NACAC Updates / Changes | code of ethics

Following the votes at last month’s national conference to remove three provisions from NACAC’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP) and to institute a moratorium on enforcement of the entire document, members have asked for advice about what counselors can tell students and families moving forward. How will these changes affect students in the college admission process? What do students and their families need to know? And what can counselors tell them?

To help you respond, we asked NACAC colleagues on the Admission Practices Committee, Aaron Salasek and Stacey Cunitz, for their advice for counselors. Additionally, we are sharing an edited version of a letter prepared by NACAC member Rafael Figueroa, dean of college guidance at Albuquerque Academy (NM), for the parents of his students. Both documents, along with an updated version of the CEPP, are linked below.

We hope these resources can help guide your conversations this fall with the understanding that it will still be some time until NACAC has complete details to share with you, our members. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation has not yet been resolved. We don’t know when the DOJ will make its decision, what it will entail, if a consent decree will be imposed, or what the association will need to do in order to comply.

In the interim, we hope these resources can be of assistance. Please feel free to share these with colleagues as well as with the students and families you serve:

• Updated Code of Ethics and Professional Practices
• Message to Counselors from NACAC’s Admission Practices Committee
• Sample Letter from a School Counselor to Parents

 
Thank you for your attention to this important issue. I am confident that despite the CEPP changes our association can and will remain a champion for the ethical practice of college admission. If you have further questions or for more information, please contact NACAC's governance team.
Sincerely yours,

Jayne Caflin Fonash
NACAC President