Testing and Measurement in School Counseling - Annotated Bibliography Example

Article Summary: Current Events in Testing and Measurement in School Counseling al Affiliation: Hurwitz, M. & Howell, J. . Measuring the impact of high school counselors on college enrollment. College Board Advocacy and Policy Center. Research Brief. The article was presented results of a study that assessed the impact of additional school counselors. The aim of the research was to show the amount of change in school enrollment brought about by introduction of every additional school counselor. The motivating factors for undertaking the research were the contrasting research findings and actions by policy implementers: research findings of the Schools and Staffing Survey which recommended the addition of new counselors per learning institution due to the important roles counselors play; and the observed trend within the Department of Education, where counselors become the first people to be laid off whenever reduced cash budgets force retrenchment of school employees. Schools and staffing survey data for the years 1999 - 2008 was obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics. Causal models for the relationship between introducing extra counselors in schools that initially had suboptimal numbers of counselors were developed by employing a regression discontinuity design. The results indicated that each additional counselor introduced at the high school level increased the college going rates by 10%. The researchers recommended a counselor-teacher ratio similar to the teacher-student ratio in order to achieve optimal results from the school counselors. The results also disputed the indicated approach where the Department of Education targets to discontinue counselors as the first victims of retrenchments when faced by budgeting crises. Counselors are depicted as instrumental players in ensuring a school-going culture and increasing students’ retention rates in high schools. Jones, S. M. & Bouffard, S. M. (2012). Social and emotional learning in schools: From programs to strategies. Social Policy Report. 26(4): 1-33. The article explores new approaches of integrating the teaching and enhancement of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills into their daily lives. The authors argued that implementation of the school counseling program was still at the program implementation phase, which hindered the critical phase of strategizing for success. In the initial argument, the authors faulted the common approach and conclusion that both teachers and psychologists make – that students who perform better in class have better peer relationships, and score higher in emotional adjustment and mental health tests. They sought to discredit the causative relationship between inter-personal relations and class performance. Based on this development, they proposed the need to consider more factors in such tests, which would not only show high correlation but also prove that personal relationships indeed lead to better academic performance based on causal relationships. Through review of literature, the article provides contrasting evidence for research made for the opposing views. The article provides a model depicting emotional processes, social/interpersonal skills and cognitive regulation as independent processes, implying that higher scores in one would not imply a similar score in the other. In characterizing the SEL programs, the authors noted that there has been inadequate research linking the programs to desired outcomes. However, they appeared impressed by the newly emerging issues that would lead to further scrutiny of the programs using different assessment approaches. The final section explains the weaknesses of the current SEL programs as ineffectiveness, marginalization, using class performance as the only tool for evaluation, and lack of adequate staff training. Ross, W. & Herrington, D. (2006). A comparative study of pre-professional counselor/ principal perceptions of the role of the counselor in public schools. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal-Electronic. 23(4E): 1-18. The study provided comparative analysis of a sample of pre-professional counselor and potential administrators on the role of a school counselor. The researchers confronted the problem of role drift among professional counselors in schools, which was reported to have led to work place conflicts with other staff members. Through a review of the correct against misinformed roles of school counselors, the researchers were able to provide a guide in the form of an evaluation framework for ascertaining that the group’s mandate does not overlap with that of the teaching staff. The researchers developed the Public School Counselor Role Ambiguity Questionnaire (PSCRAQ) as an assessment tool for participants’ perceptions. The tool was tested against a pilot sample that comprised 55 participants; 30 graduate counseling nurses and 25 graduate students in educational administration. The actual analysis comprised 534 participants; 225 educational administration candidates and 309 counselor candidates. The authors approached the roles of the school counselor in view of their counseling contributions to academic, personal/ social, and career guidance. The counseling group had higher scores than the educational administration participants. The results indicated that counselors were more aware of their roles as school counselors than were the administration participants. The difference in the means was statistically significant, implying counselors understood their roles significantly better than the educational administrators. As such, counselors are better suited to advise other staff members on their roles in the school setup, including devising effective ways of performance assessment. Roberts, J. & Styron, R. (2009). Student satisfaction and persistence: Factors vital to student retention. Research in Higher Education Journal. 1-18. The study investigated various aspects of students’ psychosocial preparedness and assessments in light of the knowledge they had acquired through the school counseling program. The researchers described psychosocial problems as a key component for student retention in all levels. However, more drop-out rates were observed at the college level than the pre-college. As such, the study was undertaken in a university. The study forms an initiative to evaluate how well student counselors were doing in their job. The researchers collected data using a survey questionnaire. Potential participants were sent the questionnaire forms by email and advised to return them after one month. Participants were identified on the basis of having been pursuing a major at the time of the survey, therefore having persisted to the current level. The respondents’ average age was 23.4 years, with the eldest being 52 and the youngest age was 18 years. The participants were divided into two groups: those who either changed their majors or failed to enroll for classes in the current semester and those who pursued the same majors as in the previous semester. The results indicated that students rarely made use of the counseling facility in the university, but did much more academic learning activities. They show that ordinary learning had greatly overtaken the counseling and welfare matters of the students. This difference was attributed to the higher drop out rates in the university, since students were underutilizing the counseling facility, unaware of the greater role it should play to enhance their academic excellence. Sink, C. A. (2009). School counselors as accountability leaders: Another call for action. Professional School Counseling. 13(2): 68-74. The article discusses important school counselor assessment issues that would enhance better outcomes for learners. It further highlights the areas of professional school counseling that still need greater attention, for which regular assessments should be sustained. The author cites accountability and ethical codes of conduct as a key role for these professionals to abide by. Through pursuance and maintenance of professionalism, the author argues that it would be easier to achieve accountability. The main focus of the discussion is the No Child Left Behind legislation, which had tightened laws surrounding the ethical standards for practitioners engaging in research in the topic of school counselor program. Apparently, this was in recognition of the risk to either discredit the program despite its successes or to overate the effectiveness of the program. According to the legislation, any evidence would require to be backed by non-partisan research results, excluding the possibilities of trying non-proven theoretical models on the issue. The researcher further highlights the great attention school counseling programs area corded by the public, maintaining the need to conduct research that is above the set threshold set by the legal framework. Later sections of the article discuss the issue of selecting appropriate tools for collecting data pertaining to the program in light of the tough laws governing trials and research validity. For such attempts to be successful, the author recommends proper documentation and good knowledge of the framework within which the tests are based. Regular training of the school counselors is recommended as a powerful way to keep them abreast with emerging trends of evaluation. References Hurwitz, M. & Howell, J. (2013). Measuring the impact of high school counselors on college enrollment. College Board Advocacy and Policy Center. Research Brief. Jones, S. M. & Bouffard, S. M. (2012). Social and emotional learning in schools: From programs to strategies. Social Policy Report. 26(4): 1-33. Roberts, J. & Styron, R. (2009). Student satisfaction and persistence: Factors vital to student retention. Research in Higher Education Journal. 1-18. Ross, W. & Herrington, D. (2006). A comparative study of pre-professional counselor/ principal perceptions of the role of the counselor in public schools. National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision Journal-Electronic. 23(4E): 1-18. Sink, C. A. (2009). School counselors as accountability leaders: Another call for action. Professional School Counseling. 13(2): 68-74. Read More