PROGRAM REVIEW REPORT SUMMARY
1. Reporting Institution ________Eastern IllinoisUniversity______
2. Program Reviewed M.S. in Counseling
3. Date ________1/10/04__
4. Responses to Institution-assigned issues/concerns
What unique, noteworthy activity is the department involved in that the IBHE/state of Illinois should be made aware of?
In 2000, the department was awarded a $50,000 TEDE grant that provided opportunity to infuse technology throughout the program. We decided to use this initiative to help enhance our off-campus cohort program, meet school counseling shortages in the state, and increase minority students in the program. After successfully beginning with a cohort in Decatur Illinois, we expanded the off-campus program to Mt. Vernon and Champaign Illinois. By utilizing technology throughout this program, we are now able to offer the complete M.S. in Counseling with a concentration in School Counseling to students who would not otherwise be served by a university. Some of our courses are now delivered online reducing the travel commitments of both faculty and students. Students are able to maintain their professional life while also seeking this demanding degree. Likewise, faculty members were able to experiment with using technology in various classes. In one case, research is being conducted by our faculty to examine the implications of technology on supervision. The results are ongoing but preliminary data has been shared at the state and national level.
Other activities worth noting are as follows:
á Curriculum is aligned closely with program objectives. Each course taught is designed to meet specific objectives that meet both national accreditation and state standards as well as meet employerÕs needs.
á High standards are maintained throughout the program. Students must take courses in a sequential format and are not allowed to advance in the program unless they obtain a ÒBÓ in the applied skills courses (for example, pre-practicum, practicum, and internship). Student review conferences are held each semester to insure that students not only maintain academic standards, but also maintain ethical standards and professional disposition.
á Students are required to form strong mentoring relationships with faculty throughout their clinical coursework and supervision resulting in over 700 hours of supervised experience.
á Over the last 5 years we have obtained five grants to improve the equipment, training facilities, and integration of technology. We continue to invest financial resources in improving the program.
5. Major Findings and Recommendations
5.1 Description and assessment of any major changes in the disciplinary context [e.g., (a) in the discipline of field; (b) student demand; (c) societal need; (d) institutional context for offering the degree; (e) other elements appropriate to the discipline in question; (f) other].
The field of counseling continues to evolve reflecting changes in managed care, statutory law, school policy, and ethical guidelines. Although the department has been graduating students from its program since the 50Õs, it too has been evolving to meet the current demands of clients/students. The mission of the Department of Counseling and Student Development is to provide a dynamic curriculum for students interested in obtaining certification as a School Counselor or License Professional Counselor (LPC) and License Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC). To that end, in 1996 the department (formally the Department of Educational Psychology and Guidance) began the formal process to become accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) which was conferred in 1998. Students now receive training in counseling skills and competencies commensurate with this accreditation. Depending on concentration, the curriculum prepares students for either work as a school counselor within the K-12 school system or work in a mental health agency, health care facility, employee assistant program (EAP), and human service agency. Some students also decide to pursue additional studies in Ph.D. programs, Marriage and Family counseling, Play Therapy, and Private Practice. Since 1998, the program has achieved enormous progress toward our mission resulting in a name change, new mission, goals and objectives, a complete curriculum revision, a new degree (M.S. in Counseling), new assessment measures, new admission and retention policies, and a greater focus on achieving high standards for the program and its students. This commitment to excellence is ongoing and continues to be evaluated to insure that future counseling students are highly prepared for professional practice.
The counseling field continues to be a growing occupation. The U.S. department of Labor estimates that the counseling field is expected to Ògrow faster than the average for all occupations through 2010.Ó The December 2000 document ÒEducator Supply and Demand,Ó a report written by the Illinois State Board of Education Research Division, stated that school counseling was an Òarea of under-supplyÓ or ÒshortageÓ area. With an estimate of 30% of the school counseling workforce now eligible to retire, the need for future counselors is great. Recently, Illinois changed its law to allow alternative certification for counselors without teaching certificates. This should provide positive employment outlook for both our school and community concentrations in the M.S. in Counseling. One concern is that we do not have good placement data on graduates of the M. S. in Counseling. However, until recently, school counselors were typically school teachers seeking post-baccalaureate degrees and those who wanted to easily found jobs given the state shortage in this area. Likewise, community counselors were often working full-time upon entering our program so there was little change in status after graduation. We are currently looking at better ways to track our M.S. graduates to collect data on this issue.
5.2 Description of major findings and recommendations, including evidence of learning outcomes and identification of opportunities for program improvement;
The department has six major departmental goals that provide broad direction to the program. Our first goal is to provide an accredited program to students. We are currently CACREP accredited and seek reaccredidation for another seven year beginning in 2004. The second goal is to provide the necessary competencies to serve the needs of a diverse society. One of the strengths listed in our follow-up study suggest that students feel Òwell-preparedÓ for Òcounseling culturally different individuals.Ó Almost one hundred percent of our exit surveys respondents stated they were adequately or well-prepared in this area with 3 respondents having no opinion. A third goal is skill development. We address this goal by progressive skill building classes that include pre-practicum, group, practicum and internship. These combined courses result in over 700 hours of intense supervised experience. Again, the follow-up student survey data suggest students are Òwell preparedÓ for skills such as Òcrisis counseling, suicide assessment, group counseling, cognitive development, counseling adults, counseling culturally different individuals, and practica/internships.Ó A fourth goal is the pursuit of ethical behavior. We accomplish this goal through stringent admission requirements and student review conferences. The review conferences require faculty to meet once a semester to evaluate the professional disposition and academic performance of each student in the program. This process results in ongoing evaluation of the student from admission to graduation. Our results suggest that in spite of warnings issued to students each semester, our process has resulted in 100% retention of flagged students. Our fifth goal is concerned with effective teaching, research, and service to students and other related parties. Our most recent follow-up study stated that 96% of our alumni were very satisfied or satisfied with their professional preparation. Our last program goal is continuous assessment which in our case involves preparation of student exit surveys, alumni surveys, and internal assessment activities. The results of these efforts are reviewed in the annual fall departmental retreat and incorporated into program improvements.
The CSD department also has specific program objectives that help guide the curricula and insure that courses offered are relevant and meet state and national accreditation standards. The M.S. in Counseling has eight core objectives that both concentrations share and form the foundation of this degree. In order to measure our effectiveness in meeting these objectives, a newly developed exit survey was given to 2003 graduates. Because this is a new survey, our initial number of respondents is small (n = 18 for school; n = 9 for community). The data from this survey indicate that 90% or higher of school concentration students are either prepared are adequately prepared in both knowledge and application on six of the eight foundational areas. Although over sixty percent felt they were adequately or well-prepared in knowledge and application of appraisal, around twenty five percent stated they were not. Likewise, eighty-eight percent felt they were prepared or well-prepared in research with eleven percent stating they were not. Community counselors (n = 9) thought that they were adequately or well-prepared in all but three areas. Eleven percent thought they were poorly prepared in knowledge and twenty-two percent poorly prepared in application of career counseling. Eleven percent thought they were poorly prepared in knowledge and application of appraisal while twenty-two percent thought they were poorly prepared in the knowledge and application of research. The results of this survey will be reviewed in our annual faculty retreat and steps taken to improve these (albeit small) concerns.
In addition to our core program objectives mentioned earlier, each concentration has five additional and separate objectives that are discipline specific. One hundred percent of school counseling students thought they were adequately or well-prepared in all but three objectives. Five percent thought they were poorly prepared in foundational knowledge of professional practice, eleven percent thought they were poorly prepared in the management of school programs, and eleven percent thought they were poorly prepared in program development and evaluation. For this reason, we have recently hired a new faculty member who has been working on these issues. As a result, courses were revised and a new internship course was developed to meet this concern. One hundred percent of community counseling students thought they were adequately or well-prepared in all but one area. Twenty-two percent thought there were unprepared or poorly prepared for the management and coordination of an agency. Again, we have recently revised the foundations course dealing with this area in order to address this concern.
One-hundred percent of school counseling students were satisfied or very satisfied with overall skills in professional practice, assistance with obtaining a position, and overall satisfaction with their professional preparation. One-hundred percent of community counselors were satisfied or very satisfied with overall skills in professional practice and overall satisfaction with their professional preparation. Sixteen percent of school and eleven percent of community students were not satisfied with their advisement and fifty-five percent of community counselors were dissatisfied with the departmentÕs assistance in obtaining a first professional position. For this reason, faculty will begin reviewing advisement procedures and how other programs assist students with placement.
Internship supervisor surveys are given out during the final semester of a studentÕs program. Results indicate that we are doing a good job in our core curriculum training objectives. The vast majority of intern supervisors thought our interns were adequately or well-prepared across seven of the eight core areas of our program (mean average rating on each component was 83%). The one area were approval was lowest was in research and that may be because many of the respondents indicated Òno opinionÓ. Perhaps they are not able to observe how our training in research is applied in therapeutic and school practice. Additionally, respondents were impressed with the students knowledge (school -95%; community Ð 100%), overall skills (school - 84.2%; community Ð 92.3%) and overall satisfaction with their training (school - 83%; community - 61.6). In most cases including the last criterion, there were many supervisors with no opinion. Again, perhaps they did not feel qualified to make a judgment.
Although our recent alumni follow-up study indicated that ninety-six percent of our alumni are satisfied with their preparation and one-hundred percent of our recent graduates are satisfied, improved assessment measures have revealed some dissatisfaction. It is too early to tell if this is a trend, but clearly some attention will be spent at our next retreat on the subject matter of career, appraisal, and research. Likewise, we will need to look at how to improve our advisement and placement efforts.
5.3 Description and assessment of any major program changes [e.g., (a) in the discipline or field; (b) student demand; (c) societal need; (d) institutional context for offering the degree; (e) other elements appropriate to the discipline in question; (f) other].
After our initial provisional accreditation from CACREP in 1996, the department embarked on an enrollment management plan to improve the overall quality of the program and target specific employment shortage areas in the state. The plan was to cap the number of students enrolled in each concentration to 20 per year. Thus, the data reveal that enrollment in community has decreased from 323 in 1998 to 123 in 2003. As a result, we now meet CACREP standards for supervision and have better internship placements. Likewise, school counseling, which was experiencing a shortage of workers, was targeted for an increase. Therefore, we have greatly increased our off-campus offering through the use of cohorts.. Enrollment comparisons with other institutions show that our numbers are well within the mean enrollment in other institutions. Unfortunately, student demand for our degree outpaces our ability to handle and meet our accreditation requirements. As a result, in the last year we admitted forty applicants out of an applicant pool of ninety potential candidates. Likewise, we are concerned about how to maintain a diverse applicant pool. The number of minority students has decreased in the community counseling program and increased in the school counseling program. We will review these findings in our fall faculty retreat to determine what additional strategies we can use to increase the diversity of our students.
Our department works very hard to maintain a productive and efficient program. In reviewing state data comparing similar programs, our department is near the mean on fiscal year degrees, costs per credit hour, and faculty credit hour per staff. For example, in 2001 our fall enrollment was 116 compared to the mean of 123; degrees conferred was 52 compared to the state mean of 42; costs per credit unit was 316 compared to the state mean of 331; and faculty credit hour per staff was 325 compared to the state mean of 328.
5.4 Description of actions taken since the last review, including instructional resources and practices, and curricular changes;
The actions taken since our last review have been summarized as follows:
1998
¯ Changed department name from Department of Educational Psychology and Gudiance to Department of Counseling and Student Development.
¯ Change M.S.Ed. degree in Guidance and Counseling (concentration in Community Counseling, School Counseling, and College Student Affairs) to an M.S. in Ed. degree in Guidance and Counseling (concentrations in School Counseling and College Student Affairs) and an M.S. degree in Community Counseling.
¯ Replace Educational Foundation courses for the M.S. degree in Community Counseling with EDG 5140 (Essentials of Community Agency Counseling) and EDG 5721 (Counseling perspectives on Human Development).
¯ Title and course name changes for several courses and change EDG prefixes to CSD prefixes.
¯ Prerequisite changes for the following courses: CSD 5980 (Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Planning), CSD 5630 (Practicum), and CSD 5620 (Group Counseling).
1998-00
¯ Credit hour changes for CSD 5530 (Pre-Practicum) and CSD 5630 (Practicum) Ð changed from 4 semester hours to 3 semester hours.
¯ Catalog description changes for CSD 5510 (Professional Orientation) and CSD 5920 (Management of School Counseling Programs).
¯ New course request for CSD 5940 (Foundations of School Counseling).
¯ Change program requirements to 48 semester hours for Community Counseling and School Counseling aligning curriculum with CACREP standards.
¯ Add prerequisite for all courses that states: ÒCourses numbered CSD 5540 and above are open only to students who have been admitted to the Department of counseling and Student Development or with permission of the Department Chair.Ó
2000-01
¯ Change prerequisites for CSD 5630 (Practicum) and CSD 6900 (Internship).
¯ Change the M.S.Ed. degree in Guidance and Counseling (with concerntations in School Counseling and College Student Affairs) to an M.S. degree in Counseling (with concerntation in School Counseling and Community Counseling) Note: This deletes the M.S. degree in Community Counseling.
¯ Delete Educational Foundations courses for School Counselng and replace with elective courses for those areas.
5.5 Description of actions taken as a result of this review, including instructional resource and practices, and curricular changes.
In anticipation of our upcoming accreditation visit and the IBHE program review, we revised the following course syllabi to meet CACREP and the new Illinois State standards.
¯ CSD 5500 Ð Research Methods
¯ CSD 5510 Ð Professional Orientation
¯ CSD 5520 Ð Theories of Counseling
¯ CSD 5530 Ð Pre-Practicum
¯ CSD 5600 Ð Cross-Cultural Counseling
¯ CSD 5610 Ð Human Development for Counselors
¯ CSD 5620 Ð Group Counseling
¯ CSD 5630 Ð Practicum
¯ CSD 5900 Ð Appraisal
¯ CSD 5920 Ð Career Counseling
¯ CSD 5930 Ð Foundations of Community Counseling
¯ CSD 5940 Ð Foundations of School Counseling
¯ CSD 5941 Ð Management of School Counseling Programs (new number)
¯ CSD 5960 Ð Family Counseling
¯ CSD 5970 Ð Counseling the Chemically Dependent
¯ CSD 5980 Ð Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
¯ CSD 6900 Ð Internship in Community Counseling (new name)
¯ CSD 6905 Ð Internship in School Counseling (new name and number).
6. Outcome
6.1 Decision
_____ Program in Good Standing
_____ Program flagged for Priority Review
_____ Program Enrollment Suspended
6.2 Explanation