Pupil Personnel Services Credential Program
School Counseling

Leadership and Key Personnel

The Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) Credential Program in School Counseling is offered in the Department of Counselor Education and Rehabilitation(CER). The CER Department offers three Master’s programs: MS in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling (MFCC); MS in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health; and MS in Counseling. The MS in Counseling has two programs and a credential: School Counseling; Student Affairs and College Counseling; and the Pupil Personnel Services Credential. There is a coordinator for each program.  The coordinator for the PPS program coordinates both the MS program and the PPS program and has release time for coordinating both. The coordinator is nominated by the program faculty and approved by the Dean. The coordinator works closely with the Dean and the Department Chair, attends administrative meetings called by the Dean, the Associate Dean, and/or the Department Chair, and attends regular meetings of the Graduate Committee, and the Advanced Credential Committee within the KSOEHD. The coordinator carries the intent of the PPS/School counseling faculty to each of the meetings. The PPS Coordinator is in direct contact with the Commission on Teacher Credentialing and keeps faculty informed of changes and new items of interest. The PPS Coordinator is responsible for student recruitment and admission and recommendation for the credential. Since Spring 2021, a field practice coordinator has been added with release time to oversee field practice and the field practice course (Coun249), provide coordination with school district administrators, and establish partnerships with various school districts. The field practice coordinator works collaboratively with the PPS Coordinator.

The PPS Credential Program abides by the policies, bylaws and procedures vested in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development (KSOEHD) at California State University, Fresno (CSUF). The Dean of the KSOEHD serves as the Chief Administrative Officer and reports directly to the Provost.  The Assistant Director of Teacher Education works closely with the Dean to assist with accreditation requirements, reports, and site visits pertaining to all teaching and school counseling programs within KSOEHD.

Communication within the Credential Program

The leaders and faculty as described in the leadership section meet monthly and use emails and phones for regular communication in between.  Communication with PPS students is facilitated by orientations each semester (ex. new student orientation, culminating experience orientation, internship orientation, and exit orientation), regularly scheduled advisement in groups and with their assigned advisors, and regular emails and updated information on the Department website and social media website. The PPS Coordinator in conjunction with full time faculty serves as advisors to provide information and support via email, ZOOM or face-to-face appointment meetings, and weekly office hours. PPS tenured track faculty members post their drop by office hours by their door, via email, and in the main CER office.  As PPS students progress through the program, faculty members serve as mentors, role models, and advocates. Communication is facilitated by the use of email list services that offer notice of approaching advising deadlines, scholarships, grants, and employment opportunities.  Each advisor/faculty member also has access to their students’ contacts in our data system, PeopleSoft.

Structure of coursework and field experiences in the credential program and with the institution

The structure of the coursework and field experience is well sequenced. Students in both MS Counseling degree and PPS credential programs take a common core curriculum.  Courses specific to the PPS credential program (Coun150, Coun233, and Coun249) are used as prerequisites for the MS in Counseling, Option in School Counseling. For PPS only students, the advanced graduate curriculum includes all the courses in the MS in Counseling, except for the culminating experience. The sequence of classes includes the basic core curriculum, advanced specialization courses, practicum in counseling, field practice courses, and supervised experience in school counseling. As seen in the following Roadmap, basic counseling skills (Coun200 & Coun208), laws concerning children (Coun150), and organization of counseling services (Coun241) are all required/recommended to be taken before they could enroll in Field Practice (Coun249).  Other courses we advise students to take before field practice are counseling through the lifespan (Coun206), multicultural counseling (Coun201), career counseling (Coun220), and assessment (Coun233). See this roadmap for courses students take concurrently with Field Practice (Coun249):

See this Roadmap for Sequencing of Courses..

Program modifications over the recent two years

During the 2018 and 2019 academic years, the following are modidations: The PPS program began utilizing the cohort model, only admitting students in the Fall semester; a new coordinator was appointed after the previous coordinator finished her 3 year coordination term; re-establishing partnerships with local school districts; modified one of the course (Coun242 Parent Education, Pupil Advocacy, and Consulting) into a service learning course, which requires students to do projects with some schools; have established a study abroad Coun242 course during the summer 2020 (course didn’t run due to the pandemic); updated site contracts and other forms for Coun249 (Field Placement in School Counseling) and updated Coun208 (Practicum in Counseling); established a lead faculty for the field placement course, Coun249, to update forms and the syllabus to abide with accreditation.  Since Spring 2021, the school counseling faculty has advocated for and received release time for one of the faculty to be the field practice coordinator to oversee the Coun249 course, field practice, and partnerships.

Means for stakeholder input

Stakeholder input to the PPS credential program is systematic. Each semester, for every PPS student in the field practice class, systematic input is received from site supervisors in the form of three written evaluations: Field Practice Evaluation; Professional Disposition Evaluation; and Employer’s Evaluation. Each of the evaluations allow for stakeholder input regarding the quality of the preparation of students and provides for continuing input into the program. The PPS program desires to remain current with the changing school/community needs. The PPS credential program also gets inputs annually from an annual advisory board meeting and from various site supervisors. When courses are being changed, members from the advisory board are able to provide feedback.  We currently are in regular contact with appointed individuals from two districts where Fresno State is located (Clovis Unified and Fresno Unified) to receive feedback and assist with placement of field practice students.

Description of the Sequence of Coursework

The 48-unit PPS credential coursework is available to full and part-time graduate students through a majority of late afternoon, evening, and on-line classes that are web enhanced or web based. The curriculum has benefitted from the development of the following School Mission that is included in all course syllabi and permeates the program: “The Mission of the School of Education and Human Development is “the recruitment and development of ethically informed leaders for classroom teaching, education administration, counseling, and higher education”. The curriculum includes nine units of three prerequisite courses (Coun174; Coun176; ERE153). The prerequisites are followed by the 48-unit credential program curriculum. There are seven basic core courses which comprise 22-units and  26-units of advanced specialization courses in K-12 school counseling. Included in the 26-units of advanced specialization are eight units of supervised field experience in a K12 school site. The sequencing of courses is intentional to ensure students have counseling skills in working with children; laws and ethics concerning counseling children, information about school counseling programs and organizations, and assessment before partaking in field practice. The supervised experience in counseling includes internships for a minimum of six hundred clock hours at two school levels (elementary/middle & high school). The six hundred clock hours can be translated into eight semester units with three hundred clock hours per four-unit class. Hours accrued aligns with CCTC standards and requirements.

See this Roadmap for Sequencing of Courses.

Field Experience

Students complete their field experience mainly in the local school districts. They complete their fieldwork in elementary, middle and high schools. The sites are located in urban and rural areas. Students who live outside of Fresno County also sought internship experiences in their county. Additionally, students also complete their internships at local charter schools and can accrue a maximum of 200 hours at local organizations serving K12 age students. Examples of the local school districts are Fresno Unified School District, Clovis Unified School District, Madera Unified School District and Sanger Unified School District.

The Field Practice Coordinator guides and/or assists students to seek field practice sites. Field practice orientations, regular emails, and a Canvas Shell for the School Counseling Field Practice Program are available to assist both students and instructors of the field practice course. The Field Practice Coordinator also establishes and guides site supervisors in a self-led training in supervision and programmatic/CCTC requirements.

In Field Practice and throughout the program, the focus is on the ASCA model and standards (ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors) and CCTC standards. Generic cases and specific case studies from field experience are presented and discussed to assist in building skills in counseling domains including individual, small and large group counseling, and guidance activities. Students also learn how to use data at their sites to analyze and advocate for their role in impacting positive student outcomes.

Field supervision are provided by site supervisors weekly (1 hour of individual supervision or 1.5 hours of group supervision with no more than 4 interns; and, agrees to be available for the student when the need arises).  The program/university instructor for the field placement course meets the students enrolled as a group to provide feedback, guidance, support, and case staffing on a weekly basis for 2 hours and 50 minutes.  The program instructor and site supervisor consults (face to face or telephone) on an as needed basis, especially when there’s a concern about the students’ progress.

How, when candidates are assessed for program competencies

To ensure student knowledge, skills, and competencies to be effective school counselors, the program has established a three-part system that assesses entry, tenure in the program, and completion of the program. Assessment of first phase “entry” utilizes the completed application packet to assess academic proficiency, knowledge of the profession, research, mental health, professional identity, English proficiency, writing proficiency, passing the CBEST and obtaining the certificate of clearance. The second phase “tenure in the program” utilizes Clinical Review (based on instructor feedback on Clinical Review form and the Candidate Disposition Assessment), Graduate Writing Requirement, and Course Requirements to assess counseling knowledge and skills, writing competence, and professional knowledge and skills. The third phase “completion of the program” utilizes the Candidate Disposition Assessment, Evaluation of Field Placement Student, Program Evaluation (formerly Employers Evaluation), and PPS Program Completion Form to assess the appropriate application of knowledge to counseling, writing competence, and the completion of all required credential program competencies. 

What advice candidates receive about how they will be assessed in the program and informed of the results of those assessments

During the first orientation for new students, students are informed about the progress of evaluation and the Clinical Review Process during the semester they take the practicum course (Coun208). During the New Student Orientation and in the Department Student Handbook (posted on Department website), students are informed they will be assessed on their counseling skills, professional conduct/dispositions, and ethical behaviors throughout the program and can be referred to the Clinical Review Committee for remediation plans to help them succeed. Instructors will first provide feedback/assessment to the students and when appropriate, a memo of understanding focusing on a remediation plan is developed to assist students who are experiencing difficulty in their coursework or in their fieldwork. In cases where ethical (including concerns with dispositions, behaviors, and skills) and legal concerns cannot be addressed by the instructor, the student is referred to the Clinical Review Committee and may be referred to the University’s student conduct committee.  The Chair of the Clinical Review Committee will gather information from instructors and students and provide a plan based on findings. The Clinical Review Committee oversees the completion of the goals set and informs students of final decisions.

All evaluations as stated above and remediation plans are kept in each student’s file so that the student, staff, and advisor can quickly assess the status of progress throughout the program of study.

* Key clinical courses that MUST be taken in this sequence. 

** School counseling specialization courses that MUST be taken in this sequence. 

*** Students will choose either Comp Exam or COUN 298 (Project) or COUN 299 (Thesis).  

Please schedule a meeting with you program advisor who can assist you with your class schedules, academic progress, culminating experience options, and advancement to candidacy.  

Note: All prerequisite coursework MUST BE completed prior to starting the program. 

• Course Matrix

Below is the table that provides information on the clinical experience hours that students will be required to complete starting Fall 2022 in accord with new CTC standards:

School Counseling/PPS Field Practice Coordinator provides training for all site supervisors (required to retake every 3 years). Site supervisors may review the training by themselves or request a group training with the field practice Coordinator and submit a Confirmation of Training Completion Form. Following is the link to assess the content covered in the training: https://www.fresnostate.edu/kremen/masters-counseling/documents/training.pdf

PPS Candidates participate in three semesters of field instructed practice. The foundation year is COUN 208 and requires 100 hours (20 hrs direct hours) over the semester. During the third and fourth semester in the program the students enroll in COUN 249 for their field placement and they are responsible for 600 hours over the course of those two semesters.

• COUN 208
• COUN 248
• COUN 249

COUN 208 Practicum Instruments:

In COUN 208, all students undergo clinical review to assess their knowledge, skills, and dispositions as counselors in training. 

Clinical Review

Description: Counselor educators play an important role as gate-keepers to ensure that only competent counselors graduate given their critical influence on the lives of the clients they will serve. We use Clinical Review evaluation to engage in a systematic progress review. ​​Clinical Review evaluations are dichotomous with two results: Pass and Fail. Students were assessed on 10 areas: (a) attention to ethical and legal concerns, (b) cooperativeness of others, (c) awareness of own impact on others, (d) ability to deal with conflict, (e) openness to new ideas, (f) tolerates ambiguity, (g) willingness to accept and use feedback, (h) ability to accept personal responsibility, (i) ability to express feelings effectively and appropriately, and (j) initiative and motivation using a 5-point likert-type scale with 1 being lowest rating and 5 being the highest.

COUN 249 Internship Instruments:

Evaluation of Field Placement Student

Description: Practicum and internship supervisor evaluations, which are carefully revised 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, the program faculty consults with the site supervisor to develop any potential remediation plan. Site supervisors also attend the semesterly Field Placement Orientation to receive information on our program, expectations for field placement so they can identify opportunities for interns at their sites, as well share information on their sites. Since site supervisors and faculty consistently review and discuss students’ actual progress based on these surveys and expectations laid down by CACREP and ASCA National School Counseling model, this survey undergoes regular content validity check by different stakeholders, ensuring its validity and revising it with changing standards and expectations. 

Site Supervisor Program Evaluation Survey

Description: Faculty consistently seeks site supervisors feedback on students’ personal and professional dispositions as well as the quality of school counseling program in training future school counselors. Since site supervisors are most abreast with the latest trends and needs of K-12 settings, this assessment tool plays an important role in seeking their feedback. 

Please see the link below to review the assessment instruments used by site-supervisors in COUN 249 to evaluate school counseling interns:

COUN 249 assessment instruments filled out by site-supervisors 

Candidate Disposition Assessment 

Description: Site Supervisor assesses the candidates personal and professional dispositions.  This is the same instrument that we use in practicum and field practice to measure continuous growth.