James T. Herbert

Predicting Research Interest Among Rehabilitation Counseling Students and Faculty

To develop a clearer understanding of the variables that contribute to research interest and involvement among rehabilitation counseling students and faculty, the results of two studies examining research self-efficacy beliefs, research outcome expectations, and elements of research training environments were compared. Differences were found in research outcome expectations and research self-efficacy between students and faculty. Social-cognitive career theory is used as a framework for explaining these differences, and implications for the research training of rehabilitation counseling students are discussed.

Closing Achievement Gaps: Roles and Tasks of Elementary School Counselors.

Achievement gaps among racial‐ethnic and socioeconomic status groups are an enduring, pervasive, and multifaceted phenomenon. Therefore, efforts aimed at understanding and addressing these gaps must be developmentally and environmentally broad, involving numerous school counselor roles and tasks, including leadership, advocacy, collaboration, and strategic interventions. In this article, we first document achievement gap trends and then provide a framework for understanding and sequencing outcomes that quantify student achievement gaps. Finally, we present research that identifies critical variables influencing achievement gaps and important school counselor roles and tasks aimed at closing these gaps. The article focuses on outcomes across the developmental spectrum from elementary school through postsecondary education.

Accreditation Options for the Undergraduate Rehabilitation Program

Although there is interest for accreditation of undergraduate rehabilitation programs, there is no specific mechanism currently available. This article outlines four accreditation options including: affiliate with an existing accreditation organization, develop a new accreditation body within the Council on Rehabilitation Education, create an independent accreditation organization or make no further effort to pursue accreditation. Impacting which option may be best for undergraduate rehabilitation programs are related issues concerning the variety of program names used to identify the academic major, clarifying the interest to pursue international rehabilitation education, conducting outcome based research of undergraduate alumni to support accreditation standards, and assessing the interest for accreditation among rehabilitation faculty.

A ten‐year analysis of the post‐secondary outcomes of students with disabilities at The Pennsylvania State University

10.1080/02607476.2011.558291 Journal of Education for Teaching 0260-7476 (print)/1360-0540 (o line) Research in P ogress 2 11 Taylo & Fran is 370 002 11 B rb aHong bsh 5@psu.edu With increasing demand for postsecondary education, there has been an increasing number of students with disabilities attending colleges and universities (e.g. Hall and Belch 2000; Henderson 1999; Hodgkinson 1985; Wiseman, Emry, and Morgan 1988). Estimates indicate that increases range from 10% (Henderson 1999) to 26% among four-year colleges (Newman et al. 2009). Given that students with disabilities who obtain a college education are 63% more likely to find employment than students who do not have a college degree (Dutta, Kundu, and Schiro-Geist 2009), these increases are understandable. As they relate to investigations of post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities, there are two axiomatic and consistent conclusions from the empirical literature. First, in comparison to their non-disabled peers, students with disabilities have significantly lower rates of pursuing and successfully completing college; and second, we know virtually nothing about how university support services such as those offered through an Office for Disability Services (ODS) contribute to retention, persistence and graduation. The proposed exploratory study represents the largest and first investigation in the USA that will purposefully analyse and track students who have sought disability services over a 10-year span (academic years 2000–2011). Using ex post-facto data on a non-probability purposive sample of approximately 6000 undergraduates, the research team will address the following research questions:

Work Roles and Functions of Undergraduate Rehabilitation Services Alumni: A Pilot Study

A modified Delphi procedure was used to identify frequency and perceived importance of professional roles and functions that undergraduate rehabilitation services alumni perform. After a series of focus groups with alumni to develop task statements and subsequent input by rehabilitation educators who teach in undergraduate rehabilitation services programs, a final list of 102 job task statements was identified. In an online survey, 179 respondents from 19 undergraduate programs indicated that providing emotional support to clients, writing client progress and summary notes, advocating for clients, conducting interviews with clients and/or family members to obtain background information, and identifying and securing community resources for clients are job tasks they perform frequently and perceive as very important to their work. Conversely, administrative duties associated with recruiting and hiring staff and other volunteers, preparing budget reports, securing funding to support agency or facility activities, assessing programs to ensure compliance for accreditation reviews and conducting hiring interviews of staff were seen as work tasks/functions performed less frequently and not particularly germane to their work roles. These findings may be useful to develop accreditation standards for undergraduate rehabilitation services training. Recommendations for future research are addressed. et al.

Effectiveness of a Training Program to Enhance Clinical Supervision of State Vocational Rehabilitation Personnel

A training program to improve clinical supervision behavior, knowledge, self-efficacy, and working alliance among state vocational rehabilitation supervisors (SVRS) was studied. SVRS (n = 180) were randomly assigned to either the control or experimental group. To further validate training effectiveness, counselors (n = 350) who were assigned to both groups of supervisors also completed parallel outcome measures evaluating their supervisors’ performance. Results indicate differential impact when comparing changes across baseline, Posttest 1 (approximately 6 weeks after baseline), and Posttest 2 data collection (approximately 6 months after baseline) between both supervisory groups. Specifically, in comparison with the control group, supervisors who received the training reported greater changes at Posttest 1 regarding time spent in individual supervision, frequency, and time devoted to group supervision as well as perceived value in providing clinical supervision. Posttest 2 evaluation between groups noted differences in clinical supervision knowledge and behavior, frequency of individual supervision sessions, and time spent in group supervision. In contrast, counselors assigned to one of the supervisory groups reported few differences in parallel outcome measures. Although the intervention provided some support for its effectiveness for supervisors, further modifications are needed before a valid training model exists for rehabilitation counseling.