Master of Education in School Counseling
Central Washington University
Self-Study Prepared in application for accreditation by the
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) under its 2001 Standards
June 15, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECTION I: THE INSTITUTION 5
A. 5
B. 5
C. 5
D. 6
E. 6
F. 8
G. 8
H. 8
I. 9
SECTION II: PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND CURRICULUM 11
A. 11
B. 12
C. 14
D. 14
E. 15
F. 15
G. 15
H. 16
I. 16
J. 17
K. 17
SECTION III: CLINICAL INSTRUCTION 31
A. 31
B. 31
C. 34
D. 36
E. 38
F. 38
G. 38
H. 40
I. 41
J. 42
K. 42
L. 43
M. 43
SECTION IV: FACULTY AND STAFF 44
A. 44
B. 53
C. 56
D. 57
E. 60
F. 60
G. 60
H. 61
SECTION V: ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION 62
A. 62
B. 62
C. 62
D. 63
E. 63
F. 63
G. 65
H. 66
I. 66
J. 68
K. 68
L. 69
SECTION VI: EVALUATIONS IN THE PROGRAM 70
A. 70
B. 70
C. 74
D. 82
E. 82
F. 82
G. 82
STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM S 83
LIST OF APPENDICES 91
List of Tables
Table 1: Qualifications of School Counseling Program Faculty 2006-2009 32
Table 2. Practicum and Internship Supervisors, 2005--2008 33
Table 3. Site Supervisors and Credentials, 2006-2009 35
Table 4. Required Hours of Participation in the School Counseling Practica 39
Table 4. Required Hours of Participation in the School Counseling Practica 42
Table 5: Rank, Employment Status and Highest Degree of all Full-Time Psychology Faculty in all Classifications 2007-2009 44
Table 6: Scholarly Productivity of the 2007-2009 School Counseling Program Full Time Faculty 46
Table 7: Professional Affiliations of the 2007-2009 School Counseling Program Faculty 52
Table 8: Faculty Professional Development Activities of School Counseling Faculty, 2007-2009, With Funding Sources 58
Table 9: University, Community, and Professional Service Activities of School Counseling Faculty Members, 2005-2008 59
Table 10: 2008/2009 academic workloads for faculty in the School Counseling Program 64
Table 11: Strengths and Weaknesses of the School Counseling Program Based on the 2007&2009 Surveys of Graduates, Supervisors, And Employers 79
SECTION I: THE INSTITUTION
A. The institution in which the academic unit is housed is accredited by a regional or institutional accrediting body that is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
A letter affirming our accreditation status is included as Appendix A. Central Washington University is fully accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The university’s most recent full-scale review was in 1999. Interim results were conducted in 2001, 2002, and 2004. A team of evaluators completed the university’s regular interim visit on October 18 - 19, 2004 after which the commission reaffirmed the university’s accreditation and requested a progress report in two years related to three areas in which we were found to be “substantially in compliance with Commission criteria, but in need of improvement.” A progress report was completed in 2007, and a new accreditation visit will occur October 2009 (See NWCCU).
B. The current institutional catalogue or bulletin accurately describes the academic unit and each program offered, including admissions criteria, minimum program requirements, matriculation requirements (for example, examinations, academic ‑ standing policies), and financial aid information.
An electronic version of the most current catalog is can be found at .acalog.com/index.php. General information about graduate programs at CWU can be found out .acalog.com/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=515. Specific program information, including minimum program requirements ant course descriptions, can be found at .acalog.com/preview_program.php?catoid=24&poid=5229&bc=1. Admissions information can be found at .acalog.com/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=509, and information regarding matriculation requirements can be found at .acalog.com/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=517. Information is also available on the department website www.cwu.edu/~counpsy/ and in the student handbook (See Appendix B)
C. The academic unit is clearly identified as part of the institution’s graduate offerings and has primary responsibility for the preparation of students in the program. If more than one academic unit has responsibility for the preparation of students in the program, the respective areas of responsibility and the relationships among and between them must be clearly defined.
The M.Ed. degree in school counseling evolved over time. M.Ed. degrees, without a designated specialization, were granted from 1947 to 1949. In 1950, specializations were named. From 1951 to 1955, a specialization in “personnel and guidance” was noted. From 1956 to 1965, a specialization in “guidance and counseling” was noted. As early as 1961, the college catalog mentioned an M.Ed. program in school counseling, but in 1965, the first M.Ed. with a specialization in school counseling was actually awarded. The recipient of the degree, on August 20, 1965, was Alma C. Spithill, who went on to earn a doctoral degree and return to Central as a faculty member.
The academic unit for the Master of Education in school counseling (hereafter, “the program,” or “School Counseling Program”) is currently housed in the Department of Psychology. The program is also a member of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), which oversees all educational-related programs. The CWU catalog lists programs by department with undergraduate and graduate offerings listed separately. The School Counseling Program description is listed on page 252 of the university catalog (See Appendix C) as one of five graduate programs offered by the Department of Psychology. All courses within the School Counseling Program are offered by faculty or adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychology, although some classes are occasionally offered by professors in the School of Education. Although Central Washington University offers degrees at seven locations throughout the state of Washington, the School Counseling Program is offered only on the residential campus in Ellensburg.
D. Cooperative relationships exist between the academic unit and
1. other academic units that contribute to the professional preparation of students in the program as well as
All courses within the School Counseling Program are offered by faculty or adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychology, the unit applying for accreditation.
The School Counseling Program has cooperative relationships with several academic units at Central Washington University. Some of the core courses are shared with the mental health counseling program and the school psychology program. Both training programs offer a distinctly different perspective on mental health and provide insights into multidisciplinary collaborations. The School Counseling Program is also part of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), which is a collaborative group of all education and teaching-related disciplines across the campus. Robert Brammer, a professor in the School Counseling Program, serves as a voting member of the CTL advisory committee. Additionally, the School Counseling Program is an active partner with the EXCEL Alternative High School, which operates on CWU’s campus. EXCEL works closely with the education, family studies, and psychology department. school counseling practicum students conduct intakes on all new EXCEL students and provide referrals to other programs across the campus, when appropriate.
2. off ‑ campus professional and community resources.
The School Counseling Program places interns within the surrounding communities. Students split their 600-hour placement among two-to-three sites (i.e., at least one primary and secondary school). Students must receive training at both levels. At least one of these sites must be in a school where the majority of students are ethnic minorities. Students routinely find placements within the Ellensburg, Selah, Yakima, and Cle Elem School Districts, but students have also completed internships in more distant areas, including Seattle, Portland, and Kent. Most continue their work in the public schools. Some of our students also complete their training in Mental Health Counseling and start private practices or work within community mental health centers. A university internship supervisor provides 1-hour of individualized training (annually) to orient site supervisors to University and CACREP policies, and site supervisors are invited to the monthly program meeting. (See supervisor’s evaluation of school counseling intern in Appendix D 3). Although less formal, there are ongoing relationships between the program and other service providers in the area. For example, Child Protective Services makes presentations to the program’s assessment seminars.
E. The institution is committed to providing the program with sufficient financial support to ensure continuity, quality, and effectiveness in all of the program’s learning environments.
Central Washington University has supported the School Counseling Program for nearly half a century. We have offered the M.Ed. with a specialization in school counseling continually since 1965. CWU also provides resources to support qualified faculty, clinical space that meets the training needs of the program, assistantships and tuition waivers, and supplies needed to maintain the program.
The Faculty: The Department of Psychology continues to support the school counseling problem by hiring excellent full time faculty. We have three full-time, tenure-track faculty in the School Counseling Program. The department is also committed to keeping a 4-1 student/faculty ratio for practica classes, and appropriate adjunct faculty are hired if additional faculty are needed to preserve this load. All faculty receive 4 credits of relief time when supervising practicum, and internship loads are never over an 8-1, student/faculty ratio. Appendix E lists all program courses for the last three years and identifies the faculty member of record. All academic courses are taught by faculty with doctorate degrees in the appropriate fields and are full-time faculty within the department.
The Clinic: Students complete three practicum experiences in the Community Counseling and Psychological Assessment Center, a clinic that was part of the original design of the 1970s era Psychology Building. Greater detail about the clinic is provided on the clinic web site and a floor plan is provided. The center serves as a training facility for graduate students in mental health counseling, school counseling, and school psychology and provides individual counseling for children and adults, marital and family counseling, and psychological testing services to the campus and local community.
Assistantships and Tuition Waivers: During the 2007-2008 academic year, 204 FTE students (annualized average) were enrolled in graduate courses at Central Washington University. Of those, 19.6 percent were enrolled in graduate programs in the Department of Psychology. Six percent were enrolled in the mental health counseling program and 2.5 percent were enrolled in the School Counseling Program.
The institution provided 18 (of 183 total for the university) graduate assistantships to the Department of Psychology during 2006-2007 and 18 (of 162) during 2007-2008. These numbers represent 10 and 11 percent respectively of all assistantships awarded at the institution. The department chair also is occasionally contacted by other offices on campus who have been awarded graduate assistantships to supplement their staffs. Two or three psychology students per year gain assistantships through these appointments.
Two assistantships were awarded to students in the School Counseling Program in 2007-2008, and two were awarded in 2008-2009. One school counseling student was awarded an assistantship outside of the psychology department. Three assistantships were awarded to students in the Mental Health Counseling program in 2007-2008, and five were awarded in 2008-2009. The number of assistantships awarded to students in the School Counseling Program varies slightly from year to year.
The Office of Graduate Studies and Research also provides in-state tuition waivers to all students awarded assistantships and additional out-of-state tuition waivers to some students who are not Washington state residents. The value of an in-state assistantship and tuition waiver currently is $16,103 and the value of an assistantship and full tuition waiver for out-of-state students is $24,703. The assistantship includes student health insurance and the student health center fee.
Supplies : The Department of Psychology provides hardware, software, equipment, and consumable items, including video recording and playback equipment, computer workstations, personal hard-drives to record practicum activities, testing materials, and computing supplies. The department also has a full-time computer consultant, who designed (and maintains) our video monitoring system. We recently purchased a system to provide ambient white noise outside the clinic interview rooms for enhanced confidentiality. We also received grants to upgrade our monitoring equipment from analog to digital and to purchase bigger computer screens and play therapy equipment for the clinic.
F. The institution provides encouragement and support for program faculty to participate in professional organizations and activities (for example, professional travel, research, and leadership positions).
Resources to support professional development come from a number of sources. Faculty can receive a total of $1700 for this purpose. Of this amount, $350 comes from the Psychology Department. An additional $350 can be obtained from the Dean’s office of presenting. The Provost’s office provides $700, and another $300 dollars can be received from the Office of Graduate Studies to match the other funding sources. Some examples of professional development activities are the American Counseling Association Convention, 2008, which was attended by Dr. Robert Brammer, Dr. Jennifer Cates, Dr. Scott Schaefle, and Dr. Jeff Penick; and the 2009 American Counseling Association Convention, which was attended by Dr. Robert Brammer, Dr. Jennifer Cates, Dr. Scott Schaefle, and Dr. Breyan Haizlip (who starts teaching in the program in July 2009).
The university supports start-up costs for new faculty and provides occasional support for research and scholarly activities. New counseling faculty members are typically provided with a campus standard Windows or Macintosh office computer, with some accommodation for special scholarly needs, such as statistical software or portability. It is common to reduce a new faculty member’s teaching load for the first quarter in order to accomplish the first steps toward establishing a line of scholarly productivity.
A reliable university resource for professional development is coordinated through the office of the associate dean of graduate studies, research, and continuing education. This money supports travel, research, manuscript costs, equipment, and other similar activities. Funds that support equipment purchase and released time for research and for grant development are available on a competitive basis through the College of the Sciences and the Office of Graduate Studies. Several psychology faculty members have purchased special equipment or have been awarded quarter-long scholarly leaves under the auspices of these programs.
Appendix F describes the sources of support available to all faculty at Central Washington University.
G. The institution makes available to students in the program personal counseling services provided by professionals other than program faculty and students.
The university’s Student Health and Counseling Center provides a full range of counseling services (see .edu/~shcc/) to all students of the university including those enrolled in the School Counseling Program. The counseling center is currently staffed by four FTE counselors and two full-time APPIC doctoral-level interns. Although there is occasional overlap between program faculty and center faculty, it is the rare occurrence. Care is taken to ensure that students in the program who need personal counseling can access a professional who is not connected to their degree program. In addition, the Student Health and Counseling Center works cooperatively with local mental health providers. Students also are well-served by community mental health professionals including CDMHPs who are on call at all times and available to students in the program as well as to other community members as needed. Students enrolled in the School Counseling Program may not be clients in the Community Psychological Services Clinic.