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Teaching and Supervision in Counseling

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5514-3063

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2956-5078

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6164-7823

Author Biographies

Daniel DeCino, PhD, LSC-Colorado, LPC, & NCC is an associate professor at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, SD. He is a former school counselor at a K-8 magnet school and 6-12 charter school. His primary teaching responsibilities are practicum for school counselors and core counseling classes for students in clinical and school counseling programs. His research interests include school counselors and school counselor training, qualitative research, narrative methodology, and critical consciousness.

Phillip L. Waalkes is an assistant professor in the Department of Education Sciences and Professional Programs at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis. His research interests include teaching and learning in counselor education and school counselors’ professional development. He also has five years of experience working as a school counselor at a rural, K-12 school.

Steven Chesnut, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City. His teaching responsibilities include the courses that comprise a statistics sequence, ranging from foundational to multivariate and longitudinal analytic techniques. His research interests include teacher development, childhood achievement, and the adaptation of emergent statistical techniques to problems of practice.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7290/tsc05Ffyf

Abstract

Previous scholars have suggested grade inflation has been in higher education for decades, may devalue high grade point averages, and blur important differences between qualified and unqualified job candidates. In counselor training programs, grade inflation may cause students to overestimate their abilities to handle challenging real-world situations, impede faculty evaluation practices, and promote unfavorable student learning environments. In this exploratory study, we surveyed 240 counseling students on their perceptions of their grades and their peers’ grades before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results suggest that students perceived their peers succeeded academically despite inappropriate and unethical behaviors, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Counselor educators should consider how grade inflation might impact student learning and training, and program alignment with CACREP standards.

Public Significance Statement

The current study suggests there is evidence of grade inflation in counselor education and supervision training programs by examining student perceptions of grades and grade inflation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlights that students’ overall GPA’s, perceptions of peers and unethical behaviors, and if they believed a peer should not have graduated but did because of grade inflation are present within counselor training.

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