Student Handbook
The Master of Arts in Counseling program at EMU strives to achieve the highest standards of professional excellence in providing psychologically and spiritually grounded training for counselors. We seek to create a community atmosphere within the program, a community bold with creative ideas and open with honesty, partnering in the inner work counselor training requires.
Counselor Formation Assessment
While the material in this section of the handbook may be redundant with material elsewhere, it is important to collate assessment information in one section.
The distinction between formative and summative assessment is important to understanding the process of counselor formation development. Formative assessment refers to the feedback to the student that is designed to foster awareness and growth, to give support and encouragement. This formative assessment is the most frequent type of assessment the student will experience. Summative assessment, on the other hand, is an assessment of achievement, with an outcome consequence. Course grades, admission to candidacy, and approval to present a case study are examples of summative assessment.
Counseling faculty tend to be more comfortable with formative assessment than with summative assessment. We like being in a supportive and encouraging role. Summative assessment may in contrast feel too blunt and even harsh. For this reason we do try as much as possible to use formative assessment to give students a clear understanding of their strengths and growing edges well in advance of critical summative evaluation points. Ideally, any summative evaluation will be just that – a summary of work and competencies, with no surprises.
In addition to course grades, the times at which the summative evaluation of the student comes into clearest focus are those times of decision by the faculty and staff regarding the student’s demonstrated competence and potential to succeed as a professional counselor: the process of admission to the program, the admission to candidacy decision, grading of the Case Seminar, and approval to graduate. Each process involves documentation of preparation and readiness, and each process also involves the less quantifiable professional judgments by the faculty.
Admission to candidacy is a central decision point. Faculty like to give applicants to the program a reasonable chance to prove themselves in the program, but once admitted to candidacy, a decision not to graduate a student would signal failure on the part of the program as well as the student. Admission to candidacy marks an important movement from “student” toward “colleague”.
Finally, before inventorying the various types of assessment, a word about the Student Objectives, which were introduced at the beginning of this manual, and the Counselor Formation Assessment Scale (CFAS, Appendix B) which is the formal instrument used by faculty at admission to candidacy and approval for graduation. The Student Objectives are the goals for each student in the program – course grades report the degree to which the content objectives in the Student Objectives were met, while the CFAS evaluation is a measure of the degree to which the clinical goals in the Student Objectives were met.
Coursework
Course grading is an important summative assessment. Most courses are given a letter grade. In cases where it is difficult or counter-productive to objectively quantify performance with respect to course objectives, pass and fail grades are given.
Student Self- Evaluation
Student self-evaluation is an important part of the process of internalizing a counselor identity, and comparing self-perceptions with the professional evaluations of teachers, their advisor, and supervisors. A primary opportunity for self-evaluation is the prepared self-evaluation conducted by the student during each semester’s formal advising session. Self-evaluation is also a constant part of the clinical feedback process in the counselor formation courses, practicum, and internship. Students are also invited to engage in extensive self-awareness projects in many courses.
Another record of self-evaluation is the portfolio student’s are encouraged to develop. The student is encouraged to place in the portfolio any records of significant progress or achievements in the program, such as term papers, etc. In addition, faculty may request the filing of significant papers. Students may gain access to their portfolio through the program administrative assistant.
Formal Advising Conferences
As described earlier in the Advising section, one function of the formal advising conferences is to monitor progress through the program. The objectives of the formal conference are to provide feedback to the student regarding progress in the program; review the student's portfolio (containing selected papers and professor evaluations from each class, evaluations from supervisors, and résumé material); help the student integrate their various experiences; during the first half of the program assess progress toward admission to candidacy, and during the second half assess progress toward graduation.
It is the student’s responsibility to take initiative to present themselves in this advising conference. During each formal conference the advisor fills out an Advisory Conference Feedback Form, which serves as one objective data point for assessing the student's ongoing progress in the program.
A common activity during these formal advising sessions involves student self-assessment, using the Counselor Formation Assessment Scale or other methods as appropriate. The advising conference also enables documentation of assessment and recommendations for growth and personal work.
Writing and Presentation Assessment
Professional writing and presentation skills are essential competencies for the counselor. Many classes provide opportunity to work on both writing and presentation skills. As noted earlier, the university adheres to standards for graduate level writing, and these standards are the basis for faculty assessment of student writing.
Group supervision is an important forum for working on presentation skills, particularly in the task of presenting case material to the group.
Other opportunities for profession presentations exist in classroom guidance, various educational group-work, and conference presentations.
The Professional Clinical Seminar is the culminating opportunity to demonstrate competencies in a substantial paper and presentation.
Clinical Assessment - Supervisor Evaluation
The student’s faculty group supervisor and the individual site supervisor have weekly opportunities to provide the student with formative evaluation. The evaluative work in these settings is the core of the assessment of student clinical competence and professional identity, and this ongoing and regular work is conducted in the context of the shared evaluative understandings described in the Counselor Formation Assessment Scale and the Practicum and Internship Performance Evaluation Forms.
Integrative Counselor Formation Assessment (CFAS)
The Counselor Formation Assessment Scale was adapted from the Scoring Rubric: Counselor-Trainee Clinical Work, developed by Mary Ann Hanna (copyright 1997). This evaluation format allows a trainee to be scored on their individual performance level related to specific criteria. Rating alternatives are specifically defined by an exemplar (specific description of behavior that would exemplify a person receiving that rating). This then provides the evaluator and the trainer with concrete descriptions of behavior at the various levels of competence. A competency concerned with spiritual and religious dimensions was added to the 20 items on Hanna’s original scale.
The CFAS is used by the faculty as a summary assessment instrument, following review of all relevant materials and reports, in the admission to candidacy and approval for graduation processes. Assessment goals are defined for admission to candidacy and graduation. The standard at admission to candidacy is an average score of 3.0. The standard for graduation is a 4.0 average, with no item less than 3. The decision regarding admission to candidacy and graduation includes course performance as well as the score obtained on the CFAS.
