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School Counselor Evaluation

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“Evaluating the effectiveness of a professional development workshop to increase school counselors' use of data: The role of technology” (2009) examined “the effectiveness of four variations of a workshop designed to improve school counselors’ data use skills. The workshops were designed to vary along two dimensions; the amount of conceptual knowledge participants were exposed to, and the amount of a technology application (EZAnalyze) participants were exposed to” (Poynton, 2009). The study consisted of 144 participants split into four different groups. Group one simply received training on the development of data driven counseling programs. Group two had all of the same instruction as group one, but were introduced to an excel add-in program …show more content…

As a school counselor and a student of educational technology, I was both empathetic and frustrated by the results. I believe heavily in a data driven school counseling program and the effect that it has on student achievement and school accountability. I would have loved the idea that an accessible data program would encourage school counselors to develop comprehensive counseling programs, however, I absolutely appreciate the lack of time and limited technological knowledge that led to failure of the program to sustain interest. Increasing professional development and access to the technology can only go so far without the ability to use it. I thought it was interesting that there was an anomaly in one school because the counselor supervisor had initiated a data driven goal for their counselors. To me, this is where the school needs and the counselor needs should focus attention. If the school administration is fundamentally involved in also seeing that the school counselor be data driven, then the use of technology will most certainly be employed. School counselors today have been overwhelmed with many tasks that draw from their time spent on direct student services. However, school administration that advocates for the availably and education of school counselors to utilize technology to evaluate student data has the ability to make that process more attainable. Fundamentally the school directive has to be instrumental in connecting the two for the accountability of

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