Submitted Fall, 2005
Application for Candidacy – The Counselor Education Committee and School Psychology Committee, made up of faculty members, meet on a regular basis. An on-going agenda item involves discussion and action related to student concerns and concerns about students. A student who wishes to become a candidate for the Master’s or Specialist Degree will file an Application for Candidacy with the Graduate Dean. Satisfactory completion of departmental requirements must be fulfilled. A judgment is made by the faculty related to the student’s progress in meeting program goals using the Global Rating Form. This includes professional dispositions (collaboration, responsibility and reflective capacity), knowledge and skills. Additionally, the piloted Application for Candidacy uses and expands upon the usage of the Global Rating Form as one component of a comprehensive review including a review of academic progress, professional conduct, global rating, peer ratings, portfolio review, continuing professional development, activities, professional involvement, core competencies and completion of core courses. Candidacy requires: 1. overall status rating of 4 or 5 (1 – 5 scale with 5 being Outstanding); 2. two or more core courses successfully completed; 3. successful completion of CSP 855.
Assessment
Pilot year results are as follows:
N = 23 Overall Status Rating: Commendable = 19 Acceptable = 2
Need to develop and submit improvement plan = 2
Status Ratings: M = 4.38 Range = 2.5 – 4.8
Interpretation and Recommendations:
The results indicate that those students making Application for Candidacy are effectively progressing through their programs. Specific individual concerns were identified (in the case of one student, Application for Candidacy was denied due to minimal mastery of program competencies not being attained; the other student’s Applications for Candidacy was tabled due to inconsistencies with progress and incomplete grades).
As a result of revisions of previous rubric-direct comparisons with 2004/05 data are not possible. There is ongoing commitment from the Department to continue to use and expand the usage of the assessment across all programs.