2007 CHS Assessment Report 1 Counseling and Human Services Program School of Education IUSB Assessment Committee 2007 Third Year Review Written Report Guidelines Submit your assessment report in electronic format to Linda Fisher lfisher@iusb.edu and Rhonda Culbertson rculbert@iusb.edu) by March 31, 2006. The body of the report, (excluding attachments,) should be no more than 3-5 pages. You will receive an evaluation (rubric attached) and follow-up questions from the Committee for discussion at the Third Year Review. Please keep in mind that these reports will be posted on the Assessment Committee website, so remove individual s identifying information. Assessment contact person, and person preparing the report, (if different): Jeremy Linton, PhD Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator Counseling & Human Services and Educational Leadership School of Education Campus phone: 4244 jmlinton@iusb.edu Attach 2004, 2005 and 2006 annual reports and an updated departmental assessment plan * please note that 2004 is not attached. The previous program coordinator was unable to locate this document Describe any changes to the program s educational goals since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes. No changes were made to program educational goals this year. Our educational goals for Counseling and Human Services Program students are as follows: 1. Professional Identity Students will develop a professional identity. 2. Social and Cultural Diversity Students will acquire the skills and dispositions to be effective counselors in a multicultural society. 3. Human Growth and Development Students will utilize the principles of human growth and development in their counseling activities. 4. Career Development Students will acquire the skills to provide career development counseling. 5. Helping Relationships Students will acquire the skills for a therapeutic helping relationship.
2007 CHS Assessment Report 2 6. Group Work Students will acquire group work skills. 7. Assessment Students will acquire individual and group assessment skills. 8. Research and Program Development Students will acquire research and evaluation skills. Describe any assessment techniques used for measuring the Educational Goals that have been added or discontinued since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes 1. Comprehensive Exit Exam. The comprehensive exit exam is given in the final semester of the students course of study. It is an oral examination with the student answering questions for two faculty members within a 60-minute time slot. The questions require a practical application of all the knowledge and skills outlined in the educational goals for CHS students. The exit exam was redesigned during the 2004-2005 academic year. No changes were made to the exit exam during 2006-2007. The exit exam and grading rubric are attached. The exit exam will be revised in 2007-2008. 2. Exit Project. The exit project has been modified for the students who entered the program in January 2007. In 2005 the CHS faculty decided to require a scholarly research project of each student. This was changed in 2007 for 2 reasons. First, the CHS program does not have enough faculty resources to supervise and review all student research projects. Second, because most of our students do not go on to careers in research we believed that a project requiring practical application of skills would be more appropriate. The 2007 guidelines require all students to do a service project in the community. Student will identify a community problem, create a program to address that problem, and implement the program. Each project, which can be completed in teams, is supervised and evaluated by the students G501 instructor. 3. School Counseling Portfolio. We continue to use the school counseling portfolio. The portfolio in school counseling requires students to showcase their best work based on all the Indiana Professional Standards for school counselors. These standards cover all the educational goals for the CHS program. A rubric for evaluation of the school counseling portfolio is not currently available because of the departure of our primary school counseling faculty member in 2006-07. 4. Annual Student Review. Each student is reviewed annually by the faculty to determine their progress in the program. The review form is attached 5. Alumni survey. In previous years we have surveyed all alumni and area employers to ascertain the quality and preparedness of our graduates. We are currently in the process of gathering this data. A copy of the survey questionnaire is attached (titled Final Survey Draft 2007).
2007 CHS Assessment Report 3 6. CACREP Evaluation. In 2004-2005 the CHS program was reviewed by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). We continue to modify our curriculum based on their recommendations. 7. Career Action Plan Survey. In 2004 the CHS faculty surveyed current students on their career goals. The survey and summary of responses are attached. Attach any assessment instruments that have been used during the past three years, and the data collected, (or, summarized data, if that is more appropriate.) See attached. What analysis has been done with this data? What conclusions has your department drawn? The faculty have reviewed and discussed the above assessment data. Based on the information we reviewed we concluded that we need to make three changes to the program in the immediate future. These are: a) revise the exit exam procedure, b) revise the G501 curriculum, and c) modify course content as needed to address the results of #7 above. What changes have been made to the program as a result? (Curriculum, classes offered, classes discontinued, scheduling, advising, faculty education etc...) Based on information we have gathered the following changes have been made to the program: 1. Changes to the exit exam. In 2007-2008 the CHS faculty will review the current exit exam content and procedures and make major changes to the format. 2. Changes to G501. Our CACREP accreditation team, after reviewing our program, noticed 2 deficiencies in our training. First, they noted that we lacked a specific course in basic counseling skills. Second, they noted that our school and community counseling program tracks differed only by one course (G562 for school counseling and G563 for community counseling). Therefore, it was decided that the faculty would make curriculum changes to the program to address the CACREP reviewers comments. However, because formal curriculum changes take time, we decided to make immediate changes to course content in G501 to address the identified paucity in our training. Currently, students register for G501 two times during their program. With the new course content changes, students will receive basic counseling skills training and advanced training in their area of study during these two G501 courses. These changes have been noted in our course syllabi which are available upon request. 3. Offering of more elective courses. The CHS faculty has continually received feedback that students and alumni would like to opportunity to take more elective courses in the program. Therefore, in 2006 we began offering at least one elective course each summer.
2007 CHS Assessment Report 4 How did assessment data and analysis support these changes? These changes were made based on feedback provided from all of the above assessment avenues. What changes does the department plan to make in the coming years to the program and to assessment techniques, and why? 1. We plan to make the above mentioned changes to the exit exam 2. We plan to change our program curriculum to include courses dedicated to basic counseling skills and advanced training in either school or community counseling. 3. We plan to implement an employer survey to better prepare our students for the world of work How were faculty, students, administration, alumni and other groups involved in assessment? 1. In 2 of the last 3 years alumni have provided input on the program via our alumni survey 2. Feedback is solicited informally from School of Education faculty and administration. How were assessment data and results shared with faculty, students, administration and alumni? 1. All CHS faculty are involved in every aspect of assessment 2. School of Education faculty are apprised of assessment information and program changes at faculty meetings 3. School of Education administration is apprised of assessment information and program changes at bi-weekly administrative council meetings in which the CHS program coordinator takes part 4. Information is shared will all of the above parties, alumni, and community members via our annual Positive Regards newsletter. In one paragraph, please summarize the most important impacts of the assessment of student learning on the program. Assessment has driven the CHS faculty to make several changes to the program. The most recent changes are outlined above. Each year, we continually assess our program and determine where changes need to be made. We rely on both formal and informal feedback to improve the training that we offer our students. Our program is fluid in that it
2007 CHS Assessment Report 5 is constantly being modified to meet the diverse and changing needs of our students and community. Is there any other information that you would like included in this report? None at this time