Accreditation

• Clinical mental health counselor trainees (CT) are observed by their site supervisor at the 50 and 100 hour points during their practicum experience to evaluate intervention/counseling, cognitive/case conceptualization, and self-awareness skills as well as professional behavior. They are also evaluated and at the 100, 300, and 500 hour points in their internship experience to provide (CT) with feedback on the effective use of counseling skills and their progress toward mastery of these skills, They are further evaluated by their site supervisors at the 200, 400, and 600 hour points during their internship experience to assess CT counseling, case conceptualization, self-awareness skills, as well as measure their professional behavior.
• School counseling practicum students are evaluated by their site supervisors to gauge their knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to problem solving, consultation, and professionalism. They are then evaluated for problem-solving consultation at the 200, 400, and final 80 hours of the 600 hour points of internship. Each assessment is formative in nature with a goal of enhancing growth as a professional school counselor. In addition, students have live skills evaluations in the areas of individual counseling, small group counseling, and classroom guidance as all of these areas are required by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Finally, each student must complete a personal self-evaluation and reflection form for each live skills evaluation.

• At the end of internship, each student is invited to complete an evaluation of their internship sites and the site supervisor. Specific information about the responsiveness, opportunities for appropriate cases, direct and indirect hour opportunities, and access to site supervision are all collected as a way to evaluate appropriateness and effectiveness of internship sites and site supervision. This information is used to determine if a site will continue to be part of the vetted list provided for student consideration.

• Trainee (CT) through the state of Ohio, prior to beginning practicum. All School Counseling students must register for a Pre Service Teacher Permit through the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce prior to the beginning of practicum. Both require completion of a FBI/BCI fingerprint and criminal records check and application through the appropriate licensing body.

• Clinical counseling students must take and pass the National Counselor Examination (NCE). School counseling students must take and pass the Ohio Assessments for Educators, School Counselor Exam (040). The 4-year average first time pass rate for theClinical Counseling (NCE) licensure exam is 94%. The 5-year average first time pass rate for the School Counseling Licensure (OAE) exam is 89%.

• The school counseling and clinical mental health programs have separate advisory boards which meet at least annually to provide feedback and insight about the programs, their performance, and future directions. The advisory board members include program alumni, site supervisors, adjunct instructors, and other currently practicing professionals from each program.
• Advisory board members are asked about new ideas, best practices, course and delivery improvement ideas and information. Data collected from these meetings are included, in aggregate, in our annual CACREP vital statistics reports, and to drive improvements and changes within our programs.

• In each course, students are invited to evaluate their class experiences through the online Student Feedback Tool (SFT) previously known as the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET). Students are asked to provide anonymous, candid, respectful opinions and constructive suggestions. Results of each SFT are provided to faculty after the end of each semester. The scores are reported as relative frequency distributions and each year, faculty will be asked to complete a concise SFT reflection form each year which is designed to help them integrate student feedback, evaluate new pedagogical approaches, connect with course learning outcomes, and enhance teaching effectiveness. Academic units and departments will develop and maintain these reflection forms. Student comments are saved and included with faculty scores; both are included as data for annual reviews. Time is provided in class for students to complete the SFT and language to that effect is required on each course syllabus.

• Graduates are asked to provide information about their first counseling positions post-graduation. For the past 10 years, all students who have sought counseling positions have been hired in their respective fields, including at agencies, health care facilities, K-12 public, private, charter, and parochial schools, and colleges. Our master's students are highly sought after and we consistently receive positive feedback about how well prepared, professional, conscientious, and open minded our students are. Many employers seek our students as potential employees.

• Students and alumni present at the annual All Ohio Counselors Conference, as well as at other conferences in Ohio and elsewhere.
• UD also hosts an annual reception at the All Ohio Counselors Conference as an opportunity for students and alumni to network with each other.

From Summative Evaluation Assignment in EDC 599

• Would love to continue learning about restorative practices. Would also like more time on counseling theories and practices. These are core to all the work we do.

• Attendance, school politics, and educational law.

• I wish I would have had more opportunities to learn about teaching strategies and classroom management strategies to use in classroom lessons. I also wish I would have had more opportunities to practice parent communication and learn crisis counseling skills and plans.

• I wish I had more of an opportunity to work with data and computer stuff. My supervisor did a lot of the data and computer stuff and I did not get to do a lot of the computer things.

• I would have liked to learn more about mental health disorders/ diagnosis. I am pleased that future cohorts will get that instruction!

From Summative Evaluation Assignment in EDC 599

• I found group work and discussions most beneficial. I enjoyed hearing about the experience of others throughout the program and learning about what they are doing compared to myself.
• The most beneficial activities for me were shadowing a school counselor at each level, QPR training from ADAMHS, panels of school counselors at different levels, and the sharing of resources throughout all classes.
• Counseling lab (triads/role playing).
• Running our own groups in group counseling class.
• Panels of guest speakers in class
• Honestly, all the hands-on projects were great, and I've used them all in my real job.
• I remember watching videos in the theories and techniques class was helpful to learn how the different counseling styles/techniques looked. Role plays were also helpful to practice counseling skills.

(From Discussions During Fall and Spring Site Visits)

• Theories and Techniques in Counseling, Program Development, Lifespan, Practicum/Internship, and Introduction to School Counseling were all relevant without an overlap of information.
• Sharing experiences in Internship class, especially with those working in similar grade levels.
• Guest speakers in classes
• The passion of the instructors combined with generous resources and relevant guest speakers

• More opportunities to get in schools early on in the program, as well as opportunities to spend more time at different levels; the option to complete practicum and internship at different levels/schools.

• Allow/require students to go and observe each other at the different sites to get experience at each level, or require observations at all three levels (primary, middle, high school).

• I think having more opportunities to be in the school buildings and see school counseling in action would be helpful.

From Discussions During Fall and Spring Site Visits

• The Legal/Ethical course should be offered prior or during Practicum.

• The Crisis class needs to be longer and with greater emphasis on individual crises and Trauma-informed care/trauma work.

• Starting Practicum in the first year of the program.

• More on data tracking, case notes and goals for groups in the Program Development class.

• More exposure to graduation requirements in class

• Have a panel of high school students discuss what they see their school counselors for and what they wish their school counselor had more time for.

• Have students set a deadline for taking the OAE. Questions about counseling theories are on the OAE, but since it's taken in the first semester of the program, it would be good to review counseling theories later.

(From Discussions During Fall and Spring Site Visits)

• Appreciated the care and support of the faculty.

• Appreciated the freedom, support and balance in the program.