OATdb Archive

2008 - 2009

Counseling MA (LPC/LMFT)

Goal
Improve Critical Thinking In Counseling
Students in the Practicum course will demonstrate high level critical thinking skills in counseling.

Objective
Graduate Students Will Successfully Complete An Appropriate Professional Practice And Training Experience.
Students will successfully complete an appropriate professional practice and training experience by demonstating a deep understanding of the process of counseling and their ability to use critical thinking skills to apply appropriate counseling techniques in a counseling relationship.

Indicator
Site Supervisors Will Complete An Evaluation Of Field Practicum Students.
Site supervisors will complete and submit the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form to faculty teaching CNE 686, Field Practicum (Internship for Counseling students) when students complete the course. Feedback from site supervisors will be reviewed by the Clincial Coordinator and as needed modifications to the course, program, etc. will be implemented.

Criterion
Site Supervisor Evaluation Form of Field Pracitcum Students.
All students enrolled in CNE 686, Field Practicum will be evaluated by their site supervisor. 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 ratin of 4 or 5 on all items of the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form.

Finding
Criterion Was Not Met; Some Students Received Ratings Lower Than 5 Or 6.
Ninety percent of the graduate students received ratings of 5 or 6 (Exceptional Performance)for all items on the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form. In the survey section, Additional Comments, site supervisors indicated that students needs to have a better understanding of agencies and other mental health facilities in the community.

Action
Improving Students Performance In The Field Practicum.
To help students be more successful in a community based field practicum and understand agencies and other community counseling facilities, a new course, CNE 593 Community Counseling was created and is a required course for students in the Counseling MA program. This course provides information and learning experiences that will better prepare students to be successful in agency and community settings for field practicum.

Objective
Graduate Students Will Demonstrate Knowledge Of The Literature.
Graduate students in the counseling program will demonstrate knowledge of current literature in counseling by preparing literature reviews of selected topics and presenting a critique of the literature in research papers, reflections, and other writing assignments in CNE classes.

Indicator
Graduate Students Will Present A Scholarly Literature Reivew.
Graduate students will demonstrate knowledge of the literature by reading professional journal articles and presenting a scholarly review of the literature.

Criterion
100% of Graduate Students will conduct scholarly literature reviews.
Graduate students will conduct a literature review and locate scholarly journal articles related to their selected topic. Journal articles will be critiqued and evaluated for contribution to increased knowledge of the student.

Finding
100% Of Graduate Students Demonstrate Knowledge Of Literature
Graduate students in the Counseling MA program demonstrate knowledge of literature by reading and critiquing professional journal articles and score 80-100% points on the Literature Review Grading Rubric. Approximately 25% of the students provide a summary of the literature rather than a scholarly critique of the professional literature.

Action
Improving Graduate Students' Knowledge Of The Literature.
To improve graduate student's knowledge of the literature, reading and critiquing of journal articles will be assigned in the first course students take in the program, CNE 511 Orientation to Counseling.

Objective
Graduate Students Will Demonstrate Competency In Research.
Counseling MA students will demonstrate competency in research; including design, methods, procedures, and evaluation of research in course CNE 579, Research Methods.

Indicator
Graduates Will Complete A Research Project.
Students enrolled in CNE 579, Research Methods will present a scholarly prepared and conducted research project demonstrating gradaute level research skills and will score 75-100 points on the Research Project Grading Rubric.

Criterion
100% of students in the Counseling MA program will complete a research project.
All of the students enrolled in the Counseling MA program are required to plan, implement, evaluate and present a scholarly research project while enrolled in CNE 579.

Finding
Criterion was achieved; with 100% of the graduate students completing a research project.
CNE 579 Research Methods is a core counseling course and all students must pass the course before moving to candidacy in the Counseling Program.

Action
Improving graduate students quality of research projects.
CNE full-time faculty teaching CNE 579, Research Methods will meet with adjunct faculty to ensure that uniform rigor is expected of all students enrolled in CNE 579.

Goal
Students Will Pass The NBCC Exams At 90% Rate
Graduates of the Counseling MA program take the National Board Counselor Certification Examination (NBCC) if they are seeking licensure from the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors. SHSU Counseling Program graduates will pass the NBCC at a 90% rate.

Objective
Graduates Will Be Competent In Core Content Areas And Skills In Counseling.
Graduates in the Counseling MA program will be knowledgable in the core content areas for community counselors in Texas. These knowledge and skills are aligned with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling Related Programs (CACREP). Students will pass the NBCC Examination with a score of 90% or better and thereby, demonstrate critical thinking skills and decision-making in counseling.

Indicator
Graduate Students Will Demonstrate Counseling Skills When Working With Clients.
Students enrolled in CNE 676 Practicum will demonstate good counseling skills when working with client in the Jack Staggs Clinic. Faculty teaching CNE 676 will rate students with "meets criteria" on the Professional Counseling Performance Evaluation.

Criterion
Ninety percent of the Practicum students will demonstrate competency in core content areas.
Ninety-percent of the students enrolled in CNE 676 Field Practicum will be evaluated as "meets criteria" with a rating of "1" or "2" on items of the Professional Counseling Performance Evaluation. A 90% rating will indicate that students are compentent counselors and are prepared to pass the NBCC examination.

Finding
Students demonstrate "meets criteria" on the Professional Counseling Performance Evlauation
100% of the students enrolled in CNE 676 were rated by CNE faculty with scores of "1" and "2" which indicates they have met meet the criteria for skills in counseling.

Action
Improve Critical Thinking and application of counseling skills.
The CNE faculty will continue to monitor the content of the courses in our program, specifically the practica series of courses (CNE 585, CNE 674, CNE 676, and CNE 686) to ensure students have the necessary core knowledge and skills to be successful in utilizing good critical thinking skills in counseling to select the best counseling techniques for each individual client seen in the Jack Staggs Counseling Clinic.

Goal
Increase Enrollment
Increase enrollment by recruitment

Objective
Increase Enrollment
Increase enrollment by 5%.

Indicator
12th Day Total Enrollment
Sum of 12th Day total enrollment figures for Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Summer I 2007 and Summer II 2007

Criterion
5% Increase
The number of students enrolled in the Counseling MA program in 2008-2009 school year will increase at least 5% over the number of students enrolled in school year 2007-2008.

Finding
Increase Enrollment
Enrollment increased from fall 2007 to fall 2008 by greater than 2%. Enrollment for fall was 227 increased to 270 fall 2008. This is a 19% increase in student enrollment.

Action
Continue recruitment efforts
All CNE faculty will work with the College of Education Recruitment committee to attend conferences, career fairs, and graduate studies information sessions to continue increasing the enrollment in the Counseling MA program.

Goal
Utilize Feedback From Stakeholder Groups To Improve Existing Program
Utilize feedback from stakeholder groups such as site supervisors for internship students and advisory board members.

Objective
Site Supervisors Will Evaluate Field Practicum Students.
Site supervisors will complete an evaluation of field practicum student assigned to their counseling agency or facility and evaluate at the ratings of 4 and 5 on all items of the Site Supervisor Evaluation Form.

Indicator
Graduate Students Will Be Evaluted By Site Supervisors When Enrolled In CNE 686.
All Site Supervisors will complete a Site Supervisor Evaluation Form for students enrolled in CNE 686 Field Practicum. Site supervisors will complete and discuss with students. Both student and site supervisor will sign the evaluation and submit to faculty teaching the course.

Criterion
Evaluate feedback from Site Supervisors.
Completed Site Supervisor Evaluation Forms will be reviewed by the Clinical Coordinator to determine if items rated lower than 4 indicate changes need to be made to the counseling program or CNE 686 course.

Finding
Site Supervisors evaluation of field practicum students
One of the site supervisors recommended students have a better understanding of how to prepare treatment plans. Another site supervisor suggested students in field practicum have a better understanding of psychopharmacology.

Action
Implementing Feedback from Site Supervisors
The two recommendations offered by site supevisors; more preparation on developing treatment plans and better understanding of psycopharmacology have been considered by the CNE faculty. The faculty agreed to require treatment plan development for students enrolled in CNE 676, a prerequisite course for CNE 686. Also, the faculty agreed on the need to offer a CNE 510 Workshop in Counseling course on psychopharmacology.

Objective
Collect Feedback From Advisory Committee
Suggestions made by advisory committee members at the annual advisory meeting will be considered for implementation in the counseling program.

Indicator
Feedback From Advisory Committee
Feedback to be collected from the advisory committee related to LPC and LMFT programs

Criterion
Collect feedback from advisory committee
Advisory board members attending the annual Counseling Program Advisory Board meeting will make suggestions for improvement to the counseling program content and learning experiences of our graduate students.

Finding
Feedback from Advisory Committee
At the spring 2008 Advisory Committee Meeting, members recommended a new course focusing on community counseling be created and added to the core course requirements for Cousneling MA students.

Action
Implement recommendations made by the Counseling Program. Advisory Committee.
At the recommendation of the Counseling Program Advisory Committee, CNE 593 Community Counseling was created and will be added as a required course beginning Fall 2009 for students in the Counseling MA program.


Update to previous cycle's plan for continuous improvement

Plan for continuous improvement For the year 2009-2010, the counseling faculty will focus on recruiting quality students for the Master's of Arts program. In addition, the faculty will evaluate content of courses to ensure alignment with content areas of the NBCC licensure examination. Student learning outcomes based on the recommendation of the practicum site supervisors, specifically, to include more treatment plan development and more information on psycopharmacology will be infused in the core curriculum. In addition, we will monitor students' performance in field practicum to see if enrollment in CNE 593, Community Counseling, improves their understanding of agencies and community counseling facilties.