TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 3-FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 3 339 2016 CACREP standards the expectation for the assessment of counselor-in-training dispositions was expanded to include the monitoring of dispositions at multiple points over the duration of time students are enrolled in a counselor education program. The accreditation expectations for screening at the point of admission are found in Section I.L., where the standards delineate the expectation that counseling programs consider dispositions (CACREP, 2015). Dispositions for consideration include relationship skills and cultural sensitivity. As the need for dispositional appraisal has become increasingly imperative in the counselor education profession, there have been various efforts to design specific approaches to assess student dispositions (Frame & Stevens-Smith, 1995; Kerl et al., 2002; Lumadue & Duffey, 1999; McAdams et al., 2007; Redekop & Wlazelek, 2012; Williams et al., 2014). One early approach was the utilization of standardized personality tests (Demos & Zuwaylif, 1966; Utley Buensuceso, 2008). However, the use of personality tests fell into disfavor because of the potential for conflicts with the Americans with Disabilities Act (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010) as well as for their inherent deficit orientation. Consequently, the use of standardized tests has been generally replaced by rating scales and rubrics (Panadero & Jonsson, 2013). One reason that rubrics were considered superior to rating scales was their transparency (Panadero & Jonsson, 2013). Transparency empowers students by equipping them with an understanding of expectations for performance prior to their creating a product or performing a skill. Rubrics also have greater potential to align with learning outcomes and they provide useful direct feedback to students (Alexander & Praeger, 2009; Panadero & Jonsson, 2013). Examples of dispositional assessments for counselors include the Counselor Characteristics Inventory (Pope, 1996), an inventory that assesses personality characteristics of effective counselors. Also, Spurgeon et al. (2012) described a process that includes a Likert-style assessment of dispositional traits. In addition, Swank et al. (2012) developed the Counseling Competencies Scale (CCS), a tool for measuring counselor competence. Frame and Stevens-Smith (1995) developed a 5-point Personal Characteristics Evaluation Form, and finally, Lumadue and Duffey (1999) published a Professional Performance Fitness Evaluation to evaluate specific behaviors of pre-professional counselors. Few studies of the reliability and validity of the tools were found in published research, especially related to admissions. However, some do have limited published psychometric research and in some cases norms (Flynn & Hays, 2015; Pope, 1996; Swank et al., 2012; Taub et al., 2011). One example of a dispositional tool for counselor education with published psychometrics is the Counselor Personality Assessment (CPA) developed by Halinski (2010). The CPA is a 28-item scale reporting a Cronbach’s alpha reliability score of .82. Another tool, the CCS (Swank et al. 2012), is a 32-item rubric for measuring counseling skills, professional conduct, and professional dispositions in practicum. Cronbach’s alpha for the CCS was reported at .93, and interrater reliability was reported at .57. Criterion validity was established by correlating the CCS score with the semester grade and was reported as moderate. The available psychometric data for the CPA and CCS represent exceptions. In general, lack of psychometric information may result in limited confidence in available assessment tools for appraising counselor student dispositions. Interrater Reliability Interrater reliability , essentially the extent to which the raters assign the same scores when observing the same behaviors (McHugh, 2012), is critical for fairness to applicants in counseling admissions interviews. Gwet (2014) stated, “If the inter-rater reliability is high, then raters can be