CACREP Annual Report

Below, you will find student assessment data addressing the passing rate for the NCE, job placement statistics, demographic and other characteristics of applicants, students, and graduates, aggregate assessment data on student knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, and the results of our annual follow-up of graduates for the purposes of program evaluation and modification. We also included a summary of students involved in remediation plans for Dispositions (including a description of our process of reviewing and evaluating student professional dispositions) and a summary of outcomes for our comprehensive exam administered in April of 2022.

For the Spring 2022 testing cycle, WWU had 8 students (out of 12) take the National Counseling Exam (NCE), including 4 Clinical Mental Health Counseling students and 4 School Counseling students. The National Board for Certified Counselors administered three different versions of the NCE for our students and 100 percent passed the exam (See table below).

Our program had a 100% graduation rate for the students admitted in Fall 2020.

The following table shows a summary of job placement statistics for the 2021 graduating class (see ‘Job Placement’ documents in annual report evidence folder).

NOTE: While the following data indicated that there was a lot going well with our program, we are only reporting on the opportunities for growth identified by our various stakeholders (e.g., graduating students, alumni, site supervisors, employers, etc.).

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) and School Counseling (SC) graduate programs at Western Washington University (WWU) are committed to both gathering and be reflexive to program evaluation data. In addition to the comprehensive data review that occurs every four years (using 8 surveys to 8 different stakeholders [exiting SC and CMHC students, SC/CMHC alumni, SC/CMHC Employers, and SC/CMHC Site Supervisors), for our annual reports, we distribute exit surveys to our departing students:

• CMHC Exit Survey (n = 3)

• SC Exit Survey (n = 5)

To review this data – along with other key indicators of student success (e.g., dispositions data, key assessment outcome data, informal evaluations of student progress, etc.) – the faculty meets during the Fall quarter counseling program faculty retreat. We also send out multiple survey requests to our students to complete their surveys well in advance of our Fall retreat. Please note that in our responses below, the counseling faculty focused primarily on survey items that received two or more unsatisfactory votes OR any written comments that explicated suggestions for improvements.

Students noted wanting more actionable guidance on implementing social justice and multicultural counseling perspectives in school- based settings. Faculty discussed using a new textbook that focuses on identifying and closing opportunity gaps in schools, as well as including more readings of applied advocacy in school- based settings. There were some temporary changes to the school counseling group class as a result of COVID-19 that made it difficult to get the students practical experience leading groups in the schools. This is being remedied this year with a new instructor for the School Counseling group course and fewer COVID-related limitations. Students reported wanting more guidance in testing assessment in school-based settings so the faculty plan to coordinate with the adjunct instructor for this class to add more specific types of assessments used in schools.

Some students reported wanting more experience and knowledge related to pedagogy and classroom control techniques so changes were made to the Fall internship class to ensure that students must observe 6 hours of teaching (including a write up on the experience). Further, internship class for the school counseling students will have discussions early on in the course outlining the standards covered in that course and will push the topic of assessment in schools towards the beginning of the quarter so that students have those skills earlier on. School Counseling students will also receive their dispositions along with formative feedback mid-way through each quarter instead of receiving just summative feedback at the end of the quarter.

The school counseling program is also in the process of adding more potential sites for students to select from. The students reported wanting more theories from diverse sources so the theories course this Fall added subject matter expert guest speakers on Curanderismo, working with the LGBTQ+ community, and working with indigenous knowledge systems, as well as a section on Japanese Morita Therapy. Finally, the students requested funding during their internship quarters in the second year of their program. The school counseling director, Dr. Diana Gruman, is consulting with the Associate Dean at Woodring to explore some potential options. Finally, students reported wanting to experience group counseling as the client which was eliminated as a result of COVID. It has since been revived due to the absence of COVID-related restrictions so our current group of second year school counseling students will have 6 sessions of group counseling with one of our program alumni during their family and community systems (PSY558) course.

Students requested more opportunities to engage in professional trainings and receive funding to do so. As a result, the CMHC faculty discussed helping students learn more about local conferences and training opportunities, as well as potential funding sources. We are also going to try and involve students in the ACA’s upcoming virtual conference that allows students to get these kinds of trainings from home. Some student wanted to gain a better understanding of how to work with children and adolescents so Dr. Byrne – the instructor who will be taking over the Developmental Psychopathology course for Dr. Du Rocher Schudlich who is away on sabbatical – will require her students in that class to observe counseling work with children and adolescents that occurs in our counseling training clinic.

The CMHC faculty as a whole will also work to encourage our students to seek out experiences that foster their unique interests to help students gain a wider range of training-related experiences. We also discussed ways in which we can help create opportunities for relationship building between cohort members early on in their first year in response to students requests for more opportunities to build group cohesion. This included things like encouraging them to attend our beginning of the year pot luck, encouraging cohort gatherings outside of class, and spending time at the beginning of each class getting to know one another (especially in their first year courses).

Students from both the CMHC and SC cohorts requested that faculty do a better job coordinating what readings we have them do (so as to avoid overlap) so the faculty are in a process of sharing and auditing each other’s syllabi to prevent overlap. Changes based on our review of Key Assessment Outcome Data (located in our consolidated Key Assessment Outcome Tracking excel spread sheet included the need for developing more clear expectations for assessing students in practicum and evaluating the sensitivity of our key assessments regarding counseling skills during their practicum experience. The faculty will be working together throughout the Fall 2022 quarter (in the Counseling Program Committee) to develop these new standards of assessment that will be used in Practicum.