Nov. 7--Amy Smith sat quietly and attentively as she observed a math class at Pullman High School on Friday afternoon.

She is one of seven Washington State University master's students who are part of a pilot program that the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology implemented this fall.

"This gives the school counseling students a good feel of what goes on in the classrooms," Smith said. "We hadn't had a chance to do (this) before."

For the past six weeks, the students had to spend full days observing classes at the elementary level, middle school level and high school level. The participating schools were Franklin Elementary School, Lincoln Middle School and Pullman High School, where a total of 22 classrooms were observed.

Prior to the pilot program, students didn't have the opportunity to work with teachers in a classroom setting, said Susan Jensen, who is a clinical assistant professor and coordinator of the school counseling program.

Students only had the opportunity to conduct internships with school counselors, she said.

"This is our first attempt in our department to provide an opportunity for them to spend one full day ... working with a classroom teacher at each level," she said.

She said the master's in counseling has two divisions, school counseling and community counseling. Students participating in the pilot program are all part of the school counseling division.

Jensen said most of the students who are in the program hold a bachelor's degree in psychology, "and they don't have any experience or training as educators."

"They have not been professionals in the schools at this point," she said. "We decided that they needed to get more anchored in what schools are all about, what students are all about and what teachers face."

She said the experience students will gain from the program will prepare them to be good counselors when they enter their field.

Officials from the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology will use feedback from the participating classroom teachers and the school counseling students in the pilot program to make changes or additions.

"We will work with that information to revise and improve the program and implement it as a full program next fall," Jensen said.

Smith already has seen the effects of the program.

She said during her observations she observed the interaction between the students and the teachers and their development at the social, physical and intellectual levels.

"There's differences in their development stages at each level," she said.

Jensen said it means a lot for officials in the department that student are able to work with teachers in the Pullman School District.

"It's always so important to us at the university ... for teachers and our students to work together. It mean a great deal to us," she said. "We like to see that."

Yesenia Amaro can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 237, or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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