Latest content added for UNT Digital Library Partner: UNT Librarieshttps://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/partners/UNT/browse/?fq=dc_rights_access:unt&fq=str_degree_discipline:Counselor+Education&fq=str_degree_department:Department+of+Counseling,+Development+and+Higher+Education2008-02-15T15:47:23-06:00UNT LibrariesThis is a custom feed for browsing UNT Digital Library Partner: UNT LibrariesAn Investigation into how CACREP Accredited Institutions meet the CACREP Practicum Standards2008-02-15T15:47:23-06:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4656/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4656/"><img alt="An Investigation into how CACREP Accredited Institutions meet the CACREP Practicum Standards" title="An Investigation into how CACREP Accredited Institutions meet the CACREP Practicum Standards" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4656/small/"/></a></p><p>This study was designed to determine how institutions accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) meet the practicum requirements set forth in CACREP's 2001 standards. Practicum is a vital part of the matriculation process of counselors in training. This clinical based course allows students to practice the skills they have learned in previous, more didactic based courses. Trainees can stretch skills, all under the watch of a counselor supervisor with greater experience. Although CACREP instructs all accredited counseling programs to have such a course in place, the standards are not specific. Schools are often interpreting the standards in a multitude of ways, presumably to successfully meet the standards while still serving the student as well as the clientele who seek out mental health assistance (Pitts, 1992a). The purpose of this study was to determine what measures CACREP accredited institutions enact to meet the clinical practicum standards. The difference between this study and prior research that has addressed the practicum requirement is that the instrument used in this study specifically addressed every CACREP practicum standard, including technology, diversity, and concerns with supervision and meeting the direct client contact hour requirement. The results of the study showed that most programs do indeed meet the standards that have been set by CACREP. However, the way that these are met varies greatly from school to school. In addition, some schools have incorporated innovative practices that could be beneficial to both schools looking to gain accreditation and ones that are attempting to modify existing practices.</p>Analysis of the Impact of CACREP Accreditation of Counselor Education Programs on Student Knowledge Outcomes2007-09-25T21:33:32-05:00https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2746/<p><a href="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2746/"><img alt="Analysis of the Impact of CACREP Accreditation of Counselor Education Programs on Student Knowledge Outcomes" title="Analysis of the Impact of CACREP Accreditation of Counselor Education Programs on Student Knowledge Outcomes" src="https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2746/small/"/></a></p><p>The principal investigator (PI) for this study analyzed mean scores on the
National Counselor Examination (NCE) of students from CACREP accredited and non-
CACREP accredited programs. Data was provided by the National Board of Certified
Counselors, Inc., for a total of ten examination administrations across six years.
The fourteen variables examined in the study consisted of the eight common-core
knowledge domains identified in CACREP standards, the five counselor work behavior
areas identified by NBCC via periodic job analysis of counseling practice, and one
overall or total score on the NCE. NCE mean scores of students from CACREP
accredited programs were higher than NCE mean scores of students from non-CACREP
accredited programs on all variables across all ten NCE administrations. Data seem to
indicate that students from CACREP accredited programs perform significantly better on
the NCE than students from non-CACREP accredited programs, in all fourteen variables.
Sample size was large, totaling 9707, so the PI calculated effect sizes using
Cohen's d for each variable to aid interpretation of statistical significance. Five variables
had large effect sizes of .70 or higher. The higher effect size statistics were associated
with the counselor work behavior areas, with the highest effect size (.85) associated with
the overall, or total, score on the NCE. Statistically significant results in the counselor work behavior areas, in the presence of large effect size statistics, may represent reasonably good support for CACREP accredited programs' superiority in developing overall counselor clinical skills and knowledge beyond simply content knowledge. Additionally, the large effect size of the Total Score variable might be interpreted to indicate that student knowledge gained from CACREP accredited programs is superior to student knowledge gained from non-CACREP accredited programs.</p>