ABSTRACT
Evaluation is an essential and dening component of clinical supervision. Supervisors are ethically responsible for “monitoring clinical performance and professional development of supervisees” and “evaluating and certifying current performance and potential of supervisees for academic, screening, selection, placement, employment, and credentialing purposes” (Association for Counselor Education and Supervision [ACES], 1993, p. 2). Similar statements appear in the supervisory guidelines of other helping professions (e.g., marriage and family therapy, professional psychology, social work). Despite this nearly universal declaration of importance, evaluation is oen a challenge for supervisors. Indeed, evaluation has been cited as a major source of supervisee anxiety (Carroll, 1996; Robiner, Fuhrman, & Ristvedt, 1993), an area of risk for ethical and legal violations (e.g., McAdams, Foster, & Ward, 2007), a common source of supervisee grievances (Ladany, 2004), and a stimulus for negative supervisee experiences in supervision (e.g., Forrest, Elman, Gizara, & Vacha-Haase, 1999; Magnuson, Wilcoxon, & Norem, 2000). In contrast, evaluation also has the potential to be a powerful stimulus for change (Holloway, 1992), is key to supervisee satisfaction (Henderson, Cawyer, & Watkins, 1999; Kennard, Stewart, & Gluck, 1987; Lehrman-Waterman & Ladany, 2001), and may strengthen the supervisory relationship (Lehrman-Waterman & Ladany, 2001).
