E-mail this pageSupervisor's Evaluation for CACREP
Evaluation of Counselor Education Program By Practicum and Internship Site Supervisors
Spring, 2003
By Juliette Lynch, Valerie Guay, Donald A. Haight
Introduction
This assessment was developed as part of the requirements for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accreditation. Our internship and practicum site supervisors are a valuable source of feedback about our program. As one of only three schools in New York State with CACREP accreditation, conducting periodic surveys not only enhances programmatic planning efforts but also helps to ensure continued CACREP accreditation.
Sample
Practicum and Internship Supervisors from the years 2000 - 2002 were selected to complete a survey on the effectiveness of Counselor Education Department student supervisees. These supervisors worked in a variety of settings, including schools, colleges, and mental health agencies.
Methodology
55 questionnaires were sent out to Internship and Practicum Site Supervisors from 1998-2001. The Counselor Education Department received 22 return questionnaires, for a response rate of 40%.
Results
Based on your experience with students from our program, please indicate the extent to which our program prepared our practicum/internship students on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being poorly prepared, 2 unprepared, 3 adequately prepared, 4 prepared, 5 well prepared, and 0 not applicable:
| Question | Supervisor Rating |
| 1. A commitment to personal and professional growth | 4.5 |
| 2. A commitment to Her/His profession | 4.4 |
| 3. A commitment to collegiality | 4.4 |
| 4. A commitment to accountability/program evaluation | 4.3 |
| 5. A commitment to professional leadership | 3.7 |
| 6. A commitment to a professional identity | 4.1 |
| 7. A commitment to high ethical standards | 4.7 |
| 8. A commitment to professional organizations and activities pertinent to her/his work | 4.5 |
| 9. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in individual counseling | 4.4 |
| 10. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in group | |
| 11. counseling/processes | 4.3 |
| 12. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in assessment/appraisal | 3.9 |
| 13. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in career/lifestyle development counseling | 4 |
| 14. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in the counseling relationship | 4.5 |
| 15. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in consultation | 4 |
| 16. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in analytical abilities | 4.3 |
| 17. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in conducting and applying research | 3.9 |
| 18. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in human growth and development | 3.9 |
| 19. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in the counseling process | 4.6 |
| 20. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in working with specific populations | 4 |
| 21. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in different counseling theories | 3.9 |
| 22. Effective understanding of and skills and techniques in socio-cultural foundations of different populations | 4 |
| 23. Knowledge of multicultural/pluralistic characteristics of diverse cultural groups | 3.3 |
| 24. Applying current and emerging technological resources | 3.8 |
| 25. Comprehensive, well-balanced professional preparation | 4.3 |
| 26. Knowledge of the professional environment in which He/she works | 3.9 |
Supervisors of Practicum and Internship Students responses to the question:
1) What would you most like us to know about the students from our program and/or experiences with them?
- I have had wonderful interns- they keep getting better! Very prepared and professional.
- I had one intern that had not participated in a practicum first. This made the internship difficult because the student was not prepared to "find stuff to do" without my guidance. I had 2 different experiences with my interns. The first had a much better understanding of the day to day variety of working in a school. The second needed to be told what to do each day, rather than taking the initiative to find students, projects, etc. This changed my role from supervisor to teacher. This is not the ideal situation.
- They have been excellent. I still feel that all students should take psychopathology.
- I have been lucky to have excellent interns. I know not all of the interns at ____would be seen as highly prepared as those I've supervised.
- All of the interns we had have been prepared- ready to work with challenging populations.
- The students have been an added benefit to our program.
- While I'm sure that the Counselor Education Program does an outstanding job in preparing students once they arrive on campus, I also feel that the faculty does an impressive job of selecting very capable students. We've had the good fortune of working with two exceptional graduate students. Please feel free to contact me for any additional information you might require.
- They need more work in classrooms developing lesson plans on classroom management.
- My experiences with students from your program have been very positive.
- I have had only great experiences with the two internship students I have worked with.
- I really enjoyed being a part of a new counselor's professional experience. I wish there could've been a way to adequately pay the counseling interns who gave so much to ... As much as possible we tried to make positions available to interns upon completion of their studies. The ... was a good launching pad for an intern's professional career as a counselor.
- It has always been a pleasure to site supervise your students.
- Our last intern did well in connecting with and facilitating a MICA group.
- Each of the student teachers seems energetic and anxious to please. Each is friendly and has gone out of his/her way to meet me and make sure that I know who they are.
- I have had some outstanding interns- they truly stand out. It is very difficult for them initially in a school situation because of the variety of issues you deal with in one day.
- I don't mean to be vague, but we've had students who were wonderful in most areas, and some who were weak in seriousness/commitment to this profession. Generally, the large majority are prepared though, or well prepared in most areas. I feel professional identity in a school setting is a weak area though, which effects professional leadership. I feel the school environment can often be a mine field, and students entering this field need to understand the need to navigate this field and develop the skills to do so. Since our roles are so diverse and changing (although certain areas are more concrete), we must have a clear identity in our own minds, or we become a catch-all department for tasks others choose not to do at times. An example would be a teacher who seeks us out to discuss a student who is performing poorly in class due to not handing in homework or not preparing for exams. Sometimes these teachers will ask that we schedule a parent conference for not only them, but all other teachers for the student as well 9even though no other teachers may have reported a concern to us), or that teacher may ask us to intervene with the student. However, at least in our school with a few teachers, it is not uncommon for them to not have contacted the parent or sometimes not even have conferenced with the student before asking me to intervene. If counseling students do not have a clear identity of their professional role, they may be taken advantage of by other folks who are shunning their own responsibilities. The clarification of this role, and development of back-bone/confidence to be firm in it, seems to take some years to acquire. In addition, school counselors are always "in the middle"- facilitating between student and parent, student and teacher, student and administrator, parent and teacher, parent and administrator, teacher and teacher... you name it. Tact and caution are absolutely essential qualities for this balancing act. In summary, this area of professional development/identity and resulting leadership is one that I feel needs more attention to heighten counseling student awareness as they enter practicums and internships, to avoid the "mines" in this challenging-to-navigate field at times. Thanks for asking! Hope all is well in your department.
- I believe that the students are very capable and energetic at the time of internship and practicum. The only issue that has arisen concerned the students in the student affairs tract who were resentful that they had to do as many counseling hours when they were not interested in doing so.
Questions, Comments, Suggestions?
If you would like more information about counselor education at SUNY Plattsburgh please contact
Dr. Stephen Saiz, Chairperson
Office: Ward Hall 107F
Phone: (518) 564-4170
E-mail: stephen.saiz@plattsburgh.edu