Mission Statement
The Center for School Counseling Outcome Research is dedicated to improving the practice of school counseling by developing the research base that is necessary for responsible and effective practice.
School counseling has great potential to help
all students achieve to high standards, make wise vocational/career
choices, and develop pro-social attitudes and skills. Powerful
new models of practice exist (i.e. The American School Counselor
Association's National Model and The Education Trust's Transforming School Counseling Initiative) that can ensure that all students have access to the benefits of effective school counseling.
The
new School Counseling Models emphasize:
- A focus on helping all students achieve academically
- The importance
of systemic interventions that help students by influencing
their families, schools, and communities
- The critical importance
of using research to guide practice, monitor effectiveness,
and evaluate student learning outcomes
Implementation of these new models is hampered by a paucity of good research
on school counseling outcomes. Underlying this shortage are
limitations in the instruments used to measure outcomes, limitations
in the evaluation models for systemic interventions, and limitations
in the methods for incorporating research and evaluation activities
into the fabric of school counseling programs.
Consistent with the Research-land Grant Mission of the University
of Massachusetts-Amherst, the Center operates with
a dual focus:
- To enhance school counseling nationally by providing intellectual leadership in grounding practice in research
- To enhance school counseling in the Commonwealth by helping K-12 leaders and practitioners use research findings and methods to improve practice by enabling them to set standards, establish benchmarks, implement evidence-based interventions, measure student learning outcomes, and evaluate program effectiveness
The Center is currently conducting several major national projects including:
- A Delphi Study designed to identify the critical research questions in the field of school counseling
- The Publication of Quarterly Research Briefs for school counseling district guidance directors and school counselors
- An analysis of the strengths and limitations of the evaluation instruments, models, and methods that are used to measure school counseling outcomes
- A Summer Leadership Institute on the topic of Using Data to Help All Children Succeed
- The presentation of regular colloquia on empirically supported school counseling practices at major conferences
We intend that that these activities will result in:
- increased use of empirically validated interventions
- increased use of standardized measures of outcome that can be compared across studies
- the development of new research instruments that will facilitate evaluation of the full range of school counseling outcomes
- the development and dissemination of effective methods for evaluating systemic interventions involving schools, families, and communities
- the development of new ways to evaluate the effects of school counseling activities on student learning and achievement
- knowledge of the ways in which school counselors can help to eliminate the achievement gap between historically advantaged and disadvantaged groups
The Center also has several important State Initiatives including:
- Organizing regular meetings of Massachusetts district guidance leaders to discuss new approaches to practice
- Helping districts evaluate the strengths, limitations, and needed directions for their school counseling programs
- Offering organizational consultation and profession development services to districts to enable them to implement data-based decision-making and standards-based school counseling programs.
We intend that that these activities will result in more Massachusetts districts being able to implement effective, standards-based models of school counseling that serve all students well, support effective educational practices, and eliminate the achievement gap.
Acknowledgments
The idea for a national center devoted to school counseling outcome
research was initially developed at an Educational Trust Transforming
School Counseling Summer Conference. At that meeting, discussions among
Reese House, Sue Whiston, Carol Dahir, Peggy Hines, and Jay Carey outlined
the need for and general activities of such a center.
Jay Carey, Carey Dimmitt and Janine Roberts, the core faculty of the
University of Massachusetts School Counseling concentration, elaborated
the Center concept and developed the design. The Center was championed
by Barbara Love, Chair of the Student Development and Pupil Personnel
Services Department, and Andrew Effrat, Dean of the School of Education,
who also provided start-up budget for the Center.
Establishing a Center focusing on School Counseling Outcome Research
at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst was inspired by the work
of Dr. Ron Fredrickson, Emeritus Professor, Counselor Educator, and long
time advocate for school counseling research. Ron is the founder of the
University of Massachusetts school counseling concentration and continues
to be model of intellectual rigor and compassion.
The Center is part of the Department of Student Development and Pupil
Personnel Services of the School of Education. The Center is proud to
participate in the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's heritage of national leadership in research and service to the people of Massachusetts.