Standard 3 Aspect B

Standard 3: Preparation programs ensure that candidates, upon completion, are ready to engage in professional practice, to adapt to a variety of professional settings, and to grow throughout their careers. Effective program practices include: consistent offering of coherent curricula; high-quality quality, diverse clinical experiences; dynamic, mutually beneficial partnerships with stakeholders; and comprehensive and transparent quality assurance processes informed by trustworthy evidence. Each aspect of the program is appropriate to its context and to the credential or degree sought.

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Overview of Clinical Experiences:
School counseling candidates receive opportunities and support for pursuing their clinical experiences through practicum and internship opportunities in accordance with CCTC and CACREP standards. For practicum, candidates use counseling labs available within Kremen and receive live-supervision while they engage in counseling services with undergraduate students to resolve their academic, career, and socio-emotional concerns. To ensure successful internship experiences and guarantee that 100% of candidates find internship placement, school counseling faculty have forged strong partnerships with K-12 school districts and provide site supervisors with training that can help candidates to pursue clinical experiences in accordance with CCTC standards. 

Rationale for Partnerships:
To ensure that all candidates complete the required number of internship hours, faculty forge strong partnerships with various school districts especially within Central Valley. Our department has appointed one of the faculty members (Dr. Song Lee) as internship coordinator who has actively forged these partnerships and created an effective documentation process for students to be placed in the school settings that are supportive of them fulfilling PPS credential requirements as set by CCTC so that students are eligible work as professional school counselors in future. For example, we maintain an interagency agreement Google sheet of all districts who agreed to take our students are interns.

Description of Clinical Experiences in which Candidates Participate:
PPS School Counseling candidates are required to complete a total of 600 internship hours in school counseling. Starting from Fall 2021, students will be required to complete 800 hours of internship due to the change in CCTC accreditation standards. Out of these total hours, at least 200 hours must be in two K-12 grade levels (e.g., middle school and high school or high school and elementary school or elementary school and middle school). 

Faculty and site supervisors work closely to assess students’ performance throughout the program. These collaborative evaluation processes can support students’ plan to effectively work with students in multiple education settings. Site supervisors complete a Counseling Disposition as a crucial piece for program and student evaluation. Students in practicum are evaluated with a 4-point likert type Counselor Dispositional Assessment tool in six areas: (a) reflection, (b) critical thinking, (c) professional ethics, (d) valuing diversity, (e) collaboration, and (f) life-long learning. 

The table below summarizes internship hour information:

Fieldwork Hours Table

Site Supervisors:
While in their K12 clinical placements, candidates are supervised by a designated site supervisor. 

Site Supervisor Requirements:

1. Site supervisor (on K12 school sites) has a PPS credential for at least 2 years and will provide 1 hour of individual supervision or 1.5 hours of group supervision with student intern. Interns obtaining hours from sites other than a K12 school (limited to 200 hours max--serving K12 age students in social emotional and educational goals), must be supervised by a supervisor with a master’s level degree in counseling or related field (requiring 1 hour of individual or 1.5 hours of group supervision). 
2. Site supervisor agrees to provide learning opportunities and direct pupil contacts for student intern (150 hours per semester) and the student agrees to abide by hours and activities approved by site supervisor and university supervisor. Note that students have two semesters to complete 600 hours with the following specific hours/areas: Social/Emotional (100 hours), College/Career (100 hours), Academic (100 hours), students from Various Backgrounds/Diversity (150 hours), and direct contact with pupils (300 hours). 
3. Site supervisor agrees to allow student intern to fulfill experiential activities as listed in numerous modes of delivery (face-to-face and telecommunications such as ZOOM, email, telephone etc.)

Site Supervisor Training:
To ensure that all students receive effective support by their site supervisors, we provide a supervision training. The goals of this training are (1) to promote site supervisors’ understanding about how to provide supervision and (2) to communicate the expectations of the program, the field, and accreditation (CCTC). During the 2020-2021 academic year, 37 site Supervisors completed the training.

Internship agreement between Candidate and Site Supervisor: 
All candidates and supervisors must complete an Internship Agreement, which is then signed by the COUN 249 instructor.

Candidate Evaluations:
In line with CCTC accreditation standards and American School Counselors Association, site supervisors complete an evaluation Google form every semester to assess candidates’ professional dispositions and effectiveness as school counselors-in-training. 

Practicum and internship supervisor evaluations, which are carefully reviewed by program faculty and coordinator, provide an opportunity to assess students in skill development and program outcomes. The data from these experiential courses is collected and analyzed to not only evaluate current students but also to identify areas of improvement and innovation. Additionally, program faculty and coordinator reviews these evaluations for any potential concerns that need to be addressed accordingly. If there are any concerns, program faculty consult with the site supervisor to develop a potential remediation plan.

• Partnerships Table

Aspect C →