An Evaluation Model for Accreditation

The traditional evaluation model used in accrediting professional-education programs is discussed and the field of psychology is used as an example. The evaluation model followed in the recently implemented accreditation mechanism for rehabilitation-counselor education (RCE) programs is also discussed. The evaluation model makes some significant departures from the traditional model. A survey-research approach is used to substitute in part for the traditional site visit, and more comprehensive program-evaluation data, going beyond the traditional reliance on faculty and students, are collected. Further, data on the competence of graduates are employed in the evaluation process. Possible implications of the RCE model are discussed as they relate to the currently evolving accreditation procedure for counselor-education programs, as well as the accreditation procedures in other professions.     

Comparing Family Functioning of Counselors in Training With the Family Functioning of Noncounselors

The authors compared level of family-of-origin dysfunction of counseling and non-counseling master's-degree students. Counseling students' families had significantly higher levels of dysfunction, but counselors did not score lower in level of graduate adjustment.     

Issues Arising from an Examination of the Junior Secondary School Reform of 1987 in Ghana

During the early 1980s the secondary education system in Ghana was reorganised. This study concerns one part of this: the attempt to introduce a more vocationally-orientated curriculum into the Junior Secondary Schools in Ghana. These findings are drawn from interviews at several levels, documentary analysis and school case studies. There were major gaps and inadequacies in the system in the setting of goals, in the implementation management, in the organisational structures and in the classroom implementation. The study analyses how the planned changes were not clearly conceptualised and how there was a very serious lack of communication between many different parts of the system. The classroom observation showed that the ideas set out in the National Education Policy, such as integrated approaches to subject matter, student involvement and problem-orientated teaching methods, were not being put into practice by teachers. Neither training nor resources had been directed towards helping the teachers to change.     

A story of reform: Math,Science, Technology Investigations (MSI) in Room 34 at Bay Street Community School

This paper explores one school's implementation of a locally developed curriculum reform known as ‘Math‐Science Investigations’. At one level, it offers an account of a reform told from the perspective of a classroom teacher and her 3rd‐ and 4th‐graders. At another level, it reconstructs their experience to explore the understandings of the general process of change developed from this situation: the critical role relationship plays in the process of reform; the recognition of the value of time as a component in change; and the necessary respect for continuity of experience of individuals in considering growth. At yet another level, it considers ways in which a story, such as ‘Math‐Science Investigations’, exhibits characteristics of metaphor.     

The Collaborative Team as a Training and Therapeutic Tool

Within the field of systemic family therapy, the collaborative team is emerging as a powerful training approach as well as a valuable therapeutic tool. This article presents the collaborative team as a method of counselor supervision and training. Issues around the developing team process and potential pitfalls are elaborated. Finally, examples, which serve to integrate discussion of training and clinical applications, are presented.