Program newsletters

advisory board information

cacrep self-study reports

Program assessments

Fall 2021 Summary and Response

Fall 2022 Summary and Response

UToledo CED Systematic Program Review: Fall 2023 Summary and Response

The Counselor Education faculty at the University of Toledo conducted a program assessment in December of 2023. The assessment sought feedback from students on 1) satisfaction with course offerings and instruction, 2) clarity of program orientations, handbooks, and policies 3) graduate advising, 4) responsiveness of faculty, and 5) program strengths and weaknesses. Students were also asked a question regarding faculty members efforts to “enhance DEI, accessibility and professional standards.” Students were asked to rate 12 statements on a scale of 1-4, with 4 representing strongly agree, 3 representing agree, 2 representing disagree and 1 representing strongly disagree related to the domains listed above. Students were also offered the opportunity to provide comments/qualitative feedback regarding those areas. Data was collected via a survey using Qualtrics and was sent to all students in CED program (MA in Counselor Education and PhD in Counselor Education). The faculty have reviewed this feedback and will provide a summary of findings and a response to the feedback below.

Respondents

37 students completed the needs assessment. The demographics collected only pertained to program/concentration student was enrolled in.
Response rate: 42.5%
PhD in Counselor Education (n=1)
MA in Counselor Education (n=36)
School Counseling (n=8)
Clinical Mental Health (n=28)

Survey Items

Students expressed that they agreed that the New Student Orientation was helpful for me as a new student in the counseling program to understand the student handbook, ethical and professional obligations, personal growth expectations, and the eligibility for licensure.

Score: 2.97/4

Historically, faculty have reviewed licensure requirements during the orientation courses. Beginning Spring 2024 faculty will review licensure requirements during orientation.

Overall, students expressed that they agreed that the student handbooks provide clear guidance about program degree requirements, expectations of students, retention and remediation, and other relevant program policies and procedures.

Score: CMHC 3.04/4; SC 2.88/4; PhD 3.43/4

Note: Overall, students expressed satisfaction with information provided in the student handbooks. Faculty will be reviewing and updating policies for retention, remediation and evaluation during the spring semester in the Master’s level handbook. Although Handbooks were provided for each program, there is currently only one handbook for both clinical Mental Health and School Counseling. Future surveys will refer to the MA in Counselor Education student handbook.

Students expressed that they agreed that the Doctoral Student Advanced Practicum/Internship Handbooks provide detailed guidance about the expectations, policies, and procedures related to the experience.

Score: PhD: 3/4

Students expressed that they agreed that the Practicum/Internship Orientation meeting detailed the requirements, expectations, policies, and procedures related to the field experience.

Score: 3.17/4

Students expressed that they agreed that they understood how academic performance and professional dispositions are evaluated by the program. Score: 3.24/4

Students expressed that they agreed that the course syllabi are provided at the beginning of each academic term and include clear information about the learning objectives, evaluation methods, required learning materials, course schedule, and relevant course and institutional policies.

Score: 3.28/4

Students expressed that they agreed that they were satisfied with my academic advising within the counselor education program.

Score: 3.19

Students expressed that they agreed that they were satisfied with the quality of instruction within the counselor education program.

Score: 3.18/4

Students expressed that they agreed that Core and affiliate faculty within the counselor education program respond to my email or other communication in a timely manner.

Score: 3.33/4

Students expressed that they agreed that they have regular opportunities to evaluate the counselor education core and affiliate faculty.

Score: 3.09/4

Students expressed that they agreed that the counselor education core and affiliate faculty make continuous efforts to enhance and support diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, ethical and professional standards, and critical thinking across the counseling curriculum.

Score 3.30/4

Students expressed that they agreed that the course offerings within the counselor education program are relevant to development as a professional counselor.

Score: 3.18/4

Qualitative Feedback

Program Strengths

I am highly satisfied with the program and have no comments for now.

I had a great first semester and really felt supported and like I grew! I'm loving this program so far!

I am so glad that I picked UToledo for my PhD. The support from the faculty has been tremendous. They both accepted me and challenged me. The opportunities provided to me in the PhD program have been incredible. I am so sad it is closing and that others interested in a PhD in Counselor Education will not have the option to attend UToledo because of all that the program offered.

The program has taught me a lot about the professional field but it has allowed me to learn more about myself not only from a professional standpoint but a personal one as well. Everything has its challenges but I definitely feel this was a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

Areas for Improvement

Instructors who do not have a background working within the school system should make a conscious effort to include students who are taking the school counseling track. There should always be multiple examples of how an idea, theory or practice is applied in BOTH fields. I am more satisfied with this semester than previous in this effort, however there can always be improvement.

The amount of school counseling students is less than clinical, but shouldn't be offered less application material than clinical students.

I only had instruction from doc students, never a full-time faculty member. I didn’t have much engagement with the faculty outside of my advisor, Dr. Laux. Many of the requirements set forth for practicum and internship were rigid and are not designed fully for student success. Much of my time in the program was focused on theoretical orientation which is important in my practice, however, I think having a course about implementing different interventions would be beneficial and more practical. Communication about practicum and internship should be sooner due to issues finding sites and completing paperwork. I often felt like faculty members did not necessarily take the time to understand each student’s situation, but would still provide generalized feedback which was discouraging. Dr. Laux is an incredible support who responds to emails quickly, is willing to meet as frequently as needed, and goes above and beyond to encourage and support students.

Combine psychopathology and diagnosis. Leave assessments as its own class and teach the students about the assessments that are out there and how to use them.

As someone who wants to specialize in child counseling, having more classes that are child centered would be lovely.

I did not like the new Psychopathology and Assessment class because it was the same content as the previous psychopathology class. It felt like a repeat of our diagnosis class and the previous psychopathology class that I took in the spring. The instructor, Rachel Mattingly, worked hard to ensure that class discussions revolved around how the content can be applied in practice. I appreciated her efforts. However, I wish I would have had the opportunity to learn more about assessment through this course as opposed to discussing each diagnosis again.

Overall, I have had a great experience in the program. I wish the Psychopathology and Advanced Personality class would not have been combined. I feel like I did not get enough education regarding personality assessment, especially in the area of interpretation and reading results.

There was no new student orientation when I started, situations discussed in prac/intern should not be met with "well what are you going to do about it?" There should be courses specifically related to trauma and risk assessment. There are a few instructors that should participate in their own therapy and bring awareness to how they speak to students-question their own perceptions. Lastly, my doc student memotor never reached out to me. The limited support has been highly disappointing. Advanced personality assessment should remain an individual course or combined with individual and group assessment course.

Certain counselor education core and affiliate faculty meet expectations and some do not. Personally, I feel compared to other universities there is a lot of unnecessary work and communication of classes, that is also not witnessed within the student body but outside observers.

I would like to see trauma focused curriculum added to the program in the future as I believe it would be very beneficial to counselors in general.

I may have answered some of the 1st questions incorrectly. I have been more than satisfied with the program. I think it would be helpful if the grading scale was universal throughout the program, and if the blackboard setup was more consistent. By the way, blackboard is the worst online platform I have ever worked with.

Summary and Program Response

Faculty appreciate the students who participated in the survey. The response rate improved since the last survey was sent out during the fall 2022. On average, students expressed satisfaction with course offerings and instruction, clarity of program orientations, handbooks, and policies, graduate advising, and responsiveness of faculty. Areas of improvement included incorporating more school counseling content and application throughout courses, dissatisfaction with the new COUN 7540 course which combined Advanced Personality Assessment and Psychopathology and suggestions for additional coursework focused on working with children and adolescents and trauma.

In response to the responses collected, faculty plan to

Review the syllabus for COUN 7540 and adjust course content during the spring of 2024.
Update the new student orientation to include information on the licensure process for both programs.
Update policies for remediation, retention, and evaluation in the handbooks.
Reviewing current courses to ensure there are more school counseling specific assignments and reading materials.

Faculty have a long term plan to add elective courses after they have hired additional core faculty to support more offerings. Faculty will continue to improve survey questions to elicit clear feedback from students.

Counselor Education Program