Establishing a School Counselor Program Evaluation Taxonomy: The Contribution of Proposed Competencies to School Counselor Data Beliefs and Practices

Abstract

JORDON J. BEASLEY ESTABLISHING A SCHOOL COUNSELOR PROGRAM EVALUATION TAXONOMY: THE CONTRIBUTION OF PROPOSED COMPETENCIES TO SCHOOL COUNSELOR DATA BELIEFS AND PRACTICES Under the direction of MORGAN KIPER RIECHEL, PH.D The purpose of this study was to further investigate the relationship between the instruments identified by Köse and developed by Maras et al. (2013), Astramovich (2016), and Dimmitt et al. (2007) to provide validation to the proposed taxonomy of program evaluation competencies for school counselors. Theoretically, these instruments should be highly correlated as they all claim to measure some aspect of program evaluation competencies among school counselors. To date, no research has been conducted to establish construct or criterion validity among these instruments. Furthermore, this study sought to determine if a predictive model could be created to predict school counselor program evaluation competence based on the school counselor program evaluation field-specific, technical and non-technical competencies outlined in Maras et al. (2013), Astramovich (2016), and Dimmitt et al. (2007). With a sample population of 145 professional school counselors currently employed in one southeastern state, this study used correlational research design to determine the relationship between the independent instruments. Further, the study utilized linear multiple regression analysis to determine if a model could be created to predict the contribution of the field-specific, technical and non-technical competencies outlined in the Effective Practices Survey (Maras et al., 2013), the Program Evaluation Interest and Skills Assessment (Astramovich, 2016), and the Evidence Based School Counseling Self-Assessment (Dimmitt et al., 2007) be developed to predict school counselor data beliefs and practices. Results of the correlational analyses indicated significant, positive relationships between the independent instruments further establishing criterion validity for these instruments as valid measures of program evaluation competence. Results from the linear regression indicate that these instruments account for 59.4% of the variance in school counselors’ data beliefs and practices regarding data usage. Further, these findings establish construct validity for the EPS, PEISA, and EBSCP-SA. Results and implications for the field of school counseling and school counselor education are discussed. Limitations for the study and suggestions for future research are also presented.