and walking alongside them as they complete their coursework and prepare to pursue licensure.”