Teaching EvidenceBased Practice in School Counseling

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Teaching Evidence-Based Practice in School
Counseling

• Education Trust Summer Institute
• John Carey, Carey Dimmitt, Ian Martin
• National Center for School Counseling Outcome
  Research
• UMASS, Amherst

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Evidence-Based Practice Movement

• Larger movement Medicine, Nursing, Public
  Health, Psychology, etc.
• Use of quantitative information to guide practice
• Skills needed to collect, weigh, and combine
  information
• New model and approaches to practitioner training
• Evolving definition

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Solid research equals solid results.
Doctors use solid research before treating
patients. Teachers and schools must apply just as
much care.
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Evidence-Based Education (EBE)

• Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst
• Assistant Secretary
• Educational Research and Improvement
• United States Department of Education

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What is EBE?

• The integration of professional wisdom with the
  best available empirical evidence in making
  decisions about how to deliver instruction

Russ Whitehurst
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Russ Whitehurst
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A Model of Evidence-Based Practice
Practitioners Individual Expertise
Best Evidence
Client Values and Expectations
EBP
Adapted from Shlonsky and Gibbs (2004), Will the
real evidence-based practice please stand up?
Teaching the process of evidence-based practice
to the helping professions. Brief Treatment and
Crisis Intervention, 4(2), 137-153.
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Evidence-Based Practice in School Counseling
Intervention and Program Evaluation
Outcome Research
Problem Description
EBP
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Evidence-Based Practice in School Counseling
Intervention and Program Evaluation
Outcome Research
Problem Description Knowing what needs
to be addressed
EBP
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Evidence-Based Practice in School Counseling
Intervention and Program Evaluation
Outcome Research Knowing what generally
works
Problem Description
EBP
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Evidence-Based Practice in School Counseling
Outcome Research
Intervention and Program Evaluation Knowing
how studentschanged
Problem Description
EBP
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Evidence-Based Practice in School Counseling
Intervention and Program Evaluation
Outcome Research
Problem Description
EBP
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Terms

• Date-Based Decision Making use of school data
  to determine problems that need to be addressed
• Outcome Research use of the scientific method to
  discover generalizable truth about the
  effectiveness of interventions.
• Evaluation use of the scientific method to
  improve local decision-making by determining
  whether it was likely that an intervention
  resulted in desired changes in behavior

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How These Fit Together

• Data-Based Decision Making
• 8th graders in Carey Middle school are doing
  poorly on the state test
• Outcome Research
• Research yields strong evidence that Student
  Success Skills can increase test scores by
  teaching self-management and enhancing motivation
• Evaluation
• Carey Middle School students learn self
  management skills and improve grades and test
  scores after SSS

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Teaching Evidence-Based Practice Skills in School
Counseling Programs

• Good Models for Data-Based Decision Making
• Reynolds and Hines
• Isaacs
• Stone and Dahir
• Underemphasis of evaluation in favor of research
  methodology
• Research methodology not connected to school
  counseling research literature
• Single course vs. infusion into all courses

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UMASS Alternative

• EDUC 605 Evidence-Based Practice in School
  Counseling
• Three core areas
• Taken 1st semester, first year
• Satisfies state and CACREP methodology course
  requirements
• Infusion into all School Counseling Courses
• Research Briefs
• Evaluation Designs
• What are the relevant outcome research findings?

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EDUC 605 Evidence-Based Practice in School
Counseling

• Complete Self-Assessment
• Review Syllabus
• Problem Description Knowing what needs to be
  addressed By combining institutional data and
  survey data, students will learn how to use
  evidence to define problems and lead teams toward
  solutions.
• Outcome Research Use Knowing what is likely to
  work- This section identifies the characteristics
  that are present in good outcome research,
  teaches where and how to access research based
  practices, and stresses the importance of
  participating in a school-based team to select
  and implement research-based interventions.
• Intervention Evaluation Knowing if the
  intervention made a difference-This section
  teaches students how to evaluate the impacts of
  interventions. By using the evaluation methods
  outlined in this course, students can generate
  useful information for both program improvement
  and accountability. The skills present in this
  section are vital to the future of school
  counseling decision makers need to have
  documentation of successful interventions.

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EDUC 605 Evidence-Based Practice in School
Counseling

• Three Samples of Course Content
• Problem Description Using a Data-Based Decision
  Making Model to make sense of R.M. Nixon School
  data.
• Outcome Research Using the National Panel Rubric
  to evaluate an outcome research article.
• Intervention Evaluation Using EZ-Analyze to
  analyze evaluation data.

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Questions and Discussion

• Supporting Materials
• CD
• Dimmitt, C., Carey, J.C. Hatch, T.A. (2007).
  Evidence-based school counseling Making a
  difference with data-driven practices. New York
  Corwin Press.
• Web-Based 1 credit course for practitioners