Program evaluation competencies for prospective school counseling practitioners

Abstract

There is a well-articulated rationale in the literature for the routine implementation of program evaluation by school counselors and thus, a desire within the profession to develop program evaluation competencies among pre-service school counselors. In this article, existing school counselor program evaluation competencies mentioned in the literature were critically overviewed. For this purpose, the school counseling publications between 2000 and 2017 were reviewed to identify on school counselor competencies in program evaluation. These articles are summarized and analyzed based on Stevahn, King, Ghere & Minnema’s competency taxonomy to better understand the current situation. The literature revealed that to date, school counseling literature has focused primarily on technical competencies in program evaluation. In addition to that, some other important program evaluation skills such as interpersonal relationships and professional/ethical issues in program evaluation have not been explored in the literature.