Predictors of Achievement in Counseling and Guidance Graduate Study

Abstract

While not an ultimate criterion of professional competence, acceptable academic performance in graduate school is a prequisite which the professional counselor must meet. Tests of academic ability have frequently been used to select prospective counselors; however, the validity of such tests for this specific task has not been well established. Of particular importance has been the lack of a uniform criterion of academic success for all members of a sample under investigation. How then do some of the commonly used predictors perform when certain refinements of the criterion are made?The prediction study reported here was replicated on three groups of graduate students in counseling and guidance. There were two relatively unique aspects to the study. First, all students in a group took identical courses at the same time from the same instructors (with the exception of a split section course in one of the groups). This is in contrast to studies using a criterion based on varying amounts of graduate work taken in varying subjects at different times from different instructors. Second, for two of the groups, two overall criteria of academic success were used, the traditional grade point average and total numerical points earned in courses. Given the above conditions, the following questions were asked.1. What is the relative effectiveness of certain commonly used academic aptithde tests in predicting the academic achievement of graduate students in counseling and guidance? 2. Is academic achievement evaluated in terms of grade point average as predictable as academic achievement evaluated in terms of total numerical points?3. When the tests are used in combination rather than singly, are the increases in the correlation with the criteria of practical importance?Results from a preliminary investigation indicated that one of the predictors, the Ohio State University Psychological Test, might provide

A Descriptive Survey of Counselor Education Students

“…There is no lack of information on the kind of persons counselor educators want in their programs. Studies such as those by Callis and Prediger (1964), Cody and Knock (1967), Cohen (1961), Dugan (1961), Hill and Green (1960), and Wasson (1965) have identified attitudes and competencies required for success in counselor preparation and for counselor practice. For example, Soper and Combs (1963) conducted a study in which they found that good counselors perceive from an internal rather than an external frame of reference and in terms of people rather than things.…”

Factors Related to Success in Fifteen NDEA Counseling and Guidance Institutes

“…(Hill, 1962;Stripling & Lister, 1963. ) Recent studies by Moore ( 1963), Blocher ( 1963), Callis &Prediger ( 1964), andDiUey ( 1963), have provided basic research in the area; however a number of important questions still remain unanswered. One of the most crucial of these questions for counselor educators is whether difFerent kinds of factors account for the success of male and female counselor candidates in counseling and guidance institutes.…”