TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

337 Curtis Garner, Brenda Freeman, Roger Stewart, Ken Coll Assessment of Dispositions in Program Admissions: The Professional Disposition Competence Assessment—Revised Admission (PDCA-RA) Curtis Garner, EdD, NCC, NCSC, LCPC, is a professor and department chair at Gonzaga University. Brenda Freeman, PhD, is a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. Roger Stewart, PhD, is a professor at Boise State University. Ken Coll, PhD, is the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Nevada, Reno. Correspondence may be addressed to Curtis Garner, 502 East Boone Ave., Spokane, WA 99258-0102, garnerc@gonzaga.edu. The Professional Counselor™ Volume 10, Issue 3, Pages 337–350 http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org © 2020 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates doi:10.15241/cg.10.3.337 Tools to assess the dispositions of counselor education applicants at the point of program admission are important as mechanisms to screen entrance into the profession. The authors developed the Professional Disposition Competence Assessment—Revised Admission (PDCA-RA) as a screening tool for dispositional assessment in admissions interviews. In this study, 70 participants engaged in a video-based training protocol designed to increase the interrater reliability of the PDCA-RA. An intraclass correlations coefficient was calculated as an index of interrater reliability . Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated for internal consistency, and Fleiss’ kappa, free-marginal kappa, and percent of agreement were calculated for absolute agreement. Calculations were made for pretest and posttest scores. Results of the study suggest that the PDCA-RA demonstrates “good” reliability in terms of interrater reliability and “excellent” reliability in terms of internal consistency. The video-based training improved interrater reliability. Keywords: dispositions, counselor education, interrater reliability, counseling admissions, PDCA-RA Beyond ethical codes and standardized education requirements, one criterion understood to be a demarcation of a profession is that it controls entry into its occupation (Miller, 2006). The stature of any profession is heavily influenced by the collective quality, preparation, and professional fit of those who are allowed to enter the profession. In the profession of counseling, counselor preparation programs, practicing counselors, field site supervisors, and state licensure boards share the overarching charge to screen for the profession (Freeman et al., 2016), but counselor educators alone bear the responsibility of initial screening of potential new entrants into the profession. The funnel of individuals seeking entrance into the profession begins with admission to graduate programs. This responsibility is a solemn one because post-admission gatekeeping can lead to high-stakes legal disputes (Dugger & Francis, 2014; Hutchens et al., 2013; McAdams et al., 2007). Similar to other graduate programs, criteria for entrance into counselor preparation programs generally incorporate academic and career factors, but unlike many other graduate programs, the dispositions (traits and characteristics) of applicants are also critical factors for identifying appropriate candidates for the profession (Hern á ndez et al., 2010). The use of admissions interviews is a common method for observing dispositions (Swank & Smith-Adcock, 2014). Characteristics such as interpersonal skills, warmth, emotional stability, and self-awareness are examples of traits deemed important to many counseling academic programs (Crawford & Gilroy, 2013; McCaughan & Hill, 2015), though counselor educators lack agreement about which dispositions should be screened at admission (Bryant et al., 2013).