Measuring the Effectiveness and Variations of Rehabilitation Counselor Education Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to report initial findings from a subsample of a survey designed to assess Rehabilitation Counselor Education (RCE) programs through the perceptions of graduates. This research is one component of an effort by the Council On Rehabilitation Education to establish an accreditation procedure for master's level RCE programs. The researchers used a 107-item questionnaire to elicit responses in four areas: graduate demographic data, RCE program goals and objectives, components of graduates' involvement as students in the program, and functions of rehabilitation counselors. The analyses were based upon a randomly selected sub-sample of 534 out of 905 total graduate respondents. The preliminary findings indicated that the graduates, as a whole, had certain characteristics in common. Of those graduates surveyed, 830/0 were employed full-time, and of these, 87.60/0 were holding jobs in rehabilitationrelated work. In addition, while there tended to be general agreement on the important ingredients of rehabilitation counselor training, there was considerable variation as to the programs' patterns and degrees of educational effectiveness. Furthermore, the graduates' responses suggested practical differences among RCE programs in how well students were prepared to perform selected functions. Nevertheless, the preliminary findings imply that while master's level RCE programs do vary in educational mission and effectiveness, the programs generally prepared their students adequately for positions as rehabilitation counselors.