STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT REPORT
ALUMNI, SITE SUPERVISOR, AND EMPLOYER EVALUATIONS OF
MASTER’S DEGREE PROGRAMS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELING &
STUDENT AFFAIRS
M.S. in School Counseling
M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
M.A. in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling
January, 2014
The Department of Counseling and Student Affairs presents its Stakeholder Assessment Report.
This report provides the results of feedback from alumni, site supervisors, and employers of
KU’s master’s degree programs in School Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
(CMHC), and Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling (MCFC). Funding for this study was
provided from a budget earmarked for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
Educational Programs (CACREP) accreditation.
I. Alumni
A. Sample: Alumni respondents consist of 8 Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC); 9
Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling, 18 School Counseling, and 2 program
unspecified alumni from graduating classes of 2003-2013.
B. Employment: 68% of alumni respondents are employed full-time and 16% are employed
part-time in the field. 14% are employed outside the field, and 3% are unemployed by
choice. Rates of employment by program are nearly equal: 42% work in schools; 42%
work in agencies/ hospitals/private practices; and 14% work for non-profits. All alumni
employed in the school are school counseling graduates. 85% of alumni hold a position
requiring a master’s degree. 56% were employed within three months of graduating, and
86% were employed within six months of graduating.
C. Salary: The modal salary range of alumni is between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.
Salaries of school v. clinical and marriage and family combined do not significantly
differ (t = 1.12; df = 31; p = .27). These results compare favorably to the Occupational
Outlook Handbook (2012) median annual salaries of school ($53,610) and mental health
($41,500) counselors in the 2012 Bureau of Labor Statistics.
D. Curricular Preparation for Employment: Alumni ratings of courses show that all
courses rated average or higher in preparing students for employment in counseling.
Fundamentals of Counseling and program specialty courses in Practicum, Internship, and
Professional Orientation and Ethics rated as very high preparation for employment. Not
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surprisingly, Career Counseling Across the Lifespan rates as significantly higher
preparation for employment among School Counseling alumni.
E. Core Curricular Focus: Alumni reported that their programs were very high in infusing
ethical reasoning, the core conditions, diversity and multiculturalism, and preparing them
for practice.
F. Program Structures: Regarding alumni average ratings of specific program procedures
and structures, the department no longer holds admissions interviews, but instead screens
the applicant’s transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a helper disposition statement.
Newly-admitted students attend a program-specific orientation at the beginning of their
program of study; conducted by faculty members from the student’s program of study.
G. Advisement: Quality of faculty advisement rates moderately high. Positive experience of
advisement is a priority, and students are now only assigned advisors in the specialized
program of study. Advisement sessions consist of assessing progress in academic
coursework, evaluating student academic performance evaluation dispositions, assisting
students with candidacy, and reminding students to attend meetings and file paperwork.
Advisors also facilitate students to become professionally engaged in program-specific
opportunities to be advocates, scholars and counseling providers.
H. Research, Scholarship, and Professional Activity: Important initiatives were instituted
in response to slightly below expectation alumni ratings on 1) opportunities for research,
2) opportunities for conference attendance, and 3) awareness of faculty involvement in
scholarship. The graduate student organization, “Counselor Connect” was launched in
Fall, 2014. This is an official, registered student organization that meets weekly and
sponsors professional scholarly programs and professional involvement opportunities,
including advocacy, university-wide program development, and lectures on faculty
research. In addition, the graduate school began a formal research grant program for
graduate students which has supported several student research projects and funds travel
for student researchers to present at conferences.
I. Resources: Alumni rated the quality of clinical labs, classrooms, library resources, and
technology slightly above average. Updates to these resources over the past few years
now being integrated into the curriculum include the use of a suite of clinical labs with
closed monitors, the purchase of Kanopy and other streaming videos, and new chairs and
desks in classrooms.
J. Case Management, Diagnosis and Crisis Management: Below average alumni ratings
on preparation for case management, diagnostic, and crisis management skills has led the
department to incorporate units of instruction dealing with these skills within the core
professional orientation and ethics courses and within the program specific areas in
practicum and internship. Site supervisor and employer stakeholders rate students’ skills
in these areas above average, as reported below.
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K. Overall Quality Ratings: On a scale from 1 = lowest, to 10 = highest, the modal overall
quality alumni assigned to their graduate program in counseling is 8. Two-thirds of the
sample (64%) rated the overall quality of their counseling program at 8 or above.
L. Most and Least Favorite Parts of Work: The vast majority of alumni respondents
regard the most favorite part of their job to be “working with students/clients.” Many
identified the least favorite part of their job to be “paperwork.”
II. Site Supervisors
A. Sample: 33 site supervisors in School Counseling, 26 supervisors in clinical counseling
(MCFC and CMHC combined), and three site supervisors from non-counseling settings
responded from a mailing list of 194 site supervisors in a “Practicum and Internship Site
Supervisor List” maintained by the Department of Counseling & Student Affairs, for a
32% response rate.
B. Length of Time Supervising and Number of Students Supervised: Supervisors
indicated supervising student-counselors for a mean of 7.7 years (sd = 6.36; n = 59), with
a range of one to 22 years. The mean number of KU students supervised by a site
supervisor is 2.62 (sd = 2.26; n = 59).
C. Supervisor Settings: Supervisors are employed in schools (n = 33); hospitals, clinics,
and private practices (n = 11); colleges and universities (n = 10); non-profit organizations
(n = 5), and non-counseling settings (n = 2). All counseling programs have increased
their data collection of supervisor qualifications using the practicum and internship
agreement form and the collection of site supervisor resumes. Programs now request that
all sites become university-approved.
D. Supervisor Degrees, Certifications, Licenses: All on-site supervisors hold a master’s
degree or higher in counseling or a related field. Ninety-three percent of school
counseling site supervisors are school certified. Over two-thirds (69%) of CMHC and
MCFC combined supervisors are certified or licensed in counseling or a related field; 9
hold the LPC, 4 hold the NCC, 4 are licensed psychologists, and two are licensed social
workers. Six clinical supervisors are pursuing an LPC.
E. Site Supervisor Ratings of Student-Counselor Skills: Site supervisors rated all 22
student-counselor skills as above expectation, with top ratings given to Overall
Professionalism, Ethical Decision Making, Response to Supervision, Case
Conceptualization, and Documentation. Future evaluations by supervisors will rate the
School Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and Marriage, Couple, and
Family Counseling specialty skills and practice standards of CACREP (2009).
F. Site Supervisor Ratings of Internship Program: Site supervisors rate Faculty
Professionalism and Responsiveness to Questions highly. Level of Support Offered to
Students and Supervisors; Overall Quality of Faculty Interactions; and Quality of
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Contacts Made are rated moderately highly. All programs now use regular bi-weekly
contact cycles with site supervisors to increase involvement and share resources.
G. Greatest Strength of Internship Programs: Forty percent of site supervisors identified
the greatest strength of KU’s internship programs to be the quality of the students,
including their preparedness; eagerness; dedication, and skill.
III.
Employers
A. Employer Characteristics: Twelve employers provided data on KU’s master’s in
counseling graduate employees.
B. Employer Assessment of Counseling Graduates’ Skills: Employer ratings of
counseling graduates’ skills are all above expectation. High ratings are given to Ethical
Decision Making, Individual, Group, and Couples and Family Counseling, Multicultural
Awareness, Awareness of Current Issues, Advocacy, Leadership, Consultation, Case
Management, Appraisal, Assessment, Human Growth and Development, and Response to
Clinical Supervision.
C.
Future Employer Assessments: The department is currently working with the Career
Services Office to integrate specific program objectives and CACREP standards into
alumni and employer surveys.
IV. Conclusions
Alumni, site supervisors, and employers rate Kutztown University’s Master’s Degree Programs
in School Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, and Marriage, Couple, and Family
Counseling very high on Ethical Decision Making and Professionalism. Alumni rate core courses
in Professional Orientation and Ethics very high, and Ethics and Professionalism are the highest
rated program qualities. Site supervisors rate student-counselor supervisees very high on
“Overall Professionalism;” and “Professionalism” is rated the highest internship program quality.
Finally, employers rate Ethical Decision Making as the highest rated employee skill.
Alumni rate their preparedness for case management, documentation, treatment planning, and
crisis management only slightly above average, but site supervisors rate student-counselor case
management skills highly, and employers rate employee case management skills very highly.
All stakeholder groups consider research to be a lesser program strength, leading the department
to elevate opportunities for student research and professional involvement through a new student
organization that supports student involvement in professional activities, and through the
graduate school’s graduate student research grant program that funds research and travel to
present at conferences.
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2009). CACREP
2009 Standards. Alexandria, VA: Author.
Rev. October, 2015
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