Date of Award

4-2016

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Evaluation

First Advisor

Dr. Chris L. S. Coryn

Second Advisor

Dr. Daniela Schroeter

Third Advisor

Dr. Beverly Vandiver

Keywords

Program Evaluation, school counseling, program effectiveness, school guidance, counseling, interventions, counseling services

Abstract

School counseling programs have been recognized as an educational component that ultimately benefits student achievement at most developmental stages. Comprehensive school counseling programs are executed in alliance with a specific school counseling model, such as the Comprehensive Developmental Guidance model, or more recently, The American School Counselor Association National Model (ASCA, 2003, 2005, 2012). Although the school counseling literature reports positive outcomes associated with comprehensive school counseling programs, there are still challenges in their implementation and evaluation. Program evaluation as stressed in The ASCA National Model is to confirm the effectiveness and value of these programs and interventions. Yet, the school counseling literature has not clearly discussed the wide range of existing tools used in conducting sound program evaluations, nor has it thoroughly explored the quality of existing program evaluations. Consequently, the purpose of this sequential two-phase study was to conduct a metaevaluation of school counseling program evaluations.

A sample of school counseling evaluations was assessed regarding their conformity to the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (JCSEE) accuracy standards (Yarbrough et al., 2011), utilizing the Program Evaluation Metaevaluation Checklist (Stufflebeam & Coryn, 2014). The authors of the evaluations engaged in semi-structured interviews designed to discover their perceptions of the capability of program evaluation to accurately determine the effectiveness and efficiency of school counseling programs and interventions. Findings of the study showed that the overall metaevaluation ratings conformed less to JCSEE standards. However, this low performance is further explained from the interview participants’ perspectives. Interviews themes corresponded to strengths and weaknesses, methodology orientation, and key factors affecting the practice of evaluation in the field. The findings may assist the school counseling community and policymakers in gaining insight into the issues surrounding evaluation practice in the field and the use of metaevaluation as a tool to assess quality. To further these aims, it is also recommended that school counselors build more bridges and increase communication with the professional evaluation community

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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