SACSCOC Fifth Year Interim Report
Spacer
Assessment : 2013 - 2014 : Educational Programs :
Counseling MA (CMHC)
Counseling MA (CMHC)
4 Goals 4 Objectives 4 Indicators 4 Criteria 4 Findings 4 Actions
| GOAL: Effective Community Mental Health Counselors |
| Objective |
|
||||
| Graduates in the Counseling MA program will be knowledgeable in the core content areas for community mental health counseling. |
| Indicator |
|
|||
|
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 |
|
|||
|
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 |
|
|||
|
The results of the two meaurements used to determine student's level of competency in core content areas and skills in counseling are as follows: 1. On the Counselor Potential Scale, all students evaluated received a score of 5 or better on all five areas measured on the scale. The areas measured are: potential, receptivity, academic potential, interpersonal skills, and accepts diversity. 2. While enrolled in the first internship course, COUN students take the NBCC licensure examination. Results are compiled from the examination given on 4/20/2013 and 10/19/2013 with data provided on the Descriptive Statistics on Sam Houston State University. The descriptive data includes: SHSU results, National Results, CACREP Results, and Non-CACREP results. For the test administered on 4/20/2013 26 total students took the test and 25 or the 26 passed yielding a 96% pass rate. For the test administered on 10/19/2013 9 students completed the test and all nine passes for a 100% pass rate. The area of greatest improve over last years scores was the Appraisal/Assessment CACREP core areas. The score for this year improved to 14.23 mean score for SHSU students over CACREP mean score of 13.50. In addition, our score the mean score of 14.23 for SHSU students was greater than the National results of mean score 11.12 for the area of Apprasial/Assessment. We surpassed the established criteria of 90% pass rate on the NBCC with a pass rate of 98%. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
|
|||
|
Findings for this Goal, Competency in Core Content Areas and Skills in Counseling, are based on the results for the Counselor Potential Scale and the pass rate of the NBCC. On both measures, students in the MA program meet the criteria of a score of 5 or better on the Counselor Potential Scale and a 90% pass rate on the NBCC. Twenty-five out of twenty-six (96%) MA students passed the NBCC examination during 2013-2014 year exceeding the criterion of 90%. Therefore, the Counseling faculty will continue to follow CACREP Standards and provide learning experiences according to the Standards. |
| GOAL: Professional Practice And Training |
| Objective |
|
||||
| Students will successfully complete an appropriate professional practice and training experience by demonstrating a thorough understanding of the process of counseling. |
| Indicator |
|
|||
| 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 |
|
|||
|
All students enrolled in COUN 6386, Internship will be evaluated by their site supervisor. Items are scored on a scale of 1-6, with 3 and above being at the acceptable or exceptional level of performance. Program faculty prefer scores of 4-6. The site supervisor are to review the completed evaluation form with the student intern. 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. |
| Finding |
|
|||
| For the year 2013-2014, 46 total students were evaluated by the site supervisor. There are 36 items on the Site Supervisor Evaluation form with the items divided into three groups. The three groups are: General Supervision Issues (6 items), Counseling Process (23 items), and Conceptualization Process (7 items). Scores range from 1 to 6 with a score of 1 or 2 = Requires Assistance, a score of 3 or 4 = Apropriate Acceptable Performance, and a score of 5 or 6 = Exceptional Performance. All 46 students were ranged at 3 or higher on all items with the exception of one student who was rated at level 2 for item #28 - Administers and interprets tests appropriately. However, the site supervisor explained that little opportunity was provided for this student to administer tests based on the type of services most frequently provided at this internship site. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
|
|||
| The plan for this Goal, Professional Practice and Skills, is to continue following the course syllabi and arrange learning experiences as identified as CACREP Standards for quality programs and competent student development as counselors in training. The counseling faculty believe that by continuing to develop programs according to CACREP Standards will provided the professional practice and training opportunities required for students in the MA CMHC program. |
| GOAL: Knowledge Of Current Counseling Literature |
| Objective |
|
||||
| Graduate students in the counseling program will demonstrate knowledge of current literature in counseling by preparing literature reviews of selected topics. |
| Indicator |
|
|||
|
Literature Review Rubric |
| Criterion |
|
|||
|
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 |
|
|||
| In compliance with CACREP Standards, the Counseling program faculty have created grading rubrics for all counseling specialty courses. Points on the grading rubrics for journal article critiques and reviews includes points for: (1) purpose of the study, (2) methodology, (3) participants - if applicable, (4) results, (5) implications for counselors and other mental health professionals. In addition, points are included for correctly following APA guidelines. All students scores 75 points or above from the total 100 points for the literature review assignments. The Counseling program faculty report that overall, students are demonstrating a greater understanding and application of APA guidelines for professional writing with all written assignments. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
|
|||
|
The overall score 75 of 100 points earned on the grading rubric for journal article critiques has been achieved. However, 75 is below a grade of B or 3.0 which is required to enter the Counseling Program. It is expected that students entering the Counseling program will maintain a B (3.0) or better grade point average. Therefore, the score on the grading rubric will be raised to 80 of 100 points for the year 2014-2015. |
| GOAL: Research Competence |
| Objective |
|
||||
| Counseling MA students will demonstrate competency in research; including design, methods, procedures, and evaluation of research in course COUN 5379, Research Methods. |
| Indicator |
|
|||
| Students enrolled in COUN 5379, Research Methods will present a scholarly prepared and conducted research project demonstrating graduate level research skills. |
| Criterion |
|
|||
| 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 |
|
|||
|
For the current year, 2013-2014, 39 total students completed COUN 5379, Research Methods. Thirty-three students (85%) scored 80% or higher on the quantative research assignment. The average grade on the final research assignment was 91.25. |
Actions for Objective:
| Action |
|
|||
| With an overall average grade on the final research assignment (the capstone experience) of 91.25 for the 39 total students completing COUN 5379, students exceded the 80% criteria for last year. Therefore, the Counseling faculty will reevalute this goal to decide if the criteria score will be raised to above 91% or if this goal will be omitted because the criteria has been met. |
| Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
|
All of the counseling courses required by a CACREP accredited program as well as the counseling elective courses have been revised to aligned with the new CACREP standards. Therefore, faculty are confident that students in our program will be prepared for the NBCC Examination as well as develop assessment/diagnostic skills, and research competencies as required by the quality standards of CACREP. However, with a 96% pass rate for the NBCC Examiantion for this past year, our faculty are pleased that our program is preparing students to obtain licensure in the state of Texas as a Community Mental Health Counselor.
|
| Update on Previous Cycle's "Plan for Continuous Improvement" |
|
The CACREP accreditation site visiting team reviewed all syllabi and course requirements, practicum experiences and procedures, and visited internship sites for students in the MA CMHC program. The site team determined that all standards were met with the exception of two. Only one of the unmet standards was applicable to the MA program. The standard of 1 to 10 faculty to student ratio was unmet. However, this standard does not reflect student progress, outcomes, or learning experiences. Faculty remains confident that we are preparing students to become licensed and exceptional counselors as we maintained a 96% pass rate on the NBCC examination. Consequently, our plan for continuous improvement has been successfully implemented.
|
| Plan for Continuous Improvement |
|
To maintain a 1 to 10 faculty to student ratio, the Counseling program have raised the GPA requirement from 2.6 to 3.0 for admission to the program. In addtion, we have a "no growth" plan for the upcoming year, 2014-2015 by admitting on the number of students we graduated during last year and we have hired two new counseling professors. These plans will secure all CACREP Standards are met for the MA CMHC program. In addtion, based on the findings for Goal, Effective Community Mental Health Counselors, we have met this goal and will consider reviewing or deleting as a goals for 2014-2015. For Goal, Professional Practice and Training, we will encourage students to locate a second internship site if all learning experiences (based on CACREP Standards) cannot be met at one internship placement site. For Goal, Knowledge of Current Counseling Literature, we will increase the criterion on the journal article critique to 80% of 100% to align with admission requirement of 3.0 undergraduate GPA. We believe that our students should maintain at least a 3.0 throughout the Counseling program. For Goal, Research Competence, our students have far exceeded the criterion of 80% of 100 points with an average score of 91.25. Therefore, we delete this goal.
|