SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2011 - 2012 : Educational Programs :
Counseling MA (LPC/LMFT)
Counseling MA (LPC/LMFT)
4 Goals 4 Objectives 4 Indicators 4 Criteria 5 Findings 4 Actions
| GOAL: Effective Community Counselors |
| Objective |
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| Graduates in the Counseling MA program will be knowledgeable in the core content areas for community counselors. |
| Indicator |
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1. To continue in the program, faculty must score counseling students on a scale of 0-7, with 5 and above being acceptable and program faculty preferring a score of 6 or 7 on the Counselor Potential Scale. 2. Ninety percent of the MA graduates will make a passing score on the National Board of Counselor Certification (NBCC) National Counselor Examination for Licensure. |
| Criterion |
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1. To continue in the program, faculty must score counseling students on a scale of 0-7, with 5 and above being acceptable and program faculty preferring a score of 6 or 7 on the Counselor Potential Scale. 2. Ninety percent of the MA graduates will make a passing score on the National Board of Counselor Certification (NBCC) National Counselor Examination for Licensure. We have reviewed the goals and objectives of two courses, COUN 6363 (Appraisal) and COUN 5392 (Social & Cultural Foundations) and have made efforts to address our weaker areas, Cultural Foundations and Appraisal, which were identified last year. |
| Finding |
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1.The majority of students enrolled in the MA in counseling (LPC/LMFT) received a score of 5 or better on the 7 point scale on the Counselor Potential Scale. Students are evaluated on six areas: (1) identifiable interest in welfare of others, (2) receptivity to feedback, (3) academic potential, (4) interpersonal skills, (5) participation, and (6) acceptance of diverse ideas and values. 2. MA students scored 100% pass rate on the NCE examination. For the NBCC administration of the NCE (National Counselor Examination) in October 2011, four students tested and all four passed. In two areas (Research and Program Evaluation and Group Counseling) scores of SHSU students were lower than the mean scores of other CACREP accredited university program students. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| Review NBCC test results report from October 2011 test administration to compare descriptive statistics for our students with other University CACREP program students. This year our weaknesses were different from last year; thus, our interventions worked. We will need to implement similar interventions in the areas of research and program evaluation as well as group counseling. |
| GOAL: Professional Practice And Training |
| Objective |
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| Students will successfully complete an appropriate professional practice and training experience by demonstrating a thorough understanding of the process of counseling. |
| Indicator |
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| Site supervisors will complete and submit the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form to faculty teaching COUN 6386, Field Practicum (Internship for Counseling students) when student completes the field experience. |
| Criterion |
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All students enrolled in COUN 6386, Field Practicum will be evaluated by their site supervisor. Items are scored on a scale of 1-6, with 3 and above being acceptable. Program faculty prefer scores of 4-6. The site supervisor will review the completed evaluation form with the student. Both site supervisor and student will sign and submit the evaluation to the faculty member teaching the course. Students will receive a rating of meets or exceeds expectations on all items of the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form. Last year we had a student who had to be placed on a remediation plan. Our goal for 2011-2012 is that everyone completes the internship satisfactorily. |
| Finding |
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For school year 2011-2012, 85 total students were enrolled in COUN 6386 Field Practicum. All of the students were rated by their field supervisor at a score of 3 or better on a scale of 1-6 (1-2 = requiring assistance, 3 -4 = appropriate acceptable performance, and 5-6 = exceptional performance) on all 36 items on the Counseling Field Practicum Evaluation Form. A score of 3 was assigned by supervisors on the following items: #15. Recognizes and resists manipulation by the client, #19 Uses silence effectively, and #22 Recognizes and skillfully interprets the client's covert messages. These were identified as our weaker areas although they met the criterion. |
Actions for Objective:
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The three items on the Evaluation Form for which some students earned a score of 3 (#15, #19, and #22) were shared with the faculty. It was determined by the faculty that courses, COUN 5385 PrePracticum Skills and COUN 5376 Supervised Practicum are the courses that include these skills as student objectives. Faculty teaching these courses concluded that more role-playing, demonstration by faculty, and viewing of professional counseling videos will strengthen student's skills in these weaker skills areas. In addition, doctoral supervisors supervising students in COUN 6376 Supervised Practicum were made aware of these three areas of weaker skills and have been encouraged to look for teaching moments and interventions to strengthen students skills development in these three areas. |
| GOAL: Knowledge Of Current Counseling Literature |
| Objective |
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| Graduate students in the counseling program will demonstrate knowledge of current literature in counseling by preparing literature reviews of selected topics. |
| Indicator |
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Literature Review Rubric |
| Criterion |
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Students will correctly evaluate and analyze professional journal articles by correctly assigning 75 out of 100 points on the rubric. We are anxious to determine if our intervention in COUN 5111 resulted in student performance in the APA format being strengthened this year. |
| Finding |
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| Faculty reported no change in the level of APA skills demonstrated by students submitting papers for course assignments requiring students follow an APA guidelines format. |
| Finding |
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| All students enrolled in courses with a literature review objective (COUN 5379, COUN 5334, COUN 5392, and COUN 6332) reviewed professional journals and presented papers and lead discussions from journal published within the last five years. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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A new Literature Review Evaluation Rubric has been created by faculty for students to complete when reading and evaluating articles in professional journals. While most students perform satisfactorily with this activity, the faculty developed a new rubric that offers more specific guidelines to follow when students read and evaluate articles. Faculty teaching COUN 5111, Orientation to Counseling, will require students to purchase APA 6th edition for the course. Assignments will be included in the course that requires students to locate guidelines in the APA manual and demonstrate skills in correct APA format and technical writing. |
| GOAL: Research Competence |
| Objective |
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| Counseling MA students will demonstrate competency in research; including design, methods, procedures, and evaluation of research in course COUN 5379, Research Methods. |
| Indicator |
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| Students enrolled in COUN 5379, Research Methods will present a scholarly prepared and conducted research project demonstrating graduate level research skills. |
| Criterion |
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| Students must score 80 out of 100 points on the Research Project Grading Rubric. We are eager to determine whether our increased requirements to read and critique more research articles with a quantitative research design prior to beginning their research project improves students' final research paper/project. |
| Finding |
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For school year, 2011-2012 (fall, spring and summer), 109 total counseling master's students were enrolled in COUN 5379, Research Methods. Of the total number of students, only three scored below the expected 80 points to earn a grade of B or better on the research Project Grading Rubric. Therefore, faculty agree that the requirement to read and critique more research articles using quantitative methodology prior to beginning their own research paper/project has helped to improve the quality of student's work. However, faculty report that several students struggle with scholarly writing at a level expected of graduate students. |
Actions for Objective:
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Students scoring below 80 points and other students who struggle with witing as reflected on the organization, quality of writing, and APA guidelines components of the Research Project Grading Rubric are required to schedule weekly visits to the SHSU Writing Center for editing and writing assistance to improve their writing skills specifically following APA 6th edition format and technical writing guidelines. |
| Closing the Loop |
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Counseling faculty will review the program syllabi for the research and group counseling courses to make certain that CACREP standards and NCE objectives are included in the courses. While the mean scores in these two areas were not significantly lower than the mean scores of students in other CACREP programs (research: SHSU 9.00, other programs 9.35; group counseling: SHSU 13.00, other programs 13.13), the faculty want student scores to improve in these two areas. Faculty teaching COUN 5385 and COUN 6376 will implement more role-playing, demonstrations, and counseling videos into the courses to help students improve awareness and skillls in the three areas students were assigned a score of 3 by supervisors on the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form. Our students will be required to prepare all reports, abstracts, and written projects following APA manuscript guidelines in order to give them more practice and knowledge of APA rules and guidelines for scholarly writing. Students enrolled in more intensive research courses (COUN 5379, COUN 5334, COUN 5392, and COUN 6332 will be expected to read multiple articles on a given topic and synthesize results and significant information for the articles utilizing the new Literature Review Rubric. Students in COUN 5379 will read and critique articles in professional journals using quantitative research methodology prior to beginning their own quantitative research project and make weekly visits to the SHSU writing center if they demonstrate less that graduate level writing skills.
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