SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
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Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Psychology MA (Clinical Psychology)
Psychology MA (Clinical Psychology)
2 Goals 2 Objectives 2 Indicators 2 Criteria 2 Findings 2 Actions
| GOAL: Psychotherapy Skills |
| Objective |
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| Students demonstrate competency in effective psychotherapy skills. |
| Indicator |
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MA Clinical faculty will assess student performance with respect to psychotherapy skills on the comprehensive exams. |
| Criterion |
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On the Comprehensive Examination there is a "Psychotherapy Skills" portion. Criterion is that 100% of the students taking that section of the exam score at least a 75% which is "Acceptable." |
| Finding |
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Thirteen students participated in the Psychotherapy portion of the program. The range of scores was 68 to 97 with a mean of 87.5. Of the thirteen students, one failed and has met with Dr. Stoebner-May to discuss a remedial plan for her. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| Criterion was not met by one student of the cohort. Drs. Stoebner-May, Anastasi, and the chair will meet to discuss ways of identifying potential problems prior to their occurring and then will attempt to guide borderline students in ways that will be most beneficial to them. They will also discuss what would be the most appropriate ways to deal with these individuals in setting up remedial programs if they fail to meet criterion. |
| GOAL: Assessment Skills |
| Objective |
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Students demonstrate expertise to administer, score, and interpret tests of intelligence for children and adults. |
| Indicator |
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| Students demonstrate competency to administer, score, and interpret Wechsler scales for children and adults. |
| Criterion |
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| 100% of students will score at least 80% (acceptable) on the capstone exercise. |
| Finding |
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| Thirteen student took the assessment portions of the capstone course. The ranged of scores was 38 to 100 with a means of 93.6. One student failed (12 passed) and has been placed on a remedial program, taking the course over again, to see if she can raise her performance to an acceptable level in the upcoming academic year. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
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| Again, we had one student fail to meet criterion with respect to assessment in the capstone course. In looking at previous years, though, the students are showing dramatic overall increases in performance. In 2012, the mean performance without the student failing was 89.62, in 2013, 92.5, and in 2014 the mean without the student who had failes was 98.23. Thus, we are very proud of out students and with the work done by Dr. Stoebner-May. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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Diagnoses on the DSM axes were much improved this year. We credit these changes to the faculty stressing the importance of this aspect of their training and to the training by the faculty. During the upcoming academic year, we will work with individual students to detect issues early on and try to determine during the students' first year if there might be issues.
Also, during the first year and continuing through the program, proper procedures will be stressed and students will be monitored to ensure that they are following those procedures. On the assessment portion of the Capstone, we were very pleased that our scores increased from last year's results. We do believe that having created a new position of "clinical assistant professor" has added consistency to the Capstone course and to the program in general. We are very happy with this result. We will continue to nurture the development of the individual in the clinical assistant professor position to achieve even better results in the upcoming cycles. On a different note, this fall we will have 16 new students in the MA-Clinical program. The mean undergraduate GPA is 3.56 with a mean GRE score of 1193. |
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
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The faculty in the MA clinical program did stress the important of the DSM axes and it appears that this emphasis paid off with 12 of the 13 students performing to criterion on the Psychotherapy Skills portion of the capstone course.
Such was also the case for Assessment portion of the capstone. All in all, though, we are quite pleased with the increase in performance as our scores continue to increase. Again, it appears as though we need to make sure that we identify potential problems and catch them early. With respect to 15 incoming students for the fall 2014 semester, the mean Graduate Record Exam is 1260 and the mean grade point average is 3.6, both increases from the last academic year. |
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
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With the success of this past year on the DSM axes, and the capstone course in general, faculty in those programs will continue as they did in the past year.
In addition, though, we will institute the following procedures: 1. A year-end evaluation of all students in the Clinical Psyhcology Program will be completed at the end of the first year. The evaluation will include ratings of professional characteristics and allow the faculty to comments on any particular strengths or weaknesses a particular student may have. Students with obvious weaknesses immediately will be put on a remediation plan. 2. Faculty in the MA in Clinical Psychology program will arranged for remediaton plans and alter degree plans when a candidate's performance indicated a need for additional and/or specialized training. 3. During the semester in which the student is involved in the capstone experience, a mid-semester evaluation will be performed for each individual in the course. Extensive feedback on deficiencies from assessors will occur at this time. If need be, the student will be informed of the deficiencies and, if necessary, be placed on a remedial plan, or given extra training, or will be advised as to his or her probability of success in the program. |