This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of accreditation standards (specifically, CACREP Standards for counselor education programs) on the development of counseling skills. A measure of counseling skill (The Counselor Rating Form-Short Version) was used to measure the counseling skills of counselor trainees from various masters programs. These students were enrolled in a doctoral program in counselor education and were taking their first semester practicum. A T-Test of Independent Means revealed that the student counselors from CACREP accredited masters programs scored significantly higher on the CRF-S than did students from non CACREP accredited programs. These students generally had higher levels of counseling skill as judged by this measure. Given the convenience of the sample and its size, results must be analyzed carefully. These results do, however, seem to suggest the necessity of further study. There are several conclusions that may be reasonably drawn from these results. The emphasis that the CACREP Standards place on the supervised experience may account for the difference in skill levels between the two groups. Prior research and student self-report support this theory. The fact that these requirements are daunting to unaccredited programs suggests a gap in experiential learning between the two groups.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Filial Therapy training in increasing teachers of deaf and hard of hearing preschool students': 1) empathic responsiveness with their students; 2) communication of acceptance to their students; 3) allowance of self-direction by their students. A second purpose was to determine the effectiveness of Filial Therapy training in reducing experimental group students': 1) overall behavior problems; 2) internalizing behaviors; and 3) externalizing behavior problems. Filial Therapy is a didactic/dynamic modality used by play therapists to train parents and teachers to be therapeutic agents with their children and students. Teachers are taught primary child-centered play therapy skills for use with their own students in weekly play sessions with their students. Teachers learn to create a special environment that enhances and strengthens the teacher-student emotional bond by means of which both teacher and child are assisted in personal growth and change. The experimental group (N=24) consisted of 12 teachers, who participated in 11 weekly Filial Therapy training sessions (22 total instructional hours) during the fall semester at the preschool of a center for communications disorders, and 12 students chosen by the teachers as their student of focus. Teachers and students met once …

This study assessed the quality of graduate professional training in Christian education at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) in terms of the perceptions of program alumni. The subjects of the investigation were 780 alumni who graduated from DTS between 1984 and 2000. The Christian Education program was assessed utilizing Daniel Stufflebeam's CIPP model and alumni data collected from a survey instrument. A response rate of 65% (N=504) was achieved. The research procedure employed a non-experimental design methodology for the quantitative component and open-ended questions for the qualitative component. Most results were statistically significant at the .05 alpha level utilizing chi-square goodness-of-fit tests.

The primary focus of this study was to discover the depth of involvement with fundraising by student affairs professionals in Texas. It sought to determine the predominance of chief student affairs officers trained in development and the types of training that they received. Cooperation between student affairs divisions and development offices was also studied and whether there was a correlation between a cooperative relationship and the number of successful fundraising goals. This study includes a review of related literature on student affairs fundraising, a description of the methodology, results of the survey, conclusions, implications, and recommendations that may assist in future decision-making concerning future involvement in fundraising. The surveys were mailed to 149 four-year (public and private) institutions and two-year public institutions in Texas. The senior staff members of both the student affairs office and development office were asked to complete a survey. There was a 60.7% return rate consisting of responses from 72 development offices and 95 student affairs offices for a total of 167 usable responses. The study found that 59% of the student affairs officers had some formal training and/or on the job training. Involvement in fundraising was reported by 62.1% of the chief student affairs officers. …