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.