The PhD in Counseling program at Montclair State University conducted a survey in April 2017, asking site supervisors about their impressions of students from the doctoral program who interned at their sites. Out of a total number of nine site supervisors who received the survey, we received four respondents. The questions followed the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Program (CACREP) guidelines for evaluating program performance.
Site supervisors were asked 25 questions to describe the competencies of doctoral student interns they supervised, using a rating scale of poor, unsatisfactory, satisfactory, very good, or outstanding to quantify their responses. The questions were segmented into three subgroups: 1) professional behavior and skills; 2) professional disposition; and 3) counseling, leadership, and supervision. The following graphs present the results as a percentage of how the four respondents rated doctoral student interns.
Professional Behavior and Skills
The first graph shows the results of how site supervisors rated general workplace expectations of doctoral student interns. Respondents evaluated the doctoral interns as “very good” or “outstanding” for all areas of professional behavior and skills. All of the respondents rated doctoral interns as “outstanding” on the questions asking about the ability of doctoral interns to work cooperatively, their competence with diverse populations, and their legal or ethical behavior.
II. Disposition
The following graph portrays the assessment of site supervisors about the professional attitude and temperament of doctoral student interns. Respondents rated doctoral student interns as “very good” or “outstanding” on all areas of professional disposition. All site supervisor respondents indicated that doctoral interns were “outstanding” in the areas of maturity, integrity, and professional commitment.
III. Counseling, Leadership, and Supervision
The last graph represents site supervisor ratings of how well doctoral student interns demonstrated counseling skills, and other proficiencies expected of doctoral interns, such as advocacy and supervision. Site supervisor respondents appraised doctoral interns as “very good” or “outstanding” on all areas of counseling, leadership, and supervision. All respondents rated doctoral student interns as “outstanding” in social justice advocacy, mentoring ability, supervision skills, facility with addressing supervisee differences, and workplace preparation. Two respondents (50%) indicated “not applicable” for the questions about social justice advocacy, supervision skills, and addressing supervisee differences. One respondent (25%) specified “not applicable” for the question about mentoring ability and one respondent (25%) indicated “not applicable” for the question about group counseling skills.
